On October 30, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, popularly known as Lula, defeated Jair Bolsonaro, the far right-wing incumbent president of Brazil, to win Brazil’s presidency. The election was a runoff after no candidate won 50% of the votes in the first round of the election earlier in October.

The runoff election was very close, reflecting the increasing polarization that exists in most capitalist countries in this period. Lula won 50.9% of the vote versus Bolsonaro’s 49.1%. While the percentage was close, the vote totals were convincing as Lula won by more than 2 million votes.

Throngs of people jubilantly poured into the streets of Brazil’s cities to celebrate the defeat of the hated Bolsonaro after four years of right wing rule and a tense, polarized campaign. Statements of congratulations and solidarity with Lula poured in from socialist, anti-imperialist and progressive leaders around the world, including the presidents of Cuba, China, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Colombia and more.

Lula is the candidate of the Workers Party (PT), a social democratic party, in coalition with many other parties including the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB) and social movement organizations including the Landless Workers Movement (MST), the Brazil Workers’ Central (CTB) and many other unions and popular movements. Lula also made alliances with sectors of capital; for example, his vice president-elect is Geraldo Alckmin, who ran against Lula in 2006 and is a pro-business centrist.

Lula started out as a metal worker and a union leader in the 1980s organizing against Brazil’s right-wing military dictatorship. He was a founder of the Workers Party in that period, and ran several times unsuccessfully for president, before winning twice, serving as Brazil’s president from 2003-2010.

Lula’s successor from the Workers Party, Dilma Rousseff, served a term and a half as president after him, before being impeached and removed from office in 2016 on trumped-up corruption charges, in what many labeled a soft coup. She was replaced by Michel Temer, a Washington-friendly neo-liberal. In the 2018 elections, Bolsonaro emerged as an ‘anti-establishment’ candidate in the context of corruption charges involving people from the biggest political parties, even though his right-wing policies and rhetoric strengthened the ruling class establishment rather than challenging it. Lula was prohibited from running against Bolsonaro in 2018 because of bogus legal charges that were trumped up against him at the time. He was jailed for more than a year, until he was freed after the election.

During Bolsonaro’s four years in power, he was cozy with Donald Trump and is often compared to him politically. He publicly longed for the return of Brazil’s military dictatorship and carried out extreme pro-capitalist policies that were detrimental to workers’ rights and went on the attack against the democratic rights of many sectors of the people, as well as opening up the Amazon rainforest — vital to the planet’s environment — to destruction. His callous approach to the COVID pandemic resulted in more deaths than any other country except the U.S.

Lula’s defeat of Bolsonaro is being celebrated by progressive and left forces in Brazil. But the most significant impact of Lula’s victory may be in the realm of international politics, where he’s likely to have more room for maneuver than in domestic politics.

Brazil has the largest economy in Latin America and one of the ten largest economies in the world. It’s the largest country by population and size in Latin America, so what happens there has a significant weight in the Americas and in the world.

U.S. imperialism is in decline and is desperately working to stay the world’s dominant power, twisting arms and provoking wars around the world.

Lula’s victory in Brazil takes away the biggest right-wing ally to U.S. imperialism that was still remaining in Latin America. It’s a stunning reversal from just a few years ago when right-wing forces defeated several progressive governments in the Americas, including Brazil. In that context, the U.S. imperialists attempted to go for the jugular and take down the three left-led governments that still remained — Venezuela, Nicaragua and Cuba. Those three all staved off serious imperialist-backed attempts at “regime change” and remain strong.

With the recent electoral defeat of right-wing parties in Colombia, Peru, Honduras and now Brazil, it’s very likely that the project of increased political and economic integration in Latin America and the Caribbean — independent of the U.S. rather than subservient to it — could advance quickly.

When he was in power before, Lula put an emphasis on increasing cooperation with progressive and socialist governments and promoting “south-south” cooperation independent of U.S. imperialism, so this seems likely.

