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United Radical Communities
Part I - Foundation for the People's
Bank of the United Radical Communities
Section 1 Establishment
of the People's Bank
Section 2 The Public Treasury
and Skim-Taxes
Section 3 The Registrar
Section 4 The
Currency
Part II - Accounts
Section 1 Rules for All
Accounts
Section 2 Personal
Accounts
Section 3 Cooperative
Accounts
Part III - Contraband
Section 1 Prohibited
Commodities
Section 2 Prohibited
Services
Part IV - The People's Bank Discussion
Board
Section 1 Establishment
and Maintenance of the People's Bank Discussion Board
Part V - Registrar's Salary
Section 1 Salary
of the Registrar
(begins)
Note:The pronouns "ze", "hir" and "hirs" shall for the purposes of this document describe any person or thing henceforth mentioned or implied; and shall be understood according to the context in which used.
Note: The United Radical Communities shall be referred to with the abbreviation "URC" for the remainder of this document.
Note: For the purposes of this document, a 'frozen' account shall mean an account from which nothing can be debited; an account in 'debt' or 'commitment' shall mean an account with a value below zero Lux; a 'cancelled' account shall mean an account which has been abandoned by its holder; a 'dissolved' account shall mean an account which has been terminated by the People's Bank; a 'skim-tax' shall mean a tax on all positive accounts; and 'contraband' shall mean any goods or services that are prohibited from being traded for Lux or any derivative or similar currencies.
Preamble: It is the goal of this document to establish the foundations for a classfree, egalitarian, participatory economy within the United Radical Communities, as well as to set an example with it for other communities and societies of the world. We set out to accomplish this via a community-owned currency bank, the existence of which is meant to facilitate fair trading within our common economy. This bank shall be based on a Global Exchange Trading System architecture, wherein the total value in the system is always zero when all debts and assets are combined.
Part I - Foundation of the People's Bank of the United Radical Communities
Establishment of the People's Bank
1-1:
We hereby establish the People's Bank as a public facilitator of currency-based trading within the United Radical Communities.
1-2:
Each new account holder within the People's Bank shall have a starting balance of zero, except where otherwise noted in this Act.
1-3:
Currency allocations and trade within the People's Bank shall always be on equal and mutual terms, such that when one account holder receives an amount of currency, another consenting account holder or account holders must have ceded that amount.
1-4:
All transactions within the People's Bank must be construed so that when all debts and assets of all account holders within the People's Bank are combined, the sum value is zero.
1-5:
All transactions between account holders must be by mutual consent, as defined in the Declaration of Human Rights, except when a People's Tribunal has ordered a transaction, such as, but not limited to, by ordering compensation to be paid.
The Public Treasury and Skim Taxes
2-1:
The United Radical Communities as a whole shall hold a special Public Treasury account with the People's Bank; the Proletarian Council shall be responsible for managing the funds of this account.
2-2:
The Public Treasury is bound by the same limits on commitment as two personal accounts are bound by.
2-3:
Every account within the People's Bank with a positive balance may, as a condition of service, be automatically taxed a certain percentage of its assets by the Registrar of the People's Bank no more frequently than once every calendar month, and the proceeds of any such taxation shall be deposited into the Public Treasury account, to be allocated as Proletarian Council regulations and policies prescribe.
The Registrar
3-1:
The People's Bank shall be maintained and governed by a Registrar. The Registrar shall be elected by the Proletarian Council whenever needed, and shall serve a term not more than one hundred eighty days.
3-2:
The Registrar shall be responsible for maintaining a comprehensive and informative official website on behalf of the People's Bank, and publicizing on that website the assets and debts of all account holders at least once every week, or as needed. Should the Registrar require assistance to complete the task of website construction, coding, and/or maintenance, ze may delegate some or all of these duties to any consenting independent third parties who are also members of the United Radical Communities, and may offer such third parties any compensation which ze feels is appropriate, from hir own salary or account(s).
