by Andre Coelho | Feb 22, 2016 | News
Credit to: Jornal Tornado Online
In the two articles below, André Julião writes a thorough summary of the Basic Income (BI) on the international scene as well as in Portugal. Based on an interview with Roberto Merrill, André Coelho, Ana Cristina Cunha and Pedro Teixeira, Julião unravels BI’s historical record, from Thomas More to Phillipe Van Parijs, and briefly reviews the evolution of Portuguese social security policies. He then outlines the present day BI implementation pilot plans in several countries, such as Finland, the Netherlands, India, Namibia and Canada, and presents Pedro Teixeira’s reasoning and justification for a probable decoupling between BI and rising prices. André Coelho presents further arguments for BI, and Ana Cristina Cunha elaborates upon current BI activism in Portugal. Finally, Julião presents a brief discussion of options for financing a BI, concluding that an income redistributive policy seems more attractive than a “Quantitative Easing” approach, at least for the people of Portugal.
Those that are interested in reading more articles in this area may want to use such resources as the article translation services from websites like espressotranslations.com so they can read a wider range of international articles on ours, and others websites. This will come in handy if you do not want to wait for the English translation, or wait for it to be translated into your own language.
More information is available at:
Language: Portuguese
André Julião, “Rendimento Básico Incondicional: utopia do século XXI ou base de um novo modelo social? [Basic Income: a XXI century Utopia or the basis of a new social model?]“, Jornal Tornado online, 24th January 2016
André Julião, “Davos: suspiro ou semente de uma nova ordem económica e social? [Davos: a shrug or seed for a new social and economic order?]“, Jornal Tornado online, 23th January 2016
by Andre Coelho | Feb 2, 2016 | News
In two weeks time, on the 15th and 16th of February, a major Conference about Basic Income will be held in Lisbon, Portugal. This is the first event of its kind in Portuguese territory, with this magnitude, organized by Grupo de Estudos Políticos, the political party PAN (Pessoas, Animais e Natureza), Movimento Rendimento Básico Incondicional – Portugal, Grupo de Teoria Política – CEHUM, and IHC (Instituto de História Contemporânea).
This initiative stemmed from PAN’s own ranks, after having elected its first congressman ever onto Portuguese Parliament. Basic Income was part of the party electoral programs since 2011, it was time to get it out in the open and push forward its public discussion through this conference. For that ending, PAN forged alliances with Basic Income activists in Portugal, namely through Movimento Rendimento Básico – Portugal, and political research groups such as Grupo de Estudos Políticos, Grupo de Teoria Política – CESUM and IHC.
Earlier last year, PAN had already organized a brief forum on Basic Income, featuring Roberto Merrill and Pedro Teixeira as speakers. However, this event failed to spark enough attention to kickstart public discussion. That did not discourage the party’s activists, who take the Basic Income concept to heart. So that will to promote a wider public discussion on the Basic Income issue has developed into a solid organization. Now, that purpose is clearer and many others have joined in, such as international activists and researchers Sjir Hoeijmakers and Jurgen De Wispelaere, who will bring fresh last-minute information and insights on Dutch and Finnish Basic Income situations, and contribute with frameworks on the politics and sociological aspects of Basic Income.
Credit to: Diário Digital
Portuguese activists will also be present as speakers, such as Miguel Horta and António Dores, the former presenting and explaining a possible financing scheme for Basic Income implementation in Portugal, and the latter exploring the sociological issues around Basic Income in Portugal. Other authors and activists like André Barata, Renato Miguel do Carmo and José Neves will also participate. International experiences on Basic Income will also be referred and discussed, by André Coelho and Dario Figueira. André, editor of Basic Income News presents BIEN and a general overview on Basic Income activism worldwide, while Dario, a member of Movimento Rendimento Básico – Portugal with connections to Brazil, will present the Brazilian experience of the Recivitas Project. A few other interventions are scheduled, namely from civil society organizations such as labor unions, social development associations (Oikos) and catholic church related groups (Liga Operária Católica).
On the 15th, the conference will be held at the Portuguese Parliament, where representatives from other political parties will be present. Only socialists in power PS and leftists Bloco de Esquerda have accepted the challenge so far, remaining in silence all other leftwing and rightwing parties, such as PCP (communist party), CDS-PP (rightwing liberals) and PSD (rightwing social democrats). Here, presentations and discussions will be framed more as a meeting, to favor closer exchange and interaction. Next day, conference sessions will take place at Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, in a more typical conference arrangement, with several speakers and moderators conducting the flow of information and interaction with the audience.
More information at:
Language: Portuguese
Movimento Rendimento Básico – Portugal website.
Political party PAN – political priorities.
by Andre Coelho | Jan 29, 2016 | News
The deadline for the call for proposals for the 16th BIEN Congress has been extended to Monday, February 29, 2016. The organizers invite people from all over the world to make a proposal and participate in the Congress. The call for proposals with links to more information is below, and you can find more information on the Congress website.
16th BIEN Congress: Social and Ecological Transformation and Basic Income
Seoul, Korea, 7–9 July 2016
Organized by the Basic Income Korean Network
Today the basic income attracts the public attention as a positive alternative beyond an idea. We can see it as important political parties in Europe have adopted the unconditional basic income as a policy objective. One reason for the increased public attention is that many people are coming to believe that the existing system is unsustainable in face of economic and ecological crises. Under these circumstances, we will discuss a more concrete and positive alternative under the theme of Social and Ecological Transformation and Basic Income.
BIEN Conference 2016
The discussion will be around the topics below.
