by Jenna van Draanen | Apr 8, 2015 | News
The upcoming Congress of the Socialist Party in France from June 5-7 will be a chance to discuss basic income and politics. There are currently 5 general contributions and 4 thematic contributions that discuss basic income in varying levels of detail. This article reviews the proposals and comments on the way they include basic income.
La Redaction, “Revenu de base, l’idée fait son chemin dans les rangs du PS” [Basic income, the idea that made its way into the ranks of the Socialist Party]. Mouvement Francais pour us Revenu de Base, March 19, 2015.
by Karl Widerquist | Mar 4, 2015 | News, The Indepentarian
The Commons Brooklyn -The Experimental Gourmand
Thirty-one people signed the attendance sheet at the first meeting of group of people attempting to start a political movement for basic income in the United States. Several more people attended without signing, and others followed and contributed to the meeting online. The meeting took place from 6:30 to 9:30pm at the Commons Brooklyn on February 26, 2015, at the close of the Fourteenth North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress. The meeting began with all participants discussing their background and the history that brought them to the basic income movement. The group then split into several small groups, each discussing a different issue. Participants reassembled to bring their discussion to the whole group and to make some decisions.
The group chose not to name a leader or a leadership committee. It did not even pick a name for the new organization at this point. Instead, it created several committees and asked them to perform certain tasks. The group created the following committees:
- One committee will be in charge of legally chartering two groups. The U.S. Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network, which has existed since 1999 without an official legal charter, will become a U.S. nonprofit organization—a so-called 501(c)(3). This means that it will be able to accept tax-deductible donations, but it will not be able to do overtly political work. The second organization (yet to be named) will be chartered as a social welfare organization or a lobbying group with a 501(c)(4) tax designation. This means that it will be able to do overtly political work, but donations to it will not be tax-deductible. The following members have so far joined the committee to charter the two organizations:
Steven Shafarman
CONTACT PERSON: Steven Shafarman <sshafarman@gmail.com>
Ian Ash Schlakman <ian@civsys.it>
Jason Burke Murphy <murphyjason@elms.edu>
Mark Witham <mwitham@basicincomeproject.org>
Eri Noguchi <en16@columbia.edu>
Dan O’Sullivan <danosully@gmail.com>
- A committee was created to organize the next meeting of the unnamed political group. The USBIG Network meets once a year at the NABIG Congress (which alternates each year between the U.S. and Canada), but the political group will meet more often. The committee hopes to organize the next meeting within 3 to 6 months. The committees within the unnamed political group will probably meet earlier via the internet. The following members volunteered to organize the next meeting of the unnamed group:
Mark Witham
CONTACT PERSON: Mark Witham <mwitham@basicincomeproject.org>
Jude Thomas <composerjude@gmail.com>
Diane Pagen <dianepagen@yahoo.com>
Ann Withorn <withorn.ann@gmail.com>
Dorothy Howard <dorohoward@gmail.com>
- The content creation committee is in charge of research, news reporting, social media presence, and media relations.
Jason Burke Murphy
CONTACT PERSON: Jason Burke Murphy <jason.burke.murphy@gmail.com>
Contact for people interested in the NewsFlash and BI News: Karl Widerquist <Karl@Widerquist.com>
Contact for people interested in improving the Basic Income articles on Wikipedia: Dorothy Howard <dorohoward@gmail.com>
Scott Santens <scott@scottsantens.com>
- The regional network committee will work on establishing local chapters of the group in cities and towns across the United States. The contact person for this committee is:
Kristine Osbakken <krissosbakken@gmail.com>
- Liane Gaile <liane.gale@gmail.com> and Ann Withorn <withorn.ann@gmail.com> agreed to be the contact people for the for working groups on women & Basic Income, basic income & the new economy, and basic income as an anti-poverty policy.
The organizers of this new group without a name put out a nationwide call to anyone who wants to get involved. If people would like to join one of the existing committees or propose a new committee, please email the relevant committee contacts and volunteer. If you don’t know which committee to contact, the two groups have two general contact people:
Contacts:
The unnamed political group: Jason Burke Murphy <jason.burke.murphy@gmail.com>
The USBIG Network coordinator: Michael Howard <michael_howard@umit.maine.edu>
The Following people signed the attendance sheet at the meeting:
Ann Withorn (right) and Diane Dujon (left)
Ann Withorn
Buffy Cain
Dan O’Sullivan
Diane Pagen
Dorothy Howard
Felix Coeln
Ian Ash Schlakman
Jason Burke Murphy
Jesse Alexander Myerson
Joel Cabrera
Johannes Ponader
Jude Thomas
Karl Widerquist
Kristine Osbakken
Leah Grace
Liane Gale
Mark Witham
Mary Bricker-Jenkins
Mary Bricker-Jenkins
Michael Bohmeyer
Michael Lewis
Mike Sandler
Mitchel Cohen
Peter Barnes
Ron Rubin
Scott Santens
Scott Simpson
Steven Shafarman
Eduardo Suplicy
Tristan Roberts
Tristan Mantel-Hoffmann
Victor Chudnovsky
The Fourteenth NABIG Congress
by Karl Widerquist | Mar 1, 2015 | News
Tonight at 6pm a group of citizens are gathering in Brooklyn to discuss whether the United States is ready to start a political movement for basic income. Discussion and interest in Basic Income—an unconditional cash income for all citizens without means test or work requirement—has taking off around the world. Other countries have increasingly active political movements for basic income. It’s time to discuss whether the Untied States is ready to start a similar movement.
