Marcus Brancaglione, president of the Institute for the deinstitutionalization of life: ReCivitas, sends his solidarity message to ‘the Basic Income Week’.
Brancaglione, with Bruna Augusto, initiated and has been working hard for a basic income pilot project in a small village in Brazil since 2008.
international basicincome week
International Basic Income Week from 2008 until today: How did it all start?
Basicincomeweek.org is finding out what is happening with Basic Income initiatives around the world, regarding International Basic Income Week and beyond.
The organization is talking with the people who brought International Basic Income Week to life and who have made it into the international event it is today. It all started with local events that everyone is invited to join.
Then Basic Income Week is talking with activists of countries taking part for the first time in 2015. Later on there will be interviews with initiatives that are otherwise significantly contributing to worldwide Unconditional Basic Income.
Basic Income Week has interviews with:
Further interviews to expect:
The Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) together with the /r/BasicIncome community on Reddit has planned a series of Q&A events throughout Basic Income Week (September 14-20, 2015). Each event is called an AMA, which stands for “Ask Me Anything.” In each event a person with specialized knowledge in some area of basic income will go online and answer questions (by text) typed in by anyone accessing Reddit around the world.
Reddit is one of the most popular websites on the internet. It has millions of members in ongoing discussions of specific topics called, “subreddits.” The Basic Income subreddit is a lively and growing discussion with nearly 30,000 members.
The Basic Income Week AMAs are:
Tuesday, September 15, 2pm (Eastern time US): Liane Gale, co-founder of the Basic Income Women’s Action Group and Louise Haagh, co-chair of BIEN, Reader (associate professor) in politics at the University of York (UK) and author of several books and articles about basic income.
Tuesday, September 15, 2pm (Eastern time US): Ian Schlakman, New Economy Organizer, Green Party nominee for Congress (2014) and co-founder of Basic Income Action.
Thursday, September 17, 10am (Eastern time US): Sarath Davala, of the Self Employed Women’s Association (India) and Guy Standing, Professor of Development Students at the University of London, cofounder of BIEN, and author of a dozen books and hundreds of articles on basic income. Both Davala and Standing working on the Indian Basic Income Pilot Project.
Friday, September 18, 12pm (Eastern Time US): Andre Coelho and Jenna Van Draanen, the two co-editors of Basic Income News.
Sunday, September 20, 2pm (Eastern Time US): Sjir Hoeijmakers, econometrician, basic income activist, and leader in the push for a basic income pilot project in the Netherlands.
Basic Income Week 2015
Mayor Keith Hobbs of Thunder Bay, Ontario, has joined the mayors of Edmonton and Calgary in publicly stating his support for a basic income. Hobbs believes basic income provides a certain degree of self-worth to every individual and helps fight poverty, addiction, and homelessness. Hobbs thinks the best strategy going forward is to implement a basic income paired with a housing-first strategy that seeks to house homeless people within ten days of knowing they are homeless.
To read more, click on the following link:
Roderick Benns, “Reliable, basic income would lead to better self-worth and a better life: Thunder Bay mayor”, Leaders and Legacies, 25 August 2015.
This report examines the impact of an emergency cash grant distributed by churches in Namibia modeled on the Basic Income Grant Pilot in Otjivero. During the 2012/2013 summer months, the precipitation deficits varied between 20% and 90%, which resulted in one of the worst recorded droughts in Namibia that left 36% of the population food insecure. The cash grant’s impact was significant and life saving. During the baseline, 63% of people involved suffered from insufficient food daily or at least once a week. Following the grant, 77% of people did not lack food during the month Individuals used the remaining 40% of the money to meet health related expenditure, to invest in schooling and farming. Prior to the project, about 60% surveyed preferred cash over food aid or fodder for the animals, after five months of receiving the grant, this figure rose to nearly 95%.
Claudia and Dirk Haarmann, “Relief through cash: Impact assessment of the emergency cash grant in Namibia” BIG Coalition Namibia, July 2015.