3-3:
The Registrar shall be responsible for adjusting commitment limits and trade volume limits so that they are reflective of inflationary or deflationary trends in currency value and encouraging of trade, and is required to give clear public notice before enacting any such adjustments. Upon the enactment of a commitment limit adjustment, Part II Section 2-3 of this document shall be automatically updated to reflect the new commitment limits; upon the enactment of a trade volume limit adjustment, Part II Section 2-3-1 of this document shall be automatically updated to reflect the new trade volume limits.
3-4:
The Registrar may, at any time, unilaterally adjust the skim-taxation rate, but is required to immediately reverse any such adjustment if it is protested by a petition of at least twenty-five and one tenth percent of those individuals holding non-frozen personal accounts with the People's Bank.
3-5:
The Registrar may, at any time, unilaterally prohibit trading in certain commodities or services, even if they are not listed by this document as contraband, if ze believes it to be of vital importance to the health of the economy or community. However, should a petition protesting any such unilateral prohibition be signed by at least twenty-five and one tenth percent of active members of the United Radical Communities, then that prohibition will be considered overturned and may no longer be enforced by the Registrar, nor may the Registrar enact any similar prohibition unilaterally for six months proceeding.
3-5-1:
Should there be an Electoral Officer or Electorical Officers, ze or they shall be required to hold, at the next scheduled public poll, a poll to determine the amount of public support for the retainment of each new unilateral ban on a commodity or service for which such a poll has not already been conducted; these polls shall be held according to methods established by the Constitution of the United Radical Communities and shall be treated as resolutions. Should any ban fail to be ratified in such a poll, it shall be automatically overturned, and the Registrar must cease to enforce that ban immediately after that poll.
3-6:
The Registrar may be recalled at any time by a petition signed by at least twenty-five and one tenth percent of those individuals holding personal accounts with the People's Bank.
3-7:
The Registrar shall be required to provide full public notice of all transfers of Lux from the Public Treasury to hirself or third parties, including clear references to any and all regulations requiring such debiting; ze shall also be required to cooperate fully with any Proletarian Council or independent audit, conducted by any member of the United Radical Communities.
3-8:
The Registrar shall be expected to process and record all transactions made by account holders within the People's Bank involving Lux currency, and to publicize the records of these transactions on a regular basis. Should the Registrar require assistance to complete the task of processing and recording, ze may delegate some or all of this duty to any consenting independent third parties who are also members of the United Radical Communities, and may offer such third parties any compensation which ze feels is appropriate, from hir own salary or account(s).
3-9:
The Registrar is prohibited from delegating to any other person any of hir duties as Registrar (as defined in this document), excepting the task of processing and recording transactions and of web-construction work, website maintenance and coding.
3-10:
Should the Registrar fail to conform to any of the regulations, responsibilities or requirements governing hir expected conduct as Registrar, as outlined in this document, a People's Tribunal may be convened against hir at any time by any member of the United Radical Communities as allowed by its Constitution, and if ze is then convicted by that People's Tribunal of transgressing a regulation outlined in this document, a People's Tribunal may: demand that ze apologize on pain of further penalties, and/orremove hir from the office of Registrar and/orexpell hir from the United Radical Communities temporarilyor expell hir from the United Radical Communities permanently.
The Currency
4-1:
A whole unit of currency shall be called a 'Lux' and symbolized by an 'X'; a hundredth of a Lux shall be called a 'piece' and symbolized by a 'p'.
Rules for All Accounts
1-1:
Any account holder may request that hir or their account be frozen at any time, and must be obliged by the Registrar upon making such a request.
1-2:
Any account holder(s) may request that hir or their account be unfrozen at any time, and must be obliged by the Registrar upon making such a request, on the condition that the account does not transgress the established commitment limit which applies to it.
1-3:
No account may be dissolved by the Registrar unless its balance is zero.
