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  • Good afternoon. Welcome all to Z-Day Belgium this event is organized by the Zeitgeist Movement

  • from Belgium it's part of the global Zeitgeist movement as you probably know The Zeitgeist

  • Movement is a sustainability advocacy group.

  • Our movements activism is explicitly based on non-violent communication and the focus

  • lies on educating the public about the root causes of our personal, social and ecological

  • problems. The Zeitgeist Movement also informs about

  • problem solving potential that science and technology enables but unfortunately it does

  • get unapplied due to the barriers inherent in our established social system.

  • Since 2009 The Zeitgeist Movement has been having Z-days all over the world in more than

  • 70 countries. The goal of a Z-Day is to increase public awareness of our movement and the

  • potential for a new society. Our Z-Day today is especially about dialogue and transition.

  • Dialogue in a sense that everyone will be able to participate and bring up certain topics.

  • And transition because of our wonderful guest speakers and the possible paths that they

  • will explain to us to show how we can transition to a better world.

  • Our program today. first we'll be starting with the presentation of basic income by Christina

  • Lambrecht. After which there will be a Q&A and dialogue about this transition method.

  • Then we'll have a short break you can as you see buy beverages and snacks at the bar. After

  • the break Jean Lievens will give a presentation about the P2P Foundation also followed by

  • a Q&A and our last topic of today is the People's Voice where you can give your thoughts on

  • certain topics or even bring up subjects. Now, how to present Christina?

  • Well, her Flemish and her German roots and her French-speaking family in law gave her

  • the perfect Belgian profile to represent Belgium during the European citizens initiative for

  • basic income between 14 January 2013 and 14 January 2014.

  • She likes to present herself as a self-made woman, today she is retired and spends her

  • time with her four grandchildren and lives with her husband in Namur. Before her retirement

  • she was active as a tourist guide translator, interpreter and she speaks Dutch, French,

  • German and English. Her former public relations activities learnt her to promote as best as

  • possible the stuff she believes in. So today she will be promoting basic income.

  • Her life experiences in Africa, Germany, United States, Russia and Belgium gave her a broad

  • view of the world, and of its many cultures. Yet, she does not want to pin herself on a

  • specific idea and she looks to basic income from her gut feeling. Therefore she asks us

  • to do the same thing today. She always says basic income has nothing to do with dogma,

  • but is an opportunity to support a transition to change. Please welcome: Christina Lambrecht.

  • I would like to say you that you, that in fact you are blowing me away. Tomorrow it's

  • Easter, normally the most people are at home preparing dinner for tomorrow, are going on

  • a nice journey. And you're coming here? For me? Well, I'm very grateful. And I would

  • like to say: thank you Joris for this invitation because as - I don't remember the name of

  • the young man - Arne. I'm not busy with a dogmatical way, I'm just a messenger and

  • so every opportunity to talk about Basic Income is a good opportunity.

  • But before starting this talk, I would like to share with you a kind of «unconvenient

  • thruth». The misunderstanding, surrounding the idea of Basic Income remains very large

  • and opponents of the Basic Income idea like to keep the smoke as thick as possible.

  • They try to use what I call, the fear strategy and accuse us, the supporters of Basic Income

  • of propaganda, of spreading the idea in a dogmatically way , and they do not hesitate

  • to even accuse us that we are engaged in a kind of new religion. Maybe you read some

  • of the posts the reactions I have on Facebook, and that's what quite often...

  • So, when I try to ask them of course, ok, maybe I am wrong, for I do not have the monopoly

  • on the truth, and then they close their ranks, but bring no good arguments that can contribute

  • to the enrichment of the debate.

  • Of course they say: “Yes, yes! You're studying Basic Income”. And soon we will

  • bring out all the pros and the cons.

  • But as I know, very seldom, these cons are constructive. You can have critics, but you

  • can also be constructive. And sometimes I do have this strange feeling that they are

  • reinventing the hot water but that this water must flow through their channels, because

  • they don't want to lose their own old achievements.

  • Or as Nicolo Machiavelli put it very sharply: “It must be remembered that there is nothing

  • more difficult to plan, more doubtful of success, nor more dangerous to manage than a new system.

  • For the initiator has the enmity of all who would profit by the preservation of the old

  • institution and merely lukewarm defenders in those who gain by the new ones. ”

  • And I tell them, to the opponents, and I tell it to everyone: I am not a university professor,

  • I am not an economist and I am not a philosopher, in fact I am, like you, probably a citizen

  • who is seeking for change.

