History Matthias Dilthey called for a day of basic income in 2006, which unfortunately received little support at the time.*
The first week of the basic income was held in 2008 and was designed as a sub-project of the EU-funded “Basic Income on the way to Europe.” This was initiated by Günter Sölken, from an idea the Basic Income Network Germany (Netzwerk Grundeinkommen) had proposed. It happened with the support of Basic Income Network and Social Cohesion Austria, BIEN Switzerland, Attac branches in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, along with the help of many independent basic income initiatives in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.
In 2009, a significant expansion took place. A call started from various initiatives, and finally 247 organizations and over 2,800 individuals participated. In Germany a website was developed to showcase the activity and creativity, with countless ideas, suggestions, and planned actions, under the editorial supervision of Martina Steinheuer.
The 4th International Basic Income Week was held 19 to 25 September 2011 with a focus on “Basic Income in Europe“. In Germany and Austria, there were about 100 events and activities: discussions, workshops, readings, theater and film screenings, exhibitions, etc. The fifth International Basic Income Week happened 17 to 23 September 2012 with the focus on “Ways to Basic Income”.
In 2013, the year of the European Citizens’ Initiative for Unconditional Basic Income, “Basic Income a Human Right“, a further internationalization of the 6th week of basic income took place. The Netherlands organized the “Week van het Basisinkomen” but not much action was involved, we were all too busy collecting signatures for the ECI.
In 2014 a Basic Income Week websitewas set up in English to further internationalize the event by Robin Ketelaars. Manja Taylor handled promotion and activities.
Unconditional Basic Income Europe (UBIE) adopted the 8th International Basic Income Week in 2015 as a key item to organize every year by all countries individually. Also at the 15th Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress, International Basic Income Week was adopted as a way to publicise UBI.
That year, 19 countries participated with live events: Belgium, China, Danmark, Germany, France, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada, Malawi, Netherlands, Norway, Austria, Sweden, Swiss, Zimbabwe, Spain, South Korea, Hungary, USA. A further eight countries participated on the internet: Australia, Brasil, Bulgaria, Finland, India, Italy, Mozambique, New Zealand, Zambia, South Africa.
9th international Basic Income Week had the motto “Basic income goes worldwide”. In 2016 Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) contributed to the week´s further globalization by starting a group on Slack for better collaboration. Jenna van Draalen from Canada and Christof Lammer from Austria were among the promoters of the IBIW along with many more UBI activists. Themes for other yearly events can be found on basicincomweek.org.
International Basic Income Week is a self-organised participatory week. A lot can be done, from spreading the news to friends to organising your own event with films, speakers or creative action. We can help with finding presenters and promoting your event with our shared Basic Income Week website. We welcome new participants who can share time, money or ideas! Get in touch with your regional group or the international coordination team, and let us know what you decide to do! This year there was the start of the Videothon Playlist.
From 2018 onwards there have been three synchronised events. 1) Make a photo and share it on social media with the hashtag #countonbasicincome on the Wednesday 2) Come and socialize, organize a #basicincomebeer on the Friday 3) Since 2019 the #basicincomemarch is part of the week on the Saturday
Basic Income Marches In April 2019, social worker and co-founder of Basic Income NYC Diane Pagen and 2020 candidate for U.S. Congress James Felton Keith came together to organize a public event in a show of force and inclusion for basic income.
2020 saw a huge growth in support for basic income in the United States. It was important to provide different ways for the community to celebrate. All sorts of events, live and online, from a film screening, panel discussions, to a Year of Basic Income Livestream event featuring commentary from Andrew Yang, Andy Stern, and over 10 Mayors from Mayors for a Guaranteed Income and more, marked the important progress made in 2020.
With COVID measures in place, city organizers got creative. From art installations, to bike and car parades, to street corner protests, Income Movement in the US built tools to make it easy for organizers to plan amazing, highly successful events while allowing for safe social distancing for community members. Many people who did not go on the streets posted a photo with the hashtag #talkonyourwalk and held Zoom sessions with shoes.