One form this will take that could have a big impact on global politics will be the revitalization and likely expansion of the BRICS alliance — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — as a growing power center independent of U.S. imperialism. Lula was one of the initiators of BRICS when he was in power before, so we’re likely to see BRICS strengthened with Lula back in power. Before the election he spoke about wanting to expand BRICS to bring in other countries like Argentina. Strengthening and expanding the unity of several of the largest economies and largest countries in the world poses a serious challenge to the dominance that the U.S. imperialists want to maintain.

#Brazil #JairBolsonaro #Lula #Americas

El 28 de octubre, los brasileños votarán en la segunda vuelta de sus elecciones presidenciales. La primera vuelta, el 7 de octubre, provocó conmociones en todo el mundo, ya que el candidato de extrema derecha pro-militar de la dictadura Jair Bolsonaro ganó el 46% de los votos y encabeza las urnas en la segunda ronda de votaciones, donde se enfrentará a Fernando Haddad del Partido de los Trabajadores (PT). Brasil es un vasto país que tiene la segunda economía más grande de América, detrás de la economía de los Estados Unidos. Brasil sólo emergió hace 33 años de una dictadura militar de derecha. Bolsonaro proviene de las fuerzas armadas y ha pedido abiertamente el retorno de Brasil al gobierno militar. Los sindicatos y la izquierda en Brasil enfrentan una situación potencialmente sombría si Bolsonaro gana, ya que llama a la represión contra sindicalistas e izquierdistas, así como a promueve ataques contra los Afro-Brasileños, las personas LGBTQ y las mujeres.

A continuación, una entrevista con Luiza Bezerra, la Secretaria de Trabajadores Jóvenes de la Central de Trabajadores y Trabajadoras de Brasil (CTB), una federación sindical militante en Brasil con 9 millones de miembros. La entrevista se realizó el 22 de octubre, aproximadamente una semana antes de la segunda vuelta de elecciones en Brasil. Aquí Bezerra da su análisis sobre el auge de Bolsonaro, lo que los sindicatos están haciendo para responder y el papel del imperialismo estadounidense en estos desarrollos.

Tenga en cuenta que cuando describe la agenda económica de Bolsonaro como “ultra-liberal”, esto no significa “liberal” como se usa en la política de los Estados Unidos. Esto se refiere al liberalismo económico: ideología extrema de libre mercado, poder corporativo sin restricciones del gobierno o los sindicatos.

Fight Back!:¿Quién es Jair Bolsonaro y qué intereses representa política y económicamente? Luiza Bezerra, CTB: Bolsonaro ha sido diputado de derecha durante 28 años. Durante mucho tiempo ha defendido el regreso de la dictadura militar y hace afirmaciones aterradoras sobre la tortura, defendiéndola. Tiene actitudes claramente misóginas, homofóbicas y racistas. Hoy ocupa el primer lugar en la campaña para la presidencia del país, con un discurso centrado en Dios (aunque el estado brasileño es secular) y en un sentimiento anti-PT [PT es el 'Partido dos Trabalhadores' en portugués, o 'Partido de los Trabajadores' en español]. El sentimiento es de exterminio del adversario y no más de un debate sano y democrático. Hay varios casos de violencia por parte de los votantes de Bolsonaro contra aquellos que no están de acuerdo con sus ideas: tenemos cinco muertes confirmadas y varias golpizas. Con discursos similares a los de la dictadura militar (o incluso Hitler) contra el comunismo y las minorías, su posible elección cuestiona la muy reciente democracia brasileña.

