"A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members." Mahatma Ghandi
In Chicago on November 7, 2011, hundreds of senior citizens joined with Occupy Chicago and their union supporters to protest the Congressional Super Committee's proposed cuts to social security and Medicare. Forty seven seniors were arrested, along with four persons in wheel chairs for refusing to move from the street.
In Seattle, Dorli Rainey, age 84 was pepper-sprayed in the face, when she dared to stop to observe Occupy Seattle actions on November 16, 2011, while 87 year old Francis Goldin was pushed back in a crowd by police during an Occupy Wall Street demonstration in New York City.
While the oligarchs in the U.S. are arresting and pepper-spraying senior citizens and the disabled for daring to assembly to demand no cuts in their already minimal social security benefits, last month the socialist government in Venezuela launched a massive program, fueled by a comprehensive new law, to improve the quality of life of their senior citizens and disabled, by guaranteeing pensions, medical assistance, adequate food and housing and many other services to all in fulfillment of the mandate of section Venezuela's Constitution of 1999 which guarantees the rights, including the right to a quality life, to the elderly and disabled. (see http://venezuelanalysis.com/...)
The pensions must equate with the current minimum wage, which has been increased every May 1st for the last ten years, until Venezuela has the highest minimum wage in South and Central America. Previous to this initiative in Venezuela, social security benefits were only provided to those who had accumulated a certain number of work credits in formal jobs. These benefits will apply to all, whether they have worked in the formal economy and accumulated work credits or not.
Unfortunately, in the U.S., current Social Security pensions for many people provide less than poverty level income to recipients. The average benefit in the U.S. is a little more than $1100 a month, many people, especially women with low paid work histories, receive much less than that $1100. The federal poverty guidelines set $10,890 as the poverty line figure for the contiguous 48 states, while federal poverty levels figures for Hawaii are $12,540 and Alaska is set at $13,600.
The medical assistance provided in Venezuela includes home doctors' visits, home nurses and social services, as well as assisted living, nursing homes, and hospice care. The program will not only supply new homes for those needing them, but make home repairs for those who already have otherwise adequate housing. Low cost or free food is available to all Venezuelan residents through the Mission Mercal, which provides government subsidized markets and restaurants. The elderly, disabled and pregnant have preferential access to these food sources, meaning that they don't have to stand in long lines to obtain their food. With the new law, all public and commercial sites are required to provide preferential access to the elderly, disabled and pregnant.
Provisions in the new law also prohibit age and disability discrimination in employment, an unfortunate reality here where newspaper job ads frequently specify the age of those sought for jobs, usually under age 30. This seems to be in direct violation of the Venezuelan Constitution, but is extremely common in local newspapers.
The new law governing the elderly and disabled encourages the creation of new programs for job training and the transfer of skills from the knowledgeable elders to the youth, and vice versa. The law underlying the Mission Adultos Mayores also prohibits maltreatment of the elderly and disabled, similar to the expansive law providing for the right of all women to a life without physical or psychological violence, in the home, the job and even in the maternity wards!
The Mission Adultos Mayores (older adults) is creating community councils (consejo comunals) specifically for those over 55 years of age in order to bring together those with similar needs and aspirations so they can help organize and distribute services in the community.
Recently, the consejo comunal in my apartment complex, as part of national campaign, took a census of all those residents who are eligible for senior citizens/disabled services.
To facilitate the survey, the council took advantage of a special cell phone discount program for senior citizens, in which Movilnet, the nationalized telephone company, was selling Venezuelan-made cell phones called Vergatorios for the approximate equivalent of $20, to seniors, along with a phone use plan that costs less than $3.00 a month.
Notices were posted around my apartment complex advising residents that the census for those over 55 years of age or disabled would take place at the special Vergatorio sale in our multipurpose room. Perhaps 70 of our 400 resident complex turned up to fill out the census forms, join the new consejo comunal for older adults and the disabled, and buy their discount phones.
The census form asks folks to indicate whether they suffer from illnesses for which they need medical, dental or drug assistance. Medical and dental services are free and drugs will be provided free to with a doctor's confirmation of condition and prescription. The form asks if people have difficulty walking or physically accessing services, such as doctors and clinics. Home visits will be arranged for those who cannot easily access services.
The census also inquires about the condition of your current housing: leaky roofs? Old pipes or other utilities and equipment needing repairs? (My apartment suffered from a leaky roof which damaged the walls in the living room. The leaky roof was repaired but the wall damage remains. I was told to include that on the census form so repairs could be made.)
The census also included questions about one's skills, talents and aptitudes that could be shared with the community. An important data base for developing the exchange of services and sharing of skills.
Mission Adultos Mayores, with its consejo comunals, not only is a vehicle for distributing needed services to the elderly and disabled community members, but serves as a means of bringing together those who may have previously been socially isolated, a not uncommon condition.
Perhaps one of the most unusual and innovative programs for the elderly and disabled is the availability of organized tourist trips to places of scenic and historic interest throughout Venezuela. The trips are free or low-cost, depending on resources, and provide transportation and accommodations for groups to visit important sites in the country
In addition, university level courses are being organized to provide free courses for the elderly throughout the country. This is in addition to literacy and high school diploma programs which are already available to all citizens here.
Venezuela's Mission Adultos Mayores demonstrates what can be done when a country places its shared resources at the service of the community to improve the quality of not only their physical lives but the quality of their social and intellectual lives.
And, fortunately for Venezuelans, it was not necessary for senior citizens and the disabled here to suffer arrest, pepper spraying or other forms of brutal repression in order to obtain these benefits. Backed by Section 80 of the Venezuelan Constitution, the Venezuelan organization for the elderly and disabled simply wrote a letter to their socialist president, President Hugo Chavez, and the National Assembly (the equivalent of our Congress) requesting these services, and, within months, this new law and national Mission were created. In today's socialist Venezuela, the 99% truly rule. With the advent of Occupy Wall Street, perhaps tomorrow the 99% in the United States will make the U.S. into a new, human and humane society as well!