Chapter 2.5 – The transition

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

“Now I have one more important question: How did you manage the transition? How did you create your Joytopia? Was their any opposition? Was the transition possible without violence?”

“You remember that most of the nations were democracies shortly before the transition. That was a very good thing since in a democracy you can change everything if you have a majority. Do you remember that peaceful changes have been accomplished even in dictatorships on your planet? I’m thinking of India or the reunification of Germany. It’s much easier to make changes in democracies.

It started with some people on Freegaia from the most different classes of society who exposed the causes of the old problems and looked for new ways. First of all, they found many different solutions but gradually the really sustainable solutions emerged. The new social networks created on the internet proved to be extremely favourable. All the necessary software was available at no cost through the open-source movement and Creative Commons made it possible for content to circulate freely.

Portals for online petitions that could reach millions of people at once were created. New political parties developed methods of grassroots democracy with the help of the internet. Protection of nature and the environment were already public issues. Free energy was gradually starting to be discussed. More and more initiatives and organisations were campaigning for peace, social justice, a basic income and a new monetary system. A global change was imminent.

Although the Natural Economy of Life combined many of the single elements right from the start, its advocates had a hard time at the beginning and were often not understood. People don’t like having something foisted on them and they wanted to find the solution themselves. And that’s fine. But now the ground was prepared and the Natural Economy of Life no longer seemed much different from other progressive concepts. Besides, it isn’t something laid down but is a developing research project which everyone is invited to contribute to.

The gradido social network was developed open source. The Gradido Academy was created as a free research network to simulate the Natural Economy of Life and to test and further develop the gradido, the living money, as we called it. Thanks to the decentral structure, communities, associations and organisations were able to communicate with each other. This was how the gradido network was able to spread.

Information on the subject was published under a Creative Commons license. It was allowed to be freely copied and circulated. That was really simple on the internet: you just needed to send the link to your friends. They, in turn, sent it to their friends and so on. In this way it was possible to reach a very large number of people all over the world very quickly.

The research results were collated and the model further refined. An increasing number of people pronounced themselves in favour of it. Online petitions were organised worldwide and these finally led to referendums. The result was phenomenal: the large majority of the population decided in favour of the new model of the natural economy of life.”

“Was there opposition, too?“

“Yes! The banks, which had helped to create the government debt, were against it at the beginning. Some people had fears concerning their property. Others believed that if there was a basic income not enough goods would be produced. Here the superiority of the active basic income, which guarantees unconditional participation, was shown: basic income is not handed out to all and sundry but is tied to an active contribution to the common good.

Informing people worldwide then brought about the turnaround: even members of banks started to speak out in favour of the Natural Economy of Life. So the initial opposition disappeared in the course of time.”

“Did everything go smoothly after the successful referendum?“

“Of course there were difficulties at the beginning but they were nothing compared to problems of the old time.”

“Dear Very, good friend! Thank you so much for this information! I still have one final question before I go back: Where exactly is Freegaia located?”

“A moment ago it was still on another planet but now it is deep in your heart. Good luck!”

Advantage 81 – Step-by-step plan for parallel introduction

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Everything difficult must be planned while it is still easy, everything great must be dealt with while it is small. Everything difficult on earth always begins as something easy, everything great always begins as something small.«

– Laotse

Chinese philosopher

Now we come to plan B, the official introduction of the gradido in one or several countries parallel to the existing system. »Official« means that there is a government decision (if necessary a referendum) to phase in the gradido as a complementary currency. For this we have elaborated a step-by-step plan, starting with a 10% gradido share, which increases 10% in every phase.

A 10% gradido share means that a seller has to accept at least 10% of the price in gradidos. They can accept more gradidos than the minimum share. As gradido earnings are not taxed, it can actually be an advantage to accept more gradidos. When the gradido share is 100% there is no tax any longer.

International trade can continue without any problems. Foreign customers can also pay the gradido share in gradidos if they have some. Otherwise they pay the full amount the old currency. Conversely, foreign suppliers can accept gradidos but if they do not they are at a disadvantage vis-à-vis domestic suppliers. This creates an incentive for foreign suppliers to accept gradidos and the gradido zone becomes larger. The farther the gradido spreads, the more the advantages of the Natural Economy of Life take effect in gradido countries. More and more countries join the gradido zone until finally they are all members.

The step-by-step plan provides for an 10% increase in the gradido share in every phase. If there is a new phase each year, a 50% gradido share is reached after five years. The fifth phase is a milestone when it makes sense to look back and take stock of what is already going well and where there is need for improvement. We can learn from the experience gained and can decide whether and at what pace we will proceed to a 100% gradido share. 

Advantage 82 – Immediately feasible when people decide on it

Excerpt from the book »Gradido – Natural Economy of Life«

»Nothing in the world is so powerful as an idea whose time has come.«

– Victor Hugo

French writer

All this is immediately feasible once we humans have decided on it. That is why it is so important to inform as many people as possible about it in a short time.

During the so-called »Arab spring« we saw how effectively groups of people organised themselves through social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. We can also make use of these possibilities. Information spreads round the world at lightning speed when the time is ripe. Not everyone has the internet but soon the media will report on it and reach quite a different group of people, which makes the news spread even faster. Once people are informed and have looked into the matter, they can decide. We live in democracies and when the majority decides in favour of something it will happen.