by Vito Laterza | Oct 18, 2015 | News
Celebrated Chinese-American community activist, writer and philosopher Grace Lee Boggs died in her house in Detroit, Michigan, on Monday, October 5. She turned 100 in June this year. Her vision of a community-driven socialist alternative to capitalism resonates well with some of the concerns of the basic income movement. While basic income was not a central theme in her work, she endorsed the idea of a city-level universal basic income (UBI).
She was born in New York and grew up in a Chinese immigrant family running a restaurant business. A brilliant scholar, she completed her PhD in philosophy in 1940. After that, she became increasingly drawn into full-time political activism. In 1942, she started her close collaboration with Marxist revolutionary theorist C.L.R. James and the Johnsonites, which lasted for two decades. The Johnsonites were revolutionary socialists who focused more than other Marxist groups on marginalized groups like women, people of color and youth, and rejected the notion of a workers’ vanguard party.
Lee Boggs’ personal encounter with Marxism and socialism was shaped by a focus on race and poverty, in particular the systematic discrimination faced by black American working class communities. In 1953, she married Detroit-based black activist and autoworker Jimmy Boggs, author of the influential 1963 book The American revolution: pages from a Negro worker’s notebook. In the same year she moved to Detroit to live with him. The city remained her home until her death. Grace and Jimmy partnered in community activism, political struggles and revolutionary writing.
Jimmy and Grace Lee Boggs
Throughout the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, Grace and Jimmy were prominent in organizing the civil rights and Black Power movements in Detroit. They collaborated with towering figures like Martin Luther King and Malcom X, and organizations like the Black Panthers. After the decline of mass political activism that started in the 1980s, they continued to focus on community work and alternative urban livelihoods. Jimmy passed away in 1993, and Grace continued with these activities until her death.
In a 2011 piece, Grace Lee Boggs mentions a workshop presentation in the early 1990s in which she had imagined a future where Detroiters would come together to implement a city-wide UBI by the year 2015:
Because Detroiters have developed a deep sense of moral responsibility, citizens decided in 2015 A.D. to adopt a Universal Basic Income Grant (UBIG) as an alternative to welfare. The UBIG is based on the idea that every citizen has a right to the basic material necessities of life, including health care and education, and every citizen also has a duty to share in the responsibilities of the community, city, nation and planet, and to contribute in some form to the overall well-being.
Lee Boggs’ engagement with UBI was more complex than her words above let transpire. Her take was heavily influenced by evolving ideas about work, community and the rejection of the capitalist system. Her socialist approach was informed by Marx’s critique of alienation and wage labor under capitalism. Lee Boggs’ association with black working class communities became a pragmatic entry point into the concept and practice of revolution – which she always saw as something changing, shifting and emerging from uncertainty, rather than a linear path driven by monolithic ideas. Revolution, for Lee Boggs, was what people did on the ground when they took practical action informed by a long-term vision of the society they wanted to build.
Her work speaks to UBI activists because she lived through the decline of formal jobs in the Detroit automotive industry, and the social and economic devastation black communities experienced as a result. In the 1960s, all the signs of the crisis were clear, with black workers losing their jobs in large numbers due to automation and other irreversible structural changes in global capitalist production. In the following years, Lee Boggs was particularly concerned with the dramatic contradictions emerging from the decline of formal labor coupled by rampant consumerism. She identified the capitalist system as the main cause of the breakdown of communities plagued by mass unemployment, crime and drugs.
The Boggses led decades of urban renewal experiments emerging from the ashes of capitalism and focusing on youth entrepreneurship, urban agriculture and community education. Where others saw a post-industrial wasteland, they saw opportunities to build a new society that would break away from consumerism and dependence on large-scale structures like the state and big companies. The James & Grace Lee Boggs School and the Boggs Center to Nurture Community Leadership are among the many projects that carry their legacy today.
The basic income grant that Lee Boggs envisioned was to be delivered by self-governing Detroiters coming together, not as a large-scale redistributive mechanism at state or federal level. It was closely tied to the duty to participate and share with others locally and globally, and to behave responsibly towards other humans and the natural environment. The strong connections between UBI and the community would have neutralized the potential negative effects of linking cash grants to mass production and global capitalism.
