by Yannick Vanderborght | Oct 29, 2012 | Opinion
The general elections of September 12, 2012 in the Netherlands show how far basic income has to go in the Netherlands. The elections were characterized by many debates in the media: radio, television, magazines and newspapers, but reporting and interviews were focused on party leaders of the major parties and some of the smaller parties already represented in the parliament, rather than on newcomers parties, some of which have endorsed basic income.
In Holland we have public broadcasting by NOS (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting – Dutch Broadcasting Foundation), so you should presume some objectivity about all political parties. NOS has the option to only have news about the political parties which have seats in parliament. All newcomers (about 10 from 22) were presumed not important enough to have some news about them in the broadcast
The elections resulted in a total of 21,176 votes for political newcomers which have a statement on a Citizens Income / Unconditional Basic Income (UBI – OBI in Dutch) – in their program. Those new parties didn’t get any seats in parliament because the minimum for one seat is about 60,000 votes. In Holland we have 9 million voters and 150 seats in parliament. This must be a signal that there has a lot of work to be done by supporters of the UBI to inform people on the advantages of the UBI.
A few new parties SOPN [Soeverein Onafhankelijke Pioniers Nederland – Sovereign Independent Pioneers of the Netherlands] and PVDT (Partij van de Toekomst – Party of the Future) that seek for real innovations, such as direct democracy, digital civil rights and UBI. They were sparsely covered. Of course, every political party had the six free three-minutes legal obligation airtime on public broadcasting, but that was all. Also the various polls taken in advance to the elections only concerned the established parties. The newcomers received no attention and were not even mentioned in the polls.
For us as Vereniging Basisinkomen (Basic Income Association) there is still a lot of work to do. We must choose a different strategy. The parliament, as it stands, will not seriously take notice of the UBI. We need to address people at their hearts and only then will there be a majority that can ensure that UBI becomes a major issue in politics. Maybe we can get an overall understanding by politicians that the Unconditional Basic Income is the universal way to achieve a socially and just society to for the future where every individual can live in freedom without hardship.
Results of the elections
# Valid votes 9,424,235
# Invalid votes 20,984
# Blank votes 17,004
# Percentage of blank votes 0,18 %
# Electors 12,689,810
# Attendance 9,462,223
# Turnout 74.57 %
# Votes for an UBI 21,176
by Yannick Vanderborght | Oct 26, 2012 | Research
The book comprises 25 contributions to the basic income debate, representing different scientific perspectives and an artist’s essay. All the essays are devoted to the idea of improving social and personal welfare.
The authors are convinced that the implementation of a basic income could in both quantitative and qualitative terms contribute immensely to solve major social problems of our time such as unemployment, poverty, violation of human dignity, and the unequal distribution of income. Today’s labour markets draw a distorted picture of the exchange of supply and demand for work. The book presents means and options of turning today’s labour markets into well-functioning markets within a regulatory framework based on a social market economy. According to the editors the economic impact and degree of socio-political innovation of the basic income equals Bismarck’s reforms of social legalisation by the end of the 19th century. Therefore, the cover picture draws the comparison between the Copernican Turn in the 15th century and socio-political turn in the 21st.
Full references: Werner, Götz W., Eichhorn, Wolfgang & Friedrich, Lothar (eds.) (2012), Das Grundeinkommen : Würdigung – Wertungen – Wege, Karlsruhe: KIT Scientific Publishing.
Website: https://www.ksp.kit.edu/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Oct 25, 2012 | Research
Starting from Amartya Sen’s ideas about freedom and development, the article discusses the idea of basic income and its potential to promote both development and protective security. The theoretical analysis is connected with the empirical data of the first project that monitored the effects of basic income on a real community, the village of Otjivero-Omitara in Namibia.
Full references: MURRA, Emanuele (2012), ‘Basic income, libertà e sviluppo per i paesi del Sud del mondo. Il caso del villaggio di Otjivero-Omitara’ (Basic Income, freedom and development to Southern Countries. The case of the village of Otjivero-Omitara) in M. Signore, L. Cuccurachi (eds.), Libertà democratiche e Sviluppo, Pensa Multimedia, Lecce 2012, pp. 177-186.
A pdf copy is avaible here:
https://unisalento.academia.edu/EmanueleMurra/Papers/1894398/Basic_income_liberta_e_sviluppo_per_i_paesi_del_Sud_del_mondo._Il_caso_del_villaggio_di_Otjivero-Omitara
by Yannick Vanderborght | Oct 24, 2012 | News
This debate is organized by the left-wing monthly “Pages de gauche”, which has published a special issue on basic income in the Summer of 2012. Guest speakers include Bernard Friot (Université Paris X), Gabriel Barta (one of the proponents of a “popular initiative” in favour of basic income), Romain Felli (Pages de gauche) and Yannick Vanderborght (FUSL Brussels and Louvain University).
Details: 9PM, Casino de Montbenon, Salon bleu, Avenue Ernest-Ansermet, Lausanne, Switzerland.
Website: https://www.pagesdegauche.ch/
by Yannick Vanderborght | Oct 10, 2012 | News
The Mouvement Ouvrier Chrétien (a Christian-democratic organization) in the province of Luxembourg (Belgium) organizes no less than three conferences on basic income in October-November 2012, to be held in Libramont. During the first one (October 18, 2012), Yannick Vanderborght will present the main features of the basic income debate. The second one (November 8, 2012) will be devoted to basic income activism, with a presentation by Christina Lambrecht from BIEN-Belgium. Finally, the last conference (November 22, 2012) will be introduced by basic income-skeptic Paul Palsterman, a lawyer within Belgium’s main trade union CSC.
For further information: vquinet.moclux@gmail.com