The Commons Brooklyn
Everyone is welcome to attend this meeting and take part in this discussion. All points of view are encouraged. It will be an open discussion with no pre-set agenda and no list of speakers. We’ll be using an open format that gives everyone opportunities to participate actively, equally.
Anyone who can’t be there in person is invited to participate online. A live video stream will be broadcast by the Basic Income Project. Text of the discussion will be posted on Reddit and Twitter. Online comments on Reddit and Twitter will be monitored and read aloud to the meeting, so that people can participate in the meeting even if they can’t be present.
Let’s get together; talk it over; and see what happens.
We’ll have pizza and drinks. We’ll take up a collection to pay for them, but they’ll be distributed unconditionally—even to those unwilling or unable to contribute to the costs.
Time & date: 6:00pm, Sunday March 1, 2015
Location: The Commons Brooklyn, 388 Atlantic Avenue Brooklyn, NY 11217 (easy to get to by subway from the rest of New York City)
Contacts:
By email: Karl Widerquist <Karl@widerquist.com>
By phone: Michael Lewis, USBIG Committee, +1(646) 270-0911
Directions: from Google Maps
Online:
Video: the Basic Income Project.
Interactive text: Reddit and Twitter.
BIG Congress
by Stanislas Jourdan | Feb 21, 2015 | News
Green-Left party in Hungary proposes the introduction of a basic income to which all Hungarian citizens would be entitled.
On February 15th, the party Párbeszéd Magyarországért (“Dialogue for Hungary”) announced in a press conference that it would push for the implementation of a basic income in the country.
The announcement followed a vote of the party congress where 90% of the members voted in favour of the policy.
Under the proposal, children would receive about 80 euro per month, adults 160 euro and young mothers 240 euro. The party promised to come forward with more detailed calculations in support of their proposal’s feasibility in the upcoming months.
The poverty line in Hungary is estimated around 200 euro for a single adult, 830 euro for a family of two parents with two children.
A promise for a “liveable Hungary”
According to co-chair Tímea Szabó, who represents the party in the Hungarian parliament, the country is “terribly ill”, with suffering and lack of perspectives spreading like cancer through society. In this situation, the basic income is also a promise for a “liveable Hungary”, which would also produce positive economic effects, i.e. encourage investments and create jobs by strengthening demand.
Tímea Szabó
Co-chair of the party Gergely Karácsony stressed that such a model would lead to a substantial transformation of existing benefits, thereby reducing bureaucracy and improving existential security for all citizens. He explained that all citizens would be eligible for the basic income, however it would not mean higher income for better off classes, as it would come with scrapping the current flat tax on incomes in favour of a progressive model.
The party announcement provoked a new wave of awareness in Hungarian media, including a long feature about basic income on the website of the national weekly HVG. Last year, a detailed study on basic income (pdf) published by an hungarian independent think tank came out in favor of basic income and seem to have inspired Dialogue for Hungary.
The other green party in Hungary (Lehet Más a Politika, LMP) is also in principle supportive of basic income and the Socialist Party also promoted it briefly during its campaign for the national elections in 2014. However, Dialogue for Hungary is the first Hungarian party with representation in parliament that officially throws itself behind the idea of basic income. The party currently have one seat in national parliament and one seat at the European Parliament.
First step: a minimum income in Budapest
While the party is in great minority at national level, it plans to put word into action through the city of Budapest, whose 14th district is mayored by the party’s co-chair Karácsony. His administration is about to introduce a means tested minimum income model that would ensure that all citizens within the district facing hardship receive at least 85 euro per month – which is 10 euro above the standard social benefit level in Hungary.
With this move, the Hungarian Left-Green Party is joining many of its sister green parties across the world who support basic income, including France, Finland, the UK, the United States.
by Karl Widerquist | Feb 18, 2015 | News
The Basic Income Guarantee is a simple idea: income doesn’t need to start at zero. A good functioning society can ensure everyone a small, unconditional income large enough to meet their basic need needs, while everything else they make in the market after taxes is theirs to keep. With basic income no one is destitute, but everyone has incentive to earn more if they can. Once far out of the mainstream, the Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is gathering strength politically around the world. The Swiss are voting on it. European Union Citizens are campaigning for it. And Americans are talking about it more and more.
The discussion of BIG comes to New York on the last weekend of February when the Fourteenth North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress holds events in three boroughs. All of the events will be covered by live streaming and interactive posting on Reddit and other websites, so that it will be possible to take part without being physically present.
