Impoverishment as a condition | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH
-
0:10 - 0:17When we wander around the streets
Pachi spoke to us about today, -
0:17 - 0:22we usually see people
less fortunate than ourselves. -
0:23 - 0:28And we typically call
these people "the poor." -
0:28 - 0:32I would like to take this opportunity
to share with you today -
0:32 - 0:38my personal exploration
into what we can learn -
0:38 - 0:42about these peoples' condition,
-
0:42 - 0:43and see if its possible --
-
0:43 - 0:44(Phone rings)
-
0:44 - 0:47to learn something.
-
0:47 - 0:50(Laughter)
-
0:50 - 0:55Learn something about those people
we call the poor, -
0:55 - 1:00or if it's only possible
to see those women -
1:00 - 1:04we believe can't help themselves
from having more children, -
1:04 - 1:09or if we believe the people in the streets
-
1:09 - 1:15are there simply because they couldn't
be bothered to keep walking, -
1:15 - 1:19and they took their shoes off
because they weren't very comfortable, -
1:19 - 1:21and they're just lazy,
-
1:21 - 1:26or that the children we see
begging for money in the streets -
1:27 - 1:30just have lazy parents
who left them there. -
1:30 - 1:34What do we think about the poor,
-
1:34 - 1:39or those people we call the poor,
when we see them in the street? -
1:39 - 1:43I've purposefully chosen
this image without a face, -
1:43 - 1:46which is neither man nor woman,
-
1:46 - 1:52who is simply labelled as "poor."
-
1:53 - 1:57We are the ones who label them as poor
-
1:58 - 2:03and the problem
with labeling them like this -
2:03 - 2:07is that we simply forget
everything else about them. -
2:07 - 2:09They're "poor," and that's it.
-
2:09 - 2:15We forget the fact
they are people, they are parents, -
2:15 - 2:18they are children and they are siblings.
-
2:18 - 2:23We just see them as economic entities.
-
2:23 - 2:29Even when we try to define poverty
using the poverty index, -
2:29 - 2:34the level of access
they have to health care, -
2:34 - 2:39when we talk about
the minimum wages they receive. -
2:39 - 2:45All of the indicators we have for poverty
are material based. -
2:45 - 2:50We label them to a point
that if we labelled someone else, -
2:50 - 2:55for example, if we wanted to put
a label on someone like... -
2:56 - 2:57A label like..
-
2:58 - 3:00(Laughter)
-
3:00 - 3:01A label like...
-
3:02 - 3:05Could you guys make
these slides work, please? -
3:06 - 3:07A label like "wife," right?
-
3:09 - 3:11We imagine someone that fits this label.
-
3:11 - 3:17If we see a label with astronaut on it,
we don't know if it's a woman or a man. -
3:17 - 3:22Or "engineer,"
that's an even worthier label. -
3:22 - 3:25But "poor" is a shameful label.
-
3:30 - 3:34You can't say that someone is poor.
-
3:34 - 3:38But we can say that someone is living
-
3:38 - 3:43in conditions of impoverishment.
-
3:43 - 3:50I think it's important to understand
that you can't BE poor. -
3:50 - 3:55Instead, you live
in conditions of poverty. -
3:55 - 4:01And these conditions have
specific characteristics. -
4:01 - 4:05I would like to explore these
characteristics with you today, -
4:05 - 4:10the ones I call the threefold
conditions of impoverishment. -
4:11 - 4:18First, impoverishment
has consequences on peoples' lives -
4:18 - 4:20which can't be seen on the surface.
-
4:21 - 4:27The first are financial limitations.
-
4:27 - 4:32The second, an emergency condition.
-
4:32 - 4:34We'll explore it more in a moment.
-
4:35 - 4:39And the third, a condition of scorn.
-
4:40 - 4:46The condition of suffering
from financial limitations -
4:46 - 4:52has a direct impact on someone's
access to nourishment -
4:52 - 4:59a sufficient amount of food
of the appropriate quality. -
5:00 - 5:04I would now like to ask all of you
to experience it for yourself. -
5:04 - 5:10Imagine how it feels to be hungry.
