UBI November update

Posted on December 1, 2024

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Dear UBI Friends and Supporters,

We hope our email meets you well.

Would you like to join us for an end-of-year in-person UBI Lab Leeds meeting?

We will have a UBI Lab Leeds discussion and social gathering on Tuesday, 3rd December, starting at 6.00 PM (18.00hrs) at the Arcadia pub (34 Arndale Centre, Headingley, Leeds LS6 2UE) (https://theeuropeanbarguide.com/arcadia-leeds/    ).

Our topics for discussion:

You are welcome to bring along friends!

We hope to see you on 3rd December, 18.00hrs at the Arcadia.

UBI Lab Leeds will be involved in two events in December. You are cordially invited to join us.

  1. Basic Income for the Arts in Ireland – What have we learned after 26 months?

When? Wednesday, December 4, 2024, 6:30-8:00 PM UK GMT

Where? Online (Zoom)

UBI Lab Arts, UBI Lab Leeds, UBI Lab Network and Basic Income Ireland present:

Please join us for the fifth in our special series of discussions dedicated to reflecting on what we can learn from the Irish Basic Income for the Arts Pilot Scheme, as it unfolds.

The Government of Ireland is running a Basic Income pilot that began in September 2022. 2000 artists and cultural workers will receive a weekly unconditional income of €325 weekly for a period of three years. This fifth session will be an opportunity to check-in with some of the artists involved in the pilot scheme and learn from them about how it is affecting them and their creative communities. You can watch the recordings from our previous sessions here:

First Session Dec 2022 |  Second Session Jun 2023 |  Third Session Dec 2023 | Fourth Session Jun 2024

We will again be joined by artists Shane Finan, Alisha Doody and Tadhg Ó Cuirrín, who will give us personal insights from the perspective of recipients and members of the ‘control group’ who applied but do  not receive the Basic Income for the Arts (BIA). We will be joined by another Irish artist, Lauren Conway, who is also a recipient of the scheme. BI Ireland will provide us with an update about their work, the actual political context in Ireland and the future of the BIA scheme.

The session will take place on Zoom. Places are free but booking is required.

Please register for this event at the Action Network website and you can find more information:  https://actionnetwork.org/events/basic-income-for-the-arts-in-ireland-what-have-we-learned-after-26-months/

2. Rethinking Wealth: Universal Basic Income for a sustainable future, with Reinhard Huss

Where? Farm Road Sports and Social, Farm Rd, Sheffield S2 2TP. Google maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/W71b4gVuNwRcQLMj6

When? Mon 16th Dec 2024, Time: 19:30-21:30

Imagine a world where everyone has the security to thrive – a Universal Basic Income (UBI) that isn’t just ‘free money’, but a fundamental right to a stable livelihood. In the face of urgent global challenges, UBI offers an unprecedented way to transform our relationships with both the planet and each other. By funding UBI through responsible approaches – like reparations for historical injustices and fees for the commercial use of shared resources (such as air, water, and land) – we can move beyond wasteful, outdated systems and build an economy designed for future generations.

Join us to explore how UBI could evolve from a concept to a global reality. We’ll discuss the work of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) and its vision for UBI, examine creative funding sources such as wealth taxes and payments for using shared resources, and address common concerns about costs and feasibility. This conversation will challenge current ideas about our shared resources, suggesting they aren’t ‘free for all’ but rather our ‘collective wealth’ – assets we should protect for future generations.

This is your chance to engage in a forward-thinking conversation about funding a brighter, more sustainable future. Discover how UBI could reshape economies, provide a secure social foundation for everyone, and help foster a more balanced relationship with nature.

If you know interested people in and around Sheffield, please inform them about the event organised by Sheffield Humanists and Sceptics.

Please find below some updates about UBI publications and events.

3. Researchers are conducting the UK’s first major scientific trials to establish whether giving homeless people cash is a more effective way of reducing poverty than traditional forms of help. You can find out more in the following Observer article ‘Homeless people to be given cash in first major UK trial to reduce poverty – Led by King’s College London, study will recruit 360 people in England and Wales to explore benefits of scheme’.

