Enough For All | UBI

We need an unconditional basic income. Why? There are about seven billion people living in the world, one out of nine suffers from hunger. This is not because of a lack of resources, on the contrary, there is enough for everyone. In fact the world produces enough food for 11 billion people. People go hungry because of these resources are not properly distributed. This is why we want an unconditional basic income. This means everyone should receive a basic income, the basic income would be enough to live off and to participate in society, it would be unconditional. People would be provided with an income whether they are working or not and without having to demonstrate a need for it. However people need more than money, essential infrastructure such as energy, communications, mobility and education should also be available to all.

But no one would work anymore? Wrong, in the past people thought that if you forced children to learn by threatening them with punishment they would learn faster, learn better and learn more. Now we know the opposite is the case, children learn better and faster if you provide them with creative freedom and an enjoyable learning environment why should it be any different for adults. Most adults are motivated to work because they fear poverty and social decline they are forced to work sometimes under terrible conditions in order to pay for food, housing or to participate in society. But we believe that these are fundamental human rights and once these rights have been secured people will have the space and energy that they need to develop their creativity and passions. But it's unfair why should people get money if they don't work? Currently different forms of work are rewarded in different ways some types of work are not even paid at all. Decisions about which kinds of work should be paid and how much workers should receive often have no connection to the social and economic benefits that this work provides.

Some extremely well-paid jobs provide very little direct benefit to society. Work that is beneficial to society is often poorly paid if at all. Large parts of society still rely on what is in fact volunteer work an unconditional basic income would mean that people who have been working without pay would finally receive an income. A large amount of the world's wealth was produced by previous generations, this wealth is the common heritage of all of us, there are enough resources for everyone to have a good life. The resources just need to be distributed more fairly. An unconditional basic income could help bring about a society that is no longer driven by fear, coercion or envy. It could create a society in which everyone has the opportunity to fulfill their potential rather than be exploited for fear of landing in poverty.

Attac Germany's working group "Enough For All" produced the animated explainer video "We need unconditional basic income (ubi)". In almost 4 minutes it shows what ubi is, that it values all forms of productivity, that it changes society and work itself for everyone's benefit.