  • So yes, I never will say that Basic Income is the only and one solution to our problems.

  • Of course I like to think that some of the problems we meet like climate change, are

  • linked together. And that we should be interested in solutions like degrowth, like sustainable

  • and more frugal economy. I think that The Zeitgeist is about this too. But to have this

  • change, we need also a strong and simple tool towards a complete change of the system out

  • of the short-term consumerism.

  • And here I would like to quote Michel Bauwens from the Peer-To-Peer. Who wrote in fact with

  • Jean Lievens who will be later here in the afternoon. Who wrote this bookDe wereld

  • redden”. And he gives quite a lot of interesting ideas. And Michel, he once said: «The underlying

  • issue is how gradual, how smooth, how bearable, transition can be. And how can we support

  • those who gain a taste for frugality and its advantages and take the plunge into a different

  • way of life? »

  • It's indeed a very, very big challenge! And that's where -to me- Basic Income might

  • come in.

  • I also told you, I am not an economist. So for those who are preparing calculators. I

  • won't answer the question about how to finance Basic Income. I can tell you it's possible

  • and people more clever than I -the economists- they already did the calculation exercise.

  • But, what we really need. And that's in fact why I am calling myself the messenger

  • of Basic Income. What we really need, and this I would like to say in Dutch, because

  • it is linked to our Belgian politics. And probably you all will remember this. We need

  • "vijf minuten politieke moed”. Five minutes of political courage.

  • Our policymakers only talk about Gross National Product, because that's how they measure

  • how economically rich we are and so it's always linked to work-production and consumption.

  • Gross National Product measures everything, except that what is not worthwhile. Like health,

  • education, self-development, having enough free time to do something else than working,

  • producing, consuming.

  • Yet, when you talk about transition and change towards a system that makes life worthwhile

  • and you talk about the Gross National Happiness.. maybe you heard about it? You have this little

  • country in Bhutan, in the Himalaya, and there they are thinking measuring the wealth and

  • the health of the people by Gross National Happiness. You'll see when you talk about

  • Gross National Happiness instead of Gross National Product and you propose Basic Income,

  • you'll discover soon how difficult it is: people are so afraid for the unknown and prefer

  • to push always forward the challenges they are confronted with because in fact they are

  • always afraid of losing old achievements.

  • So to me, Basic Income, means in the first place a change of mentality, a kind of switch

  • towards a new sustainable system and therefore we need to build awareness, Basic Income awareness.

  • Now you're going to say: “What is she telling there?”. In Belgium for example,

  • a national Basic Income could be a politically viable program twenty years down the road,

  • but only if it can become a more mainstream concept in the nearer future.

  • Our politicians need to begin addressing Basic Income as a legitimate idea and start talking

  • about how it might work.

  • We need to build awareness, so that elected officials and the general population know

  • what Basic Income is and what problems it could solve.

  • We need policy experts to think about scenarios for how it could be practically implemented.

  • And we eventually need to set up city- and state-wide experiments in Belgium, in the

  • same way the Netherlands are starting now, so that we validate its effectiveness in a

  • real domestic environment.

  • But there is always, a but. The NIMBY factor. Not in my backyard!

  • When I talk about Basic Income: most people say: “wow, that's a great idea!”. And

  • then they ask me: “yes, but I am going to lose in this new kind of system?”. Or they

  • say -you repeated it already, when we discussed together-. Or they say: “that's fine,

  • but aren't you going to create an army of lazy losers?”.

  • So I like to compare Basic Income with the National lottery in Belgium: “win for life”.

  • Say 1000 euros a month, and then people say -that's always very strange-: “oh, if

  • I win this lottery, there will be no much change in my life, I'll continue to work,

  • maybe a little bit less”; “I will do something else because I don't like my actual bullshit

  • job”; I'll create something, I'll realize a dream, I'll buy something for my children

  • or for my homeand so on and so on

  • So, lottery -and I don't understand it, because lottery is based on luck-. But lottery

  • seems to bring only positive, constructive and trustfully vibes. People feel in fact

  • zenwith lottery. No one is telling me, “when my neighbour wins the lottery

  • 1000 euro a month, well he'll become a lazy loser….”. No one is telling me that. But,

  • as soon I do ask the same question about 1000 euro a month Basic Income, confidence in the

  • other disappears like snow in the sun. “My neighbour having this Basic Income, 1000 euro?

  • Lazy loser he will be!”. That's the mentality. In fact we need trust, confidence.

