Will Lula Make a Comeback? Global Imperialists and Resource Extractors Shudder at the Prospect

PEOPLE’S STRUGGLE IN BRAZIL 

Alan Macleod

MintPress News | March 26, 2021

BRASILIA, BRAZIL — Will the world’s sixth most populous country move away from fascism and towards a social democracy putting economic justice and anti-imperialism first once more?

That is the question on Brazilian minds right now, as earlier this month the Supreme Court dismissed all charges against former President Luis Inácio “Lula” da Silva. A colossal figure in domestic and world politics, Lula was falsely convicted of fraud in 2017, and spent more than 18 months in prison, becoming, in the words of renowned academic Noam Chomsky, “the world’s most prominent political prisoner.”

Lula Calls on Brazilians to Fight to Regain Nation’s Democracy

teleSUR | January 26, 2019

Lula de Silva, then President of Brazil, delivers speech in front of large crowd in Brasilia. | Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Lula said the Brazilian President and his regime have suffered a major political setback when he regained freedom.

The former president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, said that we must continue to fight to regain democracy in his country and warned that political infighting is coming against the “fascist right.”

João Pedro Stedile of the MST on Bolsonaro, mobilizations and freeing Lula

Peoples Dispatch | June 14, 2019

Today tens of thousands of workers in Brazil will take the streets in a national general strike against the pension reform proposed by the government of far-right Jair Bolsonaro. To learn about the current context in Brazil today and the importance of these mobilizations we spoke to João Pedro Stedile of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement about Bolsonaro’s attacks on the working class and the need now more than ever to mobilize the masses. He also reaffirms the call to fight for the freedom of former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

Reports confirm political bias behind legal persecution of Lula

 by Zoe PC

People’s Dispatch | June 10, 2019

Lula speaking to the masses. Photo: Ricardo Stuckert

On Monday, June 10, the news publication The Interceptpublished a series of reports which confirmed the political motivation behind the legal persecution of former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. The reports revealed that prosecutors in the “Operation Car Wash” task force, as well as the judge presiding over the case, Sérgio Moro, worked to persecute Lula in order to prevent a return of the Workers’ Party (PT) to power, and thus contributed to the victory of far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, in October 2018.

The reports are based on an archive of private chats, audio recordings, videos, photos and court proceedings that were provided to the outlet by an anonymous source. The Intercept said the materials “reveal serious wrongdoing, unethical behavior, and systematic deceit about which the public, both in Brazil and internationally, has the right to know.”

Latin America: ‘Lula’s Condemnation a Blow to Brazil Democracy’

teleSUR | April 05, 2018

Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez (R) welcomes Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva at Miraflores Palace in Caracas, 2007. | Photo: Reuters

Uruguayan Senator and former President Jose Mujica said he is “with Lula with all his human solidarity: always, when it rains, it stops.”

Latin America‘s leaders are expressing their solidarity and condemning Brazil‘s decision to deny former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva‘s habeas corpuspetition as a blow to democracy.

Brazil: Neither judges nor bullets will stop my fight for justice, vows Lula

by Ben Chacko

Morning Star | March 29, 2018

Supporters of Brazil’s former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva shout words of support during a rally in Quedas do Iguacu, Parana state, Brazil

BRAZIL’S former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has vowed that neither legal persecution nor violent intimidation will stop his fight for the presidency after his campaign convoy came under gun fire.

Shots hit two buses in the caravan that has been touring Parana state in southern Brazil yesterday. Officials of Lula’s Workers Party, which has won all presidential elections since 2002 but was removed from power in a constitutional coup in 2016, said Parana was the only state not to have provided a police escort for the campaign.

Lula, Brazil elections and the left

TeleSUR speaks to Sabrina Fernandes, a professor and researcher at the University of Brasilia.

teleSUR | January 24, 2018

Former Brazilian President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva. | Photo: Reuters

In an exclusive interview with teleSUR, Brazilian professor and researcher Sabrina Fernandes discusses former President Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva’s Jan. 24 corruption trial and forthcoming elections in the South American country.

Brazil’s ‘Week of National Shame Begins’: Lula

Telesur | 25 August, 2016

Former President Lula da Silva criticized the final impeachment trial against Dilma Rousseff, which begins today in the Senate.

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva branded the impeachment process against suspended President Dilma Rousseff “embarassing” on Thursday, the same day the final phase of the process began in the Senate.

The right to be born and Brazil

by Omar Olazábal Rodríguez 

Granma | 16 March, 2016

Every time I hear or read about Brazil, I instinctively recall a visit I made to the country in 1997. As luck would have it, while in São Paulo I toured the set where one of the three Brazilian versions of the soap opera El Derecho de Nacer (The right to be born) was recorded. Its director, Roberto Talma (who sadly died in 2015), was a cheerful, easy-going and well-built Brazilian who spoke with me at length, given I was a compatriot of Félix B. Caignet, whom the whole telenovela (soap-opera) industry in Latin America recognizes as the author of this, the most influential work of the genre, a direct descendant of the radionovela (radio serial).