by Karl Widerquist | Jul 5, 2015 | News
The Basic Income Youth Network and Green Party in Korea will start “Basic Income Nationwide Tour” on July 6th. Tour continues for 2 weeks, departing from Jeju Island and visiting Jeolla-do, Gyeongsang-do, Chungcheong-do regions of Korea. This tour is aiming to introduce basic income to people all over the country and collect various opinions about basic income from different people of ages and regions.
In March, the Korean Green Party adopted basic income in their party platform. And in June the city of Seoungnam-si announced that it is considering optional basic income, ‘youth income’, as a new policy. Under these circumstances, the tour will help develop a Korean form of basic income and could be the cue for nationwide networking about basic income.
The tour contains various programs such as street campaigns, basic income movie screenings, conferences, open lectures, interviews and so on. Results will be published on the official blog and Internet media Pressian.
For more information see the following websites.
by Karl Widerquist | Jul 1, 2015 | News
The Basic Income Korean Network (BIKN) held a two-day, international conference on “Local Politics and Basic Income” at Sogang University, Seoul, Korea, June 19-20, 2015. Topics ad the conference included activism for basic incoe, local and international movements for Basic Income around the world, the political feasibility of Basic Income, and youth and Basic Income. Participants included Hyosang Ahn of BIKN, Karl Widerquist of SFS-Q of Georgetown University, Zhiyuan Cui of Tsinghua University, Nowan Kwak of the University of Seoul, Enno Schmidt of the Swiss campaign for Basic Income, Sarath Davala of the Self-Employed Women’s Association of India, Anja Askeland of the Basic Income Earth Network, Ju-on Kim of the Basic Youth Network, and several others.
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 30, 2015 | News, The Indepentarian
The government of Macau, a semi-autonomous city in China, has announced that this year’s “Wealth Partaking Scheme” (WPS) will distribute 9,000 Macanese Pataca (about US$1127) to each permanent resident and 5,400 Macanese Pataca (about US$676) for each non-permanent resident.
The only condition is to have a valid or renewable resident identity card delivered by the City of Macau.
The WPS is a Macanese government program that has distributed a yearly dividend to Macanese residents since 2008. A total of 675,696 people will receive the dividend, most of whom (607,465) will receive the full amount. The size of the dividend is the same as in 2014, but the number of recipients has increased by 40,000.
The WPS is essentially a small basic income, similar to the Alaska dividend. It is mean to ensure that all Macanese share the benefits of the region’s economic development to help mitigate the effects of inflation.
Credit picture: CC Kevin Jaako
For more information about the WPS see:
Kam Leong, “Wealth Partaking Scheme Susceptible,” Macau Business Daily, June 19, 2015.
Wikipedia, “Wealth Partaking Scheme,” Wikipedia: the free encyclopedia, accessed June 29, 2015.
Karl Widerquist, “MACAU: Government Distributes Temporary Basic Income,” Basic Income News, August 23, 2014.
A check for the Wealth Partaking Scheme in 2008
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 22, 2015 | News
The Launch of Basic Income Week 2015
UBI-Europe recently published the Call for Participation for this year’s Basic Income Week:
https://basicincomeweek.org/
The 8th international action week for basic income is scheduled to run from September 14–20, 2015. The European network invites basic income groups and activists around the world to participate with events and actions with the common aim of creating visibility for and stimulating public discussion about unconditional basic income.
“A Safety Net for Life”
In the Call for Participation the activists announce that “we are facing multiple crises which threaten our lives as individuals as well as life as humankind as a whole. These crises – social, ecological and financial – are being experienced in a myriad of different ways around the world.”
Therefore, for this year’s Basic Income Week, they want “to draw attention to Unconditional Basic Income (UBI) as a possible ‘Safety Net for Life’ which leaves no one behind.”
Looking back
In 2014, 11 countries (Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Switzerland, UK) participated in the 7th Basic Income Week. Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) contributed to the week’s further globalisation by organising a series of online events with international basic income experts and activists. UBI-Europe hopes that this year’s 8th International Basic Income Week will become even more global and expands further beyond Europe.
Call for Participation
You can get in touch with your regional or international coordination team, publish the call for participation in your language and announce events in your region via the contact form: https://basicincomeweek.org/contact-form/
The Launch of Basic Income Week 2015
by Karl Widerquist | Jun 21, 2015 | News
The next meeting of Basic Income NYC will be on Monday, June 22 from 6:30-8:00pm at the following location:
The National Opera Center
330 Seventh Avenue
7th Floor
29th Street & 7th Avenue, in Manhattan
Jude Thomas, Basic Income NYC
The meeting will take place in the Board Room that evening. The reservation is under the organizer’s name (Jude Thomas), the 7th floor reception desk will be able to direct people to the Board Room.
Tentative Agenda:
– Building a consistent language and/or brand;
– Beginning to draft formal statement or charter; and,
– Updates on the national movement.
The organizers invite everyone to feel free to suggest other discussion items.
Anyone with any questions is invited to come or to contact the organizer by email or phone. The organizer requests, “Please RSVP if you are planning on attending, seating is limited.”
Event: Basic Income NYC Meeting
Place: 7th Floor, The National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY
Day, Date, and time: Monday, June 22, 6:30-8:00pm
For more info, contact: Jude Thomas <composerjude@gmail.com>
619-849-9160
Website: https://basicincome.nyc/