  • And now, let's start with very bad news: Robots are stealing our jobs. You hear it

  • every day I think. Especially on Facebook, I see everyday poststhis is automated”.

  • Two days ago, I listened to a radio programmeRadio1' from Belgium from the VRT. There

  • was this young man, I think a scientist, who explains in simple words science - about science.

  • And he was also a little bit talking about the Peer-To-Peer activities who are growing

  • everywhere. He said on the radio -I thought it was very funny-: “right now I am creating

  • a little robot”. So he can go at the bakery on Sunday buy my 'pistolets' -I don't

  • know how to say this in English. Little breads, “so I can stay in my bed”. That's “robot”.

  • Some sayoh no, this is science fiction”, but it really shouldn't. It's not science

  • fiction. It's in fact happening every day. Jobs are disappearing and no, I'm not talking

  • about lovely WALL-E. Have you seen this movie? My grandchildren, WALL-E is their hero. So

  • don't talk bad about him.

  • No, I don't talk about WALL-E and these kind of robots. I'm talking about the robots

  • who are stealing our jobs by automating. And then some will say: “yes! okay, okay; automation,

  • jobs are stolen, but, automation of low-skilled jobs, will create new high-skilled jobs. Yes

  • of course, it will always again. But never enough to give again full time jobs to everyone.

  • And even higher-skilled jobs are at risk today and start to be handled more and more by computer

  • programs.

  • So, yes, robots taking our jobs in fact is a devastating blow, especially in a full employment

  • economy. Inequality and poverty will increase, as well as the huge amount of pressure and

  • stress on our social welfare systems for the unemployed, which weren't designed to support

  • that number of people for extended periods of time.

  • So -some questions-. What if we would no longer focus on full employment? What if it was just

  • okay to not have a full time position? What if robots stealing our jobs could actually

  • be a good thing, rather than something to fear? That's the thinking behind a Basic

  • Income .

  • At first blush, of course, Basic Income may seem very similar to the existing social programs,

  • providing assistance to help those who are struggling.

  • But, there is a key difference: Basic Income would be considered as a fundamental right,

  • rather than a form of welfare. This would eliminate any stigma, that might exist for

  • programs that are designed for those in need.

  • And it is very simple.

  • Because Basic Income would be provided to every adult -to everyone of you-, and because

  • it just involves sending you a fixed payment to people every month, it would be much simpler

  • to run and require less bureaucracy than other social programs.

  • But, let me also give you the four criteria for Basic Income as accepted by BIEN, the

  • Basic Income Earth Network.

  • The definition to Basic Income Earth Network for Basic Income is: universal, individual,

  • unconditional, and high enough.

  • So Basic Income has to be high enough to live on, without needing any supplemental funds.

  • That means that you could be able to get by, even if you lost your job and there wouldn't

  • be immediate pressure to find a new one as quickly as possible. Having full time employment

  • would no longer be mandatory.

  • What's more -this one I like, what's more-, recent studies have shown that anxiety around

  • poverty reduces brain powerwhich means that the guarantee of Basic Income would actually

  • make people smarter.

  • Some are wondering whether or not, we should first start with a Basic Income at the European

  • level.

  • We see today indeed overwhelming evidence that the economic and austerity policies of

  • the European Union have a devastating impact on the lives of many Europeans, and they often

  • lead to a situation in which people have very little control over their own lives.

  • A growing number of people are confronted with an everyday life of financial restrictions

  • and a fading hope of seeing personal and professional efforts recognized.

  • So, yes, with the objective of an Unconditional Basic Income for each European Citizen, it

  • would be possible to set in fact a positive process in motion, allowing everyone the opportunity

  • of participation in working towards the common goals as stated in the European Constitution

  • and in the Declaration of Human Rights.

  • So let me just have some words, a few words about the European Basic Income idea as proposed

  • by Philippe Van Parijs, in fact the founder of BIEN.

  • He calls it the Euro-dividend .

  • It consists of paying a modest Basic Income. He proposes I think 200 euro, to every legal

  • resident of the European Union, or at least of the subset of member states that either

  • have adopted the Euro or are committed to do so.

  • This income provides each resident with a universal and unconditional floor (a base)

  • that can be supplemented at will by labour income, capital income and social benefits.

  • Its level can vary from country to country to track the cost of living, and it can be

  • lower for the young and higher for the elderly. It has to be financed by the Value Added Tax.

  • I leave it to you to google Philippe van Parijs and Euro-dividend to learn more about it.

