The minister of the General Secretariat of the Presidency of the Republic, Guilherme Boulos, launched this Saturday afternoon (8), on the outskirts of the capital of São Paulo, the Government on the Street initiative, an action to listen to the population and take demands to the federal government. The event took place in the Capão Redondo region, in the south zone, on a football field in Morro da Lua.
“It’s an initiative that allows us, through the Ministry of the General Secretariat of the Presidency, to listen to people. Today, we carried out a listening exercise here. The app delivery person spoke, the 6 to 1 worker spoke, young people from the region spoke here putting their demands, social movements fighting for housing spoke here, peripheral culture spoke here”, said Boulos.
The minister highlighted that the initiative will serve all states in the country and will also work online, via the internet. He highlighted that the action aims to deepen the government’s connection with the outskirts.
“President Lula won by a wide margin among those who earn less than two minimum wages, which is the majority of people on the outskirts. The mission that President Lula gave me was to bring the policies of the federal government, the Brazilian government, even closer to the people in the outskirts”, he added.
According to Boulos, the initiative will work digitally through the platform Participatory Brazilthrough the Digital Participatory Budget.
“The people also have to present whatever is in the Brazilian government’s budget. On this platform, just enter your data, put it there and say, look, in my region the priority is this here or that other. And then everyone will be able to have their finger, their hand in deciding where the federal government’s money goes”, he explained.
Demands
Young leader from the periphery, Guilherme Coelho called for youth to take a leading role in government decisions.
“It is very important for us to have youth included in these spaces for discussing public policies. We don’t just want to be heard. We want to have this leading role of being together at the table, discussing with the population the implementation of public policies that will serve us”, he said.
The coordinator of the Life Beyond Work Movement, Bruna Simões Miranda, defended the end of the 6×1 scale and greater attention to workers’ mental health.
“We know that here in the periphery the majority work on a 6×1 basis, and our movement is asking us to have more life, so that we can have time for our family, and to cultivate our faith”, he defended.
“They say that the economy will collapse without the 6×1 scale, that there will be unemployment. They collect data. But we are the data, we are the ones whose mental health is affected”, he added.
The coordinator of the Movement of Workers Without Rights, Elias Pereira Freitas da Silva, known as Júnior Freitas, defended public policies aimed at app delivery people, and the category’s participation in spaces of power.
“We are being scrapped on the streets every day. Young people in this country are dying on the streets working for an app that is currently earning billions off the backs of workers,” he said.
“We need people committed to the working people, because they hold positions, elected by us. But the population is in charge and that is why we cannot stop fighting. Today it is symbolic, but it is very important”, he added.
