On May 8, 2016, activist, artist, and analyst Marlen Vargas Del Razo hosted a Google/YouTube hangout event with leading basic income researcher Jurgen De Wispelaere, a Visiting Research Fellow at Finland’s University of Tampere, founding co-editor of the journal Basic Income Studies, and member of BIEN’s Executive Committee.
De Wispelaere is presently involved with the design of Finland’s basic income trial, which will begin next year, and recently developed a basic income course at the University of Tampere. (Also, and not unimportantly in my view, he is “a big fan of death metal and believes a basic income would provide much needed support for the underground music scene.”)
During the Google hangout, De Wispelaere describes the current state of basic income research in Finland, discusses some of the limitations of experiments, and compares and contrasts the issues driving basic income trials and proposals throughout the world — and much more.
De Wispelaere also offers some incisive critiques of the basic income movement itself. Why ought we moderate our enthusiasm when a well-known individual or group announces support for basic income? Why might we have reservations about the catchy and popular slogan “Basic income isn’t left or right; it’s forward”? Listen to hear Jurgen’s assessment.
Watch 47-minute conversation here on YouTube.
Photo of Jurgen from Basic Income Canada Network (flickr)
