For a democratic and serene transition towards sustainable and desirable societies

‘Without a minimum of resources, the new citizen cannot fully enjoy the republican principles of liberty, equality and fraternity”, Thomas Paine declared in 1792. But, two centuries later, this idea has not caught on. Basic goods are not accessible to all: housing, food, clothing, energy and drinking water, education, heath, conviviality. Regardless, our societies that have never been so prosperous insist on an always-greater wealth accumulation to realise this ideal. What if solving inequalities did not rest upon this exponential growth?

Through a critique of Growth society, development, capitalism and productivism, growth objectors offer an economic, social and emancipatory tool, enabling people to avoid the effects of the recession without always resorting to more growth. The Unconditional Autonomy Allowance (UAA), coupled with a Acceptable Maximum Income, is an enabling tool for getting out of the deadly impasse this Growth society leads us into.

Beyond being a simple corrective measure, the UAA is designed to trigger dialogues and debates on what “living together” and how we create “more links” without creating more “goods” really means.

This Manifesto for an UAA begins with the origins of Degrowth and proposes pathways and food for thoughts with the potential to initiate a serene and democratic transition towards ecologically sustainable and socially just societies.

That is why the manifesto is a Degrowth project.

Vincent Liegey, StéphaneMadelaine, Christophe Ondet, and AnisabelVeillot, (2013), A Degrowth Project, Manifesto for an Unconditional Autonomy Allowance (UAA), Utopia.

“ […] the prerequisite for the transfromation of the economy is “ a strong adhesion from all and a participation to this desire for change”. That is the least … But we have to start somewhere and this stimulating book contributes to it undoubtedly”. Hervé Kempf in Le Monde.

“ And the success of the book may suggest that “transition is well underway”. Emmanuel Daniel in Slate.fr.

And also:

• « A Degrowth Project » in Libération: Vincent Liegey : “We can no longer grow in a finite world”
• « A Degrowth Project » in « Le Monde »
• Transition and Degrowth movements… Three questions by Silence!
• Video: A Degrowth Project, by Vincent Liegey
• Momentum Institute analyses Basic Income / Unconditional Autonomy Allowance: « Living income for free and egalitarian societies »
• « A Degrowth Project » : Yesterday’s utopia has become today’s reality!
• A Degrowth Project on Slate.fr: « To do away with the God of Growth »
• The transition is underway! – In Reporterre.net

By AgnèsRousseaux from BastaMag (March, 23^rd 2013)

“We have successfully created misery and ill-being in our opulent materialistic societies”, declares Vincent Liegey. The engineer and spokesperson for the Degrowth party (PPLD: Parti Pour La Décroissance) does not stop at slaying the myth of the never-ending growth. Together with the co-authors of the book A Degrowth Project, he proposes to give each citizen an Unconditional Autonomy Allowance (Dotation Inconditionnelled’autonomie): a living income with the potential to open many horizons, as well as an invitation to question the meaning of our society.

Basta!: Implementing a basic income, also called living income or universal allocation, is an emerging claim. You are offering a new proposition towards it.  In what way is your project original?

Vincent Liegey:  The basic income consists in giving each citizen an income, unconditionally, from birth to death. It is a very old idea that we have contributed to exhume, but we take a critical view of it: this type of income could be inscribed in our actual economic system, without toppling or questioning it.

Even Milton Friedman, one of neoliberalism’ s fathers, supported a basic income – by supressing social minimums and unions, and by letting the market’s “invisible hand” be in charge! We have developed a proposition, the Unconditional Autonomy Allowance (UAA), based upon past reflexions, but which is outside the commercial system. In short, some kind of “demonetised” basic income.
Continuer la lecture →

Suggesting an Unconditional Autonomy Allowance (UAA – Dotation Inconditonnelle d’Autonomie-) coupled with a Maximum Acceptable Income (MAI – Revenu Maximum Acceptable) is part of the approach, which proposes an economic, social and emancipatory tool to initiate models for sustainable, and desirable societies. With this tool we can avoid the impacts of ever-harsher recessions meant to lead us back to growth.

More than a corrective mechanism, these two measures are intended to trigger dialogues and debates on what “living together”, the ways to create “more links” without creating “more goods” mean.

Beyond enabling all of us to live in dignified and serene conditions, the implementation of the UAA coupled with a MAI, this tool enables us to imagine different ways of interacting among ourselves and with nature. It is about finding parameters to adopt more measured behaviours and give our humanity another chance. It addresses the reduction in inequalities since the first aim of Degrowth is to achieve a Degrowth in inequalities. Continuer la lecture →