BIEN
BIEN entered its fourth decade with a closed bank account. It leaves it with a global definition, a generation of experiments, and a sovereign state paying a recurring income. The distance between those moments explains what the network became.
In 2016, the idea of basic income looked healthier than the institution carrying its global name.
That June, Switzerland held the world’s first national referendum on an unconditional basic income. The proposal lost by a wide margin, with 23.1 percent voting yes, but more than half a million people had backed an idea that had spent decades outside ordinary politics. A movement that once struggled to find a meeting room could now point to a national ballot.
Inside the Basic Income Earth Network, Malcolm Torry found a less celebratory story. BIEN had invited him to join its Executive Committee. He studied the organization before answering and initially refused.
To read more, go here.