Barb Jacobson and Francine Mestrum, “Should there be a basic income?”

Barbara Jacobson

Barbara Jacobson

SUMMARY: Every month the New Internationalist invites two experts to debate, and then invite readers to join the conversation online. This April Barb Jacobson and author and Francine Mestrum debate basic income. YES: Barb Jacobson is co-ordinator of Basic Income UK. A former member of Wages for Housework, she has been active in community organizations since 1991, mainly around housing and health. She works for the Fitzrovia Neighbourhood Association in central London. NO: Francine Mestrum has a PhD in social sciences. Her research concerns social development, poverty, inequality, globalization and gender relations. She is co-ordinator of Global Social Justice and represents CETRI (Centre Tricontinental) in the International Council of the World Social Forum.

Francine Mestrum

Francine Mestrum

Barb Jacobson and Francine Mestrum, “Should there be a basic income?The New Internationalist Magazine, April 2014

MONTREAL, Quebec, Canada: Invitation for USBIG members (and others) to attend NABIG Workshop

Thursday, June 26, the day before the Basic Income Earth Network Congress in Montreal, there will be a North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Workshop.

Mural Pointe-Sainte-Charles, Le Collectif Au pied du mur -BICN

Mural Pointe-Sainte-Charles, Le Collectif Au pied du mur -BICN

The goal of this workshop is to bring together activists, scholars, and anyone with an interest in basic income to talk about whether and how basic income can be advanced politically, and how to address media and public perceptions of basic income.

This conversation should include people interested in reducing poverty and inequality, or sharing resources more equitably, or empowering workers (both wage workers and people doing unpaid work, care work, etc.), or sharing the burdens of carbon taxation by distributing carbon dividends, or reforming taxes by means of resource taxation and citizen dividends.

Members of USBIG and others interested in the topic are encouraged to attend the workshop, whether or not they plan to attend the BIEN Congress that follows. Those wishing to attend only the workshop need not pay the full conference fee for the BIEN Congress.

For more information, see the BIEN Congress webpage on the workshop: https://biencanada.ca/congress/nabig-workshop or contact Michael.howard@umit.maine.edu.

The Stream, “Income for All: Could adopting unconditional basic income end poverty?”

SUMMARY: Switzerland could soon adopt an Unconditional Basic Income or UBI which means every adult national would receive a monthly paycheck of approximately $2,800 from the government. The money is guaranteed regardless of employment status. Proponents say UBI would end poverty. Opponents worry it would harm Switzerland’s competitiveness. In this episode, the Stream speaks about this issue with: Stanislas Jourdan, Coordinator, Unconditional Basic Income Europe, Ash Navabi, Blogger, Mises Institute Canada, Enno Schmidt, Co-founder, Basic Income Initiative, Switzerland, Francine Mestrum, Founder, Global Social Justice.

The Stream, “Income for All: Could adopting unconditional basic income end poverty?” AlJazeera. Broadcast March 20, 2014.

The Stream’s website is: https://stream.aljazeera.com/story/201403200004-0023573

This episode of the Stream is online in full on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QfU0g5h6KSk