Lula is basically Brazilian Bernie, he’s there to preserve the capitalist system.
He does at least have some policies to help poor people but he has been giving a lot of concessions to capital indeed. Not that it’s easy to go against them considering we have the most right leaning congress ever, but he could at least try to get people on the streets in support of good policies and see what can be done but he hasn’t done anything of the like.
I hope I can vote for him in the second round next election though because I really doubt there will be anyone even remotelly close to be as good as him. lol
The key part is that these policies are necessary to save the capitalist system from a crisis. This is the same logic that was applied by Roosevelt when he enacted The New Deal. It was either that or a worker uprising.
Yes. But at the same time is night and day the difference of what a right wing government and what one that at least cares at little about the people will do to destroy the country, as the last decade has shown anyone who lives in Brazil.
Sure, Lula’s policies prevent the system from sliding into outright fascism.
lmao you have the same name as my EWOW character
Sadly i got out at EP4 but i still made it into the top half of people who joined
No shock there Brazilian comrades have been saying his a socdem at best for years.
:padme: Because we’ve learned so much from 110 years of AES countries putting it into practice, right?
We wish…
Lula was always a centrist-to-socdem, he isnt a big reader nor has a theorical framework to look at politics. But to be fair, he really does care about the wellbeing of ppl, even if he has illusions that capitalism can deliver that
he has illusions that capitalism can deliver that
Makes him more dangerous, no? Incorrect philosophical framework, leading to incorrect decisions, regardless of the nobility of intentions
I dont think he is dangerous, why would he be? The only danger is if he gets couped
I think Brazil is facing infinitely greater dangers than Lula at the moment, FWIW. He may be a lib (succdem), but he isn’t a comprador, and he- and the country at large- has seen what the west has in store for their country; nothing but poverty, destruction, and the fascism necessary to maintain such inhumane conditions. They know, at least to some extent (clearly not enough), who their enemies are- they have been forced, over and over again, to understand that facing this adversary is a matter of life and death, of slavery or freedom,
And the common enemy that we all share- the global system of imperialism, the highest form of capitalism- is terrible enough, tyrannical enough, that I think a lot of common ground can be made. Not just with libs like Putin and Lula, but even with Islamists and monarchs like those in Iran and the Arab gulf states, with states veering dangerously close to (or arguably, already in parts of the country) fascism like India, even with countries that remain under the chokehold of such brutal anti-communist regimes like Indonesia…
Lula might be dangerous, yes. Ideologically, he certainly is a hurdle in his own right. But the material conditions and realities of the system we all live under force all of humanity (those with any humanity, anyways) together all the same- and having experienced what he has, and seen what his country has suffered, I think it can be said that the danger he poses, is pointed in the right direction for the moment, like with Putin and the rest of the BRICS.
I’d even take it a step further, and say that- for all of Lula’s (or Putin’s, or Modi’s, or the Ayatollahs,’ or the Sauds,’ etc.) dangers, by-and-large it may come to pass that, in the world they are actively working towards- and I suspect there is at least some understanding on their part that it is what they are working towards- the worst of the dangers they pose will never come to fruition. They will definitely remain dangers on the national level, against their proletariat citizenry in the world they are building- yet they are working- alongside AES no less- to destroy imperialism on a global stage, to destroy the “world police” of capital- to create a world where nations are no longer enslaved, and can determine their own future- their own paths forward, which personally I believe will eventually lead to their own confrontation and then, eventually, socialism.
In other words, they are not recreating the wheel, the cycle of imperialism. The conditions do not exist- or at least, there is very strong reason to believe they do not exist (the broad range of nations and interests involved, and the comparative strength of AES, particularly China- as well as the example of Chinese development which has proven imperialism truly inferior)- in such a manner where they can feasibly recreate the system of imperialism under their own authority. They are creating the conditions in which their own eventual undoing may come to pass- perhaps even (if I were to be overly optimistic) peacefully- where they themselves, and their nations and peoples, will have the freedom to determine amongst themselves how to progress, and will have the means to do so with the fruits of their labor and soil rather than having it stolen from them- where they will have equality or something approaching it on an international level, and where they will have the ability to develop and prosper without having it all undermined and undone to maintain western hegemony.
Video subtitles:
If you want to make a revolution in this country, Pacheco, we don’t have to read any book by Marx, we don’t have to be a Leninist, we don’t have to be a Mao Zedongist, we don’t have to be Fidel. Read the Brazilian constitution and we will regulate all the rights of the Brazilian people.
