by Stanislas Jourdan | May 6, 2015 | News
The French Senate will host a one-day conference about basic income on May 19th. The conference is organised by the French Movement for a Basic Income (Affiliate of BIEN) and sponsored by Socialist Senator Gaetan Gorce.
The conference entitled “Basic Income: a social transformation lever for the economy of tomorrow” will include international panelists such as BIEN co-founder Philippe van Parijs, P2P Foundation’s Michel Bauwens, and several french personalities advocating for basic income including Marc de Basquiat, Baptiste Mylondo, Jean-Marie Monnier, and Gaspard Koenig.
The conference’s program covers diverse topics such as automation and the digitial economy, the evolution of work, work inclusion and unconditional income, the financing of basic income, with a final focus on how to implement basic income experiments in France.
Check out the full program here
Credit picture CC Olivier
by Stanislas Jourdan | Apr 14, 2015 | News
The Podemos working group on basic income has started a procedure to bring basic income back to the party’s forefront proposals for the next general election. They need 37,000 signatures to trigger a binding internal referendum on the issue.
Last November, the Spanish political party Podemos released “An economic project for the people” which was a draft economic program for the next general election. Written by professors and party leaders Vicenç Navarro and Juan Torres, the document excluded basic income as an immediate proposal for implementation, viewing it instead as a long-term goal for the party. They propsed instead the introduction of a means-tested guaranteed minimum income more comprehensive than the current Spanish welfare system.
Although the official program for the next general election in December 2015 has not yet been adopted by the party, the publication nurtured doubts that basic income would not be a main proposal of Podemos in the future.
Disappointed by such development, Podemos Renta Basica, the party’s ‘circle’ working on basic income, has started a campaign to bring the idea back into the party’s electoral platform, ahead of the general election.
Podemos members can now sign an internal petition to support the initiative. If the petition collects the support of 37,000 members within 3 months, an internal referendum will be conducted among the full membership of the party. This vote will be binding, and could only be revoked by another referendum, meaning that unconditional basic income would become a permanent part of the Podemos program. So far more than 2,000 members have supported the proposal.
“We at Podemos Renta Basica consider the current proposals inadequate as an instrument of wealth redistribution to prevent and eradicate poverty. Only basic income can end social precariousness and articulate a new social and economic relationship with freedom.” the statement reads.
Podemos Renta Basica has increased its efforts to promote the concept. Notably, they have published a handbook (pdf) which offers an overview of the arguments for basic income and a proposal for its implementation in Spain.
After gaining 5 seats at the European Parliament, Podemos is seen as potential winner in the upcoming election. The party currently stands in third position in opinion polls, with about 20% intending to vote for their candidates.
Credit picture Mario Pais
by Stanislas Jourdan | Apr 8, 2015 | News
Several Italian civil society groups have rallied to a 100-day campaign which promotes the concept of a ‘dignity income’ as a way to counter mafia power.
There was a resolution at the European Parliament on 16 October 2010 which stressed the important “role of minimum income in combating poverty and promoting an inclusive society in Europe”, and recommended that all EU countries adopt a minimum income scheme. Italy is still one of the few EU countries (along with Hungary, Bulgaria and Greece) which has not yet done so.
In order to remedy this problem, a new alliance of civil society organisations started a campaign called “100 days for a dignity income” on March 13th. The campaign has a simple goal: get a minimum income passed into law within 100 days.
The leaders of the campaign argue: “It is not impossible, our proposal is not unrealistic: there are several bills pending at the Palazzo Madama (the Italian Senate building).”
The campaign is led by the 20-year-old anti-mafia organisation, Libera, later joined by several anti-poverty networks. In a press release, Libera stressed the relevance of minimum income as a key tool against the Mafia’s blackmailing of the poor’:
“The Minimum or Citizen’s Income, is also a key tool for fighting organised crime in a period of crisis and increasing poverty and social inequality. It removes oxygen from those who exploit the need to work and turn it into economic blackmail, which fuels criminal networks who then take advantage of poverty for their own businesses. A minimum income law would make people less vulnerable in the face of those who want to exploit their needs and vulnerabilities.”
A first step towards basic income in Italy
Behind the concept of “dignity income” the campaign is the idea of “a minimum income support that provides a safety net for those who cannot work or go to a job that can guarantee a decent income or do not have access to social security systems,” says the manifesto. It is therefore not exactly a basic income as we understand it.
In the context of Italian politics however, a means-tested and conditional minimum income is often considered as a necessary first step towards a universal basic income.
The Basic Income Network Italia (BIN-Italy) supports the campaign because it goes in the right direction. BIN-Italia will foster public initiatives, debates, seminars and other meetings to raise awareness both amongst public opinion and decision makers of the necessity of a guaranteed basic income nn a country where 10 million people live in relative poverty (16.6% of the total population) and more than 6 million, (9.9% of the population), in absolute poverty.
After 30 days of campaigning, 65,000 citizens have already supported the new campaign by signing a petition to the national parliament. The organisers aim is for 100,000 signatures. Two years ago, a similar citizens’ initiative received more than the necessary 50,000 signatures to be discussed at parliament, but was never given a serious hearing.
This time, as with the last campaign, many politicians and political parties have expressed their support for the campaign, including political parties Sinistra Ecologia Libertà (Left Ecology Liberty), Movimento 5 stelle (5 Stars Movement) and Rifondazione Comunista (Refounded Communist Party) and one of the main metalworkers labour unions, FIOM.
