by Vito Laterza | Dec 26, 2015 | News
On December 11, anti-poverty activist and scholar Jason Burke Murphy appeared on the popular David Pakman Show to discuss basic income and how to implement it in the United States. Murphy is assistant professor at Elms College. He serves on the National Committee of the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network and the BIEN Executive Committee.
The conversation touched on the reasons for introducing a universal basic income, and the practicalities of implementing it.
Murphy traced the beginnings of his basic income activism back to his experience of working with low-income communities in Arkansas in the 1990s:
All the neighbourhoods where I was knocking doors, almost nobody had a plan that would do anything significant in that neighbourhood. The city wanted to raise taxes to build the sports arena. The federal government has weapons purchases. And every time a job program was announced, the jobs were not a significant improvement, or they just were not coming to the areas we were working in. So this seemed the only thing that would actually get to the people I was working with.
Jason Murphy, BIEN Executive Committee.
Murphy’s anti-poverty perspective shapes his views on how to implement a basic income. He noted that the bureaucracy faced by those wishing to access current welfare benefits like food stamps is extremely complex. This means that many people who are entitled to these benefits do not actually receive them. Basic income would overcome these problems, and would also eliminate the poverty trap; as it is an unconditional payment, people would not have to worry about losing their benefits when they find employment.
Murphy stressed that implementing a basic income does not necessarily entail the immediate and total phasing out of other benefits:
We could keep things like food stamps or some disability services, there is nothing barring us from doing that. But we ought to have something that unconditionally belongs to everybody.
According to him, basic income should not be part of a race to the bottom:
It needs to be progressively funded from progressive taxation. Why? We have a serious problem with inequality and I see nothing that directly approaches that like a progressively funded basic income dividend.
Murphy also stressed the need for ecological taxes as another source of financing for basic income, as this would ensure that wealth would be redistributed in an environmentally sustainable way.
Watch the full video below.
by Guest Contributor | Feb 7, 2015 | News
This opinion piece comes from several of BIEN’s life members, who have proposed an amendment to BIEN’s statutes to alter the definition of basic income in the statutes. This proposal will be on the agenda at the next BIEN General Assembly meeting in Seoul, Korea in 2016. The members who have proposed it invite discussion of it. The proposal in full follows below in both England and German:
Proposal for commitment and modified statutes of BIEN (English)
From the following life members of BIEN: Dr. Lieselotte Wohlgenannt (Austria), Margit Appel (Austria), Prof. Dr. Manfred Füllsack (Austria), Adriaan Planken (Netherlands), Katja Kipping (Germany) and Prof. Dr. Michael Opielka (Germany)
From the following national affiliates of BIEN: Network Grundeinkommen (Germany), Network Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt Austria – B.I.E.N. Austria and Vereniging Basisinkomen (Netherlands)
We propose, that BIEN should amend the definition of basic income in its statutes to add the following fourth characteristic,
– which secures a livelihood (material existence) and enables participation in the political community (country) for everyone,
to the existing three characteristic
– which is granted to all on an individual basis by law,
– without means test and
– without obligation to work or for services in return.
We make this proposal because BIEN should support an unconditional basic income at an amount that could help
– to eliminate poverty and social distress in the respective political community,
– to increase individual freedom and
– to permanently improve the development opportunities of each individual and the social and cultural situation in the community.
BIEN’s support for an unconditional basic income with the above-named four criteria does not exclude support for a partial basic income (not securing livelihood/material existence or not enabling participation), as long as it remains clear, that the final goal is the unconditional basic income with these four criteria and that the partial basic income is not coupled with social cutbacks.
The statutes of BIEN should be modified in section 1 with nothing removed and the following text (shown in italics) added:
“1. Purpose: BIEN’s aim is to serve as a link between individuals and groups committed to, or interested in, basic income to stimulate and disseminate research and to foster informed public discussion on this topic throughout the world. Basic income i.e. an income, which is high enough to secure material existence and enable participation in society and unconditionally granted to all on an individual basis, without means test or work requirement. BIEN’s commitment for an basic income with the above-named four criteria does not exclude debates and projects concerning a partial basic income (not securing material existence or not enabling social participation), as long as it remains clear, that the final goal is the basic income with these four criteria and that the partial basic income is not coupled with social cutbacks.”
Vorschlag zum Engagement und zu geänderten Statuten von BIEN (deutsch)
von folgenden Mitgliedern von BIEN: Dr. Lieselotte Wohlgenannt (Österreich), Margit Appel (Österreich), Prof. Dr. Manfred Füllsack (Österreich), Adriaan Planken (Niederlande), Katja Kipping (Deutschland) und Prof. Dr. Michael Opielka (Deutschland)
von folgenden BIEN angeschlossenen nationalen Grundeinkommensnetzwerken: Netzwerk Grundeinkommen (Deutschland), Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt – B.I.E.N. Österreich und Vereniging Basisinkomen (Niederlande)
Wir schlagen vor, dass BIEN die Definition des Grundeinkommens in seinen Statuten durch Hinzufügung des folgenden vierten Kriteriums
– das existenzsichernd ist und jedem Menschen gesellschaftliche Teilhabe im jeweiligen politischen Gemeinwesen (Land) ermöglicht –
ändern sollte, als Ergänzung zu den bestehenden drei Kriterien
– auf das ein individueller Rechtsanspruch besteht,
– das ohne Bedürftigkeitsprüfung und
– ohne Zwang zu Arbeit oder Gegenleistungen garantiert wird -.