1-3-1:
Should any account be cancelled while still in debt, the Registrar shall reimburse the full amount of the debt from the Public Treasury, and shall then dissolve the account. Should the Public Treasury be insufficient to reimburse the full amount of the debt, the Registrar shall then be required to reimburse it in periodic installments which the Public Treasury can afford to pay, in the judgement of the Registrar.
1-3-2:
Should any account be cancelled with a balance exceeding zero, the Registrar shall transfer the amount in excess of zero to the Public Treasury, and shall then dissolve the account
1-4:
Should an account with a balance exceeding zero not engage in any transaction for six calendar months, it shall be considered inactive, and fifty percent of the amount in excess of zero shall be transfered to the Public Treasury by the Registrar. Should that account then remain inactive for another six calendar months proceeding, the remainder of the balance exceeding zero shall also be transferred to the Public Treasury by the Registrar.
1-5:
Should an account with a balance in debt not engage in any transaction for six calendar months, it shall be considered inactive, and shall be frozen by the Registrar until its balance is brought to zero or greater. Should that account then remain inactive for another six calendar months proceeding, the Registrar shall follow the directions outlined in Section 1-3-1 of this Part to dissolve the account
1-6:
Each individual member of the United Radical Communities shall hold one personal account with the People's Bank for as long as that person is a member of the United Radical Communities. Should that person ever resign membership or be expelled from the United Radical Communities, all of hir accounts shall be considered cancelled.
Personal Accounts
2-1:
A personal account holder may choose to delegate control over hir account to another consenting person or group of persons for a period no longer than sixty days. Should a personal account holder who has delegated control of hir account not reassume that control within sixty days, the account shall be frozen until ze does.
2-2:
Any personal account holder who willfully resigns membership in the United Radical Communities while still in debt, is expelled from the United Radical Communities while still in debt, or whose account was in debt for twelve calendar months and subsequently dissolved (as described in Section 1-5 of this Part), ze shall be debited by the Registrar for the full amount of that debt should ze ever gain membership again, and the debited amount shall be absorbed by the Public Treasury. The Registrar is therefore required to keep records of the holders of all accounts dissolved while in debt, as well as the amount of debt the accounts had upon dissolution.
Personal Commitment Limit
2-3:
Should a personal account balance fall to below -(X3.00) at any time, that account shall be frozen until its value is brought to zero or higher. This shall be known as the "personal commitment limit".
Personal Trade Volume Limit
2-3-1:
Purchases which would place a personal account balance at below -(X6.00) if processed are prohibited, and may not be processed by the Registrar. This shall be known as the "personal trade volume limit".
Cooperative Accounts
3-1:
Any group of two or more people who are both members of the United Radical Communities and hold personal accounts with the People's Bank shall be able to establish a jointly held cooperative account, which they may manage by consensus, or by consensually agreeing to abide by a majoritarian system of management. Parties to a cooperative account may also, at any time, admit other consenting people who hold personal accounts within the People's Bank to participate in the management of their cooperative account, or expel persons from having any influence in the management of their cooperative account, either by consensus or by consensually agreeing to other democratic methods for these actions.
3-1-1:
Each individual party involved in the management of a cooperative account must have the exact same proportion of democratic influence over that account as any other person involved in its management in order for that management to be considered legitimate.
3-2-1:
A group managing a cooperative account may dissolve itself at any time through its own democratic internal procedures, and upon dissolving itself, any cooperative accounts which it directly managed shall also be dissolved.
3-3:
The Registrar shall be required to respect the determinations of any group of persons managing a cooperative account, so long as those decisions were made legitimately and democratically, but shall be required to ignore any such determinations when made through authoritarian means, or means not prescribed by Section 3-1 of this Part.
Cooperative Commitment Limit
3-4:
Should a cooperative account balance fall below seventy-five percent of the combined personal commitment limits of all persons managing it, that account shall be frozen until its value is brought to zero or higher. This shall be known as the "cooperative commitment limit".