In a 2012 talk at the New School in New York, Lee Boggs provided the following comment on Martin Luther King’s proposal of a guaranteed annual income (something quite close to a federal UBI):
I’m not sure I’m ready to propose a guaranteed annual wage. I think that’s too simplistic. … I think we need to do a lot more with ourselves, with our economy, and envisioning a new kind of economy. You can think so much in terms of re-distribution. Or you can begin thinking about justice in terms of restoring another way of life.
Whether one agrees with Lee Boggs’ communitarian conception of UBI or not, her work is a major contribution to basic income debates. Lee Boggs’ writings emphasized the dignity of work, and how its redemptive qualities had little to do, if at all, with wage labor. On the topic of change, she was an advocate of “visionary organizing.” She believed that community activism in the “here and now” could bring about global systemic change only if driven by a strong vision of the future to come. Her mature views about revolution and social change are presented in her powerful book The next American revolution: sustainable activism for the twenty-first century, first published in 2011.
Her radiant presence and profound insight will be sorely missed. She influenced basic income advocates like Scott Santens, who celebrated her life work with these words: “Some people see where the arc of history should bend, do all they can to make it bend, and live long enough to see it bend.” She will continue to inspire thousands of UBI activists engaged in small-scale experiments that are already sowing the seeds of a future world where UBI becomes the norm.
Grace Lee Boggs in post-industrial Detroit. Credit: Quyen Tran. © PBS POV
Essential readings
Grace Lee Boggs, “Visionary organizing and the MLK Memorial,” James & Grace Lee Boggs Center, September 2011.
Grace Lee Boggs, “Jobs aren’t the answer,” James & Grace Lee Boggs Center, September 2011.
Grace Lee Boggs at the New School, New York [TRANSCRIPT], April 22, 2012.
Grace Lee Boggs, Living for change: an autobiography, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1998.
Grace Lee Boggs (with Scott Kurashige), The next American revolution: sustainable activism for the twenty-first century, Berkeley, Calif.: University of California Press, 2011.
Documentary film “American Revolutionary: the evolution of Grace Lee Boggs,” directed by Grace Lee, June 2013.
Ryan Felton, “Grace Lee Boggs, longtime Detroit activist, dies aged 100,” The Guardian, October 6, 2015.
Michelle Chen, “Grace Lee Boggs’ century of social renewal,” Al Jazeera America, October 7, 2015.
Thomas J. Sugrue, “Postscript: Grace Lee Boggs,” The New Yorker, October 8, 2015.
Barbara Ransby, “The (r)evolutionary vision and contagious optimism of Grace Lee Boggs,” In These Times, October 6, 2015.
Jordan Weissmann, “Martin Luther King’s economic dream: a guaranteed income for all Americans,” The Atlantic, August 28, 2013.
by Toru Yamamori | Oct 7, 2015 | News
Jaemyoung Lee, Mayor of Seongnam City, announced to implement Youth Dividend at a press conference on the first day of October 2015. He informed the purpose, goal and way of Youth Dividend, and proposed that the national government should implement it as well.
Every person aged 19-24 who has lived at the city at least for three years will receive kw 250,000 (about $ 230) quarterly (total kw 1,000,000 a year) without any means-test or work requirement. In this sense, Youth Dividend aims to realize the basic income idea which is different to the previous selected welfare policy, although its amount is very small.
This scheme will be implemented year by year from 24s, because the city has not sufficient fund. According to the statistics, there are about 70,000 aged 19-24 having lived at least for three years and among them 24s are 11,300. So more than kw 60 bn budget will be required to pay kw 1,000,000 to everyone aged 19-24. The city has a plan to carry it out optimizing the budget.
Youth Dividend has two fold goals. It has aims to “expand the welfare for the young people so that they could have more opportunities for raising their qualification” and to “stimulate the local economy by the way of paying Youth Dividend in electronic money which could be only used within the city.”
This scheme has another effect as well. Criticizing President Park’s ‘Hopeful Fund for the Youth’ which is regarded as a philanthropic disguise, Mayor Lee proposed “the central government should adapt Youth Dividend to resolve the so called youth problem fundamentally.”
Korean government pushes ahead with Hopeful Fund for the Youth to conduct practical education for the young people who want to get a job or run their own business through the citizen’s donation. Mayor Lee sharply criticized it, because it gives up the responsibility of government. “The youth problem cannot be resolved by the philanthropic donation”, he said. And “the central government has responsibility to take care of it for the continuous development of the society.”
