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  • Mr./Madam president.

  • I will not adress the day's proposition's query or to the current politics, in my speech.

  • I agree with Gunvor G Ericson in which he has already brought forth, in regards to current politics.

  • Instead, I am going to take the liberty to pursue a more philosophical discussion

  • on human dignity and security.

  • My starting point is, an individual exercise of investigation

  • of the basic income garantee, with it's related pilot projects, which I co-authored

  • with Annika Lillemets , Jan Lindholm and Tina Ehn.

  • For some time now, an interest in basic income has been growing, or if you prefer a citizen's income.

  • Basic income groups in Gothenburg, Malmö, as well as other cities are growing,

  • perhaps we are seeing the embryo of a new Swedish popular movement.

  • Our great southern neighbor, Germany, has long had an undulating basic income movement directing the political

  • parties to set up task groups for bringing this matter further towards realization.

  • Prominent German economists are now looking at the possibility of basic income.

  • The EU Parliament, in its resolution of 2010, appealed to the member states to consider

  • an unconditional basic income as a way to combat social exclusion and emphasize that

  • the resolution for basic income is a non-stigmatizing approach, with the potential to also access

  • the hidden poverty.

  • At the global level, the great research and activist network BIEN, Basic Income Earth Network,

  • is documenting extensive pilot projects for basic income in India, Brazil and other countries.

  • Today's growing interest in basic income is not a coincidence but rather coincides with

  • a dramatic social reality. Globalization, digitization and automation are considerable

  • positive developments, but consequently, fewer people are able to produce anymore.

  • Even people with higher education and excellent social skills have difficulty in getting into the labor market today.

  • We see how a so-called precariat is emerging, where people are forced

  • to accept precarious, insecure employment relations throughout their working life,

  • with far-reaching consequences for the formation of family and life opportunities.

  • What is more natural than people in transition to start thinking outside the box and challenge

  • the conditions of social security based on their previous incomes. Furthermore, in our

  • once comfortable Sweden, people are falling outside of the society while the majority

  • of the unemployed are no longer allowed compensation through unemployment insurance.

  • The rise for the idea of a basic income, I believe, is linked to an exciting theoretical development,

  • where new funding opportunities have been highlighted.

  • The world renowned American climate scientist, James Hansen, has proposed the introduction of a high and

  • (over time) increasing carbon tax, where the proceeds would go back to the citizen in form

  • of a basic income, thus mobilizing public support for such a carbon tax;

  • low and middle income earners would benefit from the proposal.

  • Hansen's brilliant idea has already incouraged

  • Senators Barbara Boxer and Bernie Sanders of the U.S. Congress, to motion for a carbon tax

  • where 60 % of the tax returns go to the citizens, while 25 % goes to the state and

  • 15% to a fund for investing in renewable and efficient energy.

  • To link together, the fight against climate change with the fight against increasing social discrepencies,

  • is beautiful, yes it is raising politics to poetry and shining a light of

  • hope for our jaded times.

  • Mr. / Madam president.

  • Not surprisingly, the powerful elite feel deep discomfort about the thought of basic income.

  • Because the individual is released from dependency on welfare bureaucracies and union hierarchies.

  • Suddenly the individual can afford to say no to poor employment

  • ... yes, all of this would cause the powerful elite of our world to start "dancing".

  • And it would certainly be about time!

Mr./Madam president.

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