Cooperative Trade Volume Limit
3-4-1:
Purchases which would place a cooperative account balance at less than seventy-five percent of the combined personal trade volume limits of all the persons managing it if processed are prohibited, and may not be processed by the Registrar. This shall be known as the "cooperative trade volume limit".
Prohibited Commodities
1-1:
Any DRUG sans the following approved exceptions is prohibited:
Approved Drugs:
PORNOGRAPHY or SEXIST PROPAGANDA.
Pornography is here defined as:
The sexually explicit subordination of persons and/or other animals through pictures and/or words in which one of the following criteria also applies:
(a) Persons are presented dehumanized as sexual objects, things, or commodities. (b) Persons and/or other animals are presented as sexual objects who enjoy humiliation or pain; or as sexual objects experiencing sexual pleasure in rape, incest, or in other sexual assault; or as sexual objects tied up, cut up, mutilated, bruised, or physically hurt. (c) Persons and/or other animals are presented in postures or positions of sexual submission, servility, or display. (d) The body parts of persons and/or other animals --including but not limited to vaginas, breasts, penises, scrotums or buttocks-- are exhibited in such a way that said persons and/or other animals are reduced to those body parts. (e) Persons and/or other animals are presented being penetrated by objects or animals. (f) Persons and/or other animals are presented in scenarios of degradation, humiliation, injury, or torture, shown as filthy or inferior, bleeding, bruised, or hurt in a context that makes these conditions sexual.
1-3:
RACIST PROPAGANDA.
1-4:
HOMOPHOBIC-PROPAGANDA.
1-5:
EXPLOSIVES.
Prohibited Services:
2-1:
PROSTITUTION/JOHNNING, defined as trading money for sexual favours.
Part IV - The People's Bank Discussion Board
Establishment and Maintenance of the People's Bank Discussion Board
1-1:
The Registrar shall maintain a public discussion board for the purpose of People's Bank announcements, as well as other economic announcements and general economic discussion and debate, called the People's Bank Discussion Board (hereafter the 'PBDB').
1-2:
The Registrar shall have moderating power on the PBDB, and as the PBDB moderator ze shall be able to delete any messages that ze feels are worthy of deletion, within the limits of the Declaration of Human Rights, but shall not be allowed to edit the content of any messages excepting hir own.
1-3:
The PBDB is located at the internet address http://pub10.ezboard.com/feudaimonia38580peoplesbank.
1-3-1:
The Registrar shall be able to change the internet address of the PBDB at any time, on the condition that ze provides clear public notice of the new location of the PBDB to all URC members in a clearly written or spoken manner. Should the PBDB be relocated, Section 1-3 of this Part shall be updated to reflect its new location.
Salary of the Registrar
1-1:
The salary due to the Registrar's personal account with the People's Bank shall be equal to one percent of the total skim-taxes collected for a given month, or, X1.50; the lesser amount shall apply. This salary shall be due the Registrar for every month of hir term and ze shall be expected to credit hirself for the correct amount from the Public Treasury, and provide full notice of each such crediting to the public, for public auditing. Should the Registrar resign hir position as Registrar, declare a leave of absence, or become too sick, injured or otherwise unable to perform hir duties for a period exceeding ten (10) consecutive days or twenty (20) total days, before the end of the second week of any month of hir service, then hir salary shall be withheld for that month; otherwise, should any of the aforementioned events occur after the end of the second week of any month of hir service, ze shall be due only half of hir salary for that month.
1-1:
Should a new Registrar be elected before the end of the second week of any particular month and complete that month of service as defined in Section 1 of this Part, that Registrar shall receive a full month's salary for that month; should a new Registrar be elected after the end of the second week of any particular month and complete the remainder of that month of service as defined in Section 1 of this Part, that Registrar shall receive half a full month's salary for that month.
(ends)
Enacted on April the 1st, 2001 in the Common Era, by the mandate of
100% of those voting with 0.0% of the active membership not voting.
Assented to under procedures set forth by the Elemental Act.