This year’s motto for International Basic Income Week is ‘Forward to a Better World!’
Future plans? Who knows? We hope that with BIEN’s support we can involve more countries in India, Africa, Asia and Latin America this year.
How can people contribute to or participate in IBIW this year? Organize events and spread the B-word! Social media activists wanted for @insta and other media outlets There is a Slack group where activities are discussed which you can join: the Basic Income Outreach Group. Please let us know if you want an invite via the contact form. We’re always on the lookout for more ideas!
*) Basic Income Day In 2014 a website promoting Basic Income Daywas started by Robin Ketelaars. “If everyone is his own king, nobody has to be the king of the other.” This sentence by Michael Sennhauser (Swiss Radio DRS) in the review of the film Kulturimpuls Grundeinkommen by Daniel Häni & Enno Schmidt and the film scene at Basel SBB train station inspired the crowning of the first 500 heads 1 May 2009 on the market square in Lörrach. Since then, we want to unite with everyone who burns for an unconditional basic income to trigger a wave of change.” The action was followed up in 2014 by Sylvia Mair and Oliver Der as a Basic Income Day on the 1st of May. This was supported by Scott Santens, a Basic Income activist from the United States, and other activists in Europe and the US. The websiteis in use for more “basic income days”. Human Rights Day is celebrated annually across the world on 10 December. In 2013 we participated by showing the world through our profile pic that an Unconditional Basic Income is a human right. The action this year will take place 4 to10 December. International Women’s Day on 8 March could also become a “Basic Income Day”.
‘UBI-Talk on our Walk’: A Zoom based (due pandemic) Basic Income March; ‘UBI-Talk on our Walk’, which will be facilitated by ‘Worldwide Meetings of UBI Advocates and UBI Networks’ and organized by UBI Networks, to be held on 19th of September 2020, Saturday, at GMT 12:00, or at GMT 14:30, or at GMT 19:00, as a participation in the 2nd Basic Income March (an initiative by; Income Movement), during the 13th International Basic Income Week.
UBI Advocates, together with their friends and networks, are all invited to this event to participate with a shoe of them. During the event, screen shots in groups will be taken and these will be used for promotion of the UBI idea. During the events, as time permits, limited number of participants will be able to give their short messages regarding UBI, too.
Considering different time zones and in order to host more number of participants from different corners of the World; there will be three separate Zoom sessions, whose details are given at the end of this article. The participants may choose at least one of them,
Thank should be forwarded to our dear friends Alexander de Roo (Netherlands), Claudia Leduc (Canada), Peter Knight (Brazil) and Ali Mutlu Köylüoğlu (Turkey) for their contributions during development of this project, and to our dear friends Gerdur Palmadottir (Iceland) for her proposal regarding the title of the event (‘UBI-Talk on our Walked’) and Gaylene Middleton (New Zealand) for seconding the proposal.
Special thanks to our dear friends Klaus Sambor (Austria), Peter Knight (Brazil), Ivaylo Kirilov (Bulgaria), Sheila Regehr (Canada), Fabricio Bonilla (Costa Rica ), Marek Hrubek (Czech Republic), Jaanus Nurmoja (Estonia), Michaela Kerstan (Germany), Evamaria Langer-Dombrady (Hungary), Gerdur Palmadottir (Iceland), Shobana Nelasco (India), Paul Harnett (Ireland), Robin Ketelars (Netherlands), Kristine Endsjo (Norway), Claudia Leduc (Quebec, Canada), Annie Miller (Scotland), Angle Bravo (Spain), Ali Mutlu Köylüoğlu (Turkey), Barb Jacobson (United Kingdom), Stacey Rutland (United States of America), Paul Ettl (Austria), Cory Neudorf (Canada), Milus Kotisova (Czech Republic), Sabine Heisnerr (Germany), Mike Danson (Scotland), Kimberly Woods (United States of America), and Georg Sorst (Austria) for participation of them in the invitation message with their screen shots (photos).
