The reality of fundamental rights
In the recent discussion on the need to act on the issue of housing, it was mentioned that this constitutes a constitutional right, as well as health and others. Now, there is discussion of including the guarantee of poverty eradication in the so-called “fundamental text”.
It is all very fair and right, but it is certainly not the mere existence of Article 58.º, stipulating that everyone has the right to work, that will put an end to unemployment (or make it illegal!). Nor can one invent make-believe occupations, which do not generate value, just to fulfill the said whose.
Since we don’t live on top of oil wells, we are obliged to create wealth to allow dignified living conditions for the entire population. Addressing these issues by enacting or simply invoking old or new rights is starting the house from the roof.
The fundamental role of the Government is to provide conditions for the creation of wealth, ensuring from the outset that it does not squander what exists. From there, we will be able to get there, but if there is not, they can decree everything and something else, that it is not born with this type of edicts. The program called “Mais Habitação” is a good example in the opposite direction. Limiting, reversing, prohibiting, coercing are verbs that do not rhyme with enriching and, for fundamental rights to be effectively guaranteed, enrichment cannot be a sin.
Carlos JF Sampaio, Esposende
Poverty and housing
Poverty in Portugal is characterized by three main factors, which are the lack of a job with a decent salary, hunger and the lack of housing, the latter being the resolution of which should be a priority, taking into account that there are many citizens whose home is the street, and despite the eloquent speeches that present supposed solutions to this serious national problem, the solution for some exacerbates other existing ones.
The Portuguese do not enjoy salaries capable of supporting the costs of renting or buying a house, so the policy for it needs to be well thought out and with balanced measures, having as its main objective the reduction or eradication of the number of people who they sleep on the street, the number of measures presented is of little use if they do not work in practice.
Abandonment, lack of employment, breaking family ties, and lack of financial resources, among other factors, are some of the reasons that contribute to the glaring cases of poverty that include the lack of decent housing, but also the lack of courage of a government that imposes limits on the value of rents and proceeds to create laws that make it impossible to evict people who, having weak financial resources, are put on the street, because housing is a right
Americo Lourenco, Sines
Tell me who you’re with…
A year has passed since Russian troops, in defiance of international law, invaded Ukraine, a sovereign and independent country recognized as such by the UN. A small military operation, as Putin hypocritically called it, to restore the rights of Russians and Russophiles to live in Ukraine. Against all predictions, what looked like an easy and quick victory for the Russian and mercenary armies continues on the ground, and it is not clear how it will end.
If in purely military terms it is difficult to predict the final outcome of the Russian invasion, in international and geostrategic terms it is not difficult to conclude that Putin has already recorded some important defeats. The recent vote in the UN plenary on a resolution of solidarity with Ukraine and the demand for the withdrawal of invading troops is a good illustration of Putin’s defeat in international terms.
The resolution was approved with an impressive majority of 141 delegations, including all Western democracies. Among the countries whose delegations abstained are China, India, Angola and… Cuba! Clearly with Putin, only the delegations from Belarus, North Korea, Eritrea, Nicaragua, Mali and Syria. They’re good people…
Already after the UN decision, and at the proposal of its president, Augusto Santos Silva, the Assembly of the Republic unanimously approved a vote of solidarity with Ukraine and its martyred people. Sorry, it wasn’t unanimous. The six PCP deputies voted against. Curious: six countries out of 200 members in the UN and six deputies in 230 in the AR. Tell me who you’re with…
Helder Pancadas, Sobreda