-
5:12 - 5:15And then what it is like
to be hungry all the time. -
5:17 - 5:20And then think what it is like
-
5:20 - 5:25to make your children feel hungry.
-
5:26 - 5:27That changes things.
-
5:30 - 5:34And think about the
consequences of malnutrition, -
5:34 - 5:39not hunger, but instead
the result of not eating -
5:39 - 5:41and not feeding your children.
-
5:41 - 5:45And what are the consequences
on personal development -
5:45 - 5:47of not having enough money to buy food?
-
5:49 - 5:52The thing is... we don't see it
in the poverty-stricken, do we? -
5:53 - 6:00You might tell me that when you give
one of the "poor" a coin, -
6:00 - 6:02do you really go,
-
6:02 - 6:06"Well, they need to eat,
or their hair won't grow?" -
6:09 - 6:10Secondly...
-
6:14 - 6:15Let's see.
-
6:18 - 6:21They don't have access to decent housing.
-
6:21 - 6:23"So, not only do I not eat,
-
6:23 - 6:27but on top of that, I live in a house
where the problem isn't a leak, -
6:27 - 6:28it's that it has no roof."
-
6:29 - 6:32"So I have a series
of terrible health problems -
6:32 - 6:37and I also share a 4 square meters
of a room with four other people -
6:38 - 6:43which has horrific consequences
for my health." -
6:43 - 6:48What's more, this city reaches both
stifling and very cold temperatures. -
6:48 - 6:49And not only in this city.
-
6:52 - 6:54And the problem gets more complicated.
-
6:54 - 6:58Since I don't have any money,
and it's not obvious, -
6:58 - 7:04I have a bigger problem, as I don't have
access to a decent healthcare system. -
7:04 - 7:06Of course, a lot of countries
around the world -
7:06 - 7:09have universal healthcare systems, but...
-
7:12 - 7:16If you don't have any money,
things are way harder, -
7:16 - 7:18much, much harder.
-
7:18 - 7:23In addition, as I'm penniless,
I don't get a good education. -
7:24 - 7:29And if you say that our system
is top-notch, tell me... -
7:30 - 7:35Why do so many of us send
our kids to private schools? -
7:35 - 7:37And why don't they go to state schools?
-
7:37 - 7:41Because if things really were
equal in our countries, -
7:41 - 7:44we would send our kids to state schools.
-
7:44 - 7:46But it seems there is a difference.
-
7:46 - 7:49And that's why we send our kids
to private schools. -
7:50 - 7:53And so if you're penniless,
you also end up - -
7:53 - 7:57because you have no money -
getting a worse education. -
7:58 - 8:01These things add up, they multiply
and they get more complex. -
8:01 - 8:04And if all of that weren't enough,
-
8:04 - 8:08and we were only talking
about the financial limitations - -
8:10 - 8:14there is no safety net for contingencies.
-
8:14 - 8:15"On top of it all,
-
8:15 - 8:19you can't get sick,
or that'll be the end of it!" -
8:20 - 8:23Which brings us to the second condition.
-
8:23 - 8:26The emergency condition.
-
8:26 - 8:28In the emergency condition,
-
8:29 - 8:34the person is still
at the center of everything, -
8:34 - 8:36but there's a problem -
everything is connected. -
8:37 - 8:39"It's not just
that I have to pay the bills, -
8:39 - 8:41but that I have to do it today."
-
8:43 - 8:46"It's not that I have no money for food,
-
8:46 - 8:48but that I don't have enough to eat today,
-
8:48 - 8:50nor did I have enough yesterday.
-
8:50 - 8:55And it's not that I can't pay
the hospital fees, -
8:55 - 8:57it's that I have to pay them now..."
-
9:03 - 9:05OK, someone gets sick,
-
9:07 - 9:10and that emergency has now
totally gotten out of hand. -
9:10 - 9:13"My family member got sick,
and that put us in a lot of trouble." -
9:13 - 9:17And so the contingency crashes down
-
9:17 - 9:20and takes with it everything
that it comes across. -
9:21 - 9:25And the slightest flu means...
