Dear UBI Friends and Supporters,
Please find below the monthly update about UBI events and publications:
- RSA, Basic Income Conversation, UBI Lab Manchester and the Network team will host the second Basic Income North Conference next week. Theme: ‘The Basic Income Society and How to Get There‘
The line-up of excellent speakers include CIVIC SQUARE co-founder Immy Kaur, inequality expert and co-author of ‘The Spirit Level’ Kate Pickett, Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham and US crowd-funded, basic income advocate Scott Santens.
The event will be held online due to railway strikes on the same day. You can find the full schedule with all speakers andbook your placeto attend online here.
When: Thursday 20th July, 13:15-16:45hrs BST.
Campaigners, academics and politicians will discuss an unconditional income for every citizen in the north. You can read more about this radical yet simple idea to transform the north of England in Now Then magazine.
- Waste-Man proposes to charge levies on all behaviours which generate waste and pollution. This could raise a lot of money to finance a green basic income for all and at the same time help to promote a healthier environment. Waste-Man attended a rally at West Yorkshire Mayor’s Annual General Meeting organised by Friends of the Earth and asked ‘When does West Yorkshire Combined Authority introduce a Waste and Pollution Levy to fight the Climate Crisis and finance a Basic Income for ALL people in West Yorkshire? ’
- Where can we find the funds for UBI? Geoff Crocker proposes Sovereign Money and debates his idea with Malcolm Sawyer, a retired professor of economics from the University of Leeds and a critic of the concept of Sovereign Money. In case you have missed our webinar ‘How can we pay for Universal Basic Income? – Is sovereign money the solution? , you can watch the video (86 mins) and download the presentations.
- Ireland is piloting a Basic Income for Artists. In case you missed our event ‘Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – What Have We Learned after 8 months?’ with three Irish artists, you can find the details here and watch the video here. Another Irish artist receiving a BI during the pilot reports here how this has changed her life.
- The 22nd Basic Income Congress Network Congress will take place in Seoul, Korea, from 23 to 26 August 2023 as a four-day online-offline hybrid. You can download the final programme at https://biencongress2023.org/programme/
- You may want to read the article ‘Artificial intelligence + basic income = Canadian innovation’ which makes an interesting proposal how to finance a BI.
- UBI4ALL has interviewed Sarath Davala, Chair of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN). In this podcast (29 min) Sarath tells us how he became a UBI activist, while initially he was a sceptic about the idea. He discusses what he learned in the well-known basic income experiments that took place in India.
- A documentary “It’s Basic” on so-called “guaranteed income” programs in the USA premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival. You can find out more here and watch the trailer (2 min) here.
- If you want to listen to any recordings of the BIG conference 2023 in North America, you can find them here.
- In Maricá, Brazil, the local government opened a municipal bank which has created a local currency and is paying a Basic Income in this currency as part of a Solidarity Economy. This approach is creating community wealth. You can find out more listening to the recorded webinar ‘We Take Mumbucas: Charting the Complementary Currency that’s Transforming a Brazilian City’ on YouTube: https://youtu.be/me9HHUGOJrQ If you have questions or comments, please contact klea.kalia@jainfamilyinstitute.org.
‘Mumbuca – A people’s fintech in Brazil’ provides a detailed description and analysis of the Basic Income approach in Maricá.
A document of the Commons Network explores the potential of Community Wealth Building with local complementary currencies: A New Strategy to Keep Money Local .
- Wales Centre for Public Policy convened a conference December 2022 to discuss the Welsh BI pilot for Care Leavers and its evaluation. You can read five takeaways here and find the main highlights here.
- The Indepentarian blog of Karl Widerquist with almost 200 entries may help you to fine-tune and strengthen your arguments about the Basic Income concept.
- A recipient of a Basic Income in the German BI trial (Pilotprojekt Grundeinkommen) reports how the money has helped her to study and start a new career as teacher: Neustart von Grund auf (in German)
- Good Morning Britain reported about the proposed BI trial in England. The 6-minute video clip may help you to reflect and learn how to deal with an aggressive opponent of Basic Income.
- Michelle Dewberry discusses the need for a Basic Income because of automation where humans are replaced by machines: Financing the Future (7 min). The unmentioned underlying assumption: only lucrative work, which is exploited for private profit, counts as real work.
Linked to the topic you may want to read: Richard Branson: Universal Basic Income Will Protect Us From the Threat of AI – The billionaire entrepreneur further explains his support of a societal safety net. My question: Will Mr Branson not only ‘talk the talk but also walk the walk’ and put some of his wealth into a Commons Wealth Fund to help financing a Basic Income?
- Spanish minister proposes €20,000 ‘universal inheritance’ from age of 18 – Yolanda Díaz says money for study, training or starting a business would ensure ‘equality of opportunity’. While Universal Inheritance has some similarities with UBI, it will not cover essential needs throughout the life of a person.
- ‘Why Giving People CASH FOR FREE Actually Works | Aaron Bastani Meets Will Stronge | Downstream’ (63 min) is a well-informed discussion about UBI and the English trial. Will Stronge, Director of Research at Autonomy – explains why the think tank is advocating and researching UBI. However, I am not convinced that a UBI should be administered by the state. An independent Commons Wealth Fund administered by citizens for citizens may be the safer option.
- Universal Credit System
If you want to understand why a person is not claiming Universal Credit, you may want to read ‘I like to think I’m a capable person, but even I can’t navigate Britain’s benefits system’. An interesting story of a woman from the North of Britain!
The video ‘Why is it so hard to escape poverty?’ (5 min) explains the poverty trap of Universal Credit and how UBI would encourage recipients to work.
- The Journal of Poverty and Social Justice has published several articles debating the feasibility and affordability of ‘Universal Basic Income’ which are open access until the end of July. The articles include an editorial, a UK economic microsimulation modelling about affordability and feasibility of UBI, a response by an opponent to use the money instead for targeted poverty reduction, a response by the authors of the modelling study and a final response by the opponent whether voters would really support redistribution through UBI. There is also a podcast (45 min) where proponents and opponent present their arguments: ‘Is Universal Basic Income the answer? ‘. Unfortunately the opponent raises one critical point of this debate: The people who will pay for the UBI are mostly active voters, while many people who will clearly benefit from UBI often prefer not to vote and stay at home at national elections.
- Basic Income Conversation, Compass and Autonomy have just published the report ‘Treating causes not symptoms: Basic Income as a public health measure’. The economic and health modelling research explains the potential impact of Basic Income on Public Health and how much money BI could save the NHS.
Best wishes,
reinhard on behalf of UBI Lab Leeds