MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

“The return of Lula da Silva and his old habits”

Lula da Silva addressing the Brazilian Congress

O Estado de Sao Paulo is the leading daily of Brazil particularly in the financial capital of the country, Sao Paulo, closely linked to markets, stock exchange and foreign trade and investments, and by the looks of it no darling of president Lula da Silva. In effect its main editorial on the taking office of the president read something like, “the return of Lula and his old habits”.

The editorial points out, and basically admits, Brazil is a divided society in almost equal halves as the final results of the presidential election showed. Lula lost where he was convinced was his stronghold, Sao Paulo state, (the richest, most industrialized and most populous), and the campaign evolved in corrosive terms, Lula was catalogued a “thief” and “the essence of corruption”, while Bolsonaro was described as “extreme right” and “fascist”. The fact is that were it not an old fox of Brazilian politics, former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, convinced Lula to take as his running mate in the ticket, moderate Geraldo Alckmin, and his modest 5/8% vote, Bolsonaro would have won a second mandate.

The editorial reads as follows,

“The country has a new government. After a period particularly turbulent of national affairs, with threats to the electoral system and the democratic institution, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Geraldo Alckmin have taken office as president and vice president of the Republic. The peaceful transition of government, following on the will of the electorate is an honorable fact for all Brazilians, having voted or not the winning ticket. Democracy is alive and is strong.

”As demanded by the Constitution, Lula and Alckmin promised to “abide, keep, defend and comply with the Constitution, with the legal system, and promote the well being of the Brazilian people, sustain the Union, the integrity and the independence of Brazil. It is a strong commitment with the rule of the Law, with the best for the people and demanding standing vigilance by the State and its control organs, particularly Congress, the Judiciary and the Prosecution, as well as the people. In a democracy the political participation of the citizen does not end in the ballots where votes are collected.

An ever present attitude, with vigilance specially necessary now. If it is a motive of national pride the prevalence of the will of the elector with the consequent power transition, it is also cause of great concern to verify that the president from the Workers Party continues with the same retrograde agenda. In his speech before Congress, after taking office, Lula showed that he insists with the same long past vision of the State's role. In his own words, society, economy and culture seem to be appendixes of an omnipotent State action.

Certainly after four years of a President of the Republic involved in chaos and destruction, it is comforting to listen the new head of the Federal Executive talk, for example in guaranteeing the preemince of the rule of the Law, in defending the environment, in revoking illegal decrees of access to weapons and ensuring the freedom of expression. All this which was mentioned by president Lula before Congress, and is obviously very positive, but it is nothing more than a repeat of his strict obligations. It is the mere consequence of the compromise and commitment of abiding by the Constitution.

The problem outstands in its whole dimension when Lula announces what he is planning to do with his government. In his speech before Congress he didn't give chance an opportunity to show that he understood the errors of past Workers Party's administrations, which nest in his third mandate, instead of craving for something different. The president promised to revoke the ceiling on budget expenditure, which he described as a 'stupidity' but never said what he plans to replace it with. Ha anticipated he will alter labor reforms, ignoring it is one of the two great advances of recent times. He reaffirmed his belief of the guiding role of the State, promising government banks and Petrobras aligned in that line of thinking. Nothing of this generates good memory recollections.

The truth is that following on past agendas and habits of the Workers Party, all seems contradictory with the idea that Lula himself has been repeating since the end of the election period, which is of forming a wide front government alliance. If the objective it to follow with the same WPs leads, this excludes from the start the possibility of a government politically open and plural. It is not a good start.

Lula added he wishes ”to honor the trust and hopes“ of the voters. There is no way to achieve this with the Workers Party government guidelines. At the ballot booths, voters did not give a ”State-motherland-Lula-Workers-Party” an overwhelming support. It hardly managed to deny Bolsonaro a second mandate. It is enough by looking at the Congressional benches of the left in the Legislative. (Bolsonaro holds the largest groupings in the Senate and Lower House of an atomized Congress)

Besides that, it was precisely the Workers Party agenda that triggered the political, social and economic crisis which ended with the victory of Bolsonario (in 2018), and in the confrontation in which the country remains divided. The new government has the obligation and duty of confronting the causes of the crisis. It is not authorized to repeat the errors of the past, which would reveal stupidity and indifference towards the people.

The country has a new government . It needs now, as soon as possible a new opposition. Politics, following on Lula's words is “the best way for dialogue among diverging interests, for the peaceful construction of consensus”. And that the authoritarian voices shut up. It is necessary to build new consensuses, which are in effect solutions and not a return to the past”