<div dir="ltr">wonderful Barb, thanks a lot for this reaction already,<div><br></div><div>Michel</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 6:07 PM, Barb Jacobson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:barbx45@gmail.com" target="_blank">barbx45@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
<p>Yes I have seen this. I'm in the midst writing a long essay about
several attacks on UBI from the left, but there are a few things
to say here. <br>
</p>
<p>1/ The end of the statement 'We must struggle for income support
systems that are based on adequacy, full entitlement and that are
purged of intrusive rules and moral policing' doesn't sound a
whole lot different from what a lot of us would call 'basic
income'. <g></p>
<p>2/ A pro-UBI critique of the Ontario pilots is needed - there are
a lot of problems with how they're being done, not least that what
is actually being tested is a means-tested negative income tax.
Even still some interesting facts re otherwise unconditional cash
transfers may emerge. There are such critiques of the Finnish
experiment (which can be found on <a href="http://basicincome.org" target="_blank">http://basicincome.org</a>), and
the Canadian UBI movement is developing one of the Ottawa
experiment.<br>
</p>
<p>3/ By fighting a defensive struggle they are allowing capital to
set the terms, which I think has been the left's problem for the
last 40 years. Unsurprisingly, it has failed to inspire people in
general, and equally unsurprisingly, it is losing - the cuts in
services and benefits is ongoing without basic income. It's
unclear to me what OCAP hope to gain by doing this statement, and
gathering support for it - the pilots in Ottawa are already
underway, so it won't stop them. Surely what would be more
effective is a critique of the specific problems with Ottawa's
experiment - for example the fact that the payments are not
protected against debt garnishment as current state benefits are;
that passported benefits like free meds and travel for disabled
people has not been protected. Rather than making demands around
actual problems with the pilot like these, we're asked to make an
ideological choice.<br>
</p>
<p>Few I've spoken to within the UBI movement see this as anything
other than a struggle for power in the long-term. This is
happening at a lot of different levels, not always as the kind of
clear class struggle which OCAP would recognise or see as 'valid'.
One thing I would say is that the idea of UBI has done a good job
of splitting the neoliberals, not all of whom support it - why is
this not seen as a good thing? In my experience UBI has also
helped to open up people to a lot of other ideas - the role of
economic rent; the replacement of taxes on these with taxes on
work; what is necessary work, paid or unpaid; what is the commons
and what is our share in it - to name a few. These also must be
part of the 'working class political challenge to neoliberalism',
surely?</p>
<p>Best wishes,</p>
<p>Barb<br>
</p>
<p><br>
</p>
<br>
<div class="m_-5523235522905370488moz-cite-prefix">On 09/10/2017 7:35, Michel Bauwens
wrote:<br>
</div>
<blockquote type="cite">
<div dir="ltr">counting on you for a response, dear Barb <g>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>a significant quote about the mindset of the organizers:</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<div>"<span>f
faith in a progressive basic income is misplaced, we wish we
could offer a shining and readily attainable alternative but
this is not possible. We are largely fighting a defensive
struggle against a virulent agenda to undermine social
provision and increase the rate of exploitation. We can only
offer the hard slog of building stronger inclusive movements
of social resistance, rejuvenating unions and building a
working class political challenge to neoliberalism."</span></div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_extra"><br>
<div class="gmail_quote">On Mon, Oct 9, 2017 at 1:26 PM, tina
ebro <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:cgebro@gmail.com" target="_blank">cgebro@gmail.com</a>></span>
wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div dir="ltr">
<div class="gmail_default" style="font-family:tahoma,sans-serif">
<div id="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-intro2">
<p class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-intro" style="line-height:21.312px;margin-left:55.175px;margin-right:39.4125px">The <a class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-relay" href="http://ocap.ca/" style="padding-left:2px;padding-right:2px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(0,0,255)" target="_blank">Ontario
Coalition Against Poverty</a> (OCAP) has drawn up
the following statement on basic income (BI). It
makes the case that, progressive hopes to the
contrary notwithstanding, BI is being developed as a
measure of neoliberal attack that should be opposed.
