Public Priorities in Times of Scarcity
There are moments in the life of a city when the choices of its leaders stop being merely debatable and become morally indefensible. Not from a partisan perspective, but against basic standards of public responsibility, proportionality, and social priority — standards widely recognised in ethics and democratic theory. These are moments when politics abandons public service and becomes a crude exercise in distraction and calculation. The announcement by the Mayor of São Vicente of a five-day festival, in the midst of deep social and economic hardship following Storm Erin, is one such moment. This is evident not through exaggeration, but simply by looking at the facts. São Vicente is today marked by scarcity, fragile infrastructure, families struggling to recover, and a youth adrift with no clear prospects. In this context, staging a multi-day cacophony of celebration is not just a misjudgement of priorities — it is an insult to the intelligence and dignity of the populatio...