The timing of the Zoom meetings are all announced as GMT (Greenwich Mean Time).
All the meetings will be recorded and will be shared partially or fully, especially for other UBI Advocates, who were not able to participate.
The capacity for the Zoom meetings is 500 participants and in case the sessions are full, please see the Facebook page “UBI Advocates and UBI Networks” for additional meetings (in addition to the below listed pre-scheduled ones.)
Hopes are to see as many participants as possible during the ‘UBI-Talk on our Walk’,
Details of the Scheduled Zoom Meetings on 19th of September, 2020, Saturday :
at GMT 12:00, Meeting ID: 881 0151 7059, Passcode: UBI4H
March for Universal Basic Income in at least 40 cities worldwide, Saturday 19 Sep. 2020, from the upper left of a world map: Edmonton, Canada Calgary Kawartha Lakes, ONT Montreal Seattle, USA Tacoma Portland Oakland Los Angeles Los Vegas Phoenix Salt Lake City Dallas Austin Des Moines Kansas City New Orleans Louisville Nashville Atlanta Orlando Parkersburg, WV Raleigh Washington, DC Woodstock, NY New York, NY Montpelier, VT Boston Bogotá, Colombia Akureyri, Iceland Reykjavík London, UK Amsterdam, the Netherlands Haugesund, Norway Norderstedt, Germany Berlin Stockholm, Sweden Helsinki, Finland İstanbul, Turkey
If there’s no UBI march near you, please start one. A march of one person is better than a march of zero. Let’s get some more pictures on the map.
If you are a member of an organization that would like to become an affiliate of BIEN, click here or scroll down to the bottom for the requirements of affiliates and the instructions for requesting affiliation.
Facebook: Basic Income Guarantee AustraliaCoordinator: Gregory Marston (g.marston@uq.edu.au)School of Social ScienceFaculty of Humanities and Social SciencesUniversity of QueenslandSt Lucia CampusMichie Building, QLD, Australia 4067
AUSTRIA: Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt – B.I.E.N. Austria
Founded in October 2002
Antonigasse 100, 1180 Wien
Website: www.grundeinkommen.at Email: info (AT) grundeinkommen.at (please replace “AT” by “@”)
Contact person: Margit Appel (margit.appel@ksoe.at) Contact person (Media): Markus Blümel (markus.bluemel@ksoe.at)
President: Luca Santini (luca.santini@bin-italia.org) Vice President: Rachele Serino (rachele.serino@virgilio.it) Coordinator and contact person: Sandro Gobetti (sandro.gobetti@bin-italia.org) Other members and roles of BIN Italia Committee: https://www.bin-italia.org/consiglio_direttivo.php Email: info@bin-italia.org Address: BIN Italia Via Filippo De Grenet, 38 – 00128 Rome, Italy Tel.: Luca Santini: +39 3487752116 Tel.: Sandro Gobetti: +39 3334375476
Founded in April 2008 Website: www.icu.org.mx Coordinator: Pablo Yanes (ingresociudadano@gmail.com; pyanes2007@gmail.com) Member of BIEN’s International Advisory Board: Pablo Yanes
Coordinator: Branko Gerlic Contact persons: Branko Gerlic (branko.gerlic@gmail.com), Dr. Valerija Korosec (valerija_korosec@yahoo.com), Dr. Igor Pribac (suriprib@guest.arnes.si)
Zofijini ljubimci – Drustvo za razvoj humanistike Ob zeleznici 8 2000 Maribor Slovenia
SOUTHERN AFRICA: Studies in Poverty and Inequality Institute (SPII)
President: Daniel Raventós (presidencia@redrentabasica.org) Member of BIEN’s International Advisory Board: Daniel Raventós Departament de Teoria Sociològica, Filosofia del Dret i Metodologia de les CCSS Facultat d’Economia i Empresa Universitat de Barcelona Diagonal, 690 08034 Barcelona, Spain
BIEN is willing to affiliate organisations with the same aim as itself:
To educate the general public about Basic Income, that is, a periodic cash payment delivered to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement; to serve as a link between the individuals and groups committed to, or interested in, Basic Income; to stimulate and disseminate research about Basic Income; and to foster informed public discussion on Basic Income throughout the world.