4. The seven Irish parties that have published arts plans in their manifestos – Fine Gael, Fianna Fáil, Green Party, Sinn Féin, Labour, Social Democrats and People Before Profit – have committed to continuing and expanding the BIA scheme in some form. You can read the article in RTÉ Culture ‘Election 2024: Parties commit to continued support for Basic Income for the Arts scheme’.  

5. YouGov has published new survey results ‘What do Britons think of universal basic income in 2024? Nearly half of Britons support introducing a universal basic income, but only a quarter think the government could afford it’.

6. The UK Citizens Basic Income Trust has reverted to its original name the Basic Income Research Group (BIRG) which was founded in 1984. You can find out more and subscribe to BIRG’s newsletter here.

7. “Is the Earth’s balance, for which no-growth — or even degrowth — of material production is a necessary condition, compatible with the survival of the capitalist system?” — André Gorz, social philosopher, 1972

“The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment, not the reverse” — Herman Daly, American economist

The analysis ‘We Need To Talk About Degrowth: On the need for Degrowth, Post-Growth, and a New Economic Model. Part I’ and  ‘Part 2: On how to make it happen.’ by Tim Smedley discusses Universal Basic Income as part of the solution to exit a destructive economic system.

8. Open Democracy has published further articles in part 3 on specific challenges that campaigners face when arguing for universal basic income in highly individualised and neoliberal contexts like the United States and the United Kingdom, and how they work to overcome them:

Part 1 | Getting on with it

Part 2 | Widening the politically possible

Part 3 | Getting the policy mix right

9. Equal Right has announced the Cap and Share Policy Competition for young change-makers who can drive climate solutions forward. This competition is an opportunity for young activists, policy experts, and climate advocates (35 years and below) to present innovative ideas for implementing Cap and Share, a transformative climate finance model to deliver economic and climate justice.

Equal Right is offering the chance to win a fully funded trip to COP30 in Belém, along with other exciting prizes and opportunities to influence the climate agenda. We are looking for innovative policy briefs that reimagine how climate finance can be directed toward communities most impacted by the climate crisis.

10. FRIBIS has published the conference proceedings 2023 „Care & Gender – Potentials & Risks of Universal Basic Income“ as e-book and print copy . It includes German and English contributions.

11. You can read a review of the FRIBIS Annual Conference 2024 (7 – 9 October), held at the University of Freiburg, and titled ‘Towards the development of a full UBI? Perpectives for partial approaches in various welfare systems’.

12. The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights has identified the priorities for the Second World Summit for Social Development in 2025. These include the provision of a unconditional and universal basic income guarantee for young adults between 18 and 25 years old as a tool to break poverty cycles. You can find the full document here.

13. You may be interested in the Australian Workshop:  Designing a Basic Income Pilot for Australia – Ethics, Implementation & Evaluation Challenges.  It will take place online Thu, 5 December, 10pm – 6 Dec, 2:15am GMT.  You can find the full programme and register here.

14. You may be interested in the latest report of Food Insecurity Policy Research about the situation in Canada: ‘Food insecurity: A problem of inadequate income, not solved by food’.  According to the report the underlying inadequate financial circumstances must be addressed. An improvement of the financial situation reduces the risk of food insecurity.

15. Guy Standing has drafted a proposal for an Emergency Basic Income for Palestine for the Palestinian Economic Policy Institute in Ramallah. You can download the paper here.

16. Concerns about the uncertain impacts of artificial intelligence have fuelled renewed discussion of universal basic income (UBI). However, the author argues that we must rethink the main purpose of UBI. It is a sound policy initiative quite independent of the technology question. By aligning with many of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UBI could be a global game-changer. Appreciating this, however, requires looking beyond growth in gross domestic product as the predominant indicator of economic progress. You can read the article ‘Rethinking Universal Basic Income: Economic Productivity, Quality of Life and the Sustainable Development Goals’ published in UN Chronicle.

Finally we hope to see you at the Arcadia on Tuesday evening,

In solidarity and

best wishes
reinhard on behalf of UBI Lab Leeds