-
9:27 - 9:30You wanted to fix a leaky roof,
but now, you can't. -
9:31 - 9:33A flu wipes out three months'
worth of food. -
9:35 - 9:38Mothers aren't allowed to get sick.
-
9:39 - 9:41If they do, their kids don't get to eat.
-
9:44 - 9:47If the financial limitations
weren't tragic enough, -
9:47 - 9:50and the emergency condition
didn't make everything so terrible, -
9:50 - 9:52well, we've also got the third condition.
-
9:53 - 9:57The third condition
is that of scorn or stigma. -
9:57 - 10:00Without a doubt,
-
10:02 - 10:06this is the most generalized
form of discrimination. -
10:07 - 10:12There is no form of discrimination
more widespread than being poor. -
10:13 - 10:16A sense of scorn comes over families,
-
10:18 - 10:20the family takes revenge,
-
10:20 - 10:27the poor dad leaves home
-
10:28 - 10:30and abandons his wife,
-
10:30 - 10:33not only because he's a bad father,
-
10:33 - 10:36but also because he needs to escape.
-
10:36 - 10:42He takes revenge on the circumstances,
because he no longer wants to be poor, -
10:43 - 10:45He doesn't want to be
stuck with it anymore, -
10:45 - 10:51he no longer wants to live
with the constant limitations -
10:51 - 10:53and in a perpetual state of emergency.
-
10:54 - 10:57Grandparents don't want
to look after their grandkids, -
10:57 - 10:59because they already took care of you!
-
11:01 - 11:05There are wonderful exceptions
based on love. -
11:07 - 11:11But we don't see them
when we stigmatize the poor. -
11:14 - 11:16That label which reads "they're just lazy"
-
11:16 - 11:18rears up its head again.
-
11:19 - 11:22The scorn: "Don't offer work
to a poor person." -
11:23 - 11:25"Never give a poor person a job."
-
11:26 - 11:29"They're lazy, and that's why
they can't get a job." -
11:35 - 11:36What's more, they're invisible.
-
11:38 - 11:39We're in the city squares.
-
11:39 - 11:42This happened to me recently
in a public square, -
11:42 - 11:46there was a sign which read: "No begging."
-
11:47 - 11:50Wouldn't it be better
if there were no begging? -
11:52 - 11:53That it weren't possible
-
11:53 - 11:58because the community
would be given the means -
11:58 - 12:01to make it inconceivable
for someone to beg? -
12:02 - 12:06Instead of putting up a sign
excluding the poor, -
12:06 - 12:09those people we call "poor"
in public spaces -
12:09 - 12:11because we don't want to see them.
-
12:11 - 12:16We don't see the poor begging in squares
or outside temples any more. -
12:16 - 12:19We don't see them,
as they're part of the background. -
12:21 - 12:23Socially invisible.
-
12:24 - 12:25They don't cause us pain anymore.
-
12:26 - 12:30We don't see poverty anymore.
-
12:32 - 12:37And on top of that, public services
pointed their finger at them before, -
12:38 - 12:41as people they think are inferior.
-
12:41 - 12:46And our taxes are supposed
to make our cities more equal. -
12:47 - 12:50So why are the poorer areas left unpaved
-
12:51 - 12:54and the richer areas paved?
-
12:54 - 13:01I don't understand, aren't taxes
supposed to stop that from happening? -
13:01 - 13:04But poor people don't seem to matter.
-
13:04 - 13:07"Let them have access to worse services."
-
13:08 - 13:10That comes from public transportation
-
13:10 - 13:13and other organizations
that foment inequality here. -
13:15 - 13:18That's what they are like.
-
13:20 - 13:25Yet, of course, we're fighting to keep
our luxury taxis going. -
13:27 - 13:30The dialog in the media
is about keeping premium taxi services. -
13:30 - 13:33That's what we're fighting about today.
