by Sarath Davala | Sep 17, 2022 | Featured
A convergence of various circumstances in the 21st century has made a Basic Income policy
an achievable goal. Discussions and policy debates about Basic Income are taking place in countries across the world. We see this as an incredible opportunity for BIEN to strengthen its reach and solidify its role as a go-to-source on Basic Income.
BIEN’s mandate is to foster informed discussion about this topic throughout the world. For this, we should continue to provide reliable information and a rigorous interpretation of facts about Basic Income. We want to reach every politician, scholar, activist, and artist in every country. To do this we need hands, hearts, and funds.
Hands
Since 1986, BIEN has grown thanks to the incredible efforts of its volunteers. All BIEN Executive Committee members are dedicated volunteers. We need more volunteers. We also need paid staff.
Hearts
We need more supporters, more members and affiliates across countries. We appeal to our members to encourage others to become members and affiliates of BIEN. We want to learn from our affiliates with whom we aim to have a strong and mutually empowering relationship.
Funds
We are initiating BIEN Hubs in different parts of the world – Africa, Asia-Pacific, Latin America and Europe. To support this effort, we have been working on fund-raising since 2021. In 2022, we secured a three-year grant from Mustardseed Trust to increase and strengthen BIEN’s presence at the global level. The grant essentially enables BIEN to employ paid staff to strengthen the Hubs. However, a big chunk of the grant is earmarked as a matching grant, realizable upon BIEN raising funds from other sources. In other words, for every Dollar we raise, Mustardseed Trust will give one additional Dollar. No amount is too small . Please donate any amount you can afford. Whatever you give, it doubles. Our immediate requirement is to raise 10,000 Dollars to appoint a Manager for BIEN Hub – Latin America.
BIEN is seeking funds for the first time in its 36 years history. We request you to support our efforts to strengthen Basic Income movement across the world. Please join hands and hearts with us.
To learn more about BIEN Hubs, please feel free to contact Hubs Coordinator wolfgang@basicincome.org To donate follow this link.
by Sarath Davala | Jan 10, 2022 | Events, News
Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) and Freiburg Institute for Basic Income Studies (FRIBIS) Student Group at the University of Freiburg are organizing a series of conversations oriented to bring the basic income debate to the global student community and to promote exchange among students on this subject.
The first of this series of Conversations / Dialogues will be conducted on January 27th, 2022, at 10am GMT. This will be a conversation between Enno Schmidt and Sarath Davala about their ideas of UBI and their experiences with UBI in the practical world. Students from various universities from across the world will be nominated by their respective institutions to participate.
If anyone wishes to nominate students, please write to:
Enno Schmidt enno.schmidt@vwl.uni-freiburg.de
by Sarath Davala | Jan 4, 2022 | Events, News
In collaboration with our Korean affiliate and the UBI Advocates Worldwide and the National Research Foundation of Korea, we are organizing an international workshop on the basic income manifestos of at least two parties in Korea. The main manifesto is that of the ruling party candidate Mr. Lee Jae-myung. The other manifesto is that of a newly formed single issue party called Basic Income Party of Korea.
Here is a link to register for the webinar to be held on 11 January 2022, 13:00-15:00 GMT
View and download the two manifestos below:
Basic Income Party Manifesto (Korea)
Basic Income Proposal (Korea)
by Sarath Davala | Dec 17, 2021 | News
“The Executive Committee of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) which is a global network of social scientists and others studying basic income models across the world, appreciates and salutes Mr. Lee Jae-myung for proposing in his manifesto in the context of the forthcoming Presidential elections in March-April 2022, a progressive and feasible basic income model for the Republic of Korea, one that would assist humanity in the march against global inequality and global warming.
A Basic Income successfully implemented in the Republic of Korea would provide her people with a secure layer of income, would enhance opportunities for education about Basic Income around the world, and would provide significant opportunities for research about the desirability, feasibility, and implementation of a Basic Income system.
