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CALL FOR
PROPOSALS: BIEN/BIG CONFERENCE 2006
The Basic Income Grant Coalition
of South Africa is hosting the ELEVENTH BIEN CONGRESS. The Congress
forms part of the Conference that will take place on 2-4 November 2006 in
Cape Town, South Africa.
The fundamental justification for Basic Income
rests in its support for human dignity—it is a right that all societies must
respect. Nevertheless, many economists
and social policy analysts are researching the developmental impact of
universal income grants. In part,
researchers are responding to the spurious arguments of Basic Income’s
opponents, who hide behind the straw figures of dependency and
unsustainability. More importantly,
analysts are finding that universal income programmes effectively promote
people’s accumulation of human capital—health, education, skills,
nutrition. Basic Income strengthens
labour markets, providing a springboard to more sustaining livelihoods. Basic Income is developmental. The main theme of the 2006 Basic Income
Earth Network will explore how strengthening universalism in social protection
will foster a more developmental State, with greater economic freedom and
opportunity for all People.
Following the success of the 2004 Congress in
Barcelona and the transformation of the Basic Income European Network into the
Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN), BIEN and the Basic Income Grant Coalition
(BIG Coalition) of South Africa invite you to spend a few days on the tip of
Africa to participate in the first international “Earth” BIEN Congress.
We invite you to submit a proposal for your
presentation at the conference. Our theme for this Conference has a twin focus:
to strengthen demands for universal provision of social protection and to
illuminate the impact of universalism on social and economic development. We
invite proposals on all aspects of Basic Income and will endeavour to
accommodate as many of the proposals outside the main theme or sub-themes as
possible.
For this Conference we are adding another
dimension to the proceedings. While the main focus of the Conference will be on
the more academic and formal papers presented in plenary and panel discussion
sessions, we invite participants who wish to participate in a less formal
manner to put forward proposals for the workshops. These workshops will focus
on issues of mobilisation and implementation of Basic Income. The workshops
will be practical and some even hands-on. In this way we hope to embrace the
new challenges countries are experiencing in accepting and promoting the ideals
and ideas of Basic Income in the world.
Proposal Submission deadline: 15 March 2006
Please send proposals to: papersbig-biencongress@mail.ngo.za
Please forward questions to: infobig-biencongress@mail.ngo.za
Registration is R600 (€85, $100). The
registration form will be downloadable at
www.big.org.za from 1 February 2006
To submit a proposal, send the following
information for each presenter:
· Name
of Presenter · Mailing Address
·
Institutional affiliation · E-mail address
·
Position/Title · Phone number
· Title
of paper/presentation
· Identify
the Sub-theme your paper fits into (see below)
· Short
abstract (2-3 sentences for promotional material)
·
Identify your preferred format (formal presentation, workshop, poster session) ·*Formal Presentation only: 300 word
summary/abstract and full paper
·*Workshops
only: Presentation summary (500 –1000 words)
Sub-themes:
1.
Formal presentations:
Sub-theme:
1.1 Strengthening Universalism strengthens Development
Given the renewed interest internationally on
development and on the eradication of poverty as driven through the Millennium
Development Goals, it is vital that we use this impetus to begin to challenge
the ideological opposition to the universalisation of social benefits in the
context of a global economy. The tools
to support this challenge can be found in economics, development studies,
international solidarity movements and in international human rights
instruments.
Sub-theme:
1.2 Income Security and HIV/AIDS
The impact of HIV/AIDS extends well beyond the individual victim of the
disease. It disrupts families, households and communities, often leading to a
vicious cycle of economic decline and collapse. Medical solutions cannot work
alone. A number of countries, including South Africa, have introduced state
grants of some kind for those afflicted by the disease. Are they appropriate? Would a basic income be a feasible
or even necessary tool in making treatment policies more successful?
Sub-theme: 1.4 The Dynamics of Universal Basic Income
Poverty studies have increasingly moved away
from statistical snapshots of poverty indicators towards understanding the
dynamics of poverty, its causes, effects and the implications of these on the
development process. Such studies present useful starting points for policy
makers to support appropriate policies and interventions to enable people to
move out of poverty.
How do cash transfers impact on the lives of
the poor? How do they affect the ability of people living in poverty to meet
their immediate needs, their capacity to save or accumulate assets and their
ability to deal with risk? Is a
universal grant/transfer an improvement on a conditional cash transfer for poor
individuals, households and or communities?
Sub-theme:
1.5 The Labour Movement and Universal Social Protection
Over the last quarter of the 20th
century globalization, both in the North and South, in varying degrees workers
have endured labour-market deregulation, eroded social insurance, residualised
welfare and macro-economic structural adjustment programmes. As a consequence,
they continue to suffer from job-insecurity, social exclusion, chronic
unemployment and poverty in the 21st century. In the midst of the
“race to the bottom” to stem de-industrialization in the North and to attract
investments in the South, labour movements have become fragmented, defensive,
inward looking and narrowly focused on a living wage at the expense of the
social wage. Beyond work-place struggles, both at the local and international
level, how can the labour movement take a leading role in forging a powerful social
movement for universal social protection and an alternative development path? How
can social movements forge powerful solidarity networks in the struggle against
poverty, inequality and for the universal basic income rights of citizens?
Sub-theme:
1.6 Care Work and Basic Income
With the high cost of health –care and the
uncertainty of work more and more family members are providing care-work for
family members, children and sick individuals.
What role can basic income play in recognizing the value of care work to
our society?
Sub-theme: 1.7 Basic Income, Human Rights
and Justice for all
The right
to social security is recognized in international law. Social protection
policies are instruments to realizing human rights. Individual freedom cannot
exist without economic and physical security. What are the philosophical
underpinnings of such a debate? How are
these issues related or linked? How can social protection policies or
programmes support the realization of human rights and justice for the poorest
and most vulnerable?
Sub-theme: 1.8 Prospects and Challenges
faced by in-country programmes
Many
countries have various forms of conditional cash grants being implemented in
their countries. What are the
challenges these programmes face in your country and what can we learn from
them. What further steps are needed to move to a universal form of Basic
Income?
Sub-theme:
1.9 Issues in Financing and Implementation of Basic Income
Over the
years many ideas have been written about financing basic income. How can we
begin to classify these ideas and assess their implementation possibilities? What
are some of these alternative forms of financing a basic income? What
technological and administrative systems does a country need to have in place
to be able to finance or implement a basic income?
2. Workshops:
2.1
Sub-theme: Mobilising Support for Basic Income
How have
non-governmental, religious based and other organisations gone about mobilizing
support for basic income in your country?
What have been the successes and failures? What steps can new BI organisations follow in starting up and
mobilising support for Basic Income in their countries? How can we make Basic
Income a global issue?
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Names of BIG Coalition /BIEN Congress 2006
Working Committee
Organising Committee Chairs: Sibonile Khoza
(Chair of BIG) and Ingrid van Niekerk (BIEN)
Guy
Standing (BIEN)
Isobel
Frye (National Labour and Economic Development Institute - NALEDI)
Nceba
Mafongosi (Black Sash)
Pumi
Yeni (BIG organiser)
Sharon
Ekambaram (Chris Hani Institute)
Sidney
Kgara (Congress of South African Trade
Unions - COSATU)
Albert
Dlwengu (Council of Churches - SACC)
Annie
Leatt (Children’s Institute- CI)
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