Fight Back!: ¿Qué amenaza representan él y su agenda para los trabajadores y los sindicatos en Brasil? Bezerra: Además del carácter antidemocrático y fascista de esta candidatura, el proyecto económico defendido por Bolsonaro es el ultra-liberalismo. El Sr. Bolsonaro votó como diputado a favor de la medida que congeló las inversiones públicas en salud y educación durante 20 años, por ejemplo, así como a favor de la ley de “Reforma Laboral”, que hizo al mercado laboral aún más precario y dirigido al debilitamiento de los sindicatos. Por lo tanto, lo más probable es que intensifique las reformas iniciadas por el gobierno golpista de Michel Temer. Por nuestra parte, si gana la elección, el momento exigirá aún más resistencia, porque junto con estos ataques a los derechos sociales y laborales es probable que se produzca una persecución política contra sus oponentes.

Fight Back!: ¿Qué está haciendo la CTB para enfrentar esta amenaza? Bezerra: Estamos en la lucha con varios movimientos sociales, participando en manifestaciones por la democracia, y hablando con la gente, difundiendo información que revela la verdadera cara del candidato Bolsonaro. Esta parte de nuestro mensaje ha sido fundamental y creo que la CTB ha desempeñado un papel importante, ya que esta elección está marcada por una dosis gigante de noticias falsas contra los candidatos de la izquierda. Nuestra tarea es presentar la verdad con respecto a los candidatos del campo popular y democrático y revelar las verdaderas intenciones del candidato Bolsonaro. No ha sido fácil. La semana pasada fue un informe sobre el esquema de envío de mensajes de noticias falsos por Whatsapp, pagado por los grandes partidarios de los negocios de Bolsonaro. Este tipo de acción es ilegal en Brasil y viola la ley electoral, ya que la financiación por parte de empresarios está prohibida y, según el informe, se gastaron millones en el envío de tales mensajes a favor de Bolsonaro.

Fight Back!: ¿Crees que Bolsonaro tiene el apoyo del imperialismo estadounidense detrás de él? Bezerra: A pesar de que no fue la primera opción del imperialismo estadounidense e incluso de la elite brasileña, debido a su posición ultraliberal y la alineación de la política exterior con los Estados Unidos, creo que hoy es la preferencia imperialista. Tiene posiciones bastante similares a las de Trump, disminuyendo el papel de las Naciones Unidas y las soluciones multilaterales, y tiende a dar la espalda a las relaciones con América Latina, África e incluso China (por razones ideológicas) y prefiere las relaciones con Estados Unidos. Bolsonaro ha dicho más de una vez que tiene en Trump un modelo a seguir.

Fight Back!:¿Qué pueden hacer las personas progresistas en los Estados Unidos y otros países para apoyar a los trabajadores y sindicatos de Brasil en este momento difícil? Bezerra: Creo que todas las formas de solidaridad son válidas, pero como dije, una de las principales batallas que hemos estado luchando es difundir la verdad. Entonces difundan lo que está pasando en Brasil. Mientras más gente sepa sobre la situación, más fuertes seremos.

Sé que la situación es complicada pero no nos rendimos. Seguiremos hablando con la gente e intentaremos mostrarles lo que está en riesgo en esta elección. Todavía hay esperanza y seguimos creyendo en los trabajadores de Brasil.

#Brazil #Labor #PeoplesStruggles #CTB #JairBolsonaro #Americas

On October 28, Brazilians will vote in the second round of their presidential election. The first round on October 7 sent shock waves around the world as extreme right-wing pro-military dictatorship candidate Jair Bolsonaro won 46% of the vote and leads polls heading into the second round of voting, where he will face Fernando Haddad of the Workers Party (PT). Brazil is a vast country which has the second largest economy in the Americas, behind only the U.S. economy. Brazil only emerged 33 years ago from a right-wing military dictatorship. Bolsonaro comes from the military and has openly called for returning Brazil to military rule. Unions and the left in Brazil face a potentially grim situation if Bolsonaro wins, since he calls for repression against trade unionists and leftists as well as promoting attacks on Black people, LGBTQ people and women.