It would improve the status and economic position of women and youth and establish the Republic of Korea as a resilient society able to deal well with future pandemics and other economic shocks. If implemented successfully, this model will stand as an example worthy of emulation across the world.”
(Korean Translation)
“전 세계적으로 기본소득 모델을 연구하는 사회과학자들 등으로 이루어진 기본소득지구네트워크 (BIEN) 집행위원회는 다가올 대통령 선거에서 이재명 후보가 대한민국에서 진보적이고 실현 가능한 기본소득 모델을 공약으로 제안한 것에 대해 환영하며 경의를 표한다. 이 제안은 전 지구적 불평등과 지구 온난화에 맞서는 노력에서 인류에게 도움이 될 것이다.
대한민국에서 기본소득이 성공적으로 실시된다면 대한민국 사람들은 소득의 한 층을 보장받게 될 것이며, 전 세계적으로는 기본소득에 관한 교육의 기회를 확대할 것이며, 기본소득제의 바람직함, 실현 가능성, 실행 등에 관해 중요한 연구의 기회를 가지게 될 것이다.
이 기본소득 모델은 여성과 청년의 지위 및 경제적 처지를 개선할 것이며, 대한민국이 장래의 팬데믹과 기타 경제적 충격을 감당할 수 있는 탄력 있는 사회가 되게 할 것이다. 이 기본소득 모델이 성공적으로 실행된다면 전 세계적으로 따라 할 만한 모범이 될 것이다”.
Sarath Davala
Chair, Basic Income Earth Network
December 16, 2021
by Sarath Davala | Sep 6, 2020 | Opinion
I can’t claim to be a friend of David Graeber. I can say I am his fan and that his work has influenced the way I see the world. I met him twice though. I met him first two years ago for dinner at Barb Jacobson’s place where he arrived in a long coat accompanied by a mild fever. He just had some hot tea while we shamelessly gobbled our beers. He came to meet me because I was my friend Barb’s Indian basic income comrade hanging out with her in her London apartment in Charles Rowan House. David sat with us for a long time chatting and answering our questions. Julio Linares his student at LSE and my dearest friend was also with us.
The next day I went to the London School of Economics campus with Julio just to hang out with him in the Anthropology department. We had the Hare Rama Hare Krishna free lunch that they serve to students on the campus. Then we walked around and on an impulse barged into David’s office in the anthropology department. He was working in his sun-lit office. As we entered and greeted him, we accosted a box of his yet unpublished proof copies of Bullshit Jobs. Julio and I picked up one each and bullied him to sign our copies. He was such a comrade he didn’t mind our playful bullying and very affectionately signed the copies. When he signed his unique signature, I asked: ‘David, can you sign this again?’. He smiled and nodded. Being self-proclaimed anarchist, he said something that I will now leave to your imagination.. And we chatted for a while and left him to continue his work.
I cried when I got the news about his death. Megan Coxwell an American poet and Barb’s niece who was also with us that evening with David, sent me a message on FB messenger about his sudden death. I screamed when I saw the message. It was half past eleven at night in India. What made me sob more was just an hour ago I was talking to a group of international students, and I said: ‘ If you want to understand the poor, you need to understand ‘debt’ because they live in perennial debt. It has a curse. Please read David Graeber’s book ‘Debt – the first 5000 years’. He gives a perspective. Let’s talk about the book next time we meet.’
What more can I say?
Each time I think of him I have tears in my eyes. The meeting I am talking about was in 2018 Spring in London. Last year, I desperately called him and was keen to have him at the BIEN Congress in Hyderabad. But he was about to get married and legitimately preoccupied with it.
The last I met him was online when he invited me to speak at a Spectre TV inaugural discussion. It was one of the most enjoyable and deepgoing discussions I have ever had.
I miss you David. I was hoping to come and see you this winter. God bless your wife and the rest of your family. What more can I say?