  • Yet; sometimes I like to think this would be a nice idea for Greece for example.

  • Basic Income pilot projects have proven that it works, so why not, instead of suffocating

  • Greece and all these other countries -member states in need- with unrealistic demands and

  • impossible obligations, start a European pilot project for Basic Income?

  • But as I say: it's like wishful thinking.

  • Joris, you asked me to give some history about Basic Income. But, you know, every time when

  • the Basic Income idea bubbled up again in history, it was always in its own contemporary

  • context.

  • Some days ago I did read a quote -that's why Facebook is very nice, you have every

  • day quotes of people passing by, this one I selected-. Some days ago I did read a quote

  • coming from US President Theodore Roosevelt, the 32nd president of the United States and

  • I would like to share it with you: In his annual Message to the Congress on January

  • 11, 1944 and in a fireside chat to the American people the same evening, he stated : “We

  • now do realise the fact that true individual freedom cannot exist without economic security

  • and independence. Men in need are not free men. People who are hungry and out of a job

  • are the stuff of which dictatorships are made and only -and this one I like- and only when

  • men have hours of labour short enough, he will, after his days work is done, have time

  • and energy to bear his share in the management of community and to help carrying the general

  • load.”

  • It sounds indeed like music in my basic income ears. And I think for the Zeitgeist maybe

  • too? Work less and Basic Income: that's what the future should be about!

  • And although the context of history and time was complete different, Thomas Paine already

  • pronounced similar words during the French revolution, some hundred fifty years earlier.

  • No income, no citizenhe claimed in 1792 at the National Assembly.

  • The French Revolution was just broken out, but Thomas Paine warned his fellow revolutionaries:

  • democracy friends, can only work well when citizens are economically free and available to make

  • flourish her.”

  • Today, we have professor Guy Standing, I met him on Wednesday. One of the co-founders of

  • Basic Income Earth Network, he says exactly the same in his book “A precariat charter,

  • from denizen to citizen” : the term Precariat was originally used to denote temporary and

  • seasonal workers, but now, with labor insecurity, a feature of most western economies, it is

  • the perfect word for a great mass of people, “flanked by an army of unemployed and a

  • detached group of socially ill misfits, who enjoy almost none of the benefits won by organized

  • labor during the 20th century.“.

  • In Standing's view, they increasingly resemble denizens rather than citizens: people with

  • restricted rights, largely living towards the bottom of a “tiered membershipmodel

  • of society.

  • So the idea of Basic Income bubbled up a long time, and still keeps bubbling up, but what

  • I notice today is that it gets more and more interest and followers.

  • So maybe Victor Hugo was right, he said: “nothing is as powerful as an idea whose time has come”.

  • We all know him as a novelist, dramatist, poet. But do we know this about him:

  • In 1848, Hugo was elected to the Parliament as a conservative. In 1849 he broke with the

  • conservatives when he gave a noted speech calling for the end of misery and poverty.

  • In other progressive speeches he called for the universal suffrage and free education

  • for all children. And Hugo's advocacy to abolish the death penalty was renowned internationally.

  • And is again very actual.

  • So it's in fact all about the Zeitgeist, Joris.

  • And not only the Zeitgeist, but also about strong men and women who are not afraid for

  • the unknown and believe that progress is the realisation of Utopias. Or, as Oscar Wilde

  • said: “A map of the world that does not include utopia is not even worth glancing

  • at, for it leaves out the one country at which humanity is always landing. And when humanity

  • lands there, it looks out for better countries. Seeing a better country sets sail.”

  • Today Joris, I think, Zeitgeist is in transition. The momentum for change has come!

  • And we live in a very exciting «Zeitgeist» I would even say we live at the crossroads

  • of old and new, and that's of course always full of suspense.

  • Which direction to choose?

  • What legacy we would take from the past, and we should leave to not burden our choice of

  • direction towards the future?

  • Let's have a little talk about the Belgian social security.

  • I like to think that at the beginning of the industrial revolution, social security was

  • also a kind of utopia progressing in the mind of some people. But then suddenly it was realized

  • and it was greatly expanded thanks to the labor unions. But today we are in a very very

  • different situation: at the crossroad of a changing labor market in which we are becoming

  • in fact prosumers.

  • This word was coined in the 80's by the futurist Alvin Tofflerin his book The

  • Third Waveas a blend of producer and consumer.

  • He used it, to describe a possible future type of consumer, who would become involved

  • in the design and the production of goods. Thanks to the 3D printer for example.

