People’s Social Solidarity Network: The delivery of over 700 packages has began
This year there is an increase in the number of packages due to the effects of the coronavirus
14th December 2020, ‘HARAVGI’, by Yiannis Kakaris
The preparation of the packages given every year by the People’s Social Solidarity Network began today, with the aim of delivering essential goods and items to families and people in need before Christmas. Nevertheless, help and solidarity alone cannot combat poverty effectively and definitively.
The People’s Social Solidarity Network, which consists of AKEL, the class-based trade union federation of PEO and all the mass organizations of the People’s Movement of the Left, operates all year round providing support to families who have great difficulty in meeting their elementary needs, mainly through the provision of food packages. The products are collected, after carrying out a campaign to collect foodstuffs, but also by contributions made by people or donations from companies.
This activity reaches a peak during the Christmas and Easter period. This year, packages will be given to over 700 families, all over Cyprus. The voice of AKEL “Haravgi” newspaper spoke to the Head of the People’s Social Solidarity Network in Nicosia comrade Marina Koukou, who stated that during the food collection campaign there are people who give food and others financial help so that the Network can buy the necessary products.
There are also companies that offer us free products and others that give us a big discount. Expressing the Network’s gratitude to all the people who have offered their help to our fellow citizens from their own meagre income, but also the companies that have made contributions, M. Koukou said that, “This year we have witnessed an increase in the number of these packages, since due to the coronavirus pandemic, additional financial problems have been created for many people. Furthermore, many people are recipients of the Guaranteed Minimal Income (GMI) or working people on low incomes/salaries, while the cost of living is so high that even with some income, they cannot meet their elementary needs.”
Charity doesn’t solve the problem
Marina Koukou noted that the People’s Network helps people in need, but at the same time exerts pressure through the daily activities and struggles of the People’s Movement of the Left, for the government to improve or change its social policy to meet the needs of vulnerable groups and people who are facing this dire economic situation. She added that large member families, single parents and immigrants face particular problems. She cited as an example cases where women immigrant single parents, in accordance with the laws and the government’s benefits policy, are excluded from receiving any state support.
Marina Koukou pointed out that the problems our fellow human beings are facing can’t be solved by charity and solidarity, but through specific measures which must be taken to improve the state’s social policy and make better use of funds for the benefit of the vulnerable groups of the population. Only then will the phenomenon of homelessness and hungry people cease to exist.
Review and modernization of the GMI
Referring to the Guaranteed Minimum Income allowance, Marina Koukou stressed that even this is not enough and that it often runs out in the middle of the month, with the beneficiaries at a dead end, since the cost of living is very high in relation to the allowance. The mass organizations of the People’s Movement demand a review of the GMI, with M. Koukou wondering whether, after 6 years of its implementation, it satisfies and covers the implementation of a correct social policy. As she explained, “Many parameters must be taken into account when we talk about providing support to families and more specifically to poor large member families or single-parent families. The government’s social policy cannot limit itself to granting this allowance. That is precisely why we are calling for a review, in addition to the other issues that arise regarding the support of families to cover the rent and other problems that arise for a family to live with dignity”.