Two issues, the limitation of regional government budget and the tax justice, are behind his claim that the national government should take Youth Dividend as its program. Mayor Lee said “we should assure the money on the ground of strict tax justice” for resolving the youth problem. For example, if we raise the current rate of 22 percent of corporate tax to 25 percent, we could have a considerable amount of money. Indeed, Korean government has lowered the rate of corporate tax in past years.
There need to pass through another two processes to implement actually Youth Dividend. On the one hand, Seongnam City has to make “an arrangement” with the Ministry of Health and Welfare and on the other hand, the statute of Youth Dividend should be passed in the city council. Seongnam City applied an arrangement with the Ministry on the 24th September and made pre-announcement of legislation of ‘Youth Dividend Statute’ on the 29th.
The reason that Seongnam City has to have an arrangement with Ministry of Health and Welfare is because Article 26 of Social Security Act in Korea regulates the related process. According to it, any regional government which has a plan to make a new social welfare scheme or to change the current programs has to make an arrangement with the Ministry. But the Ministry has de facto power to permit, although the Act contains the expression, “arrangement.” We have lots of cases in which welfare programs in regional government could not be carried out face with the Ministry’s opposition.
So we are afraid of the arrangement process, because current Korean government is so authoritarian and neoliberal. But if the process will be completed as we wish, we have an opportunity to realize the basic income idea here in Korea, even though not sufficient.
[Written by Seonmi Park in Korean and translated by Hyosang Ahn (Both are members of Basic Income Korean Network)]
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 4, 2015 | Research
ABSTRACT: Namibia is still characterised by deep socio-economic inequalities, as economic structures have remained largely intact after independence. Poverty is still widespread and unemployment has remained high with women and youth being particularly affected. In 2002, the Namibian government’s Tax Commission proposed a universal cash grant as the most effective way to fight poverty and to reduce inequality. In 2004, the Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition was formed consisting of churches, trade unions and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in support of the proposed grant. It implemented a pilot project to practically demonstrate the effects of the grant. The chosen location was the village of Otjivero where each inhabitant received a monthly cash grant of N$100 (US$9)beginning in January 2008. A research team closely monitored developments and found that within one year the rates of poverty, child malnutrition and school drop-outs had fallen significantly. Economic activities increased, school results and residents’ health status improved while the crime rate and women’s economic dependency on men were reduced. Despite these results, the Namibian government did not implement the BIG and the coalition failed to ignite a mass campaign. The country’s largest trade union federation did not play an active role and its leadership withdrew from the coalition despite support for the BIG among union members. The introduction of a BIG in Namibia will depend on the ability to the BIG coalition to create pressure ‘from below’. Trade unions and youth organisations in particular will have to mobilise their membership and present the demand for the BIG as a form of economic justice. In terms of financial and economic resources, Namibia could easily afford a national BIG and its introduction is a question of political will.
Herbert Jauch, “The Rise and Fall of the Basic Income Grant Campaign: Lessons from Namibia.” Global Labour Journal, Vol. 6, No. 3 (2015)
Global Labour Journal
by Karl Widerquist | Oct 1, 2015 | News
“BASIC INCOME: A MEETING PLACE FOR EQUALITY, RIGHTS, and JUSTICE”
12-15 May (Thursday to Sunday) 2016
University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Canada
Basic Income Canada Network
This Congress is taking place in Winnipeg, Manitoba in the heart of Canada and the North American continent. The University of Manitoba campuses are located on the traditional homeland of the Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota, and Dene peoples, and on Treaty One territory. The Forks of the Assiniboine and Red Rivers, and the city of Winnipeg that formed around the Forks, have been the meeting place of Indigenous peoples, European traders and settlers, and waves of newcomers from all corners of the world.
“Meeting place” describes our physical location. It also describes the power of Basic Income — an idea and goal that can bring together various individuals, ideologies and constituencies concerned about equality, rights, environmental sustainability, and social justice. A universal, unconditional, and adequate income granted to everyone is a common goal that can unite activists, advocates, policy and academic experts, and social movements.