Moreover, the mayors of the cities of Udine, Cerveteri, Monterotondo have not only signed the petition but also presented a petition at their City Councils for their cities to officially promote the campaign.
However, the Minister of Labour Giuliano Poletti remains unconvinced. Just a few days after the start of the campaign he publicly opposed it, claiming that a minimum income would “cost many billions, and be unsustainable for the current national budget”.
With contribution from Emanuele Murra
by Stanislas Jourdan | Mar 27, 2015 | News
A letter published today in the Financial Times signed by 19 economists, including BIEN co-founder Guy Standing, calls on the European Central Bank to adopt an alternative quantitative easing policy. The letter includes a call to distribute cash directly to citizens of the eurozone.
As a response to the European Central Bank’s (ECB) plan to inject 60 bn euros a month for the next 18 months into the financial system, 19 economists have signed a letter to the Financial Times calling on the ECB to adopt a different approach which they consider a more efficient way to boost the eurozone economy.
“The evidence suggests that conventional QE is an unreliable tool for boosting GDP or employment. Bank of England research shows that it benefits the well-off, who gain from increasing asset prices, much more than the poorest,” the letter reads.
The signatories offer an alternative:
Rather than being injected into the financial markets, the new money created by eurozone central banks could be used to finance government spending (such as investing in much needed infrastructure projects); alternatively each eurozone citizen could be given €175 per month, for 19 months, which they could use to pay down existing debts or spend as they please. By directly boosting spending and employment, either approach would be far more effective than the ECB’s plans for conventional QE.
The idea of having central banks to distribute cash to citizens has often been called “quantitative easing for the people” – a term coined by Steve Keen, an Australian economist.
Prof. Steve Keen signed the letter, along with 18 other economists, including several advocates for basic income such as BIEN’s cofounder Guy Standing, David Graeber, Frances Coppola and Lord Robert Skidelsky. Guy Standing recently wrote an article outlining a proposal for having the ECB to finance basic income pilot studies in Europe:
“Monthly payments could be provided to every man, woman and child in, say, four areas on a pilot basis, with the sole condition that they would only continue to receive them if they were residing in those areas. People would still be free to move. However, it would help them to be able to stay. Such payments could be made for a period of 12 or 24 months.”
BIEN’s affiliate Unconditional Basic Income Europe also came out pushing for a similar proposal in a recent press release, as “a pragmatic, direct pathway towards an unconditional basic income for all in the eurozone.”
Although the concept of “quantitative easing for the people” and the basic income have common features in the sense that they consist in distributing cash transfers to all individuals no strings attached, a quantitative easing is usually not understood as a permanent scheme, rather a short term measure aiming at stimulating demand.
Here is the full list of signatories:
Victoria Chick, University College London
Frances Coppola, Associate Editor, Piera
Nigel Dodd, London School of Economics
Jean Gadrey, University of Lille
David Graeber, London School of Economics
Constantin Gurdgiev, Trinity College Dublin
Joseph Huber, Martin Luther University of Halle-Wittenberg
Steve Keen, Kingston University
Christian Marazzi, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland
Bill Mitchell, University of Newcastle
Ann Pettifor, Prime Economics
Helge Peukert, University of Erfurt
Lord Skidelsky, Emeritus Professor, Warwick University
Guy Standing, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Kees Van Der Pijl, University of Sussex
Johann Walter, Westfälische Hochschule, Gelsenkirchen Bocholt Recklinghausen, University of Applied Sciences
John Weeks, School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Richard Werner, University of Southampton
Simon Wren-Lewis,University of Oxford
Photo Credit CC Alex Guibord
by Stanislas Jourdan | Mar 24, 2015 | News
Former bishop Zephania Kameeta and prominent advocate for basic income was just appointed Minister of a new Ministry for Poverty Alleviation.
A new hope that basic income will eventually be implemented by the government is raising in Namibia as the newly elected President Hage Geingob has committed to fight poverty and has designated former bishop of the Lutheran Church of Namibia and longtime basic income supporter Zephania Kameeta as minister of a new Ministry Department solely dedicated to Poverty Alleviation.
The new President Hage Geingob won the presidential elections with 87% of the vote on 28 November 2014. He belongs to the ruling Center-left SWAPO party which also won the parliamentary elections with a comfortable 80% majority.
Zephania Kameeta is known to be one of the pioneers of the Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition which started a worldwide known basic income experiment in the rural town of Otjivero in 2007. He even influenced the German Protestant Church in their move in support for basic income, BIEN Germany’s Ronald Blaschke reminded in a recent blog post. Kameeta has repeatedly pushed the government to step forward the idea.
Namibia’s new president, Hage Geingob is also one of the few leaders of the country who is interested in basic income. He openly supported the idea when he was Trade and Industry Minister and was among the first persons to donate to the BIG pilot project fund in August 2007.
“Poverty is a curse, I would therefore like government to take up the proposal of the Council of Churches of Namibia and pay out a basic income grant to all Namibians who do not have a source of income,” Geingob said in the National Assembly in 2007.
Although no announcement has been yet made about basic income by the new government, the political moves foster hope that BIG might be a step closer to becoming a national reality in Namibia. The idea already seems to show strong support among its citizenry, with more than 78% of Namibians supporting the idea of the Basic Income Grant, a recent opinion poll concluded.
Uhuru Dempers, a development activist who campaigns for BIG, told national media New Era that a ministry for poverty eradication is a positive development. “We hope that with the coming on board of Kameeta, there will be a debate on BIG as one of the models of addressing poverty,” said Dempers.
Credit picture: CC The Lutheran World Federation
