BIEN - BASIC INCOME EARTH NETWORK

www.basicincome.org

The Basic Income Earth Network was founded in 1986 as the Basic Income
European Network. It expanded its scope from Europe to the Earth in 2004.
It serves as a link between individuals and groups committed to or
interested in basic income, and fosters informed discussion on this topic
throughout the world.
_____

NewsFlash 31, January 2005

BIEN's NewsFlash is mailed electronically every two months to over 1000
subscribers throughout the world.
Requests for free subscription are to be sent to bien@basicincome.org
Items for inclusion or review in future NewsFlashes are to be sent to
Yannick Vanderborght, newsletter editor, UCL, Chaire Hoover, 3 Place
Montesquieu, 1348 Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium, vanderborght@etes.ucl.ac.be
The present NewsFlash has been prepared with the help of Katrin Mohr, Paul
Nollen, Dani Raventos, Philippe Van Parijs, and Karl Widerquist.
_____

CONTENTS
1. Editorial

2. Events
BERLIN (DE), 12 December 2004: Second meeting of the Netwerk Grundeinkommen
PORTO ALEGRE (BR), 27 January 2005: Panel on basic income at the World
Social Forum
NEW YORK (US), 4-6 March 2005: Fourth international congress of the USBIG
network

3. Glimpses of national debates
NAMIBIA: Lutheran Church pushes for basic income debate
SOUTH AFRICA: Desmond Tutu speaks favourably on basic income
SPAIN: A basic income bill

4. Publications
*Catalan
*Dutch
*English
*French
*German
*Portuguese

5. About the Basic Income Earth Network


1. EDITORIAL

On December 17, 2004, four members of BIEN's executive committee met in
Belgium. They discussed important issues, such as BIEN's new statutes and
BIEN's next conference venue. Following the decision taken during the
latest BIEN's General Assembly (Barcelona, Sep. 2004), they also examined
the possibility of appointing a "Women's representative". After a
consultation of other members of the EC, Louise Haagh (University of York)
was appointed as "Women's Officer and Fund Raiser". Given the scope of the
agenda, the EC members also decided to convene a second EC meeting, to be
held in New York City on March 6, 2005, at the very end of the USBIG
Conference. A synthesis report of both meetings will be made available to
all members.

In the morning of Thursday the 27th of January 2005, Brazilian President
Lula da Silva opened the Porto Alegre World Social Forum with a call for a
global action against poverty, the central theme of this year's Forum. In
the afternoon of the same day, a three-hour panel co-sponsored by BIEN, the
Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN) and the Brazilian basic
income network (RBRBC) under the title "From Family Grant to Basic
citizenship income" proved to be one of the most massively attended events
of the whole Forum. A report below.

BIEN is looking forward, but researchers remind us of the importance of
looking at the history of the idea that it promotes. In an new book on the
origins of universal grants, John Cunliffe and Guido Erreygers reveal that,
until further discoveries challenge this conclusion, we owe the oldest
basic income proposal to Thomas Spence, an English schoolteacher and
radical publisher, in a pamphlet published in... March 1797 (see
"Publications").

BIEN's Executive Committee


2. EVENTS

BERLIN (DE), 12 December 2004: Second meeting of the Netwerk Grundeinkommen
Founded in July 2004, the "Netzwerk Grundeinkommen" (the German basic
income network officially recognized by BIEN) held its second national
meeting on December 11-12, 2004 in Berlin. The first day was structured by
workshops on 'the Unconditionality of a Basic Income', 'Strategic options
for a Basic Income after 'Hartz IV'' as well as different 'Models for
Financing a Basic Income'. The first workshop of the meeting took place
within the framework of the conference on "The Future of Social Justice"
organized by the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung (the political foundation of the
Greens) (see www.boell.de/de/04_thema/2969.html), where Basic Income and
'The Stakeholder Society' (Ackerman/Alstott) were prominently discussed as
alternative social policies. Some of the papers given in the workshops can
be downloaded from www.sw.fh-jena.de:8080/~opielka/index.php?id=29. The
second day was devoted to organizational matters and the planning of future
projects and initiatives. A new executive committee was elected. Michael
Opielka, who had been one of the spokesmen of the German network and the
contact person to BIEN, has withdrawn from these positions. In the next two
years Ronald Blaschke, Katja Kipping, Katrin Mohr, Günther Sölken, Robert
Ulmer and Birgit Zenker will represent the network and take care of the
daily business and responsibilities. A report of the meeting was sent out
with the third newsletter in January (to subscribe, please send an e-mail
to newsletter@grundeinkommen.de). Further information on the network as
well as the minutes of the meeting can be found at www.grundeinkommen.de.