As a meeting place, this Congress will address the relationship of Basic Income to:
- economic, cultural, and social security for Indigenous peoples
- reconciliation between Indigenous and settler communities
- women’s economic security, autonomy and empowerment
- overcoming racism and ensuring social inclusion of diverse and newcomer populations
- challenging the economics of “austerity”
- elimination of poverty as a means of ensuring population health
- labour market transformation, including technological unemployment and precarious jobs
- mapping pragmatic models for delivery of basic income, including the pros and cons experimental and demonstration projects
- strategic alliances and coalitions with progressive social movements (e.g. labour, feminists, environmentalists)
Call for Participation
The NABIG Congress 2016 invites proposals for presentations and papers, themed panels, interactive roundtables, and posters that address the themes above.
Community activists as well as academic researchers and policy specialists are invited to submit proposals.
The Congress is open to any disciplinary or theoretical approach or political perspective, including those who express a constructive skepticism towards the basic income option or advocate for variants.
Submitting Your Proposal
Options for participation:
- Individual oral presentations (including written academic papers)
Proposals should include a title, a brief summary or abstract (250 words maximum), identification of the conference themes addressed in the presentation, and full contact information of the presenter (name, organizational or institutional affiliation, and email address).
- Panels of up to three papers or presentations
Panels should be organized around a clearly identifiable theme The format of the panel involves formal presentation of papers and response to audience questions in a session lasting 90 minutes. Please include the following in your proposal:
- title and brief outline (maximum. 100 words) of the topic of the panel
- title and short abstract of each paper (maximum. 100 words each)
- full contact information (including the affiliations and email addresses) of the panel organizer and participants
- Roundtables involving a small number of participants (3 – 4)
Give the topic of the roundtable, and the names and institutional affiliations of all participants, as well as the full contact information of the roundtable convener. The format of the roundtable is intended to be informal and interactive. – the roundtable participants speaking with each other, and with the audience. Roundtable sessions will run for 90 minutes.
- Poster display
Posters are to present coherent and well organized information on some aspect of basic income. Posters will be displayed throughout the duration of the conference, with certain time slots set aside for authors to be on hand to meet with those interested in their topics. Proposals for posters should include a title, a brief summary or abstract (150 words), identification of the conference themes addressed, and full contact information of the presenter (name, organizational or institutional affiliation, and email address). Posters should be prepared as one unit should not exceed 100 cm. x 100 cm. (approximately 50 in. x 50 in.).
Submit your proposals no later than 20 November 2015 to:
Nabigcongress2016@umanitoba.ca
All proposals must include this information:
Name:
Address (including institutional or organizational affiliation):
Email address:
Title:
Format (check one): Oral presentation ___ paper ____ poster ___
panel* ___ roundtable* ____
* specify names, affiliations, and topic of all participants in panel and roundtable sessions
Sessions en français / Sessions in French
La conférence sera menée principalement en anglais. Cette conférence se déroulera au Canada, où les deux langues officielles sont le français et l’anglais. Par conséquent, la soumission de propositions pour des sessions et des affiches en français est encouragée. Contacter l’adresse courriel ci-dessus pour plus d’informations.
The conference will be conducted primarily in English. This conference takes place in Canada, which has the two official languages of French and English. Therefore submissions of proposals for sessions and posters in French are welcomed. Contact the email address above for further information.
Note: All presenters of accepted proposals will be required to register for the Congress
Further Information
For details concerning the venue, program, registration, accommodation, or information about our partners and sponsors, visit our Congress website at umanitoba.ca/social_work.
Conference Organizers
The NABIG Congress 2016 is organized by the Basic Income Canadian Network / Réseau canadien pour le revenu garanti (BICN/RCRG) and the United States Basic Income Guarantee (USBIG) Network, in conjunction with the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba, Basic Income Manitoba, Winnipeg Harvest, and l’École de service social de Université de Saint-Boniface.
Basic Income Canada Network
by Toru Yamamori | Sep 21, 2015 | News
Feminist Philosophy Workshop, which will be held on 9th October, at the University of Hamburg, invites Anca Gheaus to speak on ‘Feminism and Basic Income’.
Gheaus works at the university of Sheffield. Her past publication on feminism and basic income can be accessed here.
This is an academic workshop and registration is required. The contact for registration is Amanda Cawston (amanda.causton@cantab.net).
The workshop will take place in the Philosophy Faculty (Room 1072, 10th floor of Von-Melle-Park 6, 20146 Hamburg). The detail can be found here.
