On the 1st of December, the Comission of Fundamental Rights received the president and secretary of the Chilean Basic Income Network (Red Chilena de Ingreso Básico) Gabriela Cabaña and Cristóbal Ramos. The intervention included the justifications of basic income as a right that should be guaranteed in the new constitutional order, as part of a wider re-articulation of the state. It also included legal considerations and different ways in which Chile’s current legal order supports the constitutional consagration of a basic income. The presenters also answered questions from members of the Convention.
The constitutional convention will present a new constitution for national approval via referendum next year. You can watch the full intervention (in Spanish) here
On 11 January 2022, the International Workshop on Basic Income Manifestos for Presidential Election 2022 in Korea was held and a recording is now available on YouTube
The session lasted about 2 hours and 20 minutes, of which 1 hour and 40 minutes was devoted to introductions, presentations by the keynote presenter and panelists, and comments by presenters. The remaining 40 minutes was Q&A between the presenters and other participants. The total number of participants in the Zoom workshop was 178 from 31 countries. The workshop was moderated by BIEN Chairperson, Sarath Davala.
The keynote presentation, Basic Income Manifesto of Presidential Candidate Mr. JM Lee — by Nam-Hoon Kang, Co-Chairperson of the Basic Social Committee, Presidential Election Committee of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea — is available by clicking here and that by Jun-Ho Oh, Presidential candidate of the Basic Income Party here.
This was a highly informative workshop with some of the world’s leading advocates and analysts of basic income participating. The political economy of introducing basic income was a key feature of the discussions. Mobilizing revenue by taxation of commons-based income and pollutant emissions for distribution as basic income was emphasized. The political dynamics of having both the leading party and a single-issue party campaigning for basic income was discussed. Also notable were the mechanisms proposed in the keynote presentation for increasing support for basic income through intensive deliberative discussions (along the lines pioneered in Gyeonggi Province) and popular assemblies.
A European Citizens‘ Initiative (ECI) in favor of an EU UBI has been started on 25 September 2020. The collection period currently ends on 25 June 2022.
The ECI proposes “… to establish the introduction of unconditional basic incomes throughout the EU which ensure every person’s material existence and opportunity to participate in society as part of its economic policy. This aim shall be reached while remaining within the competences conferred to the EU by the Treaties.“ Further, the ECI requests “… the EU Commission to make a proposal for unconditional basic incomes throughout the EU, which reduce regional disparities in order to strengthen the economic, social and territorial cohesion in the EU. This shall realize the aim of the joint statement by the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission, stated in 2017, that ‘the EU and its member states will also support efficient, sustainable and equitable social protection systems to guarantee basic income’ in order to combat inequality.“
More than 169 thousand have signed the ECI as of 12 January 2022. But one million signatures are required. BIEN life members, BIEN affiliates in the EU and other UBI-Advocates in the EU may support the ECI-UBI-campaign at the following URL: https://de.eci-ubi.eu/.
Advocates of the ECI UBI are also active on the online platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe. It is not only in three interim reports on the online platform that the proposal on Unconditional Basic Incomes throughout the EU is highlighted. The UBI also has a high approval rate at the Europe Talks of major newspapers in Europe.
In order to make UBI (and the European Citizens’ Initiative) even more popular, endorsements and positive comments on the ECI proposal may be given on the online platform of the Conference on the Future of Europe: https://futureu.europa.eu/processes/Economy/f/10/proposals/1556.
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:
“Unconditional Basic Income in Portugal: How Can We Afford It?“
The moral objections to UBI and how it could re-shape a society grounded on work are some of the most puzzling but also most important discussions on the topic. However, they are often side-lined with an important instrumental discussion: can we afford an Unconditional Basic Income? Some microsimulations have been conducted, discussing possible cost structures in the UK (Widerquist & Arndt, 2020), and only one study has been conducted for the Portuguese case (Teixeira, 2019). This essay competition aims to fill this gap, and contribute with additional possibilities to answer the question of whether an Unconditional Basic Income is feasible in Portugal or not.
The organizers welcome submissions that focus on discussing possible scenarios for implementing an Unconditional Basic Income, and how much can those scenarios cost (net and gross). They will value submissions who also look into the possible funding strategies, and incorporate them in the analysis.
Deadline for receiving the essays: April 25 2022.
Contributions may be sent as email attachments in word format to: nrbmerrill@gmail.com The winner of the best essay will receive €750 and the essay will be published in the journal Ethics, Politics & Society.
The journal EPS welcomes essays of 8,000 words or fewer addressing this topic.
The essays must be written in English.
All submissions should be headed “Unconditional Basic Income Prize Essay Competition 2022” (with the author’s name and address given in the e-mail, but NOT in the essay itself).
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.
BIEN’s 2022 Congress will be held in Brisbane, Australia, from Monday 26th to Wednesday 28th September 2022. This will be a hybrid face to face and online event. The main face-to-face event will take place in Brisbane.
Call for papers: Abstracts (250—300 words) due by Friday 4 February 2022; please click here for more information.
Basic Income
A Basic Income is a periodic cash payment unconditionally delivered to all on an individual basis, without means-test or work requirement. Read more