PORTO ALEGRE (BR), 27 January 2005: Panel on basic income at the World
Social Forum
In the morning of Thursday the 27th of January 2005, President Lula opened
the Porto Alegre World Social Forum with a call for a global action against
poverty, the central theme of this year's Forum. In the afternoon of the
same day, a three-hour panel co-sponsored by BIEN, the Food First
Information and Action Network (FIAN) and the Brazilian basic income
network (RBRBC) under the title "From Family Grant to Basic citizenship
income" proved to be one of the most massively attended events of the whole
Forum.

Owing to the participation of two of Brazil's most popular political
personalities, Eduardo Suplicy, Federal Senator for the State of Sao Paulo
and co-chairman of BIEN, and Patrus Ananias, Minister of Social Development
in Lula's government and former mayor of Belo Horizonte, it was attended in
a packed tent by a huge crowd of over 800 people, broadcasted life and well
covered by the Brazilian press. Most of those attending were Brazilians -
as the interpreting services could not cope with such a crowd, the
discussion was therefore held in Portuguese and Spanish - but many were
also coming from far away, among them Katja Kipping, member of the
Parliament of Saxony and co-founder of Germany's new basic income network.
The other members of the panel were Rudolf Künnemann, director of FIAN,
Professor Jose Graziano, former secretary of state for the Zero Hunger
programme, Professor Maria Ozanira de Silva, author of a recent book
evaluating Brazil's fast expanding social assistance system, and Philippe
Van Parijs, professor at Louvain and Harvard and co-founder of BIEN.
One central issue was the question of how the income support system can be
expanded to reach the estimated 11Mn families (one quarter of Brazil's
population) whose monthly income falls short of R100 (about EUR 30) per
capita. Nearly all Brazilian municipalities are now involved in the
programme, but it requires time and resources to identify those entitled.
Failing to do so in a reliable way can lead to many of the neediest being
left out, but also to many being included without meeting the conditions.
Thus, on the very day of the panel, the national newspaper O Globo had a
front page story about the fraudulent registration into the programme of
over 1000 civil servants in the capital city of the state of Piaui with a
wage far in excess of the very modest income threshold. This is a clear
case, but how many more can one expect, far more difficult to detect in a
largely informal economy, as the programme expands further and matures?
If the programme is not to degenerate into a massive clientelistic
distribution of hand outs and trigger a backlash, it is essential to design
administratively workable tests and transparent procedures for identifying
the households which satisfy the conditions. By dropping the means test
altogether, a universal basic income would obviously solve the problem in
one swoop. But this requires a major reform of the tax system that
effectively claws back the basic income paid to people who currently pay no
income tax.

One of the outcomes of the panel - and of a long working meeting with
Suplicy and Van Parijs the following day - is that Minister Ananias and his
staff realised better the advantages a genuine basic income system would
have over the present programme - not only in terms of registration
problems, but also of stigmatisation and dependency traps -, without losing
sight of the obstacles along the way. The massive interest shown for this
panel in the exhilarating atmosphere of Porto Alegre's gathering suggests
that many in Brazil and across the world will be watching closely the
progress and difficulties of Brazil's pioneering policies.
For  further information : eduardo.suplicy@senador.gov.br

NEW YORK (US), 4-6 March 2005: Fourth international congress of the USBIG
network
The Fourth Congress of the USBIG Network now has 78 confirmed participants
making it 50% larger than in 2004 and the largest USBIG Congress to date.
It will begin at 8am on Friday, March 4 and conclude at 4:30pm on Sunday,
March 6. Many prominent authors will speak, including Philippe Van Parijs,
Université catholique de Louvain, Belgium and Harvard University, author of
Real Freedom for All: What (if anything) can justify capitalism?, Brian
Barry, Columbia University, author of Theories of Justice, and Justice as
Impartiality, Erik Olin Wright, the University of Wisconsin, author of
Interrogating Inequality, Class Counts, and Deepening Democracy, and
Frances Fox Piven, the City University of New York, author of Regulating
the Poor and Poor Peoples' Movements, and Guy Standing of the International
Labour Organization and author of Beyond the New Paternalism. Sessions at
the Congress will discuss common assets, the economics of the basic income
guarantee, gradual steps toward implementation, ethical issues of BIG, the
possibility of combining a guaranteed income with a guaranteed job, the
possibility that robotics will replace all manual labour, and whether a
social maximum should accompany a guaranteed minimum. The conference will
close with an open-space discussion of BIG in which all participants are
invited to speak on any topic at all.
See the USBIG website for information and registration instructions
(www.usbig.net), or contact Karl Widerquist
Karl@Widerquist.com

