by Yannick Vanderborght | Nov 17, 2011 | Research
A collective volume entitled Arguing about justice has just been published on the occasion of Philippe Van Parijs’s 60th birthday. The book was launched on October 28th, 2011, during the celebrations of the Hoover Chair (Louvain University) 20th anniversary, and remained a complete surprise for Van Parijs himself. The editors Axel Gosseries and Yannick Vanderborght had managed to convince almost 50 authors from all over the world, who all respect Philippe’s ideas and like him as a person, to join this secret project. The authors were asked to write pieces trying out new ideas, taking risks if possible, without knowing anything about who the other authors were, their number, the publisher’s name, the venue for the gift-giving, etc.
The diversity of Van Parijs’s research interests is reflected in the volume, with contributors from various disciplines covering a wide array of issues. Papers on basic income are of course well represented. They consider how and to what extent such a basic income can be justified (Christian Arnsperger & Warren A. Johnson, Samuel Bowles, Paul-Marie Boulanger, Ian Carter, Robert van der Veen, and Karl Widerquist) as well as the prospects of its implementation, based on experiences from France (Denis Clerc), the United Kingdom (Bill Jordan), Brazil (Eduardo Suplicy), or at a more general level (Almaz Zelleke). Among the other authors are Anne Alstott, Bruce Ackerman, John Baker, Joshua Cohen, Jon Elster, Robert Goodin, Claus Offe, John Roemer, Erik Olin Wright, and many others.
The endorsement by Amartya Sen reads as follows: “A book of quick and sharp thoughts on a grand theme is a novel way of paying tribute to a leading philosopher. But it has worked beautifully here, both as a stimulating book of ideas on justice, and as a fitting recognition of the intellectual contributions of Philippe Van Parijs, who is one of the most original and most creative thinkers of our time”.
Further details about the book (including all abstracts) and how to order it online are available at: https://www.uclouvain.be/394650.html
by Yannick Vanderborght | May 19, 2011 | News
The latest BIEN NewsFlash was published in November 2010 (Flash 63). The present NewsFlash (64) is unusually late, but it includes some very good news for those committed to or interested in basic income: the launch of a new website entirely devoted to basic income news.
Basic Income News (https://binews.org/) is the online incarnation of the BIEN NewsFlash and affiliated publications, such as the USBIG Newsletter. The BIEN NewsFlash and its predecessor, the BIEN Newsletter, have been in publication since 1988. The USBIG Newsletter has been going since the year 2000. It is the creation of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (the USBIG Network), BIEN’s affiliate in the United States (https://www.usbig.net).
Basic Income News began in the spring of 2011, when Joerg Drescher approached the editors of the BIEN and USBIG Newsletters about creating an online version of the basic income newsletters, in hopes that it would be more up-to-the minute and interactive.
Basic Income News can be found at https://binews.org/. This site will have frequently updated news stories about Basic Income around the world, provided initially by BIEN and USBIG. We hope soon that many more of BIEN’s affiliates will contribute as well. If you have news about Basic Income that you think should be published in Basic Income News, please contact the editors at <desk@binews.org>. Make sure that the information you send is complete, reliable, and in accordance with copyright rules.
Joerg Drescher (Webmaster of Basic income news)
Yannick Vanderborght (Newsletter Editor of BIEN)
Karl Widerquist (Co-chair of BIEN, and Newsletter Editor of USBIG)
by Yannick Vanderborght | Mar 31, 2011 | News
This conference on basic income (“allocation universelle”, or universal grant, in French) was organized by the Walloon federation of social assistance services (CPAS) and the Union of Walloon cities (UVCW). A panel of four speakers discussed the idea. Two proponents of basic income, Philippe Defeyt (Green Party and head of a social assistance service) and Yannick Vanderborght (Hoover Chair, UCLouvain), gave some of the main arguments in favour of a universal and unconditional basic income. Two reprensentatives of Belgium’s main trade unions, Anne Demelenne (FGTB) and Felipe Van Keirsbilck (CSC), explained why they were rather skeptical of the idea. For further information: www.uvcw.be
by Karl Widerquist | Aug 12, 2010 | News
The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), of which USBIG is a national affiliate, held its Thirteenth International Congress in Sao Paulo, Brazil, June 30-July 2, 2010. The Congress was attended by more than three hundred people from more than 30 countries around the world.
After the Congress, BIEN held its biennial General Assembly (GA) meeting. At the meeting, the Basic Income Korean Network applied for and received status as a national affiliate. BIEN now has 17 national affiliates around the world. Munich, Germany was chosen as the site for the 2012 BIEN Congress. The GA chose Eduardo Suplicy, Guy Standing, and Claus Offe as honorary co-presidents. The GA defined an honorary co-president as a past co-chair, who has agreed to remain active in the organization and who has been so approved by the GA. Philippe Van Parijs was reelected as the chair of BIEN’s International Advisory Board.
Elections for the BIEN Executive Committee (EC) Proceeded as fallows. Karl Widerquist and Ingrid Van Niekerk were reelected as co-chairs. David Casassas was reelected secretary. Yannick Vanderborght was reelected as newsletter editor. Almaz Zelleke and Louis Haagh were reelected to the EC. Zelleke takes up the post of Treasurer-Regional Coordinator. Haag takes up the post of Regional Coordinator. James Mulvale and Pablo Yanes were elected as Regional Coordinators. The EC agreed to co-opt Andrea Fumagalli as a non-voting member of the EC who will also function as a Regional Coordinator. The Local Organizing Committee in Germany will later appoint an additional member of the EC to act as their representative.
