The ordinary general assembly of BIEN-CH took place:

It was followed in the afternoon with a presentation session and animation proposed by Generation-RBI, romand action group for the "Federal initiative for a basic income" and member of BIEN-CH. This includes the program of a competitive teams, with a set of questions and answers about the UBI and a workroom to create a range of beggars robots (which also eventually will be replaced one day by robots ...). Several other game ideas around the UBI are under study and each are invited to offer other ideas. :)

A Canadian buffet was served between two: sandwiches, delicious salads and other home made dishes, the whole accompanied with soft drinks, were shared on the terrasse

For our basic income friends, it was a great opportunity to meet. There were forty of us awaiting!

BIEN-CH GA agenda was: [+]

Green party (England) outlines plan for basic citizen’s income for all adults.

Natalie Bennett says payment to replace unemployment benefit would ensure no one lived in fear of losing their home.

The Green party would spend billions to give every adult – in and out of work – a citizen’s income The Green party would spend billions to give every adult – in and out of work – a citizen’s income worth more than £72.40 a week, the current value of the jobseeker’s allowance.

Natalie Bennett, the Green leader, said the policy would ensure no one lived in fear of losing their home or being unable to feed themselves. She said some of the cost would be recovered by the payment being withdrawn when an individual income reached a certain level. [+]

The groups in German Switzerland planning for the initiative’s voting campaign have organized a meeting in Zurich, and are cordially inviting everyone already involved (or who would like to get involved) in the voting campaign, to attend. The meeting will be an opportunity to exchange ideas, plans and our enthusiasm for convincing the population to say “Yes” to the coming popular vote on the initiative.

Meeting open to all!

Information : Unconditional Basic Income coordination meeting

Invitation: [+]

At the end of last year we sent the members of the Committees for Social Security and Health of National Concil* (CSSH-N) our detailed dossier on the Unconditional Basic Income initiative. This Commission will be continuing to consider the initiative at its next meeting, scheduled for 19-20 February 2015.

With the dossier we enclosed a cover-note, reproduced below, suggesting that the deputies commission a thorough study examining the possible effects of the introduction of a basic income. Such a study should in principle have been carried out by the Government before sending the initiative on to the Parliament, but it still has not been done, even though it is essential for the Parliament and later on the voters to have a satisfactory basis for their decision.

* National Concil is the lower house of parliament

Text of our message to Members of Parliament: [+]

To start well the new year, read and share to your friends the very first newspaper on basic income

Among the many happenings around UBI, December was notable for an event which is historic for the world movement behind this idea: the launch of L’Inconditionnel, a French-language newspaper dedicated to the concept of UBI, produced in partnership by the networks in Switzerland, France and Belgium and financed by more than 200 people.

This first number, free of charge, introduces the ideas behind the basic income in various ways. Its print run was 60,000 copies, so it is perfect for spreading the proposal widely. On www.linconditionnel.info you will find a downloadable version in PDF; even better, on the same site you can identify the physical distribution point nearest you, where you can obtain one or more copies to give to your friends: [+]