Desigualdade Global - Capítulo 5: Brasil — Transcript

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1. 0:05[GUIDO MANTEGA - former minister of Lula e Dilma] We believe the Brazilian economy is in full recovery mode.
2. 0:09[GUIDO MANTEGA - former minister of Lula e Dilma] Pretty it soon it will be able to stand on its own two feet.
3. 0:13[FERNANDO HENRIQUE CARDOSO - Former President of Brazil] The most dramatic problem may be income. Income distribution is very unequal.
4. 0:19Now the price of everything will go up, but wages won’t. You’ll be unemployed.
5. 0:24[LULA - Former President of Brazil] Brazil has the chance to overcome its problems.
6. 0:27I think life is limited, and what’s it good for? To have the best.
7. 0:30And you live precariously. It’s crazy!
8. 0:33One of these days I’ll be shot at home.
9. 0:44Every day is a fight for survival, every day you have to kill a lion
10. 0:50[PAULO GUEDES - Bolsonaro Economy Minister] The economic model is bad, it’s run out.
11. 0:53[JAIR BOLSONARO - President of Brazil] Brazilians can and should dream of a better life,
12. 0:56[JAIR BOLSONARO - President of Brazil] of better conditions to enjoy the fruits of their labour with meritocracy.
13. 1:02As far as eating goes, nowadays if you eat once a day you’re very well off
14. 1:07[JAIR BOLSONARO - President of Brazil] To say people go hungry in Brazil is a big fat lie.
15. 1:10[MICHEL TEMER - Former president of Brazil] I haven’t the slightest doubt that we’ll come out of the crisis
16. 1:15GLOBAL INEQUALITY
17. 1:17BRAZIL - COUNTRY OF PRIVILEGES
18. 1:29[WALLACE GUIMARÃES - RESIDENT OF MORRO DO VIDIGAL, RIO DE JANEIRO] A while ago I was making big money working with movies, things were going well.
19. 1:35I had a future. You would see folks leaving class D and entering class C and you’d think
20. 1:40“one day that’ll be me. I’ll go from class C to class B.” The tendency was for things to improve.
21. 1:50[LUIZA DE MARILLAC - RESIDENT OF POÇO DA DRAGA, FORTALEZA] In 2002 I decided to take a technical nursing course.
22. 1:55After the course I found two jobs and began making good money. I made 3,000 reais.
23. 2:05[MARCELO NERI - DIRECTOR OF FGV SOCIAL] Brazil was in a process of inclusive growth. This went on until 2014.
24. 2:10After that we went to the other side. I mean, income fell and inequality grew.
25. 2:18As soon as I began working two jobs, I looked for comfort. And what is comfort?
26. 2:24It means having a washing machine, a microwave oven, a sandwich toaster, a food mixer...
27. 2:29I had some money put by and I took out around 12 thousand. I invest in a barber shop.
28. 2:36I paid 1,200 for rent, paid somebody to stay there, paid the Wi-Fi and the water bill.
29. 2:44And then a year or two later the movie work stopped coming in.
30. 2:49I couldn’t pay for the barbershop.
31. 2:53I had to go on paying my daughters’ alimony, their health plan.
32. 2:58And I’m not about to take on even more debt. So I gave up the barbershop and here I am.
33. 3:04I lost my work. My husband couldn’t find any more odd jobs.
34. 3:08Things got harder and harder.
35. 3:10One salary, only one person working.
36. 3:13It’s the cooking gas, the cleaning things, the transport.
37. 3:17My mother used her pension to help pay our food.
38. 3:34[HÉLIO HONÓRIO - FORMER BUSINESSMAN, NOW STREET VENDOR IN SÃO PAULO] I set up a handbag factory. It was going well, with 22 employees.
39. 3:39As long as there were no imports we were doing great.
40. 3:42I sold 20,000 reais worth a day.
41. 3:44I don’t know how I got to this situation, it wasn’t supposed to be like this.
42. 3:46I ask myself “hell, what did I do with the money?”
43. 3:50[FERNANDO BURGOS - PROFESSOR AT FGV-SP] The idea is we had a middle class that was doing well these last few years
44. 3:56and maybe had “gone through the turnstile”, as some experts say.
45. 4:01I would use instead the image of “went through the revolving door of a hotel”.
46. 4:05He can see what’s inside,
47. 4:07he can see there’s a world there that is very different from the one he was in outside,
48. 4:11but the door goes on turning and suddenly he’s outside again, looking back.
49. 4:20I lived here for two years, 2008 to 2010.
50. 4:26A three bedroom flat. With two parking spaces.
51. 4:31I had two cars here, both bought new.
52. 4:34I had this, I made enough for this, I could afford it. I lived easy, you know?
53. 4:41Poverty increased greatly in Brazil.
