Is there a difference between poor and needy?

This classification has become useless. Today, poverty has many faces, which translate into unmet needs, including health and education.

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Who are the poor today?

Is there a difference between poverty and need? And to what extent can it be useful to focus on it? These questions came to mind after we published this article: a beautiful story of solidarity, with a hypermarket just opened in Mestre, and named after Pope Francis, for the people who they don't have the money to go shoppingWe called them poor, simply and clearly. But many readers didn't like the definition, and they wrote to us, some quite indignant, asking us to change the title and speak generically of "needy" peopleI disagree, and I'll try to explain, trying to narrow down the difference between poor and needy.

WHO ARE THE POOR TODAY?

There are certainly distances, both quantitative and temporal, which separate the poor tout court and the needy. The first, perhaps, has entered this infernal circle of precariousness for a long time now, the second has suffered a temporary loss which he hopes to recover soon. The poor are completely destitute, the needy perhaps have some reserves to consume.

ALSO READ: Roberta Campani, a heroine of solidarity. Up and down Brianza during the height of Covid, to help.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE POOR AND THE NEEDY

Once these differences have been clarified, I ask you: do they make sense? Do they change our attitude toward these people? I'll give you a very concrete example. A man in his 50s told us his story: he lost his job, his unemployment benefits (Cassa Integrazione Sociale) and solidarity payments (Solvitamento Solidarietà) expired, and he no longer has the money to pay the rent, support his wife, from whom he's separated, and support a child. Is he poor or needy? He's certainly someone who will bless the volunteers who opened the Papa Francesco hypermarket in Mestre, and he cares little whether he can be classified as poor or needy. Moreover, the context in which we live is such that sliding from need to poverty, with all its consequences, is a matter of very little. Otherwise, in Italy we wouldn't have to deal with... 4,6 million poor, according to statistics from theIstat and not on the basis of the perceptions of some association of volunteers involved in social work.

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN POVERTY AND MISERY

This discussion takes us back to when we were thinking about the difference between poverty and misery. St. Thomas He used to say that poverty forces you to give up the superfluous, while misery forces you to give up the necessities. It's another distinction that's somewhat outdated. Poverty today has many faces (think of those who do not have access to technology, good training, healthcare) and all of them coincide with the loss of basic necessities, and therefore with poverty. A good part of theUN Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development is dedicated more than to environmental issues in the strict sense to actions aimed at eliminating hunger, defeating poverty, ensuring health, well-being, quality education, decent work, clean and accessible energy, and drinking water for all. The UN Agenda is a maxi plan against poverty which has become synonymous with poverty and horrific inequality. In Italy, home to 4,6 million poor people, approximately 75 percent of the wealth is concentrated in the hands of 5 percent of the population. And this phenomenon, unfortunately, has only worsened in recent years, widening the gap between a few rich people and many, too many poor (and/or needy).

MEASURES AGAINST POVERTY

And here we come to the public action, to what politics can do to be effective against the poverty and the need. In this case making some distinctions. The basic error of the CBI, in fact, lies in this misunderstanding: the introduction of such a tool is necessary. But are we sure it will reach the right hands? In the southern regions, especially those where the unemployment It's higher, we keep recording stories of entrepreneurs, even simple hoteliers and restaurateurs, who can't find available workers. They prefer to keep their basic income and work illegally. Not to mention the families of mafia and Camorra members who have had access to this form of bonus.

POVERTY, THE GOVERNMENT SHOULD BE ABLE TO DISTINGUISH

The government would have done better to to distinguishIn this case, the poor, with their chronicity, from the needy, with their temporary nature. And this would have avoided much absurd waste, allowing us to address inequality with more targeted and appropriate tools, based on the diverse circumstances of the recipients. At the same time, we cannot remain hung up on the World Bank's now-outdated definition of poverty: He who has to live on 1 or 2 dollars a day is poor.In Italy, can you live on 10 euros a day without feeling poor? Once again, the solutions must be targeted and well-funded, to ensure that incomes increase, wealth is better distributed, and wealth is shared more widely. And this is in the interests of everyone: rich, poor and needy..

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