by Yannick Vanderborght | Dec 8, 2012 | News
Elizabeth May, the leader of the Green Party in Canada and an MP in British Columbia recently endorsed basic income. The endorsement of a “Guaranteed Livable Income” came through a press release on October 17, the United Nations (UN) International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. May’s press release reminds her audience that the Green Party is the only political party in Canada to advocate for a basic income as a means to eradicate poverty. The endorsement occurring on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is an apt response to the UN resolution for all member states to create and implement concrete strategies to eliminate poverty.
More about her remarks can be found online at:
https://www.canadianprogressiveworld.com/2012/10/18/elizabeth-may-calls-for-a-guaranteed-livable-income-in-canada/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Dec 6, 2012 | News
The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) has named the Basic Income Canada Network as the host of the 15th BEIN Congress, which will take place in Ottawa, Ontario in the spring or summer of 2014. Kelly Ernst, of Sheldon Chumir Foundation for Ethics in Leadership, will chair the Local Organizing Committee (LOC). Other members of the LOC include Jurgen de Wispelaere, Kizzy Paris, Jenna van Draanen, Linda Lalonde, Myron Frankman, Tim Rourke, and Sharon Murphy. The LOC will name a date and a venue for the conference within the next six months and release a call for submissions sometime in 2013. For more information about the organizational efforts that will bring congress into being in a little more than 18 months, contact: Kelly Ernst <kernst@chumir.ca>
by Yannick Vanderborght | Dec 4, 2012 | Research
In this article published in the Hufftington Post, Mike Sandler argues that if we change the way money enters the economy (it enters as debt owned to private banks), government of the United States will be able to create Citizen’s Dividend and reduce the number of bankruptcies. The author comes to this idea based on the Ned Act proposed by Dennis Kucinich to abolish Federal Reserve, fractional reserve banking, prohibit compound interest, and give 25% of money created to the states. According to him, this will help budget deficits and help government to save money to give to every citizen of the United States in the form of the Universal Citizen’s Dividend. Sandler argues that this new way of handling economy will allow government to have enough money to give to actual people who will spend it into circulation. This, in turn, will create demand, so that employers will start hiring people again.
Sandler, Mike “Citizen’s Dividends: Basic Income from your Share of the Commons,” Hufftington Post, October 3, 2012
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-sandler/citizens-dividends-basic-_b_1936182.html?utm_hp_ref=business
by Yannick Vanderborght | Nov 22, 2012 | Research
The proposal of a basic income is intensely debated internationally as well as in Germany. While – up to now – the debate mostly concentrated on normative issues the discussion on pathways to a basic income is still at the beginning. The edited volume with contributions in German and English will contribute to the emerging debate on most likely and realistic pathways to a basic income.
In the first section of the book the debate on pathways to basic income is located in a broader framework of social reform strategies and developments. In the second section different proposals on first steps towards a basic income are discussed. The last section deals with model projects and social experiments. The volume includes contributions of Stephan Lessenich, Philippe van Parijs/Yannick Vanderborght, Dirk Jacobi, Sebastian Duwe/Milena Büch/Nicholas Bardsley, Ulrike Herrmann, Katja Kipping, Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn, Franz Segbers, Götz Werner/André Presse, Susanne Wiest, Johannes Terwitte and Guy Standing.
Full references: Dirk Jacobi/Wolfgang Strengmann-Kuhn/Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (eds.), 2012, Wege zum Grundeinkommen, Berlin: Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.
The book is available for free download.
https://www.bildungswerk-boell.de/downloads/Wege_zum_Grundeinkommen.pdf
by Yannick Vanderborght | Nov 21, 2012 | News
The Council of Europe is organising in partnership with the European Union, a conference on “Poverty and Inequality in Societies of Human Rights: the paradox of democracies – Proposals for an inclusive society -“. This event will be held at the Council of Europe’s Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg on 21-22 February 2013.
The Conference is open to all people interested in the issues raised including public authorities, researchers, NGOs and civil society organizations. Within the limits of available resources, the Council of Europe will be covering travel and/or accommodation expenses for participants. One panel will be specifically devoted to a discussion of basic income.
The Conference aims to analyse these growing phenomens through the prism of Human Rights and Democracy. It will also explore paths for a renewed strategy to fight poverty and inequalities based on Common Goods and the sharing of social responsibilities, whilst avoiding waste. Hundreds of participants from different backgrounds are expected in Strasbourg to :
• Analyze the current situation and identify problems / obstacles to the combat poverty and inequalities (limits of legal and democratic mechanisms to ensure the voices of people living in poverty are taken into account, changes in redistribution policies, etc.);
• Formulate concrete proposals to progress in the fight against poverty, taking into account the need to include the voice of each person, to better utilize and share resources in order to avoid waste and ensure a more equal access to them, in a perspective of well-being for all;
• Exchange and share experiences, knowledge and practices to implement innovative actions to fight against poverty and inequalities, based on the concepts of common goods, shared responsibility and avoiding wasted resources.
