Regional and world leaders congratulated Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after he defeated challenger Flávio Bolsonaro to win an unprecedented fourth term.
A man who has been opposing the far right in Brazil since the 70s. He became a union leader after a workplace incident and medical negligence caused him to lose his little finger at 17 years old working in a steel mill, as he had been working there during the nights to be able to afford living. From union leader, he spent many years fighting the far-right USA-backed military dictatorship in Brazil, ending up in prison more than once, and also suffering torture. In 1989, when Brazil recovered its democracy, he ran for president against Collor, a rich asshole from the far right, and then lost because of the far right propaganda of “He is a Communist, he will take your pension money and savings from you!!”. What ended up happening though was that Collor himself had that plan, his right-wing government froze the savings accounts of middle class people, and then confiscated it all. A few years later, in 2002, Lula finally won the presidency, and his first and second turns (2003-2010) were the fastest Brazil has ever grown and developed, we went from 12th to 6th economy in the world, and cruised unscathed through 2008 economic crisis. On top of all that, his early government is responsible for saving millions of people from hunger and misery, and for the first time ever Brazil had left the world’s hunger map. And then he was reelected back in 2022 and had to repeat the same feat of saving people from hunger and misery yet again, because of what the previous two far-right governments did.
A man who has been opposing the far right in Brazil since the 70s. He became a union leader after a workplace incident and medical negligence caused him to lose his little finger at 17 years old working in a steel mill, as he had been working there during the nights to be able to afford living. From union leader, he spent many years fighting the far-right USA-backed military dictatorship in Brazil, ending up in prison more than once, and also suffering torture. In 1989, when Brazil recovered its democracy, he ran for president against Collor, a rich asshole from the far right, and then lost because of the far right propaganda of “He is a Communist, he will take your pension money and savings from you!!”. What ended up happening though was that Collor himself had that plan, his right-wing government froze the savings accounts of middle class people, and then confiscated it all. A few years later, in 2002, Lula finally won the presidency, and his first and second turns (2003-2010) were the fastest Brazil has ever grown and developed, we went from 12th to 6th economy in the world, and cruised unscathed through 2008 economic crisis. On top of all that, his early government is responsible for saving millions of people from hunger and misery, and for the first time ever Brazil had left the world’s hunger map. And then he was reelected back in 2022 and had to repeat the same feat of saving people from hunger and misery yet again, because of what the previous two far-right governments did.