54. 4:43It had fallen 75 per cent from 1990 to 2014
55. 4:49but rose 40 per cent during this crisis period.
56. 5:28[VALMIR DOS SANTOS - COMMUNITY LEADER OF SOL NASCENTE, FEDERAL DISTRICT] People are desperate.
57. 5:30Imagine what it’s like having everyone at home unemployed.
58. 5:34In a situation in which at other times you might have found some way out, but now it’s impossible.
59. 5:42So how are we going to survive?
60. 5:44[ARMÍNIO FRAGA - FOLHA COLUMNIST AND FORMER CENTRAL BANK GOVERNOR] People need to feel they are part of a project.
61. 5:48But it’s very hard to understand that this isn’t a zero sum game
62. 5:52when you have aberrations such as the famous Businessperson Benefit in this country.
63. 5:57So this idea of “right, but I defend Brazil, our national businesses...”
64. 6:01It might even make sense with some strategies, but in most cases it does not.
65. 6:05Bus fares go up the whole time, the price of cooking gas goes up constantly,
66. 6:11but salaries don’t increase.
67. 6:12And you feel really afraid, as I am now.
68. 6:25[NAERCIO MENEZES - ECONOMIST AT INSPER] The cycle we had during the Lula administration and the first half of Dilma’s administration
69. 6:30involved low-skilled sectors.
70. 6:33But what about the most dynamic sectors of society? What about advanced industry, new technologies?
71. 6:40There’s nothing. And there hasn’t been anything for about 30 years in Brazil.
72. 6:45[MARCOS LISBOA - FOLHA COLUMNIST AND PRESIDENT OF INSPER] In the 1950s, 60s and 70s Brazil opted for policies seen as pro-development,
73. 6:51concentrated state resources on subsidies and protections and on university education for the elite.
74. 6:58And we neglected education for the majority.
75. 7:03[MARCÍLIO SALES - RESIDENT OF SOL NASCENTE] Sol Nascente received the title of the biggest favela in Latin America.
76. 7:06Our HDI is extremely low.
77. 7:09In this area there was a state school that served half of the children.
78. 7:17[LÍLIA M. SCHWARCZ - HISTORIAN] Education never was democratic and for all.
79. 7:20Brazil is the country with the second largest population of African origin,
80. 7:24but even so we have a very strong race marker regarding education
81. 7:30– black men are the ones with least access to education.
82. 7:37Education is an example of how social policies have been neglected in Brazil.
83. 7:44And now that intelligence and knowledge are so important to economic growth,
84. 7:50we have generations and generations that haven’t had the access to education that other countries have.
85. 7:56My eldest daughter studied at Prouni and managed to graduate in Law.
86. 8:01My second daughter took Physical Therapy thanks to Fies.
87. 8:07My third daughter graduated in secretarial studies through Sisu.
88. 8:13My fourth son isn’t going to college.
89. 8:16Not if we have to pay, we can’t afford it any more
90. 8:21And quotas greatly increased the presence of black students,
91. 8:25poor ones and students coming from state schools.
92. 8:28So, although a lot was spent on them, these universities bring returns to society.
93. 8:33Because these young people will triple their monthly salary for the rest of their lives.
94. 8:38Well, they’ll triple their salaries if they can find jobs. I think that’s the big question, isn’t it?
95. 8:47[MARCÍLIO SALES - RESIDENT OF SOL NASCENTE] I live here in Sol Nascente.
96. 8:49You see this place: where are the jobs? There aren’t any.
97. 8:53I’ve been unemployed for over two years.
98. 8:55And I feel the circle closing around me.
99. 8:57Things are going against us, the weaker side.
100. 9:01It’s a contradictory thing. For instance, in Brasília, close by,
101. 9:05you have high-level civil servants
102. 9:09who are paid high salaries, even compared to other states.
103. 9:20[CLAUDIO HAMILTON DOS SANTOS - ECONOMIST] Brazilian civil servants earn on average almost twice what is paid in the private sector.
104. 9:28And the Federal District civil servants earn almost twice as the civil servants in the rest of Brazil.
105. 9:33So they receive practically four times what an average worker in the private sector is paid.
106. 9:39This clearly shows a certain disconnect.
107. 9:42I believe today over 50 per cent of the population
108. 9:48is either unemployed
109. 9:50or underemployed
110. 9:51or doing anything they can to survive.
111. 9:55As a matter of fact people thank God when they’re able to eat.
112. 10:03Several elements in Brazilian history offer clues to understanding inequality.
113. 10:09We stopped being a colony in 1822, but became a monarchy surrounded by republics.
114. 10:17Brazil was also the country that received the greatest number of slaves,
115. 10:23and this caused the language of slavery to take root among us.
