Poverty, precariousness and livelihoods

Okay, I'm on shaky ground here, but I've been thinking about those three concepts for a while... Some forms of poverty are not at all precarious, while some form of intense precariousness do not (yet) amount to poverty.

So for example a monk or a retiree on a meagre state pension can live in objective "poverty" but their situation does not lack stability or security. If they are prepared to be frugal, they can be fine forever and still be very generous towards others.

Precariousness on the other hand implies that all could be lost at the drop of a hat with little prospects for support. To various extents, precariousness can force individuals into increasingly selfish behaviour patterns. Therefore, I wonder if precariousness is among the great social evils of our time.

There was a bit of thinking done about this in Italy at the end of the last decade. It was a fascinating movement really. Individuals who found themselves living in precariousness availed themselves of a made-up patron saint, San Precario.

San Precario informally became the patron saint of precarious workers, the unemployed, the underemployed, people made redundant, the uninsured, illegal immigrants, the physically and financially dependent and those isolated from formal and informal circuits of solidarity. He is invoked against neoliberalism, evil goverment decisions and the precariousness that ensues. That's a pretty cool idea.

People began to print holy cards (seriously!) and to give them out at demonstrations. They look like this:





I like using the concept of precariousness because I wonder if people need a modicum of security in order to feel empowered to be generous. Or whether security itself is a false god that should be relinquished entirely. Big debate here...

I've seen lots of fairly secure (though by no means wealthy) people launch into great ventures. On the other hand, my generation is often accused of not being very generous. But then they are saddled with student debt, have no job security, no savings, no retirement plan, and no prospect of being able to buy their own homes.

Should Christians aim to design forms of moderate material security that do not depend on the functionning of the capitalist system, like most pension funds do, like the church too often does?

I feel for the people of Greece because I sense that it is precariousness, not necessarily enforced frugality, that is killing them.

I often dream of a green and hilly land where people and households are simply able to have a somewhat ethical livelihood that enables them to feed their family and enjoy creation. Is that a crazy dream to have? To work towards?