As students of life, some of us have lived through poverty, through the worried nights of insecurity, the feeling of being powerless and valueless. Some of us have seen the angst of unemployment, the feeling of being unwanted, the restless days of sitting at home while others go to work, and the lull of the nights that is not entirely peace.

Some of us are scholars committed to understanding poverty and economic insecurity. We try to find the underlying political and economic causes of inequity and ways of solving them. We see a vision for the future, and try to lay down steps to overcome poverty and build a more equitable society.

All of us whose vocabulary has been informed by the lived experience of poverty and unemployment, or those of us who may have an indirect knowledge or experience of it; all are invited. We may be students, artists, researchers, social workers, community organizers, development practitioners, and politicians. We can also be those who have no claim to any such knowledge or experience, and those who fervently dream of a better world.

For the 19th BIEN Congress, India Network for Basic Income plans to publish an anthology of different kinds of writing on themes surrounding Basic Income and what it hopes to address – unfreedom, new forms of slavery, poverty, economic insecurity, being debt-ridden, addiction, deprivation, depression – and the sense of shame that accompanies each of these states of mind. The list can be almost endless. The writings can also be of different kinds:

Poems

Short story / parable

Biography / Autobiography / memoir

Personal reflection

Interview / conversation

Cartoon

Painting

Graffiti

Please ensure that the writing does not exceed 1000 words.

INBI invites contributions to this anthology, as an open call until 15th of June 2019. These shall be sent to Akhilesh Arya at akhilesh.arya@gmail.com.