PT: The moment calls for defending the lives, jobs, and income of the people.

247 - The Workers' Party, in a statement released this Sunday (29), states that "it is not the time to calculate how much it costs to save Brazil and its people from the most serious health crisis in the modern world. It is not the time to persist in proven mistakes such as the weakening reforms of the state and predatory privatizations". 

Read the full note: 

  Brazil is feeling the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic under a government utterly incapable of protecting the population's health and preparing the country for the extremely harsh consequences of the health crisis on the economy, employment, income, and supply. It is a government that exacerbates the crisis instead of confronting it, disorganizes instead of leading, and condemns to death those it should protect.

     In the true war to save human lives that is mobilizing the world at this moment, we are losing precious time because of a president who refuses to see reality. Worse still: Jair Bolsonaro is betting on the worsening of the crisis to engage in political disputes, confront adversaries, and deepen his authoritarian project, at the cost of the health and lives of millions.

     Worldwide, the crisis has called into question the neoliberal dogmas of downsizing the state and fiscal austerity, as even those who benefit from these policies have been forced to back down from their explicit defense of neoliberalism. Vulnerable to the pandemic, they have had to admit that only the state can mobilize resources to reduce contagion, help the sick, and guarantee the survival of the population and the foundations of the economy.

     In Brazil, the situation is even more serious because the economy was already ailing before the arrival of the virus. Our people were already suffering from unemployment, falling income and wages, informality, and cuts to public policies. And also because a large part of the population lives in precarious sanitation and housing conditions, in favelas and peripheries, with a growing segment being pushed to live on the streets.

    Even more so than other countries, Brazil must invest all the resources necessary to:

a) Strengthen the SUS (Brazilian Public Health System) to guarantee the control of contagion, the care of the population, and the safety of health professionals; b) Pay people to stay home, guaranteeing the income of the poorest and informal workers for as long as necessary; c) Guarantee the maintenance of jobs throughout the crisis, paying part of the salaries in companies in difficulty; d) Guarantee the survival of companies, with the postponement of taxes and the injection of emergency financing, especially for micro and small businesses, all conditioned on the maintenance of jobs; e) Guarantee that a part of the population continues working safely to maintain supplies; f) Mobilize and organize the conversion of activities in the industry and service sector to the needs of the health emergency.

   The PT, together with the opposition parties (PSB, PDT, PSOL, PCdoB and Rede), has been presenting bills to Congress that address these immediate needs, especially those establishing a quarantine allowance of one minimum wage per family, to cover more than 100 million people, and measures to guarantee employment, salary payments and the survival of companies affected by the crisis.

   The bill approved by the Chamber of Deputies on Thursday night, which establishes a basic income of up to R$ 1.200 for vulnerable families, therefore constitutes the first victory of the Brazilian people over Bolsonaro in this crisis. Even reduced by the fiscalist vision of Paulo Guedes' team and his allies, the measure will help millions of families survive during the period of necessary isolation and reduced activity.

   We will continue fighting for the expansion of this measure and for the approval of the entire emergency agenda, which includes the immediate repeal of Constitutional Amendment 95, which has already stolen more than 22 billion reais from the SUS (Brazilian Public Health System) in the last three years alone and embodies the unhealthy fiscalism that no longer has a place in any country in the world. 

    Now is not the time to calculate how much it costs to save Brazil and its people from the most serious health crisis in the modern world. Now is not the time to persist in proven mistakes such as reforms that weaken the state and predatory privatizations. 

     It's time to act. We must guarantee all the necessary resources for the SUS (Brazilian Public Health System), including the contracting of hospital beds, ICUs, equipment, healthcare professionals, test kits, and medications—everything needed to protect the health of the population and confront the pandemic.

     It's time to guarantee income for vulnerable families, informal workers, and the homeless population. 

     It's time to guarantee jobs and the survival of businesses, especially small and medium-sized enterprises, with resources to pay salaries and provide emergency financing.

     The bill will have to be collected from the wealthiest segment of this country, which has the most indecent concentration of wealth in the world. It will have to be paid through a fair and equitable tax reform that makes the rich pay taxes on their fortunes and on the profits and dividends of their companies. 

    To confront the health emergency and its effects on the economy and the lives of the population, the PT (Workers' Party) will strengthen its coordination with partner parties in the opposition and seek dialogue with all parties committed to democracy, in order to build a broad range of action and response to the health, economic, and political crisis. 

We must build solutions to the crisis through dialogue with state governors, the country's democratic forces, labor unions, social movements, political fronts, churches, and civil society organizations such as the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB), the Brazilian Press Association (ABI), and the National Conference of Brazilian Bishops (CNBB), among others. 

     The Workers' Party (PT) calls upon its regional and municipal leadership, sectoral groups, grassroots organizations, and all its members to engage in solidarity actions for vulnerable populations and healthcare professionals throughout the country.

    The Brazilian people must resist with all their might the cruelty of the government, which prioritizes the rich, the market, and the bankers, and resist the senselessness of Jair Bolsonaro, who only thinks about his own power. 

     The Workers' Party (PT) addresses every Brazilian man and woman with a spirit of unity and solidarity. To save lives and ensure human dignity in our country, we must walk together in confronting the Jair Bolsonaro government.

    PT National Executive Committee

    BRASILIA, March 29, 2020