For reference: Brazil’s constitution
Did some searching and found the full speech: https://www.gov.br/planalto/pt-br/acompanhe-o-planalto/discursos-e-pronunciamentos/2024/pronunciamento-do-presidente-lula-durante-anuncio-de-investimento-do-governo-federal-para-minas-gerais
Here’s the entire paragraph that includes the part shown in the video at the end:
Bem, eu queria dizer para vocês o seguinte: os meus ministros citaram todos os números que poderiam citar, então não vou dizer, não. Vou apenas dar uma coisa para vocês. Apenas uma coisa para vocês. Esse país passou quatro anos. Na verdade, desde que deram o golpe na presidenta Dilma, esse país parecia um caminhão velho descendo ladeira abaixo, sem controle. Esse país deixou de fazer política social. Quantas casas foram feitas depois que nós saímos do governo? Quantas casas para o pobre? Hoje a gente faz casa para as pessoas mais pobres e as pessoas do Bolsa Família e o BPC não paga a casa, porque o Estado tem o direito de garantir o direito de moradia para as pessoas. Está na Constituição Federal desse país. Se a gente quiser fazer uma revolução nesse país, Pacheco, a gente não tem que ler um livro de Marx. A gente não tem que leninista. A gente não tem que ser Mao Tsé-Tung. A gente não tem que ser Fidel. Leia a Constituição Brasileira e vamos regulamentar todos os direitos do povo brasileiro que está lá. E é isso que nós estamos fazendo.
(DeepL translate) Well, I’d like to tell you this: my ministers have quoted all the figures they could quote, so I’m not going to say it. I’m just going to just give you one thing. Just one thing for you. This country has spent four years. In fact, since the coup against President Dilma, this country has been like an old truck going downhill, with no control. control. This country has stopped making social policy. How many houses were after we left government? How many houses for the poor? Today we build houses for the poorest people and the people on the Bolsa Bolsa Família and BPC don’t pay for the house, because the state has the right to to guarantee people the right to housing. It’s in the Constitution of this country. If we want to make a revolution in this country, Pacheco, we don’t have to read a book by Marx. We don’t have to Leninist. We don’t have to be Mao Zedong. We don’t have to be Fidel. Read the Brazilian Constitution and let’s regulate all the rights of the Brazilian people that are there. And that’s what we’re doing.
I put the whole speech through DeepL and found the second part of the speech to be the interesting part:
Well, I’d like to tell you this: my ministers have quoted all the figures they could quote, so I’m not going to tell you. I’m just going to give you one thing. Just one thing for you. This country has spent four years. In fact, since the coup against President Dilma, this country has been like an old truck going downhill without control. This country stopped making social policy. How many houses were built after we left government? How many houses for the poor? Today we build houses for the poorest people and people on Bolsa Família and BPC don’t pay for the house, because the state has the right to guarantee people the right to housing. It’s in the Federal Constitution of this country. If we want to make a revolution in this country, Pacheco, we don’t have to read a book by Marx. We don’t have to be Leninists. We don’t have to be Mao Zedong. We don’t have to be Fidel. Read the Brazilian Constitution and let’s regulate all the rights of the Brazilian people that are there. And that’s what we’re doing.
I’ve found hundreds and hundreds of paralyzed hospitals in this country. Hundreds and hundreds of paralyzed UPAs. Almost 6,000 kindergartens paralyzed in this country. I found 87,000 Minha Casa, Minha Vida houses abandoned. The other day I went to Ceará to inaugurate a house that should have been inaugurated in 2018. Because this plague of locusts that has swept through this country in recent times has only come to destroy, not to build anything.
When we came into government, they sent away the More Doctors that Dilma had brought in. They sent them away. Do you know how many doctors there were when we arrived in this country? Anyone who works in healthcare here should know. There were only 12,500 doctors. Today we have 26,000 doctors covering the health of the poor people of this country, in cities that often can’t even afford a doctor, because doctors are expensive. So I said to you: I want to be president again. I had already been president. I had already been, you know, it was like, but I wanted to come back to teach a lesson to the people who don’t like us.
This country has always been governed by only 35% of the population. It never reached 40%. It has always been governed. The poor were only seen at election time, because at election time, every candidate speaks ill of bankers and embraces the poor. When the elections are over, to hell with the poor and they go and look after the bankers they despised during the elections. And I wanted to prove that politics can be different. I, for example, think that bankers have to make money, because if they don’t, the government is obliged to do what Fernando Henrique Cardoso did with PROER. Twenty-something billion to save the banks. I want businesspeople to earn money, because if businesspeople earn money, they’ll invest, they’ll hire workers, they’ll pay wages, wages will turn into consumption, consumption will go to commerce, commerce will grow, stores will buy more things, industry will produce and people will eat more. That’s the country I want to build. And it can be built.
