LEADERS SPEAK OUT

Responses to the Plan by Pieter Kooistra: A Basic Income for All and a Marshall Plan for the Earth,
written in response to Kooistra’s book, The Ideal Self-Interest, 1997.

“The emphasis in The All-Win Principle on development as an individual and as a species is wonderful. The aim is to survive and thrive without harming others. For the individual it means to develop its full potential without blocking the potentials of others. For humankind, it means to live in peace with nature and among each other. This is the way to go.
Wishing you all the best and with kind regards,
Prof. Dr. Dr. F. J. Radermacher
Forschungsinstitut fuer anwendungsorientierte Wissensverarbeitung/n (FAW/n)

“I compared his [Kooistra’s] ideas to mine and found that we agreed on quite a number of things. So, I have a very favourable opinion of the book.
By being receptive to his reasoning and after carefully considering his ideas we will find we also come to similar conclusions.
Jan Tinbergen, economist and Nobel Prize winner.

“…I will continue to use every opportunity to spread the idea [of Kooistra’s Basic Income for All and World Marshall Plan for the Earth]…sooner or later your plan will save the world from the economic collapse which is progressively building up.”
Dr. Robert Muller, formerly UN Assistant Secretary General and Chancellor of the UN’s University for Peace.

“It is absolutely clear that competitive markets and the globalization of trade no longer offer any prospect of equity or even a decent life for most of the world’s people… [This report by Pieter Kooistra] demonstrates the kind of innovative thinking that is necessary, if we still have any commitment to the goal of humane lifestyles for the majority of the world’s many peoples I am sure there will be disagreement with specific details of Kooistra’s proposals. But this will be good; his purpose is to give information and to generate creative responses. Without both we are heading quickly towards a bipolar world that will be maintained for awhile only with accelerating destruction of the environment and increasing resort by the rich to the rich assortment of economic, legal, and military instruments of force and repression.
Dennis Meadows, Club of Rome, director University of New Hampshire.

“Please go ahead promoting this idea of Mr. Pieter Kooistra. The world needs an  alternative economic plan…
There is no doubt that it is an ingenious idea and it should draw the attention of all those who can make a difference to the lives of millions of people in the world who are poor and powerless…I also accept the fact Sarvodaya is in a good position to try out this experiment.”
A.T. Ariyaratne, Sri Lanka, President of the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement.

“I read your WORLD PLAN with attention and interest. It is a fascinating project that merits deeper study. The problems faced by humanity at the turn of the century are such, that all imaginative solutions that could lead to sustainable forms of well-being need to be explored. A UN-based income distribution scheme would come high on this list of priority studies.
Ervin Laszlo,  Italy, President of The Club of Budapest, Member, Club of Rome

“I went through [the Ideal Self-Interest] with great interest. Many things in it are written in a systematic way. During the last two decades, we have tried to put these things into practice in the state of Tamil Nadu: Literacy, awareness-building and development of people in rural areas. As such it is a laudable and realisable plan...

“I promise to study these ideas in the workshops and training programmes which I’ll be organising in the coming months and the ways and means of implementing them in our work of improving the standard of living and quality of life through Education, Awareness-building and training for Income-Generation.
R. Gomez. President People Association for International Integration. An Organisation committed to People’s Development through Communal Harmony.