Former Brazilian Senator and long-time campaigner for basic income, Eduardo Suplicy received an honorary degrees from the Catholic University of Louvain earlier this year. The degree came for work as an “utopiste pour le temps présent” (utopian for the present). Also receiving degrees were Wikipedia’s Jimmy Wales and architect Paola Vigano.
Suplicy’s acceptance speech is on line, including his famous rendition of “Blowin’ in the wind” by Bob Dylan. According to Philippe Van Parijs, who attended the event, “The rector’s speech made it sound as it the whole university was endorsing basic income, and basic income was the first item in the evening news, with Yannick Vanderborght and Suplicy briefly speaking in favour, and the bosses of the trade unions and the employers against.”
Video from this event is online at: https://www.uclouvain.be/633608.html (select the second of the four components in the top left corner).
