Lula is not offended by being a communist

During his speech at the São Paulo Forum, this Thursday (29), President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) said that he does not feel offended by being called a “communist”. The event started this Thursday and ends next Sunday (2).

“We are not offended by being called communists. We would be offended if we were called Nazis, neo-Nazis and terrorists. Being called a socialist or a communist makes us proud and sometimes we know we deserve to be called that,” he said.

Lula was responsible for the main speech at the opening event of the 26th annual meeting of the São Paulo Forum. Over 35 minutes, the PT cited the difficulties that the left has encountered around the world and spoke about the need for integration between the peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean to enter spaces occupied by the extreme right.

“We need to re-discuss the discourse of the left. Often, the right has an easier time than us with a fascist discourse. In Europe, the left has lost the discourse on the issue of migration”, said the PT.

Lula criticizes “rich in submarines”

The president also criticized inequality and hunger in his speech. According to the PT, “it is unacceptable that children die of hunger while rich people pay for rocket and submarine fares.”

Lula made reference to the passengers of the submarine Titan, owned by OceanGate, who died last week after making an expedition to visit the wreckage of the Titanic. The trip was made by five millionaires who paid around R$ 1 million to carry out the tour.

Criticism and praise for Chávez

Criticized for honoring dictators like Fidel Castro and Hugo Chávez, accused of political crimes and crimes against human rights, Lula tried to legitimize the Forum by criticizing the former Venezuelan dictator. According to the PT, Chávez was prevented from joining the organization in the 1990s.

“In our second meeting, Chávez wanted to participate [do Foro] and we didn’t let go. At the time, he tried to carry out the coup in Venezuela and we didn’t let him. We said ‘you are not democratic and you are not going to participate'”, said Lula. Still according to the Brazilian representative, all members of the organization were aware of this.

Afterwards, Lula backtracked and praised “comrade Chávez”. The Brazilian representative revealed that he “admired” the Venezuelan dictator because he “criticized personally and praised him in public”.

Hugo Chávez joined the group years later after reaching the Venezuelan presidency. Chávez was elected in 1998 to a government that should have lasted a five-year term, but he stayed in power for 14 years after the Venezuelan Constitution underwent several changes so that he would not lose his post.

In 2009, Hugo Chávez created a constitutional amendment that allowed unlimited re-elections and, while he was in charge of the country, he spoke of being “president until 2030”. The Venezuelan president only left office in 2013, when he died of cancer. The Chavista government was marked by a series of accusations of crimes against human rights and the deaths of demonstrators.

charges on the left

In the midst of the pronouncement that praised the union of the São Paulo Forum, the PT made a series of veiled criticisms of partners on the left. “Among friends, we talk in person and do not make public criticism, because criticism is of interest to the extreme right, not the people,” he declared.

“If we have a problem with a partner, instead of publicly criticizing him, we have to talk to him personally. I am president, but none of you are prohibited from criticizing me, ”he said.

“Often, we on the Latin American left destroy ourselves because we use our opponents, through the media, to speak ill of ourselves, to try to destroy ourselves and show our defects. Virtues are never shown,” he declared.

forum of São Paulo

Founded in 1990 by Lula and former Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, the Foro de São Paulo was created with the aim of bringing together the left in Latin America after the collapse of the Soviet Union. In 33 years, the organization has consolidated itself as a force that tries to impose leftist agendas on the subcontinent, supporting criminal groups such as the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) and turning a blind eye to dictatorships.

In his speech, Lula recalled the creation of the organization and classified the Forum as “a blessing”. In 1985, I was aware that we could never reach power through voting and through democracy, it was something that I had in my head at that time: ‘it is not possible for a worker to be president by voting’. [Quando eu criei o Foro] I said that it was necessary to create a mechanism that would evolve people’s political awareness for them to vote for us”, he said.

The PT member said that the idea for creating the Forum came up when he was on a trip to Cuba in the late 1980s. “Marco Aurélio and I were talking to Fidel Castro and we talked about the possibility of holding a meeting with the Latin American left. At the time, the parties were small and struggled to gain space in their countries,” said the PT.

Currently, the organization brings together 123 leftist parties from 27 Latin American and Caribbean countries. On Brazilian soil, according to the organization’s website, the Workers’ Party (PT), the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) and the Democratic Labor Party (PDT) are on the list of members of the group. Sought by the report, however, the PDT advisory reported that it is no longer part of the group, even though the party’s name is on the list of members on the Foro de São Paulo website.