3. GLIMPSES OF NATIONAL DEBATES

NAMIBIA: LUTHERAN CHURCH PUSHES FOR BASIC INCOME DEBATE
USBIG reports that, at a conference held on the outskirts of Windhoek in
early November, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in the Republic of Namibia
(ELCRN) took steps to start a national debate about the Basic Income Grant
by inviting financial experts, churches, Government officials and
non-governmental organizations for discussions on poverty, HIV-AIDS and the
grant. The Congress of Democrats endorsed the grant idea included it in its
2004 election campaign manifesto. This activity comes two years after the
NAMTAX Consortium (which included consultants from the University of
Namibia and Tax Consulting Services Namibia who were contracted by the
Government to review its tax system) recommended a basic income grant to
the Namibian government. According to NAMTAX, "The net effect of such an
approach would be the same as paying a progressively higher anti-poverty
grant to all Namibians whose monthly per person expenditure is lower than
about N$1 100, and to progressively tax those with a higher per person
monthly expenditure. The automatic targeting achieved by this scheme
overcomes all the inefficiencies of traditional poverty relief grants." The
story could be found in the Namibian Weekly (see
allafrica.com/stories/200411100161). For a Christian Weekly story on the
same conference go to:
www.christianpost.com/article/church/1751/section/lutherans.in.namibia.promote.big.anti-poverty.effort/1.htm.


SOUTH AFRICA: DESMOND TUTU SPEAKS FAVOURABLY ON BASIC INCOME
USBIG reports that Desmond Tutu, one of the most respected leaders of the
anti-apartheid movement in the 1980s and 1990s, Archbishop Emeritus of the
Anglican Church of South Africa, and former head of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission recently criticized the ruling ANC's anti-poverty
efforts as ineffective, and suggested basic income as a new approach, "We
should discuss as a nation whether BIG (the proposed basic income grant) is
not really a viable way forward." He was extremely critical of those who
dismiss basic income as a "handout," saying, "We should not be browbeaten
by pontificating decrees from on high. We cannot glibly on full stomachs
speak about handouts to those who often go to bed hungry. It is cynical in
the extreme to speak about handouts when people can become very rich at the
stroke of a pen. If those are not massive handouts, what are?" These
remarks were made at the Nelson Mandela Foundation in Houghton,
Johannesburg in November. For a full story on Tutu's remarks, go to:
www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1625400,00.html

Many articles and editorials have been written on basic income in South
Africa in recent months. For instance Willie Madisha, president of the
Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), said that a basic income
grant (BIG) appears to be the most efficient and affordable way for the
government to meet its moral and constitutional obligations and to ensure
that everyone in South Africa has access to social security. Despite the
efforts of its advocates, however, Finance Ministry officials continue to
insist that BIG is too expensive (according to Reuters, November 23, 2004).

SPAIN: A BASIC INCOME BILL
In May 2002, Carme Porta, of Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC), a
pro-independence, leftist and republican party, and José Luis López Bulla,
of Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV), an eco-socialist and leftist
organisation, both well-known supporters of Basic Income, presented a Basic
Income Bill to the Catalan Parliament. ERC and ICV have formed part of the
tri-partite government of Catalonia with the Socialist Party (PSC) since
the end of 2003. On January 21, 2005, Joan Puigcercós and Joan Tardà (both
ERC), members of the Spanish Parliament, presented the same (slightly
updated) bill. It proposes a Basic Income of Citizenship for all residents
of Spain. The Basic Income of Citizenship should be at least the same
amount as that considered as poverty line. The bill shall soon be debated
by the Spanish Parliament. (The Basic Income Bill can be viewed at
www.redrentabasica.org).


4. PUBLICATIONS

CATALAN

ARCARONS Jordi, BOSO Àlex, NOGUERA José Antonio, and RAVENTÓS Daniel.
Viabilitat i impacte d'una Renda Bàsica de Ciutadania per a Catalunya,
Fundació Bofill, Barcelona, 2005.
This book (to be published in March 2005) is the result of a research that
started in 2003 and finished in 2004, and was funded by the prestigious
Catalan Jaume Bofill Foundation. The co-authors are Jordi Arcarons,
professor of Econometrics at the University of Barcelona, Àlex Boso,
researcher at the Pompeu Fabra University, José A. Noguera, lecturer at the
Autonomus University of Barcelona, and Daniel Raventós, lecturer at the
University of Barcelona. All are active members of the Red Renta Básica,
one of the 11 official sections of the BIEN. Their essay is structured into
four chapters. The first deals with the foundations of Basic Income.
Chapter two discusses the Welfare State and the role of Basic Income as a
new model of social protection at the beginning of the 21st century. The
third chapter presents the results of a research project that demonstrate
that Basic Income is economically feasible in Catalonia and that it would
have a considerable impact on income redistribution. The authors used a
specifically designed micro-simulation programme in order to evaluate
different policy options of tax-benefit integration that a Basic Income
would involve, and they apply this to an extensive sample of Catalan
personal income tax data (210,000 entries). The results show that the
proposed reforms are broadly feasible in financial terms, and that their
impact on Catalan income distribution would be highly progressive. The
micro-simulation programme can be applied in other areas by changing the
data base. Finally, chapter four summarises 10 interviews with
representatives from unions, parties and social organisations of Catalonia.
The book is an unusual blend of different academic disciplines:
Econometrics, Political Philosophy, Sociology and Politics. The four
authors had a long meeting with three ministers and four high-ranking
officials of the Government of Catalonia in December 2004, where they
explained the main results of their research. This essay is expected to
stimulate the debate on Basic Income in Catalonia and, more broadly, in Spain.

