by Frei Betto
São Paulo - The greatest merit of Lula's government is having effectively contributed to reducing social inequality in Brazil. In 2002 our country occupied a shameful 3rd place in social inequality in the world; today we are 10th, which is no reason to be proud, but it is an improvement in this populated country.
Inequality reached its highest point in the mid 80s, as the effect of the concentration of wealth implemented by the military dictatorship - the heretic “Brazilian miracle” that made Medici admit: “the economy is doing fine, but the people are not.”
Ever since 2001 there has been a progressive reduction in the pit of inequality. The income of the poorest has increased almost 4,5% per year. During Lula's government this has been enhanced due to social policies, especially the Family Basket, that today distributes benefits to over 30 million poor people and according to Ipea, there are a larger number of families in the labour market. An Ipea investigation revealed that in 2001, a family of four had an average monthly income (in money of today) of US$ 96, while in 2004, it rose to US$ 110, which means a 14% increase.
As indirect factors of this environment of social improvement we have: the 1988 Constitution that improved the rights of the workers; the improvement of our democracy, that made possible a wider control of the institutions and specially the control of public power (although this is still far from being reasonable); and the higher professional qualification of government officers. One of the challenges of the political reform that the nation desires so deeply, is the drastic reduction in positions of trust so that these nominations cannot be used as payment for political favours and compensation to political party alliances.
The social issue, which had been so precarious in the governments prior to Lula and almost always restricted to the dedication of the president's wife, became a central issue from 2003. Added to the expansion of the fundamental education started by Cardoso's government, it has influenced the change of profile of the inequality of the country.
If Lula's government has a second term, as I hope it does, its challenges in order to improve this profile will be: the reform of the policy of interests, that is suffocating public expenses and hinders sustainable development; massify good education (the approval of Fundeb is an important step in this direction); and include progressive tax paying in the tax reform, so that the richer pay more.
The tax burden today is regressive. Someone who earns two minimum wages per month keeps 48,85% of the total, while the luckier ones who earn over thirty minimum wages pay only 26.3%. This is one of the main causes of urban violence. It isnŐt poverty that causes violence, it is inequality, the hateful coexistence of misery and ostentation, strengthened by a culture of consumerism. One clear example is that 70% of the resources oriented to diminish the public debt (the famous primary surplus) is saved by only 20 thousand families; in other words, the Bolsa Marajás collects three times more resources than the Family Basket. While Health has an annual budget of US% 16,560 million and Education US% 7,360 million, the creditors of the public debt collect approximately US% 69,000 million per year.
There still are no reasons to celebrate. There are few Brazilians who are really free, that is, those who are in condition to foresee alternatives for their life project, chose between one of them and carry it our, even modify it partially or completely. The majority is deprived of the right to a vocation and is submitted to the job opportunity, condemned to a job that very rarely means subjective, spiritual satisfaction.
One of the effects of social inequality is despise for ethical values. In their anxiety to get rid of poverty and enter the world of sophisticated consumption (that television commercials announce as the only path to dignity and happiness), tax evasion, corruption, nepotism and corporativism grow.
Political and tax reform are essential to reduce social inequality even further, but it is not enough. The essential step will be taken the day that Brazil celebrates its successful agrarian reform, because only agriculture is capable of absorbing labour that is now condemned to unemployment, and stop the rural exodus that causes the massification of our cities, visibly marked by subemployment and growing ‘favelization’.