Polish Views on Unconditional Basic Income (Webinar)

About the Event:

After earlier webinars introducing the general concept of UBI, the European UBI, and the achievements of the GEF in promoting this debate, we discussed UBI pilots in Europe and elsewhere.

This time, in partnership with the Polish Basic Income Network, we will present UBI and similar concepts that are discussed in Poland and the prospects for implementing them in the country.

Context:

The Green European Foundation has been working and researching the topic of UBI for a few years as part of a transnational project involving many countries. This year, the project is entitled “CHANGE OF MINDSET. Civil society dialogue around UBI, social justice and climate impact”. The Polish Green Foundation “Strefa Zieleni” joined the project, recognising that it was time to start a public debate on this in Poland as well – not only on UBI itself but as part of a broader conversation: what social security system is best adapted to the needs and expectations of Polish society in times of great instability and turmoil?

On May 26^th, the webinar “With UBI we would be less afraid of coronavirus” opened a series of four online meetings on this topic, organised by GEF with the support of Strefa Zieleni. Participants of the first webinar chose the topics of subsequent meetings, the third of which is an overview of the Polish perspectives on UBI and prospects for implementation.

Speakers:

• Dr hab. Ryszard Szarfenberg – Political scientist, professor at the Faculty of Political Science and International Studies at the University of Warsaw. Leader of the Polish Basic Income Network and active populariser of the concept of Unconditional Basic Income in Poland.
• Dr Jacek Warda – Political scientist, an expert in public management in local governments and author of the first Polish scientific article on the UBI: “Potential consequences of the implementation of a negative tax for the state’s social system” (2008). Member of the Polish Basic Income Network.
• Dr Maciej Szlinder – doctor of humanities in the field of philosophy, sociologist, economist. Member of the Polish Basic Income Network, Basic Income Earth Network, Red Renta Básica. Author of the book “Unconditional basic income. A revolutionary reform of the society of the 21st century” (PWN, 2018).

Moderation and comments by Ewa Sufin-Jacquemart and Wojciech Kłosowski.

We regret that the guest speakers of this particular webinar are all men, as unfortunately, the Polish Basic Income Network is an entirely male initiative. GEF and Strefa Zieleni are committed to hosting diverse and balanced events and have ensured that the next webinar in this series will be dominated by excellent female speakers.

Programme:

The webinar will start at 18:00 CEST with a short video produced by the UBI transnational project partners.

Practicalities:

This webinar will take place in Polish for a Polish audience. It is open to anyone, but please register using this link: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_ecc1VTOBS0WdsayiiuGCag

We will use the Zoom video conferencing platform. It is recommended to join the webinar via a PC. You do not need to install additional software. However, for the best user experience and full participation features, we recommend installing the Zoom Desktop App, which is free.