14th Annual Congress, February 26-May 1, 2015
14th Congress
The Fourteenth Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee Congress
Was videotaped: sessions can be viewed here
New York, NY Thursday, February 26 – Sunday March 1, 2015
Most Events at the Sheraton New York Hotel and Towers
Full schedule here
The Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) is suddenly a major topic of conversation in America and around the world. Activist movements have sprung up to push for it. Recent articles in the popular press have discussed it as a part of strategies to address recession, poverty, inequality, carbon pollution, and technological unemployment. In an economy forcing increasing numbers of people into precarious employment situations, is BIG a necessary and achievable part of efforts to retrieve democratic social stability? Can we afford it? How will it affect the economy? Will the new activist movements for BIG take off?
More than forty scholars and activists will address these and other questions at the Fourteenth Annual North American Basic Income Guarantee (NABIG) Congress, which will take place in New York City starting Thursday, February 26 – Sunday March 1, 2015. The congress is organized by the U.S. Basic Income Guarantee Network (USBIG) in cooperation with the Basic Income Canada Network (BICN/RCRG). Most events will be held in conjunction with the Annual Meeting of the Eastern Economic Association (EEA) at the New York Sheraton Hotel and Towers, 811 7th Avenue, New York, NY. It will also include free events including a public discussion at the Hunter School of Social Work on Thursday, February 26 and an activists meeting at the Brooklyn Commons on Sunday March 1.
Conference participants include:
- Alanna Hartzok, the Earth Rights institute, 2014 Democratic Nominee for Congress
- Ann Withorn, Professor Emeritus, University of Massachusetts Boston, author of Serving the People: Social Services and Social Change
- Ashley Engel, University College Dublin
- Bill DiFazio, St. John’s University
- Brigid Reynolds, Social Justice Ireland
- Diane Dujon, University of Massachusetts Boston
- Diane Pagen, Rutgers University School of Social Work
- Eduardo Suplicy, former member of the Brazilian Federal Senate
- Eri Noguchi, the Association to Benefit Children
- Felix Coeln, the German Pirate Party
- Frances Fox Piven, the City University of New York
- Frederick H. (Harry) Pitts, University of Bath
- Ian Shlakman, 2014 Green Party Nominee for Congress
- James Green-Armytage, Bard College
- James Jennings, Tufts University
- Jim Bryan, Ryan/Bacardi Professor of Economics, Manhattanville College
- Jim Mulvale, Dean of the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Manitoba
- Jonathan Brun, Basic Income Canada Network
- Jude Thomas, Freelance writer
- Jurgen De Wispelaere, McGill University
- Karl Widerquist, SFS-Qatar, Georgetown University
- Marshall Brain, author of How Stuff Works and Manna
- Mary Bricker Jenkins, Professor of Social Work, Temple University, and US Welfare Rights Union leader
- Michael Lewis, Hunter School of Social Work
- Michael Howard, University of Maine
- Michaelann Berwitz, activist
- Mimi Abramovitz, Hunter College
- Oliver Heydorn, The Clifford Hugh Douglas Institute for the Study and Promotion of Social Credit
- Paul B. Siegel, the World Bank
- Peter Barnes, author of Who Owns the Sky?, With Liberty and Dividends For All, and Capitalism 3.0
- Preston Smith, activist
- Roy Morrison, Greater Boston Capital Partners
- Seán Healy, Social Justice Ireland
- Sid Frankel, University of Manitoba
- Stanley Aranowitz, the City University of New York
- Steven Pressman, Monmouth College
- Steven Shafarman, author, activist
- Suezanne Bruce, activist
- Valerie J. Carter, University of Maine
- Willie Baptist, the Poverty Initiative
Calendar:
Thursday, February 26, 2015
6:30 pm to 9pm: Public Discussion: “New Possibilities for the Basic Income Movement”
LIC Art Center / LIC Academy of Music 44-02 23rd St., Studio 204 (second floor), Long Island City, NY 11101
Friday, February 27, 2015
8am to 7pm: Sessions at the Sheraton Hotel
Evening: social event to be announced
Saturday, February 28, 2015
8am to 6:30pm: Sessions
Evening: social event to be announced
Sunday, March 1, 2015
8am to 12:30pm: Sessions at the Sheraton Hotel
12:45-m-2:15: Lunch meeting: organizational meeting of the USBIG Network
6:30pm: Activists Meeting: “Are we ready to start an activists movement for BIG in the United States?” We’ll chip in for pizza and drinks, but we’ll share the food and drink unconditionally with everyone who comes—without means test or any requirement to make a reciprocal contribution. We will discuss this question without any more specific agenda. Karl Widerquist will moderate the discussion, but will not lead the discussion or any effort that might come out of it.
at the Commons Brooklyn, near the Hoyt-Shermerhorn subway stop in downtown Brooklyn.
REGISTRATION:
Everyone attending the events at the Sheraton must register with the EEA and pay their registration fee (all events outside the Sheraton are free and open to everyone). If you register as a USBIG participant, you can register for the EEA members’ price of $110 without paying the EEA’s membership fee—saving $65. All registered attendees of the NABIG Congress are welcome to attend any of the EEA’s events.
Register for the NABIG reduced fee by going to this website: http://eeaorg.myshopify.com/products/usbig-registration-non-academic
Reduced price admission for low-income people and students is available (contact the organizers). Reporters with press passes reporting on the conference can bypass registration.
Economists must pay the full registration fee of $175, which includes membership in the EEA. Economists can register at the main website: http://eeaorg.myshopify.com/collections/conference-registration-and-event-tickets
The onsite registration fee will be $185.
For more information about the Eastern Economics Association Annual Meeting, visit the EEA website:http://www.quinnipiac.edu/eea/41st-annual-conference/.
Essential information:
Conference dates: Thursday, February 26 – Sunday, March 1, 2015 Locations: New York, Queens, and Brooklyn, NY: The Sheraton Hotel and Towers, LIC Art Center, and the Brooklyn Commons
Organizing committee: Karl Widerquist <Karl@Widerquist.com> (organizer), Ann Withorn <withorn.ann@gmail.com>, Shawn Cassiman <scassiman1@udayton.edu>, and Jurgen De Wispelaere <jurgen.dewispelaere@gmail.com>
Website: USBIG.net.