NOGUERA, José A. "Els nous drets socials" ["The new social rights"], Nous
Horitzons, vol. 43 (175), 2004, pp. 24-31 (Published by the Fundació Nous
Horitzons; e-mail: fundacio@noushoritzons.org) (Author's address:
jose.noguera@uab.es)
This article is part of a monographic issue of the catalan journal "Nous
Horitzons" (the political-theoretical journal of the catalan eco-socialist
party Iniciativa per Catalunya - Verds) which is dedicated to the debate on
a new Fundamental Law for the Autonomous Catalan Government
(Generalitat).  In his contribution on social rights, José Noguera
(sociologist at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona and vice-president of
the Spanish Basic Income Network Red Renta Básica), advocates a Basic
Income and/or other similar policies (as a Basic Pension, a Guaranteed
Minimum Income or a Universal Tax Credit) as the best solution for the
present shortcomings of the catalan welfare state. He discusses ways in
which this right might be recognised by the new Catalan Fundamental Law
which is currently being negotiated by the catalan political parties.

DUTCH

DUCHATELET Roland, De weg naar meer netto binnenlands geluk. Een toekomst
voor alle europeanen. (Met een nawoord van Karel De Gucht en Dirk Sterckx),
Leuven, Uitgeverij Van Halewyck, 2004, 151p., ISBN 901-5617-576-9,
Publisher's website: www.vanhalewyck.be.
Successful Belgian businessman Roland Duchâtelet is the founder of VIVANT,
a small political party which advocates the introduction of a basic income
of approximately EUR500/month for all adults (see www.vivant.org). In this
didactic and inventive essay, Duchâtelet points to some urgent problems
faced by the Belgian welfare state, such as high unemployment and
demographic challenges, and focuses on alternative scenarios. He
unambiguously rejects the idea of "activating" the unemployed, and provides
some interesting insights from his own experience as head of a private
firm. If the unemployed are required to work and if sanctions are applied
in case of non-compliance, Duchâtelet argues, company managers shall have
to organize hiring meetings with people "who are doing as if they want the
job, whereas in fact they are only afraid of loosing their benefit (...).
If one requires that these persons work, against their will, one is not
only going to render these persons unhappy, but also the colleagues who
will have to work with them (...)" and the company itself will suffer from
this situation (p. 109).
Even if  Duchâtelet incidentally suggests the introduction of a
"volksdividend" (a "Popular Dividend") in every country on earth (p.72; but
see also pp. 127-128), basic income is especially discussed in one of the
last section of the book, which is devoted to a "new societal organisation
for the XXI century" (pp.115-129). Among the reform proposals are the
"vrijheidsinkomen" (Freedom Income) of EUR400/month for young adults aged
between 18 and 25 (with the simultaneous suppression of child benefits
after 18 and of all student's grants), and the unconditional "basisinkomen"
(basic income) of EUR540/month for all adults aged between 25 and 65. The
author also advocates the implementation of a basic income of EUR135/month
for children under 18, and a basic pension of EUR800/month for the elderly.
Differents ways of financing the reforms are discussed, including a massive
shift of income tax to a (much increased) value-added tax (VAT).

MARX Axel & PEETERS Hans. "Loterijspelen als instrument voor
arbeidsmarktonderzoek", Over-Werk. Tijdschrift van het Steunpunt WAV
4/2004. First author's address: axel.marx@soc.kuleuven.ac.be
A Dutch summary of the paper "Win For Life. An Empirical Exploration of the
Social Consequences of Introducing a Basic Income" (see Newsflash 31),
which was published as a working paper by the Departement of Sociology of
the Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium.

ENGLISH

CLARK, Robert F. Victory Deferred. The War on Global Poverty (1945-2003).
New York, University Press of America, 2005. ISBN 0 7618 3072 3
This essay aims at constructing a broad historical perspective on the
emergence of poverty as a global concern after 1945. It mainly focuses on
the administrative history, with a special emphasis on the role of
bilateral, multilateral and global organisations. But Robert F. Clark, a
Doctor of Public Administration and independent scholar, is also looking
forward. Having briefly presented BIEN and the USBIG network (p.98-99), he
focuses on the idea of a global basic income scheme, which would guarantee
each person on earth an income of at least US$365/year (see pp.172-79).
Such a reform, Clark argues, is preferable to the expansion of
welfare-to-work programmes in developing countries. The author has designed
an hypothetical plan, which implies the payments of benefits by the United
Nations, under the form of a negative income tax. "The United Nations would
establish a global guaranteed income fund, which would rely on periodic
replenishments from its members (...) Some of the financing could come from
new sources of revenue", such as the Tobin Tax (pp.175-76). The last
sentence of Clark's book is cautiously optimistic: "A new paradigm such as
represented by the global guaranteed income approach would considerably
brighten the prospects of the world's poorest people" (p.179).
Publisher's website: www.univpress.com

