In the cry of the excluded, we will bang empty pots.

Article written with

Hugo Fanton, coordinator of the Central of Popular Movements of the Capital of São Paulo

Just over a year after the coup orchestrated through collusion between business leaders, parliament, the media, and the judiciary that ousted President Dilma Rousseff and illegitimately installed Michel Temer as president, the Brazilian people have suffered many losses. The increase in poverty and unemployment is noticeable, as is the worsening of living conditions for the population in the areas of health, education, work, and housing.

According to the IBGE (Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics), unemployment has already reached 13,6% of the population, one of the highest rates, corresponding to approximately 14 million people. The situation is expected to worsen with the implementation of the so-called "labor reform," which removes rights and establishes absurd rules, such as: intermittent work schedules, allowing for discontinuous work for a few days or hours, with remuneration based on hours worked; restrictions on access to Labor Courts; permission for pregnant or breastfeeding women to work in unhealthy environments; and the hiring of workers as "self-employed," even if they work fixed hours.

The same consortium that orchestrated the coup also wants to change the pension system and eliminate retirement benefits. The minimum retirement age will be 65 for both men and women, with a minimum contribution period of 25 years. To receive the full benefit, workers will have to contribute for 49 years, meaning they would work their entire lives with a formal employment contract, without ever being unemployed. With these new rules, it will be impossible to achieve the full benefit, given the high rates of unemployment, informality, and job turnover in the labor market.

The regression also occurs with the loss of national sovereignty through the handover of energy production systems and the pre-salt oil reserves to multinational corporations, in addition to the privatization of highways, ports, airports, and even the Mint.

With Constitutional Amendment Proposal 95 (PEC 95) approved in 2016, Temer froze investments in health, education, and social assistance for the next 20 years. The impacts are already visible: stalled hospital and health center construction, worsening access for students to FIES (student loan program) and PROUNI (university scholarship program), and a decrease in the granting of benefits from the Bolsa Família program. As a result, this year approximately four million people will fall into poverty, bringing the total to 20 million, which corresponds to 9,8% of the population. Of these 20 million people, 8,5 million are in extreme poverty, surviving on R$ 140,00 per month.

In 2015 and 2016, in the affluent neighborhoods of large cities, people with full bellies banged pots and pans in protest against corruption, the economic crisis, and spending on social programs. Today, we, from the poor and peripheral neighborhoods, bang empty pots and pans. Under the Temer government, hunger has increased.

Exclusion is also increasing with the end of the "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" (My House, My Life) program. In 2017, to date, no funds have been allocated to popular movements for the construction of new homes. In the first income bracket (Band I), which benefits families with incomes up to R$1800,00, only 4,3 homes were contracted nationwide in the first half of this year. In addition to halting the construction of affordable housing, Temer increased the income threshold for access to the program to more than ten minimum wages, benefiting those who earn more.

In São Paulo, the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) governments of Alckmin and Doria represent, respectively, the state and municipal levels of the coup and the agenda of attacks on the people's rights, with the dismantling of public policies and daily attacks on the working class. These are governments that represent only the interests of the market, promoting speculation and the privatization of public services and assets.

Alckmin is handing over Sabesp (the state water and sewage company), gyms, forests, parks, and institutes to private groups, and is about to sell Cesp – the state's energy company – in a R$2 billion deal that is expected to worsen service quality, increase tariffs, and eliminate the social electricity tariff, all to guarantee greater profits for the company's new owners.

Mayor João Doria is also trying to sell São Paulo by privatizing parks, squares, markets, the single-fare public transport ticket, cultural spaces, sports facilities, leisure facilities, and, believe it or not, funeral services! In other words, under Doria's government, even the dead become commodities. The mayor also limited student free passes, penalizing thousands of young people, froze R$ 1,8 billion in health resources, closed SAMU (emergency medical service) bases and public pharmacies, announced plans to close 50 Basic Health Units, and distributed nearly expired medications throughout the network.

In addition to being authoritarian, anti-people, and elitist, Doria's government is a hygienist one, which persecutes, represses, and criminalizes street vendors, the homeless population, and those without shelter, with the clear objective of favoring real estate speculation.

In housing policy, the creation follows the playbook of its creator and Temer. To date, it has not presented any housing policy proposal aimed at the poorest. With the end of the Minha Casa Minha Vida program, the low-income population is left without alternative access to housing. Added to this is the increase in repossessions of properties and land that do not fulfill their social function, operations always carried out with extreme violence.

We are protesting against the attack on the Unified Social Assistance System (SUAS), with budget cuts and the closure of services such as Centers for Children and Adolescents, Family Social Assistance Services (SASF); and services for the fulfillment of Socio-Educational Measures (MSE), among others.

We are protesting against the closure of the secretariats for women's policies and racial equality, as this dismantles public services related to women, especially those experiencing violence.

We protested against the cuts to the "Leve Leite" (Milk) program, school supplies and transportation, and school meals, to the point where children were being marked and prevented from having seconds.

On the few days when he is not traveling abroad or around the country orchestrating his pre-candidacy for the presidency of the Republic, Mayor João Doria, when he is in São Paulo, dresses up in costumes and roams the streets staging pathetic scenes to pose for photos and television footage. On the one hand, he engages in the worst aspects of politics by attacking the rights of the people; on the other, he seeks to build the image of a "new" politician on social media and in the mainstream media, but in reality, he represents the old politics.

It is against all of this that we shout: São Paulo is not for sale. Enough of the setbacks in São Paulo and in the country.

One year after the coup, attacks on rights are combined with repression of social movements and the extermination of the poor, Black, and marginalized population. Indigenous peoples, landless workers, and youth from the outskirts of large cities are the main victims of police violence, which is only increasing.

That's precisely why we continue in the streets. The CMP calls upon popular movements, leaders, activists, and all those who fight for democracy, justice, and social rights to participate in the 23rd Cry of the Excluded, this September 7th. The Cry of the Excluded, like the struggle, is every day! For Rights and Democracy!