{"id":3737,"date":"2020-06-04T17:50:49","date_gmt":"2020-06-04T20:50:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/redecomua.org.br\/?p=3737"},"modified":"2023-08-12T15:46:04","modified_gmt":"2023-08-12T18:46:04","slug":"acao-da-sociedade-civil-e-aprendizados-com-a-covid-19","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/acao-da-sociedade-civil-e-aprendizados-com-a-covid-19\/","title":{"rendered":"Civil society action and lessons learned from Covid-19"},"content":{"rendered":"

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and the installation of quarantine in the country's main cities quickly presented a new reality for millions of Brazilians. Social isolation is the main measure to minimize the effects of COVID-19 and reduce the virus's spread curve. However, this measure has side effects, such as a decrease in economic activities, an increase in unemployment and the risk of a global recession. Brazil is not alone in this dilemma. The world finds itself facing an unprecedented crisis, with the task of saving lives and reinventing the future.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we focus on the impacts of COVID-19 in Rio, Brazil's second largest metropolis, we identify two main dimensions. Firstly, the crisis makes even more visible the enormous inequality that marks the urban space of Rio de Janeiro, fractured into neighborhoods that have all the infrastructure and well-being available to their citizens, while favelas and poor outskirts experience a lack of water and of basic sanitation, with precarious homes, without ventilation and many people living in small spaces. The second dimension of the crisis is the huge population of informal workers who lost their income stream during the quarantine and will be left in a condition of food insecurity, in addition to those who were already unemployed or in a vulnerable situation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Given this scenario, Casa Fluminense has been working on two fronts, one for information and the other for mobilization. In the first, it started the series of COVID-19 Inequality Infographics, seeking to disseminate data and information that deepen the discussion about the impact of the coronavirus on the outskirts of the metropolis of Rio. In the second, it has been following local organizations and collectives, especially in the West Zone, Baixada Fluminense and S\u00e3o Gon\u00e7alo, which are working to (i) raise awareness among the population about the importance of social isolation; (ii) organize solidarity networks; and (iii) demand action from public authorities to combat COVID-19. One of these initiatives generated the articulation #CoronaNaBaixada<\/a> and the publication of a public letter.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still on the mobilization front, Casa Fluminense joined the Rio Contra Corona initiative, led by the Ekloos Institute, Phi Institute, the Social Security Bank and the Uni\u00e3o Rio movement, with the aim of reducing the impacts of lack of income through the distribution of basic food baskets and hygiene kits for families in situations of social and economic vulnerability. In just a few weeks, the Rio Contra Corona initiative mobilized 48 organizations operating in 134 communities, distributing more than 300 tons of food in a large solidarity network. Casa Fluminense will join this initiative in two ways: (i) donating resources to \u201cRio Contra a Corona\u201d and connecting financiers interested in supporting actions to combat COVID-19; and (ii) suggesting organizations in Baixada and the West Zone that can receive donations, but are not connected to the solidarity networks that have been established to date. Casa Fluminense's decision to join the \u201cRio Contra o Corona\u201d initiative is due to the fact that it knows the organizations responsible and understands that this is a time to avoid overlapping initiatives, joining forces in the defense of those who need it most.<\/span><\/p>\n

And what will the future be like?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There are many doubts and uncertainties about what life will be like after the pandemic, in Brazil and its cities. Nobody has the answers. The interesting point is that several online discussion spaces have been opened with the intention of drafting a new tomorrow. From here I can understand three facts with some clarity.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first is the importance of the Unified Health System (SUS) and Science and Technology. In recent years, a discourse has grown in Brazil about the inefficiency of the public sector and the need to reduce the role of the State. However, in times of crisis, it is the State that has the responsibility and the capacity to provide answers for the population as a whole, not the market. The SUS has the principle of universality, offering free care for everyone, in which municipalities, states and the Union have different and complementary responsibilities to guarantee the system functioning with quality. Financing, management and coordination are essential for this mechanism to work well. With the Spending Ceiling PEC, approved by the Michel Temer government in 2017, the country froze investments in health for the next 20 years. Today, with the state of Public Calamity decreed by the National Congress \u2014 due to the COVID-19 pandemic \u2014 investments in health will return. But will the government freeze health resources again at the end of the crisis? Or are we going to take advantage of the crisis to improve the SUS with more resources and better efficiency?<\/span><\/p>\n

The second is the relevant role of Brazilian civil society in facing the crisis. Numerous initiatives led by NGOs, community organizations, philanthropic institutions, middle class sectors, companies and other agents have emerged with the aim of minimizing the impacts of the crisis, especially with actions to distribute basic food baskets for those who have lost income and hygiene kits for reduce contamination. It is necessary to highlight that the solidarity network that was established in Rio de Janeiro to combat COVID-19 was only possible due to the work of hundreds of community organizations, collectives, NGOs and social leaders who know the reality of neighborhoods and favelas, articulate actions to solve local problems and demand public policies for water supply, basic sanitation, health, education, culture and others from the government. However, despite their evident importance for community life, these organizations have many difficulties in maintaining the operation and sustainability of their activities. Therefore, supporting and strengthening the work of community organizations in Rio de Janeiro is a fundamental task, during and after the crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

The third point is the completely irresponsible role of President Jair Bolsonaro in the face of the crisis. The president denies the seriousness of a pandemic that has already killed tens of thousands of people around the world in just a few months. He goes against the grain of the World Health Organization (WHO), the Ministry of Health, scientists and several leaders around the world, saying that the population should not engage in social isolation as a way to contain the spread of the virus. Instead of coordinating a national action together with governors, mayors and the national congress, he chose to fight with everyone and increase institutional tension. It's clear that everyone is worried about the economy and jobs, but we need to face one problem at a time and the priority right now is people's health and lives. In parallel, it is necessary to build economic measures to resume employment and generate income. But all of this requires the capacity for dialogue and political coordination, something that Bolsonaro doesn't have and doesn't want to have. He is not a leader to unite the country. It's exactly the opposite, he wants to fight all the time. This isn't news to many people, but it's only now sinking in for some conservative liberals.<\/span><\/p>\n

Article by Henrique Silveira, executive coordinator of Casa Fluminense.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic and the installation of quarantine in the country's main cities quickly presented a new reality for millions of Brazilians. Social isolation is the main measure to minimize the effects of COVID-19 and reduce the virus's spread curve. However, this measure has side effects, such as a decrease in economic activities, an increase in unemployment and the risk of a global recession. Brazil is not alone in this dilemma. The world finds itself facing an unprecedented crisis, with the task of saving lives and reinventing the future.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5161,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45,22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-covid19","category-casa-fluminense"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-wyy8bhlsif5v8gukfr0yhxue.studio.tikovolpe.com.br\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}