VIDEO: Evelyn Forget Speaks to Finnish Parliament About Canadian Basic Income Pilot Project
Finland: the opposition leader proposes basic income pilots
The leader of the Centre Party of Finland, Juha Sipilä, proposed on September 10th regional basic income experiments to be run in some highunemployment rural and urban areas. The proposal was part of the interpellation on poverty made by the Centre Party and the Left Alliance. Paavo Arhinmäki, the leader of the Left Alliance thanked Sipilä for taking up the issue of basic income. The next day the National Coalition party MP Lasse Männistö expressed his support to Sipilä’s idea on his blog. The rightwing National Coalition is currently the leading party in Finland.
Basic income became one of the topics of parliament’s discussion on the interpellation on poverty on September 23th. Several MPs, among them Prime Minister Alexander Stubb, expressed their support to the idea of basic income pilots.
The Centre Party, which is currently the fourth largest party in Finland, has included the concept of basic income in many of its programmes during the 1990s. However, in its formulations, basic income has often been conditional and granted only to the poor. The Green League and the Left Alliance, which both are mediumsized parties, support unconditional basic income and have released their own models of it (the Green League 2007 and the Left Alliance 2011). The Green League is currently updating its model.
For more information, see the following links:
The Centre Party: “Sipilä Proposes Regional Basic Income Pilot”
Kansan Uutiset, the journal of the Left Alliance: “The Left Thanks Sipilä’s Opening on Basic Income”
The National Coalition Party MP Lasse Männistö’s blog: “To a Basic Income Journey”
Finnish Parliament Plenary Sessions.
The basic income model of the Left Alliance, a paper presented in the BIEN2012 Congress in Munich by Jouko Kajanoja and Pertti Honkanen (in English)
The basic income model of the Green League from 2007 (there is a link to the English version below the graph).
David J. Cord, “Is Finland ready for a basic income?”
David J. Cord, “Is Finland ready for a basic income?”, Helsinki Times, 17 July 2014
Guy Standing to give several presentations on basic income in Italy, Norway, Finland, and the United Kingdom, 2-13 November 2013
Guy Standing
Guy Standing, honorary co-president of BIEN and Professor of Development Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London, will be taking part in a debate on basic income at the Salone dell’Editoria Sociale book fair in Rome. The event will take place on Saturday 2 November 2013 at 6.15pm to 8pm at the Porta Futura, Via Galvani 108 (Testaccio), Rome. Click here for more details.
On Monday 4 November, Standing will talk about basic income to the Bergen Students Society. The event will take place at 6pm at the Akademiske Kvarter, Olav Kyrres gate 49, 5015 Bergen. For more information please click here.
Standing will then speak at two venues in Helsinki on issues related to the precariat, identified in his 2011 book The Precariat: The New Dangerous Class, including why the precariat needs a basic income. On Wednesday 6 November he will give a keynote address to the 2013 Finnish Conference on Youth Studies entitled “Generations, Economy and Equity”. The conference will take place from 10am to 6pm at the House of Science and Letters, Kirkkokatu 6, Helsinki. Click here for more information.
On Thursday 7 November he will give a guest lecture at 2pm at Aalto University, Arkadia building, Lapuankatu 6, Helsinki, lecture room AE-127. For more information click here.
Warwick PPE Forum: All Work and No Pay in 2013
On Saturday 9 November Standing will be one of the speakers at the 2013 Forum organized by the Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) Society of Warwick University. The title of the forum is “All Work and No Pay in 2013: The Automation of the Global Economy”, and will address, inter alia, how technological progress can be used for the benefit of all rather than just an elite. The Forum will take place at 2pm to 6pm at the Arts Centre, Warwick University, Coventry CV4 7AL. For more information and to buy tickets, click here.
On Wednesday 13 November, Standing will give a seminar on “Basic Income in India: Evaluating a Pilot Scheme” at the India Institute, King’s College, University of London, Strand, WC2R 2LS. The seminar, based on the results of an unconditional cash transfer pilot scheme in a number of Indian villages, will be held from 5pm to 7pm. Click here for more information.
Perkio, Johanna, “Basic Income Proposals in Finland, Germany and Spain”
This paper compares BI models and discussion in Finland, Germany and Spain.
Perkio, Johanna, “Basic Income Proposals in Finland, Germany and Spain,” Discussion Paper No. 2, Transform! European network for alternative thinking and political dialogue, 2013, online at: https://transform-network.net/programmes/discussion-papers/news/detail/Programm/basic-income-proposals-in-finland-germany-and-spain.html
It’s also online as a PDF at: https://transform-network.net/uploads/tx_news/Paper_no2_perkioe_EN.pdf
The appendix is online at: https://transform-network.net/uploads/tx_news/Basic_Income_in_Europe.Tabellen.corr_mitangenommenenAenderungen.pdf