  • He argued that we then no longer would be a passive market upon which industry dumped

  • consumer goods, but a part of the creative process.

  • So our social security needs an urgent update.

  • And whether you call it Basic Income, Citizens income, Transition Income, Citizen Dividend….it's

  • it's all about advancing equality and economic participation while enabling and emancipating

  • simpler welfare systems.

  • Today, in fact we already are in very modern times. Today, a solar powered plane, the Solar

  • Impulse, is flying around the world. Without fuel, only sun energy. We discovered that

  • Jupiter's moon Ganymede has a salty ocean with more water than on earth.

  • So in fact Oscar Wilde was right: progress is the realization of utopias.

  • We first learned how to make fire or to use fire, and this was a very huge step forward

  • and I think in fact that some of our far-off ancestors at the first fire burned their fingers…..so

  • this unknown new discovery for sure was not immediately appreciated by all.

  • Some might have said: “oh forget about it, let's remain deeply enough in our cave,

  • it's warm there and it's safe.”

  • But soon they knew: this unknown possibility -this fire- not only keeps us warm, brings

  • safety ….but a mammoth burger on barbecue tasted so much better

  • And so men kept going on, always on and on, progressing from crossroad to crossroad. Setting

  • sails for newer and better countries. We are leaving now today, the era of petrol in which

  • we made cars and aircraft and we live in a more and more internet connected world, and

  • what's next?

  • Are we entering the P2P revolution towards a collaboration prosumers economy? But I suppose

  • that Jean explains more about it later.

  • Since I'm invited by The Zeitgeist Movement, I wanted to have a few words about Jacque

  • Fresco. And I would like to use a quote. For those who don't know Jacque Fresco, he was

  • an American futurist, he also is known for The Venus Project, with Resource-Based Economy

  • ideas I think, and he also featured in the movie Zeitgeist Addendum.

  • [AndMoving Forward”.] I don't know, but... where his ideas of the future were

  • given as possible alternatives.

  • Now, he said: «Today we have access to highly advanced technologies. But our social and

  • economic system has not kept up with our technological possibilities that could easily create a world

  • of abundance, free of servitude and debt. Yet too many of us continue to believe that

  • some miracle technology will make growth always possible, again and again and thus postpone

  • the need for change because they think there is no alternative and that growth is the only

  • solution.”

  • So my proposal is Basic Income as a possible alternative.

  • As I said in the beginning: the idea is very simple: everyone in society receives a regular

  • income simply for being alive. Because you are there. And yet, let me ask you this. Would

  • our lives be better, would they have more meaning, if we knew we are working together

  • as a species toward common goals, without the fear of an income security?

  • To me the answer is yes! What if we start really working together toward these common

  • goals, designing our worldwide society for the benefit of all?

  • And here, I used the wordcommon”. And maybe you heard already aboutthe commons”.

  • I again I leave it to Jean to talk about it because to me, the commons, the P2P and collaboration

  • economy both fit perfectly together.

  • But, what I would like to say about it: the contributors who create these common values.

  • Like Wikipedia and so on. And share it with all of us, they don't have any income security.

  • With a Guaranteed Basic Income the individual would have easier access to a range of human

  • activities, and thus in fact it will encourage work.

  • A Guaranteed Basic Income that is high enough to ensure an existence in dignity and participation

  • in society and enables you to make your own free choices as well in private life, in your

  • P2P or prosumers activities or on the formal labor market.

  • In fact, it evens out life chances and choices.

  • And choice is to me as the Muse of creativity: human beings are not short of activities,

  • but rather of recognition, and freedom and financial security.

  • But here's another quote from Jacque Fresco: “If you think we can't change the world,

  • It just means you're not one that will.”.

  • Today the Zeitgeist is a bit of gloomy. And as I said, we are on the crossroad of old

  • and new. It gives an uncertain feeling, how to deal with theunknown”?

  • Well, in fact I am quite positive about it. Humanity comes from far and still has to go

  • a long way. And we always learn by trial and error. And no one has a crystal ball of course,

  • but the future starts today, not tomorrow.

  • Jeremy Rifkin, author ofThe Third Industrial Revolution,” saidBasic Income is not

  • a utopia, it is a practical business plan for the next step of human journey.”

  • Tomorrow we are celebrating Easter, and Easter is about being with people you love. And I

  • love being with you. Thank you.

  • [And thank you Christina Lambrecht!]

Good afternoon. Welcome all to Z-Day Belgium this event is organized by the Zeitgeist Movement

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