Now, as this country was governed with only 35% of the population in mind, we decided to include the people in this country. In other words, the people have to be taken into account, because the people who are poorer are not poorer because they want to be poor. Nobody chooses to be poor. I choose to be a doctor, I choose to be an engineer, I choose to be a lawyer, I choose to be a teacher. The only thing we don’t do is “I want to be poor, I want to eat badly, I want to live badly, I want to dress badly”. There’s no such thing. We want to eat well, we want to dress well, we want to live well. We want to have the latest television, we want to have good cell phones, we want to go on vacation, we want to go to the beach, we want to eat meat like people who eat meat. Why do we have to be trampled on all our lives?
Then someone asks me, a journalist: "But, Lula, don’t you think they’re spending too much? The minimum wage has already been increased twice. Good heavens, the minimum is the minimum. The name says it all. There’s nothing lower than the minimum. Now, how can I discuss, make a fiscal adjustment, over the minimum of the minimum. What I wanted to do was make a fiscal adjustment to the profitability of this country’s bankers, who make money speculating on the stock exchange, speculating, you know, every day. I’m not going to touch the humblest people. The humblest people, the state has to take care of them, because a middle-class citizen doesn’t need the state. The guy who has a house, the guy who has a car, the guy who is well married, the guy who has a family, his children studying at a good school, he doesn’t need the government. The government needs to look at those who need it, like a mother. I always say this: governing is about putting a mother’s heart in our heads so that we learn to take care of everyone, on equal terms, and to take more care of the most fragile, the most dependent. This is the country we’re going to build, people. This is the country I’m proving it’s possible to build.
I’d like to say to the deputies and senators. I wanted to say something to you. I’d like to say to the vice-governor, to my companion who is perhaps the oldest person here, apart from me. I want to say the following: I doubt, and the press is here, there must be a lot of intellectuals here, I doubt that there was a day in the state of Minas Gerais that a President of the Republic came to announce the number of things that I came to announce here. I doubt it. I doubt it.
And we’re going to build the BR-381, because we’ve already tried to hold an auction once, and the auction was empty. There’s a stretch near Governador Valadares that’s very complicated. So I said to my minister: “Minister, here’s the deal: whatever the businessman doesn’t want to do, which is to gnaw on the bone, the government will gnaw on the bone and we’ll make this road”. That’s what’s going to happen in Minas Gerais.
And so I forgot to tell you, but there’s going to be an institute in Barreiro. There’s going to be an institute. All that’s left is for the mayor to sign the document. I hope that Camilo and the mayor agree to sign it, because what I want is to educate these people, because people who are well educated, people who have a profession, go ahead and nobody needs the state. And that’s what I’m going to build. And I’ll say it again, I said it here: I want to be president again to prove that we can take care of poor people. And I want you to know: I’m going to take care of you the way I take care of my son, the way I take care of my granddaughter, the way I take care of the things I love, because I’m only where I am, I’m only what I am, an illiterate northeasterner who’s only trained as a lathe operator, to become president of the Republic. There are two things: the work of God and the work of the courage of those of you who had the pleasure of electing me.
Thank you for posting the translation.
At no point does he explain:
- how he will defend the “revolution”
- how further coups will be stopped
- how he is going to meaningfully improve democracy if he is concerned the poor only get a democratic voice every few years during election season
- how he will prevent the imperialist forces and the bourgoisie dictating economic policy
If he doesn’t think one needs to read Marx or learn from Castro, Mao or Lenin then he giving the awful impression that he does not have a viable alternative. If one does not have an understanding of the status quo then how will one fight it? How will they understand lessons of the past of those who did fight it and was successful if they do not learn from them? Where is this new theory of successful political economic development that apparently supercedes Marx scientifically?
Critical support indeed.
Without understanding dialectical and historical materialism, without developing a socialist vanguard and without democratic centralism it feels like the seeds for capitulating towards fascism.
So I said to my minister: “Minister, here’s the deal: whatever the businessman doesn’t want to do, which is to gnaw on the bone, the government will gnaw on the bone and we’ll make this road”
Sooo… lets let foreign capital take what whatever it wants and we’ll foot the cost of the things capital doesn’t consider profitable?
That seems better
Would be nice if a Brazilian comrade could double check the translation.
Not that I think this idiocy is far fetched.
The translation is ok
Banker Lula continues to bank. Nothing new here.
@☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆ That’s what I meant the other day about Lula, his international positions are often great, and he does some good stuff, did more on his previous terms, but this time he is doing little internally and being more and more shoved around by the right parties on congress, more or less under duress, but does not put up so much of a fight
Typical socdem L
giant L
what an idiot
I found a YouTube link in your post. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy: