The tragic consequences of the crisis for a significant number of our fellow Greeks is clearly illustrated in the study conducted by the Municipality of Athens on poverty and social exclusion.
The living conditions of those resorting to social services for food or shelter are literally dramatic and soberly reveal the deficit of social protection in our country. The overwhelming majority of those resorting to these services are unemployed and in a productive age group of 26 to 55 years olds, while a significant percentage of them literally have nowhere to go because they lack the most basic institution of social solidarity which is the family…
Along with our marginalized fellow Greeks there is a considerable percentage of migrants who ended up in our country, looking for a way out and today live in absolute destitution. However important the efforts of the Municipality of Athens or the solidarity networks of the church and other social bodies may be, it is obvious that they are not enough to cover the ever-increasing needs of our fellow citizens who have been sucked in by the crisis. When out of the hundreds of thousands of unemployed, only a few tens of thousands manage to collect the pitiful unemployment benefit, it is obvious that there situation is heading nowhere.
The care for those excluded from the job market and the homeless cannot be constantly reduced, the government must make them a basic priority… However troublesome the financial situation might be, however many difficulties may exist in securing funding, as a society and state we are obliged to stand in solidarity next to our fellow citizens who suffer. We must exhaust every opportunity to find more funds, from the budget or community programs, to ensure the bare minimum for the greatest number of people: decent living that does not insult ourselves and our civilization. It is everyone’s responsibility to work in that direction and the duty of the State to demonstrate in practice and not with words and promises that solidarity is a primary duty of any organized society.
TO VIMA