CUNLIFFE John & ERREYGERS Guido eds., The Origins of Universal Grants. An
Anthology of Historical Writings on Basic Capital and Basic Income,
Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan,  2004, 179p., ISBN  1 4039 1896 1.
Authors' addresses: J.Cunliffe@warwick.ac.uk, guido.erreygers@ua.ac.be
Opened by an instructive introduction, this is an astonishing anthology of
the first known proposals for paying to every citizen either a one-off
endowment or a regular income. Basic capital proposals include texts by
Thomas Paine (France, 1797), Cornelius Blatchly (USA, 1817), Thomas
Skidmore (USA, 1829), Orestes Brownson (USA, 1840), Paul Voituron (Belgium,
1848), Napoleon De Keyser (Belgium, 1854) and Agathon De Potter (Belgium,
1874). Basic income proposals include texts by Thomas Spence (England,
1797) with reactions by Allen Davenport (England, 1824),  Joseph Charlier
(Belgium, 1848), Mabel and Dennis Milner (England, 1918), Bertram Pickard
(England, 1919), Marshall Hattersley (England, 1922), G.D.H. Cole (England,
1929 and 1935) and Juliet Rhys-Williams (England, 1943). Until further
discoveries challenge this conclusion, it seems that we owe the oldest
(municipal) basic income proposal to the Newcastle schoolteacher and London
radical publisher Thomas Spence : All land and houses will be made public
property and managed by a committee of women. "And as to the overplus,
after all public expences are defrayed, we shall divide it fairly and
equally among all the living souls in the parish, whether male or female;
married or single; legitimate or illegitimate; from a day old to the
extremest age; making no distinction between the families of rich farmers
and merchants ... and the families of poor labourers and mechanics..., but
giving the head of every family a full and equal share for every name under
his roof." (The Rights of Infants, London, March 1797).

MARX Axel & PEETERS Hans. "Win For Life. An Empirical Exploration of the
Social Consequences of Introducing a Basic Income", Onderzoeksverslag van
het Departement Sociologie, AB/2004-6, SB/2004-16, 54p. First author's
address: axel.marx@soc.kuleuven.ac.be
The introduction of a Basic Income could result in many different micro
behavioural changes with distinct macro implications. This has been argued
by both proponents and opponents of a Basic Income. In this stimulating
paper, which was presented at BIEN's Barcelona Conference in 2004,
sociologists Marx and Peeters (Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium)
concentrate on changes in labour market behaviour. They argue that in the
absence of the actual introduction of a Basic Income, second-best solutions
for empirical research must be considered. In their view, lotteries
organise interesting games for basic income researchers. Some games such
as Win for Life, Lifetime Spectacular, Lifetime Riches, Weekly Bonus, Fun
for Life, Lucky for Life, etc. - grant a periodically unconditional
lifelong income to winners (cf. annuity games). In this way, they
constitute a natural Basic Income experiment and can generate significant
insights into the possible consequences of introducing a Basic Income.
First of all, the paper discusses why, how, and to what extent, natural
experiments such as lotteries can contribute to research which empirically
explores possible social consequences of the introduction of a basic
income. The second aim is to focus on the question of what, if anything,
happens after the introduction of a Basic Income.

FRENCH

MARIS, Bernard. Antimanuel d'économie. Paris, Editions Bréal, 2003, ISBN 2
7495 0078 8, 359p., 17 Euros
In the last section of this critical essay, Bernard Maris (a popular
anti-establishment economist, famous for his regular chronicle in the
satirical weekly "Charlie-Hebdo") briefly examines the idea of a "revenu
minimum universel" (universal minimum income), or a basic income. Such an
idea, he writes, perfectly "fits in our economy, since a growing proportion
of wealth is produced with a decreasing proportion of labour" (p.336).
Maris explicitly refers to the writings of André Gorz on this topic.
Publisher's website: www.editions-breal.fr

GERMAN

OPIELKA, Michael. Sozialpolitik. Grundlagen und vergleichende Perspektiven.
Reinbek bei Hamburg: Rowohlt Verlag (rowohls enzyklopädie 55662), 2004,
336p., ISBN 3 499 55662 6, EUR12.90. Author's address: michael.opielka@isoe.org
A comprehensive and well-argued introduction to social policy, with special
reference to Germany's institutions and debates, by one of the earliest
protagonists of Germany's basic income discussion (M. Opielka & G. Vobruba
eds., Das garantierte Grundeinkommen, 1986), now professor of social policy
in Jena and visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley.
The essay includes an overview of the theories of the welfare state, as
well as of current trends and developments in different policy fields such
as activation, family policy, pensions, health care and education. It also
discusses the challenges for welfare states posed by globalisation and
develops a highly ingenious proposal for reform: A 'Basic Income Insurance'
that combines the principle of a guaranteed basic income with the principle
of insurance-based reciprocity. If the author sees basic income as an
objective to be reached, this less unconditional system would function as a
transition path.