We invite progressive organizations and individuals
who hold positions in agencies and academic
institutions, who agree with our arguments, to sign
onto the statement. We hope that it will raise a
voice of opposition and help develop information
sharing and forms of co-operation among those,
internationally, who reject the notion that basic
income represents any kind of realistic response to
the neoliberal attack.</p>
<p class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-intro" style="line-height:21.312px;margin-left:55.175px;margin-right:39.4125px">Endorsements
and other responses can be directed to OCAP at <a href="mailto:ocap@tao.ca" target="_blank">ocap@tao.ca</a>.</p>
</div>
<div id="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-headline">
<h1 style="text-align:left;font-family:Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px"><font color="#0000ff" size="2">from Socialist Project</font></h1>
<h1 style="color:rgb(0,0,0);text-align:center;font-family:Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px"><font size="2">The Neoliberal Danger of Basic Income</font></h1>
</div>
<div id="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-article-content">
<p class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-intro-text" style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">We,
the undersigned, are convinced that the emerging
model of basic income, reflected in pilot projects
and other initiatives in a number of countries and
jurisdictions, is one that would intensify the
neoliberal agenda. The hope that there is any
realistic chance of ensuring a truly adequate,
universal payment, that isn’t financed by
undermining other vital elements of social
provision, is misplaced in our view.</p>
<div style="float:right;border:0px;margin:1em;padding:0.3em;width:29.2em">
<div class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-img-shadow" style="margin-left:0.5em"><img src="http://socialistproject.ca/bullet/b1494.jpg" alt="Basic Income: Wolf in sheep's clothing" style="border:1px solid rgb(218,218,218)" width="500" height="390"></div>
</div>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">We
are far from wanting to suggest that existing
systems of income support are anywhere close to
adequate. They provide precarious sub-poverty income
under conditions that are marked by intrusive
regulations and forms of moral policing. Moreover,
decades of neoliberal austerity have made these
systems considerably worse.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">However
wretched and inadequate present systems may be, the
assumption that basic income must or even could be
an improvement on the status quo has to be tested by
considering a number of factors. Historically,
income support has been provided because those in
political power concluded that outright abandonment
of those not in the workforce would create
unacceptably high levels of unrest and social
dislocation. In the far from dead tradition of the
English Poor Laws, income support has been provided
at levels that were low enough to maintain a supply
of the worst paid workers, in forms that were as
punitive and degrading as possible. Again, the
neoliberal years have seen these features
intensified in what we must concede has been a
highly effective drive to create a climate of
desperation and a plentiful supply of low paid and
precarious workers.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">If
austerity driven governments and institutions of
global capitalism are today looking favourably at
basic income, it’s not because they want to move
toward greater equality, reverse the neoliberal
impact and enhance workers’ bargaining power. They
realize that a regressive model of basic income can
be put in place that provides an inadequate, means
tested payment to the poorest people outside of the
workforce but that is primarily directed to the
lowest paid workers. This would be, in effect, a
subsidy to employers, paid for out of the tax
revenues and it would be financed by cuts to broader
public services. Such a model would lend itself to <a class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-relay" href="http://socialistproject.ca/bullet/1399.php" style="padding-left:2px;padding-right:2px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(0,0,255)" target="_blank">disregarding
the particular needs of disabled people</a> and,
as a “citizen’s income,” <a class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-relay" href="http://socialistproject.ca/bullet/1489.php" style="padding-left:2px;padding-right:2px;text-decoration-line:none;color:rgb(0,0,255)" target="_blank">could
readily be denied to many immigrants</a>,
especially those left undocumented. Under such a
system, you would shop through the rubble of the
social infrastructure with your meagre basic income.
