The “threat” of Jesus Christ: “you will always have the poor with you”
Jenny Torres[1]
Since 1982, October 17th has been established as the “International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.” This year marks 38 years of calls to action and campaigns that, while important for keeping the focus on the core of the problem, haven't quite managed to address the underlying cause: wealth creation.
Evangelized as we have been, by the force of the “love” of the cannon, it would seem that the world has resigned itself to the threat of Jesus Christ: “For you will always have the poor with you, and you can do good to them whenever you wish; but you will not always have me,” Mark 14:7. It is like a biblical resignation that has sown the idea that poverty “IS” and not that it is created. And so the commandment “you can do good to them” has been interpreted as the assumption of charity that establishes that hierarchy between helper and helped, and that maintains that boundary, that distinction, and that eternal “social” and economic distancing very clearly. The most recent papal encyclical, FRATELLI TUTTI, makes an interesting statement that fits well with this ridiculous approach that has been adopted to “reduce poverty”:
“The scandal of poverty cannot be addressed by promoting containment strategies that merely pacify and turn the poor into domesticated and harmless beings. How sad to see when, behind supposed altruistic works, the other is reduced to passivity.”
And so, following that biblical mandate, international organizations themselves have promoted the institutionalization of charity disguised as a bank card (the famous conditional cash transfer programs), handing out aid to "selected individuals" (individual targeting that costs us budgetary sacrifices every time).[2] and the ongoing stigmatization, which always seeks to find "the king of the poor" to reward him with a monthly transfer, obtained through various merits ranging from:
- To be the poorest of the poor
- To be of age “x” and in course “y”
- To have had the audacity to grow old in poverty
- Any "novelty" that occurs to the current management of the Social Policy Cabinet.
This transformation of Social Policies, which has become a “trending topic” in Latin America and the Caribbean, is increasingly acquiring that minimalist hue, which only pursues the survival of people and removes the vision of exercising rights, increasing the space for the market in the process of realizing fundamental rights.
In this highly adverse context facing humanity, where many have bet that “we will be better off after the pandemic,” the train of development doesn't seem to be turning. Just as ECLAC announces that we will have new poor people, Oxfam warns us that “since the beginning of the lockdowns in mid-March, the wealth of the region's billionaires has grown by 17%, equivalent to $48.2 billion.” Paradoxical? No, it's the “healthy” market exchange that has always worked this way. The pandemic doesn't make us better; it simply confirms and reinforces the inequitable relationships that govern market forces. And 38 years of commemorating the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty haven't been able to stop that. In this same pandemic period, eight new billionaires have emerged in the region—that is, one new one every two weeks.
Pope Francis's call in the aforementioned encyclical FRATELLI TUTTI of this infamous year 2020 is interesting: The encyclical, when speaking of the meaning of the word solidarity, expresses:
“It is also about fighting against the structural causes of poverty, inequality, lack of work, land and housing, and the denial of social and labor rights. It is about confronting the destructive effects of the Empire of Money. […] Solidarity, understood in its deepest sense, is a way of making history, and that is what popular movements do.”
The “fight against structural causes” proposed in the encyclical involves reinterpreting the statement of Jesus Christ (or one attributed to him): “You will always have the poor with you,” associated with his call to “do good,” as the solidarity proposed by the Pope that implies a structural rupture. And this rupture must encompass several elements:
- Poverty is not a natural state.
- It is not possible to eliminate poverty without questioning the production of wealth.
- This scandalous generation of wealth that produces poverty is largely possible because of a labor market that traps the well-being of the majority of the population: without the establishment of clear rules that prioritize the production of well-being, "there will always be poor people among us."
In the Dominican Republic, according to figures from the Social Security Treasury, in 2019, before the pandemic, only 22.99% of registered workers earned more than 25 pesos. What kind of labor market is the Dominican Republic facing? What kind of well-being can be achieved in a country with so many deficiencies in basic services?
