{"id":3018,"date":"2020-12-17T22:45:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-17T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/?p=3018"},"modified":"2022-12-13T22:49:10","modified_gmt":"2022-12-13T13:49:10","slug":"covid-19-brazil-implements-basic-income-policy-following-massive-civil-society-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/news\/covid-19-brazil-implements-basic-income-policy-following-massive-civil-society-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"COVID-19: Brazil Implements Basic Income Policy Following Massive Civil Society Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Pedro Telles<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The writer is 2018-19 Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

S\u00c3O PAULO (IDN) \u2013 Tens of millions of Brazilians have begun receiving basic income payments aimed at addressing the economic impact of COVID-19, following Congress\u2019 approval of a bill prompted by a country-wide grassroots campaign that began just three weeks ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many crises, the coronavirus pandemic has served to make social and economic inequalities more evident around the world, often in very harsh ways. In Brazil, which has officially recorded 20,727 cases and 1,124 deaths from coronavirus <\/a>as of April 13 (with actual figures likely to be 12 times higher<\/a>), the poorest and most marginalized have been worst affected, with less wealth and fewer resources to draw on to protect themselves, their health and their livelihoods.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Building on decades of debate around the idea of a universal basic income, and spurred by the impact of the pandemic in one of the world\u2019s most unequal nations, a coalition of over 160 Brazilian civil society organizations and movements seized the moment last month (March) to turn theory into practice with A Renda B\u00e1sica que Queremos<\/a> (The Basic Income that We Want).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Launched on March 20, the campaign swiftly built the support of over 500,000 citizens and 3,000 social media influencers. It also had the backing of five key organizations: Rede Brasileira de Renda B\u00e1sica<\/a> (Brazilian Basic Income Network), Coaliz\u00e3o Negra por Direitos<\/a> (Black Coalition for Rights), Instituto Ethos de Empresas e Responsabilidade Social<\/a> (Ethos Institute for Business and Social Responsibility), Nossas<\/a>, and INESC \u2013 Instituto de Estudos Socioecon\u00f4micos<\/a> (Institute for Socioeconomic Studies).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The campaign presented a detailed policy proposal to several members of Brazil\u2019s national Congress, which was then put on the legislative agenda. The bill was approved unanimously by federal deputies and senators (with negotiated changes) by March 30. Three days later, it was sanctioned by President Jair Bolsonaro<\/a>, who had previously proposed much more limited plans to supplement the income of Brazil\u2019s most vulnerable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By April 9, law became reality as the first payments of BRL 600 (more than half of the Brazilian minimum monthly wage) were being sent out. Up to 59 million low-income Brazilians will benefit directly, and twice that number indirectly, or more than half of the country\u2019s population in total. The basic income payments will continue for at least three months, with a potential extension already foreseen in the approved law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have no doubt that our campaign in favour of a clear and effective basic income policy proposal strongly influenced the decision taken by Congress that is now being implemented,\u201d Leandro Ferreira, president of the Brazilian Basic Income Network, said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBy directly and unconditionally helping those who need it the most, basic income has entered the landscape. It has begun as a policy option to address the current crisis, but it must remain in place for whatever comes after,\u201d Ferreira added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many activists, experts and politicians now hope that the Emergency Basic Income will become a permanent one after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided. There is also the hope that it will become universal, rather than limited to those who meet the criteria set out in the current law. Significantly, the new legislation means that basic income is now an established right in Brazil and taking back a right to income is never easy, however much a government might wish to do so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This remarkable achievement, which will lift or keep tens of millions of Brazilians from poverty, is a reminder that crises can open political space for civil society to push for policy changes that would otherwise be hard or nearly impossible to achieve. When public attention turns to the need for urgent action around inequalities and their consequences, politicians become more sensitive to calls for bold action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brazil\u2019s new basic income law is a testament to the strength of people power in pushing for policies that fight inequality, even under the rule of far-right administrations. It is also a clear example of how civil society can find opportunities to set the agenda during the COVID-19 crisis, demanding not only basic income, but also universal health care and other key policies for equity. The fight against inequality goes on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note: Pedro Telles is also a co-founder of Bancada Ativista (Activist Caucus), an independent political movement in Brazil focused on electing activists to political office, and currently Chief of Staff for the movement\u2019s collective State Deputy mandate in S\u00e3o Paulo \u2013 where eight activists who were elected jointly with over 149,000 votes share a single office in the country\u2019s largest state parliament. He tweets at @pedrortelles.<\/em> [IDN-InDepthNews \u2013 17 April 2020]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Pedro Telles The writer is 2018-19 Atlantic Fellow for Social and Economic Equity at the International Inequalities Institute, London School of Economics. S\u00c3O PAULO (IDN) \u2013 Tens of millions of Brazilians have begun receiving basic income payments aimed at addressing the economic impact of COVID-19, following Congress\u2019 approval of a bill prompted by a country-wide […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3019,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30,37,16,32],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-3018","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-development-aid","8":"category-latin-america","9":"category-news","10":"category-regions"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3018"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3020,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3018\/revisions\/3020"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3019"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3018"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3018"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inpsjapan.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3018"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}