Wir schlagen dies vor, weil BIEN ein bedingungsloses Grundeinkommen mit einer Höhe unterstützen sollte, das dazu beitragen kann,
– im jeweiligen politischen Gemeinwesen Armut und soziale Notlagen zu beseitigen,
– den individuellen Freiheitsspielraum zu vergrößern sowie
– die Entwicklungschancen jedes Einzelnen und die soziale und kulturelle Situation im Gemeinwesen nachhaltig zu verbessern.
Die Unterstützung eines bedingungslosen Grundeinkommens mit den oben genannten vier Kriterien durch BIEN schließt nicht die Unterstützung eines partiellen Grundeinkommens (nicht existenz- und teilhabesichernd) aus, solange klar bleibt, dass das Ziel das bedingungslose Grundeinkommen mit den vier Kriterien ist und das partielle Grundeinkommen nicht mit Sozialabbau verbunden ist.
Die Statuten von BIEN sollten im Abschnitt 1 um folgenden Text ergänzt (kursiv angezeigt) werden:
“1. Zweck
Das Ziel von BIEN ist, die Vernetzung von Personen und Gruppen, die engagiert für oder interessiert an einem Grundeinkommen sind, um die Forschung darüber zu stimulieren und zu verbreiten sowie die öffentliche Diskussion über dieses Thema weltweit zu fördern. Grundeinkommen, das ist ein Einkommen, das hoch genug ist, um die materielle Existenz zu sichern und Teilnahme an der Gesellschaft zu ermöglichen, welches allen Menschen bedingungslos auf individueller Basis gewährt wird, ohne eine Bedürftigkeitsprüfung oder Arbeitsverpflichtung. Die Unterstützung eines Grundeinkommens mit den oben genannten vier Kriterien durch BIEN schließt nicht die Unterstützung eines partiellen Grundeinkommens (nicht existenz- und teilhabesichernd) aus, solange klar bleibt, dass das Ziel das Grundeinkommen mit den vier Kriterien ist und das partielle Grundeinkommen nicht mit Sozialabbau verbunden ist.”
by BICN | Jul 31, 2013 | News
[July 26, 2013 – The Basic Income Canada Network / Reseau Canadien Pour Le Revenu Garanti]
BICN
The Basic Income Canada Network / Reseau Canadien Pour Le Revenu Garanti (BICN) has announced some of the keynote speakers for the Fifteenth Congress of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). BIEN has held a Congress every second year since 1986.
The 2014 congress will take place at the McGill Faculty of Law in Montreal, Quebec from June 26th to June 29th, 2014. The theme of the 2014 BIEN Congress is “Re-democratizing the Economy”. The congress aims to engage BIEN’s affiliate networks and the public in a sustained discussion about the role of a basic income guarantee in re-democratizing the economy, nationally and globally.
The following speakers have so far agreed to join the discussion:
- Roberto Gargarella, Professor at the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella, Argentina and Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professor at University College London, author of The Legal Foundation of Inequality: Constitutionalism in the Americas, 1776-1860 (Cambridge University Press, 2010) and Latin American Constitutionalism,1810-2010: The Engine Room of the Constitution (Oxford University Press, 2013).
- Renana Jhabvala, President of the Self-Employed Women’s Association (SEWA), Bharat, India, and author of The Idea of Work (Indian Academy For Self Employed Women, 2012) and Social Income and Insecurity: A Study in Gujarat (Routledge, 2010)
- Linda McQuaig, Journalist, columnist, social critic, and best-selling author of, most recently, The Trouble with Billionaires (Viking Canada, 2010) and Billionaires’ Ball: Gluttony and Hubris in an Age of Epic Inequality (Beacon Press, 2012)
BICN
- Guy Standing, Professor in Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London andCo-President, Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), author of Work After Globalization: Building Occupational Citizenship (Edward Elgar, 2009) and The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class (Bloomsbury, 2011)
The Congress will also include the 2014 General Assembly meeting of BIEN. The call for papers will be announced early in the fall of 2013. Updates about the congress can be obtained from the Canadian network’s website at: https://biencanada.ca/BIEN2014_Congress.html.
See also BIEN’s website: https://basicincome.org
by Yannick Vanderborght | Sep 27, 2012 | News
During its general assembly of September 16th, 2012, the Basic Income Earth Network has officially recognized three new affiliate networks. BIEN now has no less than 20 affiliates. The three new BIEN national networks are all located in Europe:
Belgium: https://basicincome.be/ (available in Dutch, French, German, and English)
Finland: https://perustulo.org/
Slovenia: contact address is valerija_korosec@yahoo.com (see also the programme of a conference to be organized in Ljubljana on October 11-12, 2012: https://www.inovum.si/ubi/en)
The BIEN General assembly was held within the framework of BIEN’s 14th international conference in Munich, Germany.