-
13:33 - 13:37But I can't hear any arguments over
maintaining a respectable service. -
13:42 - 13:47And all those mobile phones,
belonging to those who can afford them, -
13:47 - 13:50and who live off them,
because they also have 16 jobs -
13:50 - 13:53and their kids are everywhere,
-
13:53 - 13:57and as they're multi-purpose,
with a gazillion side jobs. -
13:58 - 14:04Mobile phones, water and gas
are more expensive for them than for me. -
14:04 - 14:07And companies say:
"Well, of course, they are riskier, -
14:07 - 14:10they might steal the equipment,
the tank might never re-appear, -
14:10 - 14:13it's too far away,
there's no plumbing there, -
14:13 - 14:17it's a lot more expensive,
so we'll charge them more." -
14:24 - 14:28This third condition generates
a lot of stress. -
14:30 - 14:32And on top of people being stressed,
-
14:36 - 14:40the three conditions always
happen simultaneously. -
14:40 - 14:43There's no chance they won't happen
simultaneously, ever. -
14:45 - 14:46There's more.
-
14:48 - 14:54Each condition intensifies
the previous one. -
14:55 - 15:02And if we did want to find solutions
to help and provide aid, -
15:02 - 15:06mechanisms to eradicate poverty,
-
15:06 - 15:10we would need to provide them
with all three conditions in mind -
15:10 - 15:15because there's no point giving someone
a coin while mocking them -
15:15 - 15:18or giving money, but doing so
in six years' time. -
15:20 - 15:25We always need to focus
on the limitations, emergencies -
15:26 - 15:28and the smiles,
-
15:28 - 15:31fair treatment, and dignity!
-
15:36 - 15:41There is always one person in the center,
everything revolves around that person. -
15:42 - 15:47Oddly enough, human happiness,
as mentioned here before, -
15:47 - 15:52doesn't depend on money nor time,
-
15:54 - 16:00nor on limitations, nor the rush
there is to pay the electricity bill. -
16:04 - 16:10José Antonio Abreu,
-
16:11 - 16:14quoting Mother Teresa, said:
-
16:14 - 16:21"True poverty isn't the lack of bread,
nor the lack of shelter, -
16:21 - 16:23but it is the feeling of being nobody."
-
16:24 - 16:31Being invisible, scorned, going unnoticed.
-
16:32 - 16:37Also, Mother Teresa,
in an interview with reporters, -
16:39 - 16:42after leaving them all gobsmacked -
-
16:43 - 16:45After the interview, they asked,
-
16:45 - 16:50"Would you tell us
how to live a more fulfilling life?" -
16:52 - 16:53And she answered,
-
16:55 - 17:00"Smile. And I'm being utterly serious."
-
17:01 - 17:03I'd like to tell you the same,
-
17:04 - 17:05let's be happy.
-
17:06 - 17:11Let's make those around us happy
with genuine care. -
17:12 - 17:15We need hardly anything more.
-
17:15 - 17:16Thank you so much.
-
17:16 - 17:18(Applause)
- Title:
- Impoverishment as a condition | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH
- Description:
-
Poverty is one of the main challenges the global community faces nowadays. Pablo offers us a paradigm of poverty and explains the true tragedy behind it.
Pablo Zubieta is a marketing coach who leads the NGO "A Favor de lo Mejor" (In Favor of the Best), which promotes improving Mexican TV content. Pablo was nominated by the magazine "Expansión" as one of the top 15 marketing stars and he holds a PhD in Philosophy and Communication from the University of Navarra. He lives with his loving wife and four children between Pamplona, Spain and Monterrey, Mexico.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- Spanish
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 17:19
Krystian Aparta approved English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH | ||
Krystian Aparta accepted English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH | ||
Krystian Aparta rejected English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH | ||
Andy Cruise accepted English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH | ||
Annie Eve edited English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH | ||
Annie Eve edited English subtitles for La Condición de Escasez | Pablo Zubieta | TEDxCPH |