STUTZ Heidi, BAUER, Tobias, Modelle zu einem Garantierten
Mindesteininkommen. Sozialpolitische und ökonomisch Auswirkungen.
Forschungsbericht Nr.15/03, Bundesamt für Sozialversicherung, Bern,
February 2002.
http://www.bsv.admin.ch/forschung/publikationen/15_03d_eBericht.pdf
This study, which was published by the Swiss Federal Office for Social
Insurance, scrutinizes various models of "guaranteed minimum income" (GMI)
schemes: negative income tax, tax credits, wage subsidies, basic income,
means-tested basic social security as well as social/occupational
integration minimum income (along the lines of the French RMI). Relevant
practical experiences in Switzerland and abroad are discussed. The reports
insists on the conflict between combating poverty and maintaining work
incentives. "A general social dividend", the authors argue, "is only
feasible in rich countries (...). If a social dividend were to guarantee a
minimum subistence income, the redistribution cost, however, would be
prohibitively high. If it does not aim to guarantee minimum cover, it is
not much use (...). Politically, it would be difficult to introduce an
unconditional basic income because it runs against current reciprocity
norms" (p.vi).
The report (with an English summary) can be downloaded at
www.bsv.admin.ch/forschung/publikationen/15_03d_eBericht.pdf

ITALIAN

DEL BO, Corrado. Un reddito per tutti. Un'introduzione al basic income ["An
Income for all. An introduction to basic income"]. Como & Pavia: Ibis
(www.ibisedizioni.it), "Sud-Nord: altri mondi", 2004, 142p., ISBN 88 7164
177 9. Author's address: delbo@unipv.it
This short and clear introduction to the basic income debate shall be
useful to those wanting to re-launch the discussion in Italy, one of the
few European countries that still lacks any form of national minimum income
scheme. In the first chapter of his essay, Corrado Del Bò (a political
philosopher at University of Pavia and expert in distributive justice and
bioethics) discusses the definition of BI, the history of the idea, as well
as recent developments in Alaska, Brazil, and Italy. Interestingly, he
briefly mentions a law on the 'reddito di cittadinanza' (Citizen's Income)
which has been adopted in February 2004 by the Regional authority of
Campania (Southern Italy, around Napoli). Despite its name, the law only
holds that a benefit of EUR350/month should be given to families with an
income below EUR5.000/year. Hence, it is not a universal benefit. However,
it is officially labelled a "fundamental social right", without any related
duty to work or make a productive contribution, and might provide a first
step toward a more comprehensive scheme. In the second and third chapters,
philosophical issues are thoroughly examined. While chapter 2 includes an
overview of the neo-liberal, communautarian, feminist, and (left-)
libertarian justifications, chapter 3 focuses on the most controversial
issue in ethical discussions of the idea: is a basic income going to foster
laziness?

PORTUGUESE

Ozanira da Silva e Silva Maria, Yasbek Maria Carmelita & di Govanni,
Geraldo. A Política Social Brasileira no Século XXI. A prevalência dos
programas de transferência de renda, Sao Paulo: Cortez Editora, 2004,
223p., ISBN  85 249 1086 0. First author's address: ozanira@elo.com.br
Directed by Professor Maria Ozanira (Federal University of Maranhão), one
of BIEN's first life members, this book provides a comprehensive
description and evaluation of Brazil's expanding guaranteed minimum income
scheme (the Bolsa Familia programme), which is predicted to reach 11
million families, or nearly a quarter of the Brazilian population, by the
end of 2006. A good and important  policy, the authors conclude, in part
because of the counterparts imposed on the beneficiaries (vaccination for
small children, school attendance for older children, literacy courses for
illiterate adults), but with limits that can only be overcome by moving to
a genuine basic income for all Brazilians, as promised in the law
promulgated by President Lula in January 2004.



5. ABOUT THE BASIC INCOME EARTH NETWORK

5.1. BIEN's  executive committee

Co-chair:
Eduardo SUPLICY esuplicy@senado.gov.br, Federal Senator, Sao Paulo, Brazil
Guy STANDING guystanding@compuserve.com, director of the Social and
Economic Security Programme, International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland
Regional co-ordinators:
Eri NOGUCHI en16@columbia.edu, Columbia University, New York, USA
Ingrid VAN NIEKERK ivanniekerk@epri.org.za, Economic Policy Research
Institute, Cape Town, South Africa
Secretary:
David CASASSAS casassas@eco.ub.es, Universidad de Barcelona, Spain
Newsletter editor:
Yannick VANDERBORGHT vanderborght@etes.ucl.ac.be, Université catholique de
Louvain, Belgium
Website manager:
Jurgen DE WISPELAERE jurgen.dewispelaere@ucd.ie, University College Dublin,
Ireland
Women's Officer and Fund Raiser:
Louise HAAGH, lh11@york.ac.uk , Department of Politics, University of York,
United Kingdom
Working paper editor:
Karl WIDERQUIST Karl@Widerquist.com, Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford, United Kingdom