116. 10:28And with great consequences, as it makes inequality a natural thing.
117. 10:32Another thing is that Brazil was an exploitation colony.
118. 10:35Due to this we are a country of large agricultural estates, also of great dominations
119. 10:39and of great land concentration in a few hands.
120. 10:43There’s so much money, while we have nothing, you know?
121. 10:47We survive on just the minimum wage.
122. 10:51And when you become unemployed...
123. 10:54you choke up.
124. 10:58Comes the morning and your child wants to eat.
125. 11:00It’s very sad.
126. 11:02I’m really sorry to have to tell you about this stuff.
127. 11:29Inequality was falling as incomes were increasing with the commodities boom, etc,
128. 11:36but now both things are falling.
129. 11:39We may have some small recovery in the economy,
130. 11:43but average incomes haven’t improved. It’s very slight.
131. 11:47In my case I was fortunate to have found work with movies,
132. 11:51because living in the slum you have no expectations.
133. 11:54You have no access to schools, no access to information, what are you going to do?
134. 12:00What’s closest to your reality is selling candy on trains,
135. 12:04selling juice or collecting tin cans on the beach,
136. 12:08or stealing or whatever.
137. 12:11The place where you are born, the family you’re born in are very important to who you will become in future.
138. 12:18If you’re born in a poor family you will face hardship your whole life.
139. 12:22What’s lacking in Brazil is the prospect of mobility.
140. 12:28[GILSON FERNANDES - ASSOCIATION OF RESIDENTS AND SHOP-OWNERS OF PARAISÓPOLIS, SÃO PAULO ] I realized
141. 12:31that Paraisópolis was different from its surroundings when my aunts had to say they lived in Morumbi
142. 12:34to have some chance of finding a job or a course, or even of enrolling us in school.
143. 12:40People would look at you and could tell you weren’t “somebody who lives in Morumbi”,
144. 12:42but if you said you were from Paraisópolis they wouldn’t even give you a chance.
145. 12:45[Reporter] Why have you never brought your daughters here?
146. 12:47Because I’m ashamed.
147. 12:50I’m ashamed of not having anything better to offer them.
148. 12:52I’d rather not bring them here.
149. 12:55I’ll never bring them here! Not my daughters or anyone else!
150. 13:08We got a little money together here, a little money there, and bought this house.
151. 13:11We bought this place for R$10,000 at the time.
152. 13:14My mother also had a little house in Belford Roxo, that also has ...
153. 13:19(shots ringing out)
154. 13:23Lock, lock.
155. 13:26It's shooting, a lot of shooting.
156. 13:44Sometimes I think of bringing my daughters here. But imagine if they were here now.
157. 14:11[REPORTER] there’s a guy out there building something.
158. 14:14Yeah, he’s got his shovel out. That’s for you to see that this has become routine.
159. 14:19There’s a guy building.
160. 14:24I wouldn’t do it.
161. 14:26I have my kids to bring up, I don’t even go out on the rooftop.
162. 14:29Just imagine if I’m taken for somebody else.
163. 14:33This has become normal for the guy,
164. 14:38it’s just a day like any other.
165. 14:42[MOTHER ON THE PHONE] are you at home?
166. 14:43[WALLACE] I am, Mum, I’m at home.
167. 14:45[MOTHER] Take care of yourself for God’s sake.
168. 14:49[WALLACE] Ok Mum, calm down.
169. 14:51It’s 10:39, May 13.
170. 14:55Shots being heard on Vidigal.
171. 14:58Be careful on Niemyyer (avenue).
172. 14:59Be careful on Vidigal, dammit!
173. 15:01Careful on Niemeyer, haha.
174. 15:04Just think. “Careful, you bourgeois folk walking along Niemeyer!”
175. 15:10Rising inequality tends to worsen economic growth in various ways.
176. 15:18One of these ways is the increase in violence,
177. 15:21which destructures productive activities, besides the direct costs of violence.
178. 15:26From up here on Vidigal you can see Leblon,
179. 15:29the most expensive square meters in Rio.
180. 15:33Over here, the lights just go out for no reason. Bang!
181. 15:35While over there in Leblon everything is lighted up, the light can’t stop.
182. 15:40Here it can.
183. 15:42The post doesn’t arrive here. But armoured police cars do.
184. 15:48PRETO ZEZÉ - PRESIDENT OF CENTRAL ÚNICA DAS FAVELAS] We’re not a priority.
185. 15:50If our focus is fighting inequality, let’s improve these territories
186. 15:54that are completely excluded from public budgets.
187. 15:57If we don’t have a real and concrete policy
188. 16:00for sharing opportunities and wealth,
189. 16:03unfortunately we are going to share the tragedies caused by this concentration.
