The campaign for World Basic Income, a global scheme to redistribute wealth, share natural assets and end poverty. Also known as Global Citizens Income, Universal Dividend and other names.
  • What and why
    • What is WBI? >
      • Cross-border basic income campaigns
      • National basic income campaigns
      • Cash transfers around the world
    • Why have a WBI? >
      • Our right to life
      • Tackle inequality
      • We can end poverty
      • Life in a world of machines
      • Why for the whole world?
      • Why give basic income to the well-off?
  • How WBI could work
    • Funding a world basic income
    • How much would we get?
    • Distributing the money
    • Possible effects of a WBI
  • Who we are
  • What we do
  • Blog
  • Support WBI
  • Contact us
  • WBI in the media
  • Events
  • Links
  • What and why
    • What is WBI? >
      • Cross-border basic income campaigns
      • National basic income campaigns
      • Cash transfers around the world
    • Why have a WBI? >
      • Our right to life
      • Tackle inequality
      • We can end poverty
      • Life in a world of machines
      • Why for the whole world?
      • Why give basic income to the well-off?
  • How WBI could work
    • Funding a world basic income
    • How much would we get?
    • Distributing the money
    • Possible effects of a WBI
  • Who we are
  • What we do
  • Blog
  • Support WBI
  • Contact us
  • WBI in the media
  • Events
  • Links

events

WBI webinar: Carbon charges, basic income and global justice - 30th July 2020

On 30th July 2020 World Basic Income held a webinar to launch their new paper on International Carbon Charge and Dividend, a proposal which has the potential to directly address the climate emergency while simultaneously ending extremely poverty worldwide.

UBI-Nordic 2019: Visions for a Brighter Future - Oslo 5th to 7th April 2019

In April 2019, World Basic Income travelled to Norway to present the world basic income to a Nordic audience of basic income activists and experts, policymakers and local people.

Basic Income Night at DIEM25 - 31st January 2019

World Basic Income directors Laura Bannister and Paul Harnett led a wide-ranging discussion on basic income, following a screening of a new film about the 1970s Mincome experiment, The Manitoba Story: A Basic Income Film.

World Social Forum - Brazil, 13th to 17th March 2018

In March 2018, World Basic Income travelled to Brazil to meet with activists, citizens and civil society organisations from across the world at the World Social Forum. WBI co-hosted three sessions in collaboration with the Brazilian basic income movement:
  • Bolsa Familia and Basic Income in Brazil (in Portuguese)
  • Basic Income from around the world (with contributions from Guatemala, Mexico, Brazil, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Canada and Malawi)
  • World Basic Income – what is it and how to get there

The sessions were well attended, and provided a much-needed opportunity for country movements to share learning from their campaigns. Contributors from Brazil explained that a commitment to UBI is actually embedded in their constitution and that Bolsa Familia was introduced as a step towards it. The architect of these policies, former Senator Eduardo Suplicy, who presented at the Brazilian Basic Income meeting, lamented attacks on Bolsa Familia by the current Brazilian government. Pablo Yanes of the Economic Commission for Latin America outlined the progress of UBI in Mexico, in particular the encouraging support for basic income from a current presidential candidate. Juan Urbina of the Central American Institute for Fiscal Studies outlined the potential impact of UBI in Guatemala and its affordability given the small population. Paul Harnett of World Basic Income suggested that many world problems were of an international nature, such as climate change, and that taxes to protect our planet should be paid into a fund to provide a basic income for all in the world.

This growing momentum on Basic Income built on the excellent work of the Canadian Basic Income movement at the World Social Forum in Canada in 2016. Basic Income is gaining ground as a realistic policy to address poverty internationally and it is hoped that it will now feature regularly at the World Social Forum, the largest gathering of civil society in the world.

Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN) - 17th Congress
World Basic Income - Basic income beyond borders

25th to 27th September 2017
BIEN, the global umbrella organisation that brings together the world's basic income organisations, hosted its 17th major congress in Lisbon. World Basic Income joined a panel exploring basic income as a solution to poverty, and presented full details of how a worldwide basic income scheme could work and what it could achieve. The conference provided the ideal opportunity to meet basic income advocates from all over the world, and WBI built connections with many organisations and individuals with a view to future organising.

Tax Justice Network (and partners) conference
World Basic Income - Taking tax to the next level

5th to 6th July 2017
Tax experts gathered in London to explore initiatives from the Global South that aim to end the unjust leakage of resources from their economies. World Basic Income joined a panel to explore how the South's proposal for a UN Tax Body could provide a structure through which global-level taxation could be introduced. Combined with other key initiatives from the Global South - direct cash transfers and mobile phone banking - WBI demonstrated that the infrastructure is already emerging to facilitate a worldwide basic income.

European Network on Debt and Development (EURODAD)
World Basic Income - A new direction for development

2oth to 22nd June 2017
World Basic Income travelled to The Hague for this major conference of world development professionals. Through a dedicated workshop, we introduced this new proposal for eradicating extreme poverty worldwide. Participants trialled the new World Basic Income game that allows people to experiment with adding and subtracting different taxes and funding streams, and various recipient groups, to understand how various styles of worldwide basic income could be funded.

Post-Crash Economics conference
World Basic Income - exploratory workshop

18th - 19th March 2017
The Post-Crash Economics Conference covered many fascinating areas of new economic thinking. World Basic Income hosted a lively workshop exploring the detail of the worldwide basic income proposal, exploring issues, framing and costings.

World Basic Income
The inaugural conference

4th February 2017
World Basic Income hosted the world's first ever conference dedicated to exploring this new practical solution to global inequality and poverty. Over 130 people squeezed into Salford's oldest church and took part in discussions that examined the proposal for worldwide basic income from many interesting angles. Contributions from both panellists and audience members were extremely valuable and left all with much to think about.


The programme
Conference opening, by Deputy Mayor of Salford Cllr John Merry, and Paul Harnett, Co-Director of World Basic Income

Panel 1 – The context for a worldwide basic income
Discussions led by:
  • André Coelho, BIEN and the Portuguese basic income movement
  • Max Harris, University of Oxford
  • Aderonke Apata, Manchester Migrant Solidarity
  • René Heeskens, founder of the Global Basic Income Foundation (Netherlands)

3.00pm Panel 2 – The practicalities: funding, distribution, and governance
Discussions led by:
  • Hillel Steiner, University of Manchester
  • Steven Janssens, Eight
  • Caroline Whyte, CapGlobalCarbon

4.30pm Panel 3 – Building a movement
Discussions led by:
  • Adam Parsons, Share The World's Resources
  • Jonathan Bartley, Co-Leader of the Green Party
  • John Merry, Deputy Mayor of Salford for the Labour Party

5.45pm Closing plenary, with Laura Bannister, Co-Director of World Basic Income

Sheffield Festival of Debate
Basic Income - Money for Nothing?

23rd November 2016
World Basic Income was invited to join the panel for this exploration of the potential of basic income. We brought a global element to the discussion, and introduced the idea that the world could greatly benefit from an ultimate income safety net, to complement basic income initiatives at the national level.
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