Voice 1: Participatory Budgeting
We all pay taxes, right? So, we should all have a say, and not just every four years when we elect someone we may or may not think will represent our interests. It’s us who live here who know what is needed in the community, whether we need to build a new school or make road repairs. Such projects are decided on a community level, and the budget process for the municipality is open to everyone who wants to have the insight or to express their opinions. This is realdemocracy at work. I haven’t heard a single complaint about having to pay taxes since the system was introduced - if anything, people are prepared to contribute more. Since we can see where all the money goes, there’s no opportunities for corruption. It makes everyone less suspicious.

Voice 2: Wage-Earner Funds
These days, we, the workers, have a direct say in whatever decisions that are made, and on the direction of the company. Since we’re all owners, we all want to do our very best and be on top of things. But it also means that profit isn’t all that matters. Of course, we need to balance the books, but making the best possible product and having the best workplace imaginable is considered more important. The capital owners simply have to accept that, since they are not the sole owners anymore. When you think about it, the way it used to be was a bad case of exploitation - the only voice I had was the threat to leave, which would only make another person fill my place. We’re all part of the family now, and a family cares for everyone.

Voice 3: Cooperation Infrastructure
I work in a cooperative, where the main business is running markets for fresh vegetables and groceries. It’s a community, not just within the cooperative, but in the whole chain, our cooperation with other cooperatives. We have an infrastructure for production, transportation and front-end stores and markets, which connects through an online platform. The users, or customers, can also access the platform, so it’s a place for interaction with them too. It’s all very transparent and social in character, where we build trust by helping each other out whenever it’s needed. No one is in it for the money. The system as a whole reduces market pressure considerably - we don’t have to compete, which makes everything run more smoothly.

Voice 4: Universal Basic Income
Since the universal and unconditional basic income was introduced, I find myself thinking much less about money. Before, I was living on whatever low wage jobs I could find, or on unemployment benefits, since I never got my grades or made it to college. I still hook up with jobs from time to time whenever I need the extra money or when I feel like it, but mostly I do various sorts of community work or social work these days, unpaid. Or I scribble away at my novel which I’ve been working on for the past year. I think the basic income’s main advantage has been security. Especially in a time where the labor market is too precarious to offer that. I know I won’t starve, which enables me to pursue all kinds of things that I didn’t use to do, since it wouldn’t render an income.

This
This is real
These are real utopias