- Economic models of post neoliberalism and the position and role of basic income in them
- The role of basic income in pursuit of expanding democracy in the political arena and in society as a whole
- The role of basic income in the transition to an ecological society and the accompanying cultural society
- The role of basic income in the transformation from the work-based society, presuming it as an element of the de-commodification of labor force
- The ear of the precariat and basic income
- The role of basic income in enhancing gender equality
- Basic income as a tool for the resolution of the youth, unemployment problem
- Evaluation and prospect of various pilot projects
- Post-human prospects and basic income
The above topics are not intended to limit the boundaries, but to set as references for a broader discussion. We invite all interested individuals and groups to participate. Those who want to present should submit abstracts(up to one page in A4 in Korean or 300 words in English) to bien2016.callforpapers@gmail.com by February 29th 2016.
16th BIEN Congress
We are happy to inform you that seven keynote speakers will attend the congress and some more keynote speakers could be with us. Seven keynote speakers are: Louise Haagh (York University, England), Yamamori Toru (Doshisha University, Japan), Jan Otto Andersson (ÅboAkademi University, Finland), SarathDavala (India), Minister and Bishop ZephaniaKameeta (Namibia), Zhiyuan Cui (Tsinghua University, China) and Gonzalo Hernandez Licona (Mexico).
Korean Basic Income Week will be held along with the 16th BIEN congress. We also invite all interested individuals and groups to participate in this event which will be comprised of concerts, film-screenings, performances and campaigns. Those who want to give proposals for Basic Income Week should submit them to bien2016.callforpapers@gmail.com by February 29th 2016.
16th BIEN Congress
Programs of the congress and Basic Income Week will be compiled from all submissions and proposals by March 31st 2016. We will send a message to all those who have made a submission shortly afterwards. If you have any question, please contact us at bien2016.callforpapers@gmail.com.
Finally, we will run a day-care center for children under 8 for the participants with to use. Contact us at contact@bien2016.org please.
For more information, click here for the Congress website.
by Andre Coelho | Jan 26, 2016 | News
Paulo Chitas. Credit to: Visão
Portuguese journalist Paulo Chitas summarizes the idea of basic income in this short article. Citing Thomas More, Bertrand Russel and Milton Friedman, he presents several points of view on the concept of basic income and the purposes it may serve. Chitas also highlights the Finnish plans for basic income experiments over the next two years, where the concept is being tested as a means to simplify social security, eliminate means testing and lower unemployment rates. Finally, he stresses that, given past policy failures and a rapidly changing society, basic income is worth pursuing.
Paulo Chitas, “Um rendimento para todos” [“An income for everyone”], Visão magazine (online), December 22th 2015
by Andre Coelho | Jan 8, 2016 | Opinion
What does the future look like? No one knows and it is folly to argue one does. But we can think, we can even try to make predictions, depending on how much risk we are willing to take. To say, as Jeremy Rifkin suggests, that the future will look like a collaborative commons, based upon zero marginal cost, internet-linked nodal, laterally scalable shared green energized economy is all very well, and I definitely resonate with it, but is it inevitable? How zero cost is it? The price of generating an extra energy unit from a photovoltaic panel may be close to zero, but what about the panel itself? Who pays for it?
Proponents will say that photovoltaic panels are cheaper than they have ever been, huge economies of scale were possible in the last few years and any person these days can purchase photovoltaic panels. But is this true? Panels are cheaper than they were some years ago, no doubt, but a person first needs to eat, have a shelter, access some basic form of transportation and energy for cooking, lighting and such. Only after all that is guaranteed, can someone consider the photovoltaic panels, the electric car, or the 3D printer. The “future”, it seems, will not come until poverty is eliminated. Because poor people – 24.4 % of all European population was at risk of poverty in 2014, or 122 million people – cannot participate in this futuristic vision of the world unless their basic needs are met.
You doubt it? Then think about it. In most places, if you run out of money to pay for electricity, it is unlikely that your neighbors will help out by supplying you with some electricity, and even less likely that you will be given a photovoltaic system to produce your own energy. Where I live, at least, if I stop paying the electricity bill, they will cut me off, without a doubt. No matter how generous, how educated, how creative, how tolerant I might have been in life, the power company is completely indifferent: you do not pay, you will have to go without power. Period.
Things might be different in the future – and they certainly will. But at this moment the amount of money one has is less related to levels of education, generosity, creativity or tolerance, and more to status, power, social networks, dominance and violence. Attributing monetary value to people is a trap. The instant you say “this person is worth 1000 euros”, you automatically create an underclass of unworthy people. Those people might even be subject to discrimination and violence you object to, from deprivation and poverty to constant surveillance. So definitions or layers of worthiness cannot solve a core problem in present-day human species: our difficulty to share. To trust.
This is why I defend basic income. It represents a bold and clear statement: human dignity is not and must not be subject to discussions about worthiness or value. These attempts to quantify human beings are bound to fail, since our “value”, if we must speak of it, is incalculable. You cannot calculate it, so there is no use in trying. Basic income is also a crucial tool for participation. You cannot truly participate and contribute to a better society – let’s say by investing in a photovoltaic system – if you do not have the money to meet your basic needs.
This is why major societal challenges like climate change cannot be solved without addressing poverty. Because while there is poverty, people will simply not “do the right thing” when they cannot afford it. If the costs of living in a more sustainable way are higher than what they can afford, there is little choice but to eat whatever they can, drive the most affordable (and most polluting) vehicles. They buy the cheapest appliances which often break down, and if they can’t get a repair company similar to https:www.adamsapplianceco.com to fix it, the appliance then joins many others just like it in a landfill. All these mentioned are still among the major polluters we are trying to eliminate. But until poverty is tackled they will persevere to pollute our world.
