Summary
Defend the lives of the people unconditionally. This is the principle of the campaign “Us for Us – the Periphery Alive to fight against coronavirus”, which makes donations to families suffering the worst economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as providing care and sowing the seeds of grassroots organisation to the most vulnerable populations. The initiative has national coverage, in Salvador it is coordinated by the Popular Youth Uprising (Levante Popular da Juventude - LPJ), and other urban and rural social movements in the state.
In the midst of the health and humanitarian crises afflicting the country, with more than 68 thousand lives lost, the city of Salvador has recorded a 1,200% growth in the disease, according to the State Health Department. On 22 April, only 9 people in the region were infected with the new coronavirus, by the first of July this had risen to 818. The disease has advanced significantly in the poorest neighbourhoods, where informal workers, with no legal backing to guarantee their rights, stay on the streets in order to maintain their livelihoods. One example of this can be seen in Cajazeiras 4 and 5, the neighbourhoods where the LPJ works.
According to Caroline Anice dos Santos, from the movement’s municipal and state coordinating team, solidarity between the poorest is essential, since this is a battle against an unknown virus that interferes with all our social dynamics, putting fundamental sections of society at risk: “In this context, the poorest suffer even greater inequality, because, on the one hand, it is hard to stay in social isolation, due to their need to work and access basics such as food and hygiene products, while on the other, poor neighbourhoods are always crowded and usually do not provide the necessary conditions for isolation,” asserted Caroline, who outlined the campaign’s overview: “The plan is to reach people before hunger and COVID arrive, because they don’t have the resources to stay in isolation without food on the table or basic social rights. The campaign grew out of this; its aim is to provide solidarity, to help people at a difficult time and create bonds of trust, for all the other battles we face on a daily basis.”
So far approximately 24 tons of food have been distributed around eight locations in Salvador, with more than 200 people involved in logistics, collection, cleaning, distribution etc. Moreover, the campaign has received online donations and constructed tools such as “Hands in Solidarity” – an initiative to distribute boxes among friends and activists from the network of bodies that constitutes the “Us for Us – the Periphery Alive” campaign, collecting food, and hygiene and cleaning products from condominiums and buildings in Salvador. The aim is to present the campaign to professionals, students, institutions, and to invite them to strengthen this immense cordon of solidarity and comradeship, assigning them practical tasks which present a low health risk.
Being a bridge between those who want to help and those who need help, these young people in Salvador are adding an active solidary dimension and moving forward with a stronger and better organised campaign of activities to confront the health, economic and political situation in our country. CESE believes in initiatives such as these, small and powerful projects, whose horizons include care, the guarantee of rights and the defence of democracy and supported it, with a contribution from the special COVID-19 fund, created by Dutch Change the Game Academy partner Wilde Ganzen Foundation.
Review by Wilde Ganzen Foundation
The Periferia Viva network is made up of organised movements that have come together to think about solutions to the collapse caused by the health crisis and the needs of the most vulnerable populations. In Salvador, the Levante Popular da Juventude, an organisation of young militants focused on the mass struggle for the structural transformation of Brazilian society, decided to join the initiative. With a lot of energy and creativity, the young people committed themselves to the collection of food and also hygiene and cleaning products and to the dissemination of clear and correct information about (measures to prevent) COVID-19.