190. 16:37[RICARDO PAES DE BARROS - CHIEF ECONOMIST, INSTITUTO AYRTON SENNA] We have been spending a large percentage of GDP on our social policies.
191. 16:45But we allocate badly,
192. 16:47we are spending a large part of our resources for the social area on transferences
193. 16:53and much less on equalizing opportunities.
194. 16:56Bolsa Família is a fantastic “first benefit program”,
195. 17:00but it’s not enough for people to leave that very low income level behind.
196. 17:04They need to go a lot beyond that.
197. 17:06We need to start allocating, to start building bridges between the programs.
198. 17:12I mean, when somebody leaves Bolsa Família, what’s the next step?
199. 17:16Do they get a salary bonus or microcredit for opening a small business?
200. 17:20In Brazil we have essentially built a state
201. 17:23that is a machine for transferring money from one group to another
202. 17:26in a very confusing and messy way.
203. 17:29But at the end of the day our policies aimed at the majority of the population
204. 17:33are sacrificed due to this tangled web of transfers.
205. 17:40Inequality is so great that things become dysfunctional.
206. 17:45This is food for populism,
207. 17:48which in its turn is a force that is totally harmful to building good public policies.
208. 17:59[Speech during demonstration in favor of Bolsonaro] Don't let anyone talk bad about what is being done in Brazil.
209. 18:05Economies, Brazil is positioning itself to be one of the best countries in the world.
210. 18:19[WILTON LIMA - BOLSONARO VOTER] - I was 7 years old when Lula was elected, in 2002,
211. 18:22and as far as I remember he did the right thing.
212. 18:24I won’t say he only did bad stuff, he did good things too.
213. 18:27Food prices went down, things got better. Home appliances too.
214. 18:32But you know what the problem was?
215. 18:33He lowered prices at the time, but soon after we got the bill to pay, you know?
216. 18:38And the PT guys, were they stealing?
217. 18:40They were, but they helped poor people out a little, you know?
218. 18:45So folks are still getting Bolsa Família today.
219. 18:49When you have a series of programs with which a leader in Brasília,
220. 18:55at the push of a button, injects money into the veins of half the population,
221. 18:59through pensions and other programs, including Bolsa Família,
222. 19:04this also creates a certain lack of political mediation which involves risks.
223. 19:08I think we can’t ignore this.
224. 19:20It’s pure populism, saying what the people want to hear.
225. 19:23As for Bolsonaro, I don’t think he was the best choice, but he was the only option we had.
226. 19:27Because PT did what it did during all those years.
227. 19:30So I said: I’ve seen his positions (Bolsonaro’s), his proposals, and I said “cool”.
228. 19:34We try to console ourselves looking at the global picture.
229. 19:39There’s Trump, there’s Brexit and there’s what happened in Brazil.
230. 19:44This turnabout is part of the same big picture.
231. 20:23It’s not that Brazil had the lowest level of approval of political leaders in 2018,
232. 20:28therefore before the elections,
233. 20:31in the world.
234. 20:32It’s the worst of the historical season.
235. 20:34Over ten years of data, over more than 700 cases,
236. 20:39no other country in the world had such a high level of disapproval.
237. 20:41I think this was reflected in some way in the election.
238. 21:08If I had to design a country that would have very great inequality, extreme inequality,
239. 21:14and you would not be able to change this easily,
240. 21:18you couldn’t think of a better example than Brazil.
241. 21:33I think we have failed to take care of how the state intervenes in the economy and in society.
242. 21:39We have litte patience to try and understand causes,
243. 21:43evaluate how other countries do things
244. 21:45and shape our public policies.
245. 21:47Our policies frequently are a kind of guerrilla warfare,
246. 21:51they are very authoritarian and violent.
247. 21:54The rules of the game can be changed very easily.
248. 21:57So everybody feels threatened.
249. 21:59I fear the results of this process.
250. 22:03I don’t see much attention paid to issues of inequality.
251. 22:06On the contrary.
252. 22:08And this is very serious.
253. 22:10People ask: “Will people in other countries be shocked by this?”
254. 22:15Yes, but what’s much worse is how this affects people right here.
255. 22:20At times of crisis we have dismantled some fundamental gains.
256. 22:24For instance, gains in institutional strengthening, which is necessary.
257. 22:28In other words, the country will only build a strong democracy if its institutions are strong.
258. 22:35Why aren’t they strong?
259. 22:37Because every time a crisis arrives we go back to our patrimonialist mindset.
260. 22:43I think we have lost that goal, that objective.
261. 22:46We had a goal of fighting inequality, and I think Brazil has left that “middle way”.
262. 22:53But if we don’t take very decisive action to fight poverty,
263. 22:57if we focus only on growth...
264. 22:59in 15 years’ time we’ll be back where we were when the crisis began.