An affiliated organisation needs to
be not-for-profit
have regular activities
have a constitution with a clear decision-making structure *
promote debate on Basic Income, and not only on particular Basic Income schemes or funding methods
be focused solely on Basic Income and not committed to any broader programme or wider agenda (even if Basic Income is a central aspect of that agenda)
refrain from causing any form of reputational damage to BIEN, and not to be affiliated to any organisation that might cause reputational damage to BIEN
welcome the involvement of everyone interested in Basic Income
keep in contact with BIEN’s Executive Committee
(* Two methods for selecting the decision-making body are acceptable: selection of new members of the decision-making body by existing members of it, or election of members of the decision-making body by a wider organizational membership.)
To apply to be affiliated to BIEN, an organisation needs to write a letter to the secretary at secretary@basicincome.org explaining how it fits the criteria and providing contact details. BIEN’s Executive Committee will then decide whether to recommend affiliation to the General Assembly. The final decision on affiliation is made by the General Assembly.
Any affiliated organisation that is found not to be adhering to the criteria for affiliation will be discussed by the Executive Committee, which might recommend disaffiliation. Final decisions about disaffiliation are made by the General Assembly.
Videos of all the plenary sessions are available on youtube. Abstracts of all the concurrent sessions are available here. Full papers and slides of some presentations are available below.
This table contains the papers uploaded to the congress website prior to the congress. If other authors submit their papers then they will be added to this list.
Videos are available of many of the congress sessions. Click here to see them.
BIEN 2016, Seoul
The Proceedings of the 2016 congress are contained in a single document, in which can be found plenary session addresses and parallel session papers. Click here to download the document.
Toward a renovation of economic circulation and institutionsMorley-Fletcher, Edwin (IT) Opening AddressOzanira da Silva e Silva, Maria (BRA) The Minimum Income as a Policy for Increasing Child Education in BrazilPelzer, Helmut (GE) Funding of an Unconditional Basic Income in Germany via a Modified Tax/Transfer SystemPioch, Roswitha (GE) The bottom line of the welfare state in Germany and the NetherlandsQuilley, Steven (UK) Sustainable Funding of Basic Income: Environment, Citizenship & Community, and a Trajectory for Basic Income Politics in Europe (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Reynolds, Brigid (IRE), with Sean Healy
From Concept to Green Paper: Putting Basic Income on the Political Agenda (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Robeyns, Ingrid (B)
An emancipation fee or hush money? The advantages and disadvantages of a basic income for women’s emancipation and well-being (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Roos, Nikolas (NL)
Basic Income and the justice of taxationSalinas, Claudio Caesar (ARG), with Philippe Van Parijs Basic income and its cognates. Puzzling equivalence and unheeded differences between alternative ways of addressing the new social question (published in Basic Income on the Agenda) Scharpf, Fritz (D) Basic Income and Social Europe (published in Basic Income on the Agenda)
Schutz, Robert (US)
More Basic IncomeSerati, M. (IT), with E. Chiappero & F. Silva Basic income: an insidious trap or a fruitful chance for the Italian labour market?Silva, F. (IT) ), with E. Chiappero & M. Serati Basic income: an insidious trap or a fruitful chance for the Italian labour market?Smith, Jeffery (US) From Potlatch to EarthshareStanding, Guy (SWI) Seeking Equality of Security in the Era of GlobalisationTerraz, Isabelle Redistributive Impact of a Basic Income: A Focus on Women’s SituationVan Parijs, Philippe (B), with Claudio Caesar Salinas Basic income and its cognates. Puzzling equivalence and unheeded differences between alternative ways of addressing the new social question (published in Basic Income on the Agenda) Widerquist, Karl (US) Reciprocity and the guaranteed income
