In Brazil, 2016 Cry of the Excluded criticizes capitalism

With the slogan “This system is Unbearable: excludes, degrades, kills,” based on Pope Francisco speech in Bolivia, this year the traditional Cry of the Excluded intends to criticize the capitalist system. The event always happens on September 7 and is organized by social movements and Catholic pastoral centers.

"It is a system that excludes and pushes a massive amount of human beings to world peripheries without access to fundamental and necessary things for life. And it makes a large amount of people settle for crumbs that fall from the table. It is a system that denies access to basic conditions to a vast majority of people," said Bishop Milton Kenan Junior, from Barretos Diocese, in São Paulo.

According to Ari Alberti, coordinating the Cry of the Excluded, the event has happened for 22 years and was born with the idea that "it is necessary to build a popular project of society, another plan in which human life is in the first place, not the economy."

"After 22 years, we realized that structural changes had not happened. There have been improvements, but we want changes," said Alberti during a press conference in São Paulo to announce this year's slogan.

Soniamara Maranhão, from the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB), said that the cry breaks out a clamor for a system that "needs to be destroyed and a new project that needs to be conceived by the workers."

The event will happen in 24 of the 27 Brazilian states in an autonomous and decentralized way. In São Paulo, a Mass will be celebrated at Praça da Sé, city's central area, followed by a walk around accommodations for immigrants.

Translated by Amarílis Anchieta