5.2. BIEN's international board

Chair: Philippe Van Parijs

Former members of BIEN's Executive Committee:
Alexander de Roo
Edwin Morley-Fletcher
José Noguera
Claus Offe
Ilona Ostner
Steven Quilley
Robert J. van der Veen
Walter Van Trier
Lieselotte Wohlgenannt

Representatives of national networks:
Ruben Lo Vuolo for the Red Argentina de Ingreso Ciudadano (AR)
Magit Appel for the Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt (AT)
N for the Rede Brasileira de Renda Básica de Ciudadania (BR)
Jørg Gaugler for the Borgerlønsbevægelsen (DK)
Michael Opielka for the Netzwerk Grundeinkommen (DE)
John Baker for BIEN Ireland (IE)
Loek Groot for the Vereniging Basisinkomen (NL)
Daniel Raventos for the Red Renta Básica (ES)
Bridget Dommen for BIEN Switzerland (CH)
Malcolm Torry for the Citizen's Income Trust (UK)
Michael Lewis for USBIG (US)

5.3. Recognised national networks

ARGENTINA: Red Argentina de Ingreso Ciudadano
Founded in March 2004
www.ingresociudadano.org
President: Ruben Lo Vuolo rlovuolo@ciepp.org.ar

AUSTRIA: Netzwerk Grundeinkommen und sozialer Zusammenhalt
Founded in October 2002
www.grundeinkommen.at
Coordinator: Magit Appel redaktion@ksoe.at

BRAZIL: Rede Brasileira de Renda Básica de Ciudadania
Founded in September 2004
Provisional co-ordinator: Eduardo Suplicy
eduardo.suplicy@senador.gov.br

DENMARK: Borgerlønsbevægelsen
Founded in January 2000
www.borgerloen.dk
President: Jørg Gaugler
per@borgerloen.dk

GERMANY: Netzwerk Grundeinkommen
Founded in July 2004
www.grundeinkommen.de
Spokespersons: Ronald  Blaschke, Katja Kipping, Michael Opielka, Wolfram
Otto, Birgit Zenker
kontakt@grundeinkommen.de

IRELAND: BIEN Ireland
Founded in March 1995
Coordinator: John Baker
John.Baker@ucd.ie
Equality Studies Centre
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Tel.: +353-1-716 7104, Fax: +353-1-716 1171

NETHERLANDS: Vereniging Basinkomen
Founded in October 1987 (initially as "Werlplaats Basisinkomen")
www.basisinkomen.nl / E-mail: info@basisinkomen.nl
Coordinator: Guido den Broeder
Igor Stravinskisingel 50
3069MA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Tel.: +31 10-4559538 or +31 70-3859268

SPAIN:  Red Renta Basica
Founded in June 2001
www.redrentabasica.org
President: Daniel Raventos
presidencia@redrentabasica.org or danielraventos@ub.edu
Universitat de Barcelona,
Facultat d'Economiques
Departament de Teoria Sociologica i Metodologia de les Ciencies Socials Avda.
Diagonal 690, 08034 Barcelona, Spain
Tel.: +34.93.402.90.51, Fax: +34.93.322.65.54

SWITZERLAND: BIEN Switzerland
Founded in September 2002
President: Pierre Hrold c/o Jean-Daniel Jimenez
jean-da.jimenez@bluewin.ch
39, rue Louis-Favre 1201 Geneva
Tel.: +41 22 733 41 09 or +41 78 847 47 56

UNITED KINGDOM: Citizen's Income Trust
Founded in 1984 (initially as "Basic Income Research Group")
www.citizensincome.org
Director: Malcolm Torry info@citizensincome.org
Citizens Income Trust, P.O. Box 26586, London SE3 7WY, United Kingdom.
Tel.: 44-20-8305 1222 Fax: 44-20-8305 1802

UNITED STATES: U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG)
Founded in December 1999
www.usbig.net
Coordinator: Karl Widerquist Karl@Widerquist.com

5.4. BIEN's life members

All life members of the Basic Income European Network, many of whom were
non-Europeans, have automatically become life members of the Basic Income
Earth Network.
To join them, just send your name and address (postal and electronic) to
David Casassas  casassas@eco.ub.es, secretary of BIEN, and transfer EUR 100
to BIEN's account 001 2204356 10 at FORTIS BANK (IBAN: BE41 0012 2043
5610), 10 Rond-Point Schuman, B-1040 Brussels, Belgium. An acknowledgement
will be sent upon receipt.

