After a grueling battle against U.S.-supported judicial corruption and Brazil’s current neo-fascist president, the people of Brazil have once again lifted Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a former president, to the country’s highest office.
President-elect Lula was born in the Brazilian town of Caetés in 1945. He didn’t learn to read until he was 10 years old and dropped out of school in the second grade to help support his family. By 19 he was working a regular job in a car part factory. Here Lula learned about the lack of dignity and safe working conditions workers were provided with. He gained first-hand experience with the subject when he lost a finger while on the job.
Around this time Brazil’s democratic government was overthrown. The following 20 years saw Brazil ruled as a military dictatorship. The reigning government allowed very little dissent and engaged in human rights abuses including torture.
Despite the lack of room for open expression or acquisition of political power, Lula’s experiences inspired him to get involved in the labor movement. Whereas political power can be stolen, labor power cannot be. A society cannot function without those who allow it to (the working class) doing their part. An organized labor force can hold significant, democratically sourced, power even in the confines of a dictatorship.
Lula eventually sourced this power to become the president of the Steel Workers’ Union. In this role he opposed the military dictatorship and engaged in major labor actions. Strikes that he led as the union’s president earned him a jail sentence. The chant ‘Lula Livre’ or ‘free Lula’ became popular during his imprisonment.
Through his efforts with the union and of many student activists he worked there was enough power to form a legitimate political party called the Workers’ Party in English or the Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT) in Portuguese.
As the country transitioned away from military control, Lula began seeking political office. His first success in this arena was winning a congressional race. He held this title until running for president in the first democratic election for president in the new Brazil.
After losing that race, Lula spent the next several years organizing the PT and making attempts at the presidency. In 2002 Lula finally won the presidency and served until 2010.
His presidency was a resounding success. Lula won his first election amid an economic downturn that he reversed. All the while he expanded the country’s social safety net and education systems. Lula not only saved the economy but did so in a way that broke from the neoliberal austerity consensus which resulted in the lifting of, by some measures, 40 million people from poverty.
Lula would serve two full terms before leaving the presidency to his Chief of Staff Dilma Rousseff who was a torture victim who fought against the dictatorship. When Lula left office, he had the highest approval rating of any politician in the world. Some polls showed his government had an 87% approval rating upon his departure.
Dilma would serve until 2016 when the country’s elite had enough of a leveling playing field. In what has been deemed by many as a coup de tat, Dilma was wrongfully impeached and removed from office.
After this coup, Lula decided to once again run for President. He was very likely to succeed given his outstanding record and high degree of popularity. This was unacceptable for the country’s elite and U.S. intelligence services. So, Lula was investigated for and imprisoned over phony corruption charges prior to the election.
One very loud congressman throughout this battle was Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has a history of support for the military dictatorship. He served in the military during the regime’s reign reaching the rank of captain. Leading a neofascist movement, with Lula out of the way, Bolsonaro won the presidency in 2018.
The judge that was responsible for Lula’s imprisonment, Sergio Moro, was quickly welcomed into the Bolsonaro administration upon his victory. This blatant corruption was one of many factors that called Lula’s imprisonment into question. Lula fought back through legal means and secured his release in 2019 and had his charges dropped in 2021.
By the time of Lula’s release, it was clear that Bolsonaro was a dangerous tool of the elite. Bolsonaro had begun to open up the Amazon rainforest for development and enabled violence against the area’s indigenous peoples. He had also ordered the military to commemorate the 1964 coup that brought the dictatorship into power and heralded Dilma Rousseff’s torturer as a national hero.
Emboldened by his time in prison, Lula decided to once again seek the presidency. After a grueling campaign marked by false claims of fraud and politically motivated violence, Lula has won the election.
For a more detailed view into Lula’s story and accomplishments check out the work of the late Michael Brooks, author of Against the Web, Host of The Michael Brooks Show, and co-host of The Majority Report w/ Sam Seder. For an in-depth look into the coup against Dilma and Lula’s false imprisonment check out The Edge of Democracy on Netflix. Left is best, Lula Livre!
Trent Chassy
Prospectus Editor
