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| Unconditional Basic Income Europe NEWSLETTER – February 2022 |
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| Farewell, dear Götz Werner |
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| Dear Friend, |
| The past week included a mix of sad news, like the passing of an inspiring figure in the basic income movement, as well as several more positive news worth sharing.
On Saturday, we had our third UBIE members Agora. We started with an inspiring presentation of Circles, a basic income system for communities. We then updated each other on our upcoming events and news from our working groups and activists, and finally went on to discuss about basic income, share best practices and further inspire each other.
If you're not a UBIE member yet, perhaps it's time to join. Keep reading for more news from our members. |
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| Yours unconditionally, The UBIE Core Group |
| Farewell, dear Götz Werner |
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| The past week unfortunately included some very sad news. Unconditional basic income has lost one of its most important voices: dm-drogerie markt founder and patron of FRIBIS, Götz Werner, has passed away on 8 February 2022, at the age of 78. He inspired us with his ideas and actions.
“How about having a basic income and not having a fear of existence? Basic income is the most utopic thing you can imagine,” he said in an interview in 2018. In many ways, he paved the way for the discussion about basic income in Germany and gave the idea a strong voice. Thank you very much, Götz Werner, for your ideas, courage and support in taking unconditional basic income one step closer to reality! |
| Latest news |
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| The UBIE Athens Academy is waiting for your application Join us in Athens for four days of debates and creative work! The UBIE Athens Academy 2022 will be an inspiring mix of seminars, workshops and debates around Unconditional Basic Income, from Thursday 31 March to Sunday 3 April, in order to share knowledge, develop campaigns and foster networking.
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| Circles, a basic income system for communities Circles is an alternative currency, which allows organised groups of people to provide basic income for each other - rather than depending on the state. |
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| New publication from Nordic BIEN The Nordic model is known for guaranteeing universal access to a certain level of welfare services and benefits. However, the recent changes in the labor market are challenging this model. This publication examines the challenges facing the Nordic Welfare State and proposes Basic Income as a solution to reinvent itself.
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| Conference on the Future of Europe - Open Letter According to the Joint Declaration, “the Conference is based on inclusiveness, openness, and transparency”. The Citizens Take Over Europe coalition wrote an Open Letter asking the Conference Plenary and its Working Groups for more transparency in their working procedure, ensuring that the Joint Declaration can be respected. Your organization can sign the letter until Monday 14 February 8PM.
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| Smart Clickbaiting - The secret behind Italy's ECI signature spike A message from Michele Gianella
A couple of weeks ago, Italy suddenly witnessed a spike in the ECI signature collection. After a couple of days of investigation, we found out that the spike was due to a journalist who wrote a series of articles on a trading platform (ilovetrading.it), a quite unusual target group for Basic Income. The secret behind his success is called "smart clickbaiting".
"Michele", he told me in a phone call, "you are basically selling a drug, a pharmaceutical product. UBI is a drug against social anxiety and inequality and in an anti-headache pill ad, you don't explain how great your pill is from a pharmacological perspective. Rather, you start from a person's problem, and then you emphasize how beneficial your pill is”.
So instead of long, thoughtful articles dissecting the ins and outs of UBI, a series of short articles starting from recent news (like, say, a corporation laying off 150 jobs with an SMS), explaining how beneficial UBI would be for these people might work much better, signature-wise. That's what I would call "smart clickbaiting". He prepared a message to be shared all across Italian virtual communities, and we are currently trying to replicate the same strategy across different media outlets. And since it worked so well for us, I hope this advice might inspire and help all of you.
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| Future Diaries - a podcast from... the future Have you ever wondered what a future with Basic Income might look like?
Storytelling is a powerful tool to advocate for a policy like UBI, other policies that matter, or even discuss important causes and social issues, aided by a fictional narrative. Future Diaries is a podcast that follows precicely this approach, utilising speculative fiction to highlight important issues!
This month's episode features an alternative universe where money does not exist. We have inside information that the next episode will feature a universe where Basic Income is a reality! You can get early access to future episodes by becoming a patron of the show: patreon.com/futurediaries
They also have a special offer running until the end of the day today, which will get you a handwritten postcard "from the future", sent globally, if you sign-up at any tier! Hint: the above will also help the artists behind the podcast raise a Basic Income for themeselves, so they can keep following their passion and inspire better presents and better futures, as their mission states!
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| Support UBIE now |
| UBIE volunteers invest huge amounts of their time, energy and money into promoting basic income. With your help, we can strengthen our financial foundation in order to professionalise our work and accelerate the UBI journey. |
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| Unconditional Basic Income Europe asbl
Rue de Pavie 17 1000 Brussels Belgium
Belgian public registry number: 633895889
Legal representative: Alessandra Bianchi (Chair)
contact@ubie.org |
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