By Álvaro Orus and Mayte Quintanilla.

One of the greatest achievements – compared to previous editions – of the 17th Basic Income Earth Network world congress that took place in Lisbon has been the way that basic income has been brought to the political stage. Sara Bizarro, one of the congress organisers, tells us about it in this interview.

The BIEN congress between the 25th and 27th of September, 2017, served to bring together politicians, researchers, activists and individuals who have set in motion pilot-projects or who are implementing basic income schemes. To bring all these actors together has allowed for new projects to emerge and for coordination on a worldwide scale to improve, according to Bizarro. The proof of this is that the Congress’s first session was held in the Portuguese parliament.