Employees registered with the Social Security Treasury
according to salary range
| 2019 | 2020 | Relative frequency 2019 | Relative frequency 2020 | |
| 10 pesos or less | 705,790 | 309,103 | 31.49 % | 15.76 % |
| 10,001-15,000 | 469,817 | 708,532 | 20.96 % | 36.13 % |
| 15,001-20,000 | 405,099 | 320,918 | 18.07 % | 16.37 % |
| 20,001-25,000 | 145,327 | 126,584 | 6.48 % | 6.46 % |
| More than | 515,415 | 495,810 | 22.99 % | 25.28 % |
| 2,241,448 | 1,960,947 | 100.00 % | 100.00 % |
Source: Social Security Treasury
In 2020, the pandemic exacerbated existing poverty (what else can you call it when 77% of the population registered with the Social Security Treasury earns less than 25 pesos?). The percentage of those earning more than 25 pesos rose to 25.28%, at the cost of the loss of 280 jobs.
#EndingPoverty cannot continue to focus solely on increasing the number of beneficiaries in the solidarity program. It must involve a process of joint and simultaneous action that strengthens fundamental services (Health, Education, Decent Housing including water, electricity, sanitation, etc.; Sports, among others) under a universal perspective. In other words, we must develop a Social Policy framework that reverses the privatization of fundamental rights and consolidates the guarantee of a life well-being for everyone. At the same time, we must design and implement Economic Policies aimed at strengthening production without the goal of grotesque accumulation, so that the world of work becomes the extension of life fulfillment it always should have been, producing well-being instead of poverty.
The focus for #EndingPoverty must be on tourism, the financial sector, construction, free trade zones, etc. These are sectors that contribute to GDP growth by generating wealth, but they don't provide adequate protection and well-being for their workers.
The conditions for embarking on a path toward change and a genuine commitment to people who are born, grow up, reproduce, and die in poverty must involve a clear demonstration of actions, rather than solemn words. We hope to see signs of this through:
- Reorientation of the Social Policy Cabinet towards what it should really be, recovering its mission as an entity that guarantees the joint action of the institutions that implement fundamental rights.
- A budget truly committed to fighting the privatization of rights and strengthening the public health system, ensuring that money is not the deciding factor between life and death. A budget that removes housing from the market and makes the right to housing a reality for the 70% of the population living in substandard housing.
- A progressive effort is needed to revitalize traffic education, which is currently mired in a system that fails to bridge the gaps between different segments of the population. The interference of foundations and private groups that exert influence over ministry decisions at the highest levels must be eradicated. The 4% allocation for public education, a hard-won victory for the Dominican people, must be used to promote free, high-quality public education. This education must cease perpetuating exclusion and inequality.
- A commitment to revising the poverty line, defined as an indicator for "counting the poor," which constructs a fictitious income for families and establishes a line of misery. This yardstick, rather than assessing poverty, creates a line of near-death within which one barely survives.
- The duplication of expenses by Prosoli (84 million in 2020 for the Multidimensional Poverty Index survey) to measure poverty on its own, usurping actions of the ONE and the Mepyd, must be eliminated.
- A comprehensive discussion on production and the world of work is needed, one that moves beyond the revision of labor codes aimed at negotiating away acquired rights. The labor market must cease being an instrument of accumulation for a small percentage of the population and must be oriented towards generating well-being that transcends the mere survival it represents today.
- A real and effective expansion of participation for impoverished sectors. Enough of spaces reserved for those who consider themselves "superior," who see themselves as owners of public resources and who give rise to collusion and corruption that ultimately harms the poorest people.
Ending poverty, as the papal encyclical rightly states, requires abandoning charity as a social policy, questioning the structures of accumulation, and removing people's rights from the market. Otherwise, the "threat" of Jesus Christ will continue to be fulfilled, and we will always have poor people among us. There will be no way to banish "sin" because we will continue to be producers of hells that condemn most people to a life of suffering.
[1] Researcher at the Alternative City Association, Dominican Republic. Member of the CLACSO Steering Committee
[2] For example, PROSOLI has been operating since then Vice President Margarita Cedeño decided that it was necessary.
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