By Arturo Jornet, Young Greens of Spain.
It has become almost daily mantra when we turn on the TV, tune the radio, surf the internet, or just walk down the street to listen to someone talk about any caring action in which they participate. It seems that caring actions are in fashion … donate food, raise funds for social purposes and «help the needy» are some of the causes most claimed by our society. But, is this situation really sustainable? I do not mean with it, of course, that we should not be charitable, but I question the management is being done from our governments so that such actions are seen as one more everyday task of our citizens.
While recent Unicef reports confirm that Spain is the third country in the EU and the OECD, behind Greece and Lithuania, with the highest rate of child poverty, we have our public representatives apologizing after the evident million euros expenditure at the expense of the effort of thousands of Spanish families.
So, do we want to live on charity, depending on charities to meet our needs? We do understand that our basic needs are our right, that are some qualities that have to be inherent in our status as citizens. We’re sick of aid and charities. We can not live in a country that absolves corrupt millionaires and, in turn, so that a person can eat have to rely on food banks managed by volunteers. It is a completely unsustainable situation, and the whole society, especially the youth sector must fight this kind of actions that try to volunteer as a purely order-working, trying to avoid providing jobs for people who spend this time. The volunteers must be a complement and support to certain social needs, but in many cases, are overloading of work and responsibilities to many people that with their good will undergo similar working days to persons exercising paid work.
I appreciate and participate in the solidarity and voluntary action, we must recognize, applaud and thank the work of the volunteers, but while some people live to help people, there is another class of beings who live off people, and this is what we must not allow. Let us be thoughtful, it is not a matter of living in a purely charitable society, because without quality of life, charity rather than support becomes a vital necessity.
Therefore, it is necessary to know that such actions do not occur due to a lack of capital, but to a totally unconscionable and indecent advantage fostered by our major public institutions of government, while millions and millions of public capital finish in their pockets, we must turn to charitable acts to cover something as basic as food. These people who talk so much about rights should read once the Constitutions, charts of rights and learn that the right to adequate housing, child protection, to a public education, universal health care, the right to food … are all fundamental rights, ie for every single person.
That is why we have plenty of reasons to ask, once again, the responsibility of the Rulers of managing public money to achieve the quality of life that we all have right, which corrupts return the stolen money, serve the appropiate sentence and finally that those who have allowed them to act like that to resign from office. And if they are not able to do that, to convene elections for those that do have in their programmes proposals for sustainable economic, social and environmentally feasible public policies, so that we can carry them out.