Preface of the book “The Basic Income Study for the Pricipality of Pontinha”
Dear André Coelho,
Unusual, this is precisely the word that defines the challenge of the work. Not because we consider the Principality — or even the basic income in it or any other unusual place — but precisely because even in the most probable and evident places it needs this will to materialize. This is the challenge of the Principality — in the background of any place in the world with more or less conditions. How to constitute the concreteness of what is for many also unusual from places that also seemingly lack the necessary concreteness? Moreover: How can we contribute to the solidity of the foundations that will shelter the programs that we intend to constitute? This is precisely the proposal of the study:
‘To present an alternative — among many, I do not doubt — to enable a basic income, from not only a small population or a small territory and a small amount of financial resources. But to do so where there is absolutely no fund or wealth available to pay anyone’s basic income, and even where the territories do not and will never involve large populations. Yet, on the other hand, they have something lacking in all other territories of the world: a sovereign political will to want to actually do so.
In fact, it is a rather modest and preliminary study, which seeks to point out not only an alternative of how it would be possible to implant basic income in the Principality, but how it is possible through basic income to contribute to the process of constitution of these free territories, the population and the political force necessary to at least fight for its sovereignty. However, it is a succinct and modest study that if I summarized it here, I would have practically described the whole proposal without, however, even suggesting all the basic income potentiality in the construction of these independence and sovereignist processes. If small and solitary Principates and Villages without even the autonomy of principality in dispute for their recognition what will say of populations much larger, with resources and properly recognized. There follows the introduction of the study that I consider an invitation to read: the preliminary study can be downloaded free of charge at the following site and paid for in this other one. It is precisely the same text that does not have the pretension of giving the answers on this question, quite the contrary, it has the intention of opening these questions to the broad debate of both the basic income outside the old nation-state box and the income within the new box, the new micronations, these nations recognized as states or not. Whether these basic incomes are recognized as such or not. This is a lie, the study holds a pretension, but it can be called hope: ‘that more studies and experiments come again and better than this one and that extend even more the borders of basic incomes, beyond the commonplace that not by chance to this day, except for the standard deviation, is still nowhere ‘. Anyway, thank you for the feedback and consideration of your questions André1, I do not know if you realize just how meaningful this has been.
Nevertheless, whether you are aware or not, here we would like to acknowledge that we recognize you … we wish to thank you and all the friends involved in the Basic Movement project from Portugal.
Best regards
Marcus Brancaglione
Spring 2017
PS:Andre Coelho is the editor of www.basicincome.org He sent us some questions by email about the proposal presented by this book
