ChatGPT translated from german:
I first published this text on 22 December 2008 on my old Schreibstube blog, which no longer exists. Since then, I have reconsidered and reworked the idea as a whole.
The distinction between primary and secondary laws has been developing slowly in my mind for decades. Putting it into practice would depend on establishing an unconditional basic income for every human being on this planet, without exception. One purpose would be to reduce economic dependency between people, especially the dependency of weaker people on those who are more powerful.
Let us imagine that the existing legal order has completely disappeared, perhaps following the collapse of the financial system and, subsequently, of the existing social order. The following agreement between human beings could then serve as a proposal for rebuilding society.
I. Who are primary laws for:
1. The aim is not to establish a world government. The aim is to create an agreement between humanity, itself, and the rest of life.
The law should give priority to protecting the following from the consequences of our still immature actions:
a) every individual person — man, woman or child;
b) humanity as a whole, including the ecosystem;
c) all extraterrestrial life — life that does not originate on this planet;
d) infinity, meaning the unknown future consequences of what we do today.
2. All other structures created by groups of people — see Section II — receive secondary protection.
3. Special attention must be given to people who have previously been disadvantaged by economic or hierarchical structures.
4. Every human being has the same economic, social, cultural and political rights and responsibilities, regardless of any position they held in the past.
II. Who are secondary laws for?
Secondary laws apply to any collection of people that wishes to define itself publicly as a group and to be legally recognised as such.
5. This includes all existing legal organisations and communities of people, from the largest to the smallest.
6. As soon as a group is formed — beginning with two people — it can seek recognition as a group. It may establish its own internal rules as long as all its members agree to them.
These rules can be changed at any time, but they must always comply, at a minimum, with fundamental human rights, which would themselves still need to be newly defined.
For example, a marriage or partnership involving more than two people could be legally recognised if everyone involved were treated equally and everyone’s human rights were respected.
7. Every individual, including a child, must have the right to leave a group to which they belong, in accordance with the priority given to individual human rights.
8. Each group is free to decide whether or not it wishes to accept new members.
9. Nobody has to belong to any group. An individual who belongs to no group still possesses all primary rights.
10. When an offence is committed by an individual or a group, the legal order of priority should be:
criminal law;
the primary rights of the individuals entitled to them;
the secondary laws established by individual groups.
Special attention must be given to conflict, injustice and abuse involving children and vulnerable people, including harmful acts committed by children or adolescents themselves.
Why distinguish between primary and secondary laws?
The main reason is that today legal entities — corporations, institutions and other organisations — can enjoy considerable rights and power in relation to actual human beings. Corrupt power structures can benefit disproportionately from this situation. That must end.
If groups are allowed to establish their own rules, each group can decide how it wishes to organise itself internally: democratically, hierarchically, according to strict religious principles, or in some other way.
But these rules must apply only within that particular group, and only as long as the fundamental rights of every individual are respected.
If someone no longer wishes to live according to the group’s rules, that person must be free to leave. The group, in turn, must have the integrity to allow anyone who wants to leave to do so freely.
That is precisely the purpose of distinguishing between primary and secondary laws: the rights of the individual must always take priority over the rights of the group.
Women and children must no longer be prevented from leaving against their will. This also means that society must be prepared to receive and support people who leave their communities with dignity — something we have often failed to do.
This conflict between the clan and the individual affects many women throughout the world. In my view, it is one of the major obstacles to humanity’s development.
I know how difficult it can be for a girl or young woman to leave her clan. It may mean being rejected and perhaps never seeing her family again. It also means learning to accept a new and unfamiliar life.
But if many young women leave a clan because they reject the way they are treated there, the clan itself may learn and change.
I am convinced that we can place far more trust in human beings — especially in times of crisis — than we currently do.
III. Governments, institutions and public administration:
I would take inspiration from the Swiss political system, in which citizens have significant powers of direct democratic decision-making.
I admit that this is where my rather anarchist and left-wing way of thinking encounters its greatest difficulty.
I can accept public institutions as long as they do not become centres of power but genuinely remain administrative bodies serving the community, working according to clearly established rules accepted by the population.
We must also learn from the experiments and mistakes of the past. How much responsibility can we take on? What are we prepared to support together? How carefully should we approach profound changes?
These questions can probably only be answered when we are actually confronted with the real situation.
I find the idea of government itself more difficult. I fear that humanity is, on the one hand, still too immature and, on the other, too fascinated by power to govern itself reasonably without difficulty.
Simply returning to traditional clan systems, which are themselves often hierarchical and patriarchal, would solve nothing and could quickly reproduce conflict between groups.
We need a system that does not yet exist.
IV. Procedure:
11. We could create worldwide consultations over the Internet, based on a small number of key questions addressed to everyone. There are probably already several projects of this kind around the world.
We can — and must — begin building healthy structures now. Then, if the present system suffers a serious collapse, we will already have some experience of working differently.
Groups with different values will form. Trying to force everyone into one fixed way of life is a waste of time and energy.
These groups, together with individuals who choose not to belong to any group, could become the participants in drawing up a new common agreement.
Every group should be allowed to live according to its own values, provided that the fundamental rights of individuals are respected. This diversity could form the basis for a new way of organising human coexistence.
Such groups do not necessarily have to live together in the same geographical area.
Many peoples and communities today experience divisions imposed from outside or deep divisions within their own societies. Part of the solution may be to accept the existence of different communities of values and find ways for them to coexist without economically or politically dominating one another. Territorial disputes would need to be resolved through common procedures.
Physical attacks, deprivation of liberty or the oppression of people because of their opinions, sex, religion or social affiliation, however, violate human rights and must therefore be treated as offences.
Groups previously condemned simply as “sects” must also be respected as long as they respect human rights. Incitement to hatred against unwanted or minority groups must be punishable.
And once again:
NO ONE IS OBLIGED TO BELONG TO ANY GROUP — RELIGIOUS, SOCIAL, FAMILY-BASED OR ECONOMIC — AGAINST THEIR WILL.
This principle must also apply within families: membership of any group can never cancel the fundamental rights of the individual.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.