James Meade (+), Gunnar Adler-Karlsson (SE), Maria Ozanira da Silva (BR),
Ronald Dore (UK), Alexander de Roo (NL), Edouard Dommen (CH), Philippe Van
Parijs (BE), P.J. Verberne (NL), Tony Walter (UK), Philippe Grosjean (BE),
Malcolm Torry (UK), Wouter van Ginneken (CH), Andrew Williams (UK), Roland
Duchâtelet (BE), Manfred Fuellsack (AT), Anne-Marie Prieels (BE), Philippe
Desguin (BE), Joel Handler (US), Sally Lerner (CA), David Macarov (IL),
Paul Metz (NL), Claus Offe (DE), Guy Standing (CH), Hillel Steiner (UK),
Werner Govaerts (BE), Robley George (US), Yoland Bresson (FR), Richard
Hauser (DE), Eduardo Matarazzo Suplicy (BR), Jan-Otto Andersson (FI),
Ingrid Robeyns (UK), John Baker (IE), Rolf Kuettel (CH), Michael Murray
(US), Carlos Farinha Rodrigues (PT), Yann Moulier Boutang (FR), Joachim
Mitschke (DE), Rik van Berkel (NL), François Blais (CA), Katrin Töns (DE),
Almaz Zelleke (US), Gerard Degrez (BE), Michael Opielka (DE), Lena Lavinas
(BR), Julien Dubouchet (CH), Jeanne Hrdina (CH), Joseph Huber (DE), Markku
Ikkala (FI),  Luis Moreno (ES), Rafael Pinilla (ES), Graham Taylor (UK), W.
Robert Needham (CA), Tom Borsen Hansen (DK), Ian Murray (US), Peter
Molgaard Nielsen (DK), Fernanda Rodrigues (PT), Helmut Pelzer (DE), Rod
Dobell (CA), Walter Van Trier (BE), Loek Groot (NL), Andrea Fumagalli (IT),
Bernard Berteloot (FR), Jean-Pierre Mon (FR), Angelika Krebs (DE), Ahmet
Insel (FR), Alberto Barbeito (AR), Rubén Lo Vuolo (AR), Manos Matsaganis
(GR), Jose Iglesias Fernandez (ES), Daniel Eichler (DE), Cristovam Buarque
(BR), Michael Lewis (US), Clive Lord (UK), Jean Morier-Genoud (FR), Eri
Noguchi (US), Michael Samson (ZA), Ingrid van Niekerk (ZA), Karl Widerquist
(US), Al Sheahen (US), Christopher Balfour (AND), Jurgen De Wispelaere
(UK), Wolf-Dieter Just (DE), Zsuzsa Ferge (HU), Paul Friesen (CA), Nicolas
Bourgeon (FR), Marja A. Pijl (NL), Matthias Spielkamp (DE), Frédéric
Jourdin (FR), Daniel Raventós (ES), Andrés Hernández (CO), Guido Erreygers
(BE), Alain Tonnet (BE), Stephen C. Clark (US), Wolfgang Mundstein (AT),
Evert Voogd (NL), Frank Thompson (US), Lieselotte Wohlgenannt (AT), Jose
Luis Rey Pérez (ES), Jose Antonio Noguera (ES), Esther Brunner (CH), Irv
Garfinkel (US), Claude Macquet (BE), Bernard Guibert (FR), Margit Appel
(AT), Simo Aho (FI), Francisco Ramos Martin (ES), Brigid Reynolds (IE),
Sean Healy (IE), Maire Mullarney (IE), Patrick Lovesse (CH), Jean-Paul
Zoyem (FR), GianCarlo Moiso (IT), Martino Rossi (CH), Pierre Herold (CH),
Steven Shafarman (US), Leonardo Fernando Cruz Basso (BR), Wolfgang
Strenmann-Kuhn (DE), Anne Glenda Miller (UK), Lowell Manning (NZ), Dimitris
Ballas (GR), Gilberte Ferrière (BE), Louise Haagh (DK), Michael Howard
(US), Simon Wigley (TR), Erik Christensen (DK), David Casassas (ES), Paul
Nollen (BE), Vriend(inn)en Basisinkomen (NL), Christophe Guené (BE), Alain
Massot (CA), Marcel Bertrand Paradis (CA), NN (Geneve, CH), Marc
Vandenberghe (BE), Gianluca Busilacchi (IT), Robert F. Clark (US), Theresa
Funiciello (US), Al Boag & Sue Williams (AU), Josef Meyer (BE), Alain Boyer
(CH), Jos Janssen (NL), Collectif Charles Fourier (+), Bruce Ackerman (US),
Victor Lau (NL), Konstantinos Geormas (GR), Pierre Feray (FR), Christian
Brütsch (CH), Phil Harvey (US), Toru Yamamori (JP), René Keersemaker (NL),
Manuel Franzmann (DE), Ovidio Carlos de Brito (BR), Bernard De Crum [149].