Below is an interview with Luiza Bezerra, the Young Workers Secretary of the Brazilian Workers Central (CTB), a militant union federation in Brazil with 9 million members. The interview was conducted on October 22, about a week before Brazil’s second round election. Here Bezerra gives her analysis on the rise of Bolsonaro, what the unions are doing to respond, and the role of U.S. imperialism in these developments.

Note that when she describes Bolsonaro’s economic agenda as “ultra-liberal,” this does not mean 'liberal' like it’s used in U.S. politics. This refers to economic liberalism – extreme free market ideology, corporate power with no constraints from government or unions.

Fight Back!: Who is Jair Bolsonaro and what interests does he represent politically and economically? Luiza Bezerra, CTB: Bolsonaro has been a right-wing deputy for 28 years. He has long advocated the return of the military dictatorship and makes scary claims about torture, defending it. He has clearly misogynistic, homophobic and racist attitudes. Today he is in first place in the campaign for the presidency of the country, with a discourse centered on God (although the Brazilian state is secular) and on an anti-PT feeling [PT is the ‘Partido dos Trabalhadores’ in Portuguese, or ‘Workers Party’ in English]. The feeling is of extermination of the adversary and not more of a healthy and democratic debate. There are several cases of violence on the part of Bolsonaro voters against those who disagree with their ideas: we have five confirmed deaths and several beatings. With speeches similar to that of the military dictatorship (or even Hitler) against communism and minorities, his possible election calls into question the very recent Brazilian democracy.

Fight Back!: What threat does he and his agenda represent for workers and unions in Brazil? Bezerra: Besides the anti-democratic and fascist character of this candidacy, the economic project defended by Bolsonaro is ultra-liberalism. Mr. Bolsonaro voted as a deputy in favor of the measure that froze public investments for health and education for 20 years, for example, as well as in favor of the ‘Labor Reform’ law, which made the labor market even more precarious and aimed at weakening the unions. Therefore, he will most likely intensify the reforms initiated by the coup government of Michel Temer. On our side, if he wins the election, the moment will demand even more resistance, because along with these attacks on social and labor rights is likely to come political persecution against his opponents.

Fight Back!: What is the CTB doing to confront this threat? Bezerra: We are in the struggle with various social movements, participating in demonstrations for democracy, as well as talking to people, disseminating information that reveals the true face of the candidate Bolsonaro. This part of our message has been instrumental and I believe the CTB has played an important role, as this election is marked by a giant dose of fake news against the candidates on the left. Our task is to present the truth both with regard to the candidates of the popular and democratic camp and to reveal the true intentions of the candidate Bolsonaro. It has not been easy. Last week was a report on the scheme of sending fake news messages by Whatsapp, paid by Bolsonaro's big business supporters. This type of action is illegal in Brazil and violates electoral law, since financing by businesspeople is prohibited and, according to the report, millions were spent on the sending of such pro-Bolsonaro messages.

Fight Back!: Do you think Bolsonaro has the support of U.S. imperialism behind him? Bezerra: Although he was not the first choice of U.S. imperialism and even of the Brazilian elite, because of his ultra-liberal position and the alignment of foreign policy with the United States, I believe that he is the imperialist preference today. He has positions quite similar to those of Trump, diminishing the role of the UN and multilateral solutions, as well as tending to turn his back on relations with Latin America, Africa and even China (for ideological reasons) and preferring relations with United States. Bolsonaro has said more than once that he has in Trump a model to follow.

Fight Back!: What can progressive people in the United States and other countries do to support the workers and unions of Brazil at this difficult moment? Bezerra: I believe that all forms of solidarity are valid, but as I said one of the main battles that we have been fighting is to spread the truth. So spread what is happening in Brazil. The more people know about the situation, the stronger we will be.

I know the situation is complicated but we are not giving up. We will keep talking to people and try to show them what is at risk in this election. There is still hope and we continue to believe in the working people of Brazil.

#Brazil #Labor #PeoplesStruggles #CTB #JairBolsonaro #Americas