Opinion – Rodrigo Zeidan: There is no civilization without open markets

Crab omelet in Bangkok, cotton scarf in Siam Reap, fridge magnets in New York, fried squid in Shanghai or books in Rome, you can find a lot in street vendors that are on many corners of the main cities of the world.

You can’t imagine Seoul or Buenos Aires without the presence of street vendors, legalized or not. In Singapore, high street shopping is a tourist attraction.

Unfortunately, in Brazilian elitist mythology, street vendors are associated with crimes, receiving stolen goods and illegally occupying public space. But not quite.

There is no civilization without open markets. The word camelô comes from the Arabic term khamlat, which refers to rustic fabrics sold at fairs. The term was transported to France, where it became the verb cameloter, which represents the sale of things of little value, until it arrived here, with a closed nasal sound in the “o” and all.

The existence of street vendors fulfills important functions within modern cities, whether rich or poor. Want to come and try your luck in the big city? Are you a refugee or an immigrant who will take a while to learn the language of the country? Lost your job and need to survive? Can you produce something on a small scale and cannot open a store? You don’t have a high level of formal education, but do you know the basics of commerce? Not even in the richest countries the social safety net can cater for everyone.

Informal commerce does not generate crime or cause disorder. Informality is a consequence of the stage of economic and social development of a country and does not cause deep social problems.

Informality is not a problem in itself, nor does it leave Brazil behind. It is the result of bad laws, economic crises, poor quality education, expensive rents and many other factors.

As a country gets richer, the dynamics of informal commerce changes: cities that get richer manage to organize public spaces, other work opportunities make street commerce less advantageous, and it becomes difficult to sell products that are not legalized.

It is not to romanticize or demonize those who work informally. There are very interesting works on the subject, such as the book by Brazilian researcher Rosana Pinheiro-Machado on production and circulation of goods in the China-Paraguay-Brazil circuit. The reality is that most people who sell things on the street are honest people, trying to survive in expensive and violent cities, and adapting as they can. Just see the explosion of mask options during the pandemic.

Thinking that street vendors steal the market from traditional stores is not understanding how markets work and the relationships between public authorities, private entities and the lack of opportunities for millions of Brazilians.

Receiving stolen goods is a crime and should be investigated by the police. But what do you do in some cities, where the “rapa” goes around collecting everything? It is violence in one of the most unequal countries in the world. Is it not to leave a complete mess? Of course, but without destroying the few options a Brazilian has to survive, without depending on anyone.

In more than one Christmas of economic crisis, with Guedes’ stagflation in full swing, if you can, be sure to buy something at a street vendor’s stall. After all, not everyone is guaranteed thirteenth. Who knows one day?