Lula Might Govern Brazil

The Workers Want the Power

By Luis A. Gómez

October 4, 2002

Sao Paulo, Brazil, October 6, 2002: In the late 1960s, young Luiz Inácio da Silva began work in the factories of Sao Paulo, the most populated and developed state of Brazil. In those years, his older brother, a member of the Brazil Communist Party, introduced him to the union struggle. This metal worker, who the people know as Lula – who today shines a gray beard and has a friendly smile beaming from his face – could become, a few hours from now, the president of his country and spark a turning point in the history of our continent…

For the first time in its history, the largest and post powerful country in Latin America might have a government of the people. As Lula, who has been the Workers Party candidate for the past three elections, has, according to public opinion polls, almost half the votes already assured. In Brazil, fifty percent of the vote is required to win in the first election round. If this doesn’t happen, the top two candidates will go for a second round on the 27th of October (and, according to the polls, it could possibly happen today). Thirty years of struggle against dictatorship, against hunger and the poverty that hammers throughout the country, could bear fruit in a government “for all the Brazilian people,” as authentic journalist Renato Rovai comments; our guide, today, in these lands.

Today, 115 million people are voting. Today, the empire could be defeated in our América. If Lula wins today, Brazil will be come a new bastion of hope for those who truly desire a more dignified and just life. That’s why we are here, awaiting the results and a huge party in the streets of this enormous city (with 10 million inhabitants in the metropolitain area, and 20 million if we include all the cities on its immediate periphery.

As Lula has said, his government would mean “ending the misery and hunger that still punish almost 50 million people in our country. It opens the possibility that the great majority of the Brazilian people will obtain full citizenship, that the young people already won’t have to confront the incredible difficulties that so many people and I have had in this life. Making Brazil better means changing the route, steering our country away from the situation of vulnerability that was brought about by the current economic policy. It means resuming development with a redistribution of income and social justice… that’s why we have a coalition with all the forces that truly want change in Brazil.”

Stay tuned, kind readers, because once again this year, as has happened in Venezuela, and in Bolivia, the road of history ceases to be piled with defeats for all the people… today, the people will be able to smile again. And we want to share with you this important moment.

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