SPAIN: Documentary about Basic Income opens in Madrid

SPAIN: Documentary about Basic Income opens in Madrid

A new documentary about Basic Income, RBUI, nuestro derecho a vivir, in english UBI, our right to live, had its debut in Madrid, on May 12th in the Auditorium of the Cultural Center “Pozo del Tío Raimundo” during the Foro Humanista Europeo 2018. The documentary was directed by Álvaro Orús and produced by Pressenza and the group Humanistas por la Renta Básica Universal. The documentary includes a series of interviews done during the 17th BIEN Congress, featuring long time Basic Income supporters like Guy Standing and Philippe Van Parijs, and many others like BIEN’s Chair Louise Haagh, Ping Xu, Cosima Kern, Scott Santens, Sara Bizarro, Lluis Torrens, Rena Massuyama, Daniel Raventós, Julen Bollain, Elizabeth Rhodes, Mayte Quintanilla and Sonja Scherndl.

 

From the top down, and left to right: Philippe Van Parijs, Rena Massuyama, Scott Santens, Elizabeth Rhodes, Ping Xu, Guy Standing, Louise Haagh, Julen Bollain, Daniel Raventós, Cosima Kern, Lluis Torrens, Sara Bizarro

The documentary talks about UBI as a human right and about Basic Income as an ideal that has been gaining public support in the last few years, especially since automation threatens to leave a large part of the population without employment. The interviews feature academics and activists who share their experience and their Basic Income initiatives all around the world. The director,  Álvaro Orús, said in an interview: “At the world congress there was a new sensitivity, the impression that it was the beginning of a new world”, and the documentary captures this spirit. The documentary will also be shown at the 18th BIEN Congress in Finland.

You can view a trailer of the documentary here.

 

More information at:

Sara Bizarro, “The 17th Bien Congress”, Basic Income News, October 5th 2017

 

PORTUGAL: Basic Income Gets a Boost of Interest from the Media

PORTUGAL: Basic Income Gets a Boost of Interest from the Media

After the 17th BIEN Conference in Lisbon, Portugal had a boost of interest from the media on Basic Income. There were many articles in the mainstream media, TV, Radio and Newspapers and the debate is continuing.  

The main Portuguese public TV station, RTP 1, had a very interesting piece in the news, including interviews with Philippe Van Parijs and Scottish MP Ronnie Cowan:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YHg92bkzgQ

Other TV pieces include a segment in the show, Tudo é Ecomonia (Economy is Everything):the section starts around minute 28 and is called Choque de Ideias, it is a debate between Ricardo Pais Mamede and Ricardo Arroja. Additionally, the Spanish News Agency Pressenza published an interview with Sara Bizarro, co-organizer of the Congress.

 

Examples of radio shows include an interview with Jurgen De Wispelaere on Antena 1, which aired on September 25, just as the congress was about to take off. De Wispelaere spoke about the experiment in Finland and how each country will propose its own version of Basic Income. On the 26th there was an interview with Jorge Pinto on Antena 1, and on the 28th and interview with Gonçalo Marcelo on Rádio Renascença (starts on minute 34). There was also a radio interview with Philippe van Parijs on TSF and another in Rádio Renascença.

 

The newspapers featured many articles and opinion pieces, including Amílcar Correia’s editorial, O pão, o tempo, trabalho e remuneração, in Público; Natália Faria, Da Finlândia à Escócia, os testes ao rendimento básico espalham-se pela Europa, in Público; Margarida David Cardoso, Rendimento básico entusiasma mais os académicos do que os políticos. Margarida David Cardoso also interviewed Evelyn Forget and mentions the idea of Cannabis legalization being used to help finance a Basic Income in E se a legalização da cannabis ajudasse a pagar um rendimento básico para todos? Entrevista a Evelyn Forget. The newspaper Correio da Manhã had a piece about Cascais PAN candidate, Francisco Guerreiro, by Débora Carvalho, Candidato a Cascais quer dar salário extra de 557 euros para todos. Other opinion pieces are Ricardo Arroja’s, RBI? A esquerda não deixará; Paulo Tavares, O RBI pode matar o Estado social; Diário de Notícias; Pedro Duarte, Ser social-democrata em 2017; Paulo Tavares, Como enfrentar as dores de crescimento da revolução 4.0; and Ricardo Sant’Ana Moreira, Rendimento Básico Incondicional: receber dinheiro por existir é uma boa ideia?. Diogo Queiroz de Andrade wrote about the Inequality Conference, Conferência sobre desigualdade; Philippe van Parijs was also interviewed by Filomena Naves in Rendimento universal seria muito mais justo and by Pedro Esteves in Quem limpa casas de banho pode vir a ganhar mais do que um professor; finally, Pedro Ramajal was interviewed by Isabel Guerreiro in O Rendimento Básico Incondicional (RBI) começa a ser levado a sério em Portugal.

 

To follow the media events regarding Basic Income in Portugal, please go to the Rendimento Básico Portugal website, Media section.