The 30th edition of the Grito dos Excluídos, held on the morning of this Saturday (7), Independence Day holiday, questioned the invisibility of people in vulnerable situations. The event had the theme “All Lives Matter, but Who Cares?”
Since 8am, homeless people, religious people, activists, immigrants, members of social movements and unions began to gather at Praça da Sé, in the capital of São Paulo, to demand urgent attention to the needs of the excluded, such as the homeless and prison population.
“We are here denouncing social exclusion and at the same time being a sign of resistance in the construction of a fair, egalitarian, fraternal and supportive society. We always remember the need for us to have a new model [de sociedade]. This model doesn’t suit us,” said Paulo Pretini, who is involved in organizing the event in São Paulo.
Thirtieth edition of the Cry of the Excluded, in Praça da Sé, in São Paulo – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil
“It is unacceptable to live with people having difficulty eating, finding housing, finding work. We really need to create a much more fraternal and supportive society,” he added.
Among the social movements present were the Central de Movimentos Populares (CMP), the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), the Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (Movement of People Affected by Dams), the Pastoral dos Moradores de Rua (Pastoral Care for Homeless People), the World March of Women, and the Central Única dos Trabalhadores (CUT).
“We need effective public policies for this population, for the excluded, that confront this, that prevent poverty from reaching extreme poverty,” highlighted Luciana Carvalho, from Rede Rua.
Thirtieth edition of the Cry of the Excluded, in Praça da Sé, in São Paulo – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil
“The homeless population is not only on the fringes of society, these people do not have access to society. And, in addition to society not caring about them, it criminalizes them and violates their rights,” he added.
For nun Petra Silvia Pfaller, from the Prison Ministry, the situation is even worse for those who are in the prison system and who have no way of speaking out. “Today we bring here the cry of the people who are incarcerated, almost 1 million people who cannot come out and shout, say that they are hungry, beaten, tortured, have no access to health care, no place to sleep, no access to justice. These are people who have been greatly abandoned by prejudice,” she said.
Parade
Independence Day in the capital of São Paulo was also celebrated with a civic-military parade at the Anhembi Sambadrome, in the northern part of the city. The event was attended by the governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas, the mayor Ricardo Nunes and the commander of the 2nd Army Division, Major General Pedro Celso Coelho Montenegro.