Frances Fox Piven
1. The Congress will begin on Thursday, February 26th at the LIC Art Center / LIC Academy of Music in Long Island City, Queens with a public discussion entitled, “New Possibilities for the Basic Income Movement.” Speakers include Frances Fox Piven, author of Poor People’s Movements; Marshall Brain, author of How Stuff Works; Mary Bricker Jenkins, Willie Baptist, & Marian Kramer, of the National Welfare Rights Union; Alanna Hartzok, 2014 Democratic Nominee for Congress in Pennsylvania’s 9th District. This event is free and open to the public.
Willie Baptist
2. The main conference events will take place all day Friday and Saturday and half the day on Sunday at the Sheraton Times Square Hotel on 7th Avenue and 53rd Street in Manhattan. More than forty speakers will lead discussions with the audience of the three days. Speakers include Peter Barnes, environmentalist and author of Who Owns the Sky?, With Liberty and Dividends For All, and Capitalism 3.0; Ann Withorn, welfare rights activist and author of Serving the People and co-editor of For Crying out Loud; Jim Mulvale, Dean at the University of Manitoba and Vice-Chairperson of the Basic Income Canadian Network, Mimi Abramovitz, author of Under Attack, Fighting Back; Stanley Aronowitz and Bill Difazio, coauthors of The Jobless Future; Ian Shlakman, 2014 Green Party Nominee for Congress; and Eduardo Suplicy, former member of the Brazilian Federal Senate. The NABIG events at the Sheraton will take place as a part of the Eastern Economic Association’s (EEA’s) annual conference. Registration for the three-day EEA Congress is $110. Reduced price admission for low-income people and students is available (contact the organizers). Reporters with press passes reporting on the conference can bypass registration.
Marhsall Brain
Friday and Saturday night the Congress will be followed by a social gatherings at the Three Monkeys, 236 W 54h St., beginning at by 7pm each night. Admission is free, but food and drink are extra.
3. The Congress will conclude at the Commons Brooklyn on Sunday with an open meeting for anyone interested in a political movement for Basic Income in the United States. Everyone is welcome to attend. All points of view are encouraged. It will be an open discussion with no preset agenda and no list of speakers. Organizers invite everyone who is interested in discussing this issue is invited to come. Anyone who can’t be there in person is invited to participate online. The meeting will use an open format that gives everyone opportunities to participate actively, equally. Pizza and drinks will be served. The organizers will take up a collection to pay for them, but in the spirit of BIG, they will be distributed unconditionally—even to those unwilling or unable to contribute to the costs.
Alanna Hartzok
Opportunities to participate online:
Those who can’t attend the NABIG Congress in person can participate online in several ways. An independent group of bloggers from Basic Income Project, LLC will be covering the Congress. The broadcast will be live and accessible from https://live.basicincomeproject.org during the event, and recordings will be available at that same address after the event has concluded.
There will also be a interactive live twitter feed to follow @USBIG hashtag #NABIG15, which will be used to connect the discussions of those both at the conference and unable to attend the conference. In addition, social media discussions will be congregated and made available via Storify throughout the Congress. Another way to participate from afar is to join the live Reddit feed, which will be continually updated, and monitored so that questions proposed from cyberspace can be relayed to the speakers in the room. This will connect the now 23,000 strong community of those interested in basic income on Reddit.
The easiest way for interested people who aren’t regular users of any of these sites to connect will be to watch the live stream of the conference at BasicIncomeProject.org, and comment on it on the live Reddit feed.
The NABIG Congress an event page on Facebook will have links to all of these ways to connect to the Congress.
The organizers especially invite off-site participants to join on Sunday evening for the movement meeting, “Are we ready to start a political movement for a Basic Income Guarantee in the United States?” March 1, 6-9pm.
Event Calendar:
6:30pm to 9pm: Public Discussion: “New Possibilities for the Basic Income Movement” Location: LIC Art Center / LIC Academy of Music
44-02 23rd St., Studio 204 (second floor)
Long Island City, NY 11101
Friday, February 27, 2015
8am to 7pm: Sessions at the Sheraton Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, New York, NY
7pm until late: Social gathering at the Three Monkeys
236 W 54h St.,
New York, NY 10019
Saturday, February 28, 2015
8am to 6:30pm: Sessions at the Sheraton Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, New York, NY
6:30pm until late: Social gathering at the Three Monkeys
236 W 54h St., New York, NY 10019
Mimi Abramovitz
8am to 12:30pm: Sessions at the Sheraton Hotel, 811 7th Avenue, New York, NY
12:45-m-2:15: Lunch meeting: organizational meeting of the USBIG Network
6:00pm: Meeting: “Are we ready to start an activists movement for BIG in the United States?” the Commons Brooklyn.
Additional Information: www.usbig.net
Press contacts:
By email: Karl Widerquist, conference organizer, <Karl@Widerquist.com>
By phone: Michael Lewis, USBIG Committee, +1(646) 270-0911