The kind of pilot projects and other initiatives
that are emerging offer severe warnings in this
regard (we include some links at the bottom of this
article that provide information on several of
these).</p>
<h3 style="text-align:center;font-family:Verdana,Arial,sans-serif;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px"><font size="2">Workless Future?</font></h3>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">However,
some suggest that while regressive models could be
developed and may pose a danger, a progressive and
even “emancipatory” form of basic income is possible
and realistic as a goal. Often, this is linked to
the idea of preparing for a “workless future” in
which vast numbers of technologically displaced
workers can be provided for. The notion is that a
universal payment would be provided unconditionally
and that it would be adequate enough so that paid
work, if it were an option, would be a matter of
choice rather than necessity. While there are a few
who suggest this could be won through large scale
social action, advocates for a progressive basic
income more often seem to assume that capitalist
support and acceptance by the state can be won by
way of a vigorous lobbying effort.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">In
our view, a truly adequate and redistributive, let
aside transformative, basic income is not possible
within the confines of the current economic system.
Firstly, the present balance of forces in society,
after decades of neoliberalism, does not lend itself
to the conclusion that a sweeping measure of social
reform, that would reverse this whole agenda, is
immediately likely. Beyond this, however, an income
support system that removed economic coercion in a
way that progressive basic income advocates suggest,
would be more than turning back the neoliberal tide.
It would actually mean that the state was providing
the working class with an unlimited strike fund. It
would undermine the very basis for the capitalist
job market. It would constitute social
transformation, a revolutionary change that is, to
say the least, beyond the capacity of any possible
social policy enactment.</p>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">If
basic income as emancipation is not possible, it can
only too easily take form as neoliberal
intensification. Yet, sadly, progressive advocates
end up offering legitimacy to that regressive
alternative but placing hopes in musings about basic
income by Silicon Valley billionaires or by
presenting cynical pilot projects, set up by
austerity driven governments, as flawed but
important first steps. However much they wish
otherwise, the sow’s ear will not become a silk
purse.</p>
<div class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-pulloutbox" style="float:right;margin-left:10px;width:320px">
<blockquote class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-pulloutbox" style="color:rgb(255,255,255);line-height:31.968px;margin:0.3em 0px;padding:1em 0px 1em 1em;background-color:rgb(127,127,127);border-radius:15px;width:288px">
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:27.7056px;margin-left:17.275px;margin-right:14.4px"><span class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-bqstart">“</span></p>
<p style="line-height:27.7056px;margin-left:17.275px;margin-right:14.4px">We
must fight for free, expanded and accessible
public services. We must win decent wages and
workers’ rights.<span class="m_-5523235522905370488m_2420070000436326251gmail-bqend">”</span></p>
</blockquote>
</div>
<p style="text-align:justify;line-height:23.088px;margin-left:63.7875px;margin-right:53.15px">If
faith in a progressive basic income is misplaced, we
wish we could offer a shining and readily attainable
alternative but this is not possible. We are largely
fighting a defensive struggle against a virulent
agenda to undermine social provision and increase
the rate of exploitation. We can only offer the hard
slog of building stronger inclusive movements of
social resistance, rejuvenating unions and building
a working class political challenge to
neoliberalism. As we do this, we must fight for
free, expanded and accessible public services. We
must win decent wages and workers’ rights. We must
struggle for income support systems that are based
on adequacy, full entitlement and that are purged of
intrusive rules and moral policing. We must infuse
all of these movements and struggles with a sense of
a very different kind of society from the capitalist
one we are fighting. This doesn’t have the glitter
of the dream of a progressive basic income but it
does accept the reality that there is no social
policy way around neoliberalism or a long and hard
fight against it. The progressive welcome mat for
basic income is a very big mistake. •</p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<br>
______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>
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<br>
</blockquote>
</div>
<br>
<br clear="all"><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">
<div><br>
</div>
-- <br>
<div class="m_-5523235522905370488gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">
<div dir="ltr">
<div>
<div dir="ltr">
<div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://commonstransition.org" target="_blank">http://commonstransition.org</a> </div>
<div><br>
</div>
P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a>
- <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a>
<br>
<br>
Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>;
<a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/<wbr>mbauwens</a><br>
<br>
#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-<wbr>complete-list/</a>
<br>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</font></span></div>
</blockquote>
<br>
</div>
</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://commonstransition.org" target="_blank">http://commonstransition.org</a> </div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div></div></div></div>
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