Letters from LIFE
2nd letter emailed to Guy Standing June 10, 2007
from C.A. L'Hirondelle
Dear Mr. Standing,
I listened to your speech on the internet that you gave at the "Jobs & Justice" conference in Vancouver BC, Canada on March 29, 2007.
http://www.workingtv.com/jobs&justice.html
Basic income guarantee was only barely hinted at. In fact I don't think those two words were even stated. (I listened to all 3 segments of your talk, but perhaps there was more that did not get recorded?)
However, if you did not mention Basic Income, I am mystified as to why you would come to Canada and then not mention Basic Income Guarantee in your speech? The organizers also did not introduce or promote you as being a founder and co-chair of the Basic Income Earth Network.
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/jobsconference/
I am hoping you can please shed some light on this. It is very difficult to gain momentum on guaranteed/basic income in Canada and it would have been of great benefit to have this be the focus, or at least part of your focus, or perhaps just mentioned a few times at the beginning in your speech.
Sincerely,
Cindy L'Hirondelle
co-founder Livable Income For Everyone (LIFE)
Victoria BC, Canada
**********************************************************
Update June 2007:
Guy Standing did write back in June 07 with a short letter, stating that he did speak directly to questions about basic income guarantee during the question session (however the question session is not on workingtv) and to say:
"The whole thrust of my presentation was to give a justification for
universal income security."
It is very perplexing that this idea was in the keynote address, but specific mention of "basic income" was not. Nor were the words "basic income" in the biographical information about Guy Standing for the Jobs and Justice conference. The mystery remains unsolved.
**********************************************************
Because the CCPA Jobs and Justice conference biographical write-up on Guy Standing did not mention his background in regards to basic income, LIFE sent out this email before the event:
LIFE's outreach email sent March 22, 2007
Thursday March 29th, 7:00 pm Vancouver - International Basic Income speaker at the CCPA's Jobs & Justice Conference
Thursday, March 29th, 2007, 7:00 PM
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street*, Vancouver, FREE
CCPA's & SFU's Jobs and Justice Conference website:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/jobsconference/
ABOUT SPEAKER GUY STANDING: current co-chair of the Basic Income Earth Network (BIEN)
http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/bien/BIEN/EC_temp.htm
and former Director of Socio-Economic Security, International Labour Organization
Author of: "Why unions should campaign for a basic income":
"Trade unionists, as well as all those who count themselves as egalitarians and advocates of social solidarity, should support a basic income as a right of a good society in which dignified work could flourish... A basic income would also enhance real freedom.... It would encourage people to gain greater personal control over how they use their time. Anybody who counts himself or herself as on 'the left' should be keen for the poor and the vulnerable gaining more control over the key assets of society and time is one of them. By the same token, granting a basic income would help to legitimize forms of work other than labour, such as care work and community work... There is a huge opportunity to develop a new progressive vision, if we have the courage to take it and have open minds... A basic income should be part of that." Guy Standing, European Trade Union Institute (TRANSFER), Review 04/2004. Go to this web page with link to download the full article.
http://www-ilo-mirror.cornell.edu/public/english/protection/ses/frame.htm
See also the Basic Income Earth Network 2004 Congress documents
for his paper "Why the Right to Work Requires a Basic Income"
http://www.etes.ucl.ac.be/bien/Resources/Congress2004.htm
Guy Standing is also author of the 2002 book: "Beyond The New Paternalism" where he "argues for a complex egalitarianism, in which basic income security is recognized as a right for all. Work (including voluntary, community and care work), and not labor, must be the basis of a 'good society,' and policies must be judged by their capacity to promote occupational security."
He is also co-editor of "A BASIC INCOME GRANT FOR SOUTH AFRICA"
Standing, Guy & Samson, Michael. (Juta Academic Publishers), 2003, 152p.
"Edited by Guy Standing (ILO and co-chairman of BIEN) and Michael Samson (Director of Research for Cape Town's Economic Policy Research Institute), this is the most comprehensive book so far on the basic income proposal for South Africa, with contributions by both proponents and critics.
SOURCE: http://www.widerquist.com/usbig/25JAN-FEB2004.htm
And the editor of the 2005 book: "Promoting Income Security as a Right: Europe and North America, ( London: Anthem Press, paperback, 601pp.)
He is also Professor of Economic Security, University of Bath, and Professor of Labour
Economics, Monash University and is one of the leading speakers on Basic Income in the world.
*******************************
BACKGROUND LINKS TO THE TOPIC OF GUARANTEED LIVABLE/BASIC INCOME
Historical overview New Zealand website for Universal Income Trust
http://www.geocities.com/caeruit/background.htm
See also the links page of Livable Income For Everyone (LIFE) http://www.livableincome.org/
For an examination of the concepts of productive work and women's unpaid work and the poverty that results and the solution of a guaranteed livable income from grassroots womens perspectives: http://pacificcoast.net/~swag/WEJreport.htm
*************************************************************
DETAILS OF THURSDAY'S EVENT from the CCPA website:
THURSDAY, MARCH 29, 2007, 7:00 - 9:00 PM
KEYNOTE SPEECH: An International Agenda for Vulnerable Workers' Rights
Chair: Marjorie Griffin Cohen (Political Science, Simon Fraser University)
Opening performance by: Rika & Jon Bartlett
Jim Sinclair, BC Federation of Labour - BC Context
Guy Standing, former Director of Socio-Economic Security, International Labour Organization
Maritime Labour Centre, 1880 Triumph Street
FREE (evening event only; registration required for attending the full conference from Mar. 30 - 31)
Guy Standing, former Director of the Socio-Economic Security Program with the International Labour Organization, is one of the world's foremost analytical and creative thinkers on labour issues. He has written extensively on flexible work in the global economy, the feminization of employment and on how to enhance the economic security of casual and precarious workers. Many governments and international organizations have made use of Standing's knowledge and experience with global labour trends in the development of national social and economic policies. Jim Sinclair is President of BC Federation of Labour.
CCPA's Jobs and Justice Conference:
http://www.policyalternatives.ca/jobsconference/
**********************************************************
