It was not enough to fulfill the daily hours of work and spend so many more on transport, moving to it, almost half of the Brazilian population has to do a “beak” to meet their basic needs. What kind of society have we built that demands such sacrifice from a large part of the population?
A national survey of perceptions of inequality, launched last week by Instituto Cidades Sustentáveis, reveals that 45% of Brazilians needed to use an extra service to supplement their income in the last year. They clean, maintain, produce food. If they are in their thirties, after all they are Brazilians, they are no longer deluded by the promises of better lives trumpeted by politics and companies, and go for life.
The survey also shows that 7 out of 10 Brazilians perceive the increase in people in situations of hunger and poverty. Practically half of the interviewees know or have observed people with difficulty buying food. A third report an increase in the homeless population, and 3 in 10, an increase in beggars on the streets and traffic lights.
Meeting the first of the basic needs, food, is still a luxury in the country, which is the 12th largest economy in the world. It is shameful that one of the world’s biggest food producers cannot feed its own population. What economic policy is this that does not prioritize people?
The economic crisis, high inflation and the consequent loss of purchasing power are possible explanations for this situation. But it takes a lot of incompetence on the part of political leaders to allow us to get to that point.
Another dimension of the inequality surveyed was the difference in treatment between black and white people: 75% recognize that there is a difference in treatment and point to shopping malls, schools and the workplace as the main places of prejudice.
As for harassment, 47% of the women declared that they had already been through some type of situation, mainly on the street or in public transport. These themes give the measure of the challenge that we still face, in themes such as racism and machismo.
The data show our inability as a society to choose the fight against inequality as a national priority. Wow, because we elected politicians who have been aggravating this situation, as is the case of the current federal government, which naturalizes inequality among Brazilians.
Inequality is the result of policies that encourage it and, precisely because of this, it can also be solved by politics. It is the root of a series of problems in society, such as violence, infant mortality, poor health and education, teenage pregnancy, racism and machismo, among others. In addition, it is fully integrated with the climate issue, as climate challenges involve meeting the population’s basic needs and the consequent awareness of the issue.
One way will be to stimulate debate and critical thinking in society, allowing the identification of opportunists that increasingly aggravate the problem. The election is an excellent chance to identify the proposals that naturalize inequality and those that place it at the center of politics. Without reducing inequalities in Brazil, we will be betting on political and social instability and skating on the possibilities of improving society.
