Lula’s social council has MST and NGO that equates animals to humans

The government of Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT) began, last week, the state plenary sessions of the Participatory Pluriannual Plan (PPA), a process in which civil society groups give their opinion on what should be prioritized in the country’s public budget for the year Following. Bahia, Pernambuco, Alagoas and Paraíba were the first among the 27 states that should be heard until July.

For decades, one of the pillars of the PT’s performance in public administration is what the party usually calls “social participation”, which consists of giving space in government to NGOs, associations, entities and representatives of different classes, generally ideologically aligned with the party . The Participatory PPA brings these groups together to give their opinion on the country’s budget.

In this process, in addition to the state plenary sessions, the government also hears opinions from the Social Participation Council, a body created by Lula with the appointment, in April, of 68 representatives. Among the groups chosen by the PT members are some whose radicalism is evident.

Among the best known are the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST), the Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), the National Union of Students (UNE) and the Single Workers Central (CUT). There are, in addition, less famous groups, but whose participation in the social consultancy to the PPA suggests the openness of the PT to new types of radicalism.

This is the case, for example, of the Front of Actions for Animal Liberation. It is an “anti-speciesist” entity, that is, that preaches the equality of dignity among all species of animals – that is, an organization that openly defends the assimilation of animals to human beings has, since April of this year, advisory power on Brazil’s budget.

“It is not by taking chickens out of cages and leaving them huddled together in a shed or on a farm that we will save them. It is by not eating them that they will be saved,” the organization said in a tweet. “Pigs are sociable animals, they like company, they are able to show affection and form bonds with other animals, including humans. In addition, pigs are extremely intelligent animals, having their level of cognitive intelligence similar to that of a 3-year-old child. (…) And then, let’s get the little pigs off our plate?”, proposes in another post.

Also on the Council for Social Participation is the Levante Popular da Juventude, a revolutionary far-left organization that has already committed acts of vandalism against former president Jair Bolsonaro, former governor of São Paulo João Doria, and even against the minister Cármen Lúcia, of the Federal Supreme Court (STF), when, in 2018, she gave the tie-breaking vote denying Lula habeas corpus in a trial.

What the Social Participation Council can do

Other extremist organizations, such as the journalistic identity militancy website Mídia Ninja, the radical feminist entity Articulação de Mulheres Brasileiras and the Black Coalition for Rights – which defends the controversial and unscientific concept of “environmental racism” – also make up the list of groups in society. who will have a voice in defining the country’s budget.

Participation in the definition of the budget is just one of the duties of the Social Participation Council. The purpose of the group, according to the decree that established it, is “to advise the President of the Republic in dialogue and interlocution with civil society organizations and with the representation of union and popular movements”.

The organizations will only have advisory power, that is, there is no commitment that the government will give importance to what they deliberate. But, by bringing these groups into the debate over the country’s budget, Lula strokes the ego of the leftist radicals who helped him win the election.

There is a forecast that the Social Participation Council meets every three months, according to the government. The members are not remunerated, but, generally, expenses with air tickets and accommodation in case of face-to-face meetings in Brasília are covered by the Union. Members of organizations are qualified as providers of “relevant unpaid public service”.

To participate in the inauguration ceremony of the Social Participation Council, on April 19, according to the Transparency Portal, several of the 68 members of this new collegiate body spent more than R$ 1,000 on accommodation to spend two days in Brasília, an amount that corresponds to to high standard hotel rates in the federal capital. They also won round trip air tickets to Brasilia and back to their states.

During the Bolsonaro government, the prioritization of virtual meetings for collegiate bodies was pleaded in some portfolios, such as the Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights (MMFDH), but the demand was poorly received by council members. According to Lula’s decree that established the Social Participation Council, the group’s quarterly meetings will all be held in person in Brasília.

Check the list of representatives of the society of the Social Participation Council

• Adilson Gonçalves de Araújo – representative of the Central dos Trabalhadores e Trabalhadores do Brasil;
• Aldenora Gomes Gonzalez – representative of the National Front in Defense of SUAS;
• Ana Isabel de Magalhães Ramalho – representative of the Small Farmers Movement;
• Anderson Lopes Miranda – representative of the National Fight Movement in defense of the Homeless Population;
• Aristides Veras dos Santos – representative of the National Confederation of Rural Workers, Farmers and Family Farmers;
• Bruna Chaves Brelaz – representative of the National Union of Students;
• Carlos Alberto Machado Alves – representative of Levante Popular da Juventude;
• Carlos Alencastro Cavalcanti – representative of the National Movement of Collectors of Recyclable and Reusable Materials;
• Carlos Daniel Dell Santo Seidel – representative of the Brazilian Justice and Peace Network;
• Carlos Faustino Firmino de Souza (Keila Simpson) – representative of the Brazilian Association of Non-Governmental Organizations;
• Carlos Magno Silva Fonseca – representative of the Brazilian Association of Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, Transvestites, Transsexuals and Intersex;
• Celia Gonçalves Souza – representative of the National Center for Africanity and Afro-Brazilian Resistance;
• Ceres Luísa Antunes Hadich – representative of the Landless Rural Workers Movement;
• Clarissa Marques Santos França – representative of the Coalition Rights on the Network;
• Cristiane da Silva Ribeiro – representative of the Dhesca Brasil Human Rights Platform;
• Cristiano Motta Schumacher – representative of the National Movement for Housing;
• Cícero Felix dos Santos – representative of Articulação do Semiárido;
• Danilo de Cerqueira Cesar – representative of the Paulo Gustavo Law National Committee;
• Denildo Rodrigues de Moraes – representative of the National Coordination of Quilombos Articulation;
• Deyvid Souza Bacelar da Silva – representative of the Single Federation of Petroleum Workers;
• Débora Rodrigues da Silva – representative of the Brazilian Forum on Solidarity Economy;
• Elaine Francisca Itacarambi – representative of the National Forum for the Rights of Children and Adolescents;
• Elisiane De Fatima Jahn – representative of Peasant Women’s Movements;
• Flávio Jorge Rodrigues da Silva – representative of Convergência Negra;
• Francisco Canindé Pegado do Nascimento – representative of the General Workers’ Union;
• Geovana Mendonça Lunardi Mendes – representative of the National Popular Education Forum;
• Geremias Dos Santos – representative of the National Forum for the Democratization of Communication;
• Getúlio Vargas de Moura Júnior – representative of the National Confederation of Residents’ Associations;
• Guilherme Zambarda Leonardi – representative of the Actions for Animal Liberation Front;
• Ildslaine Mônica da Silva – representative of the Peripheries and Favelas Coalition;
• Ivanei Maria Farina Dalla Costa – representative of the Movement of People Affected by Dams;
• Izabel Maria Madeira de Loureiro Maior – representative of the Brazilian Network for the Inclusion of People with Disabilities;
• Janeslei Aparecida Albuquerque – representative of the Single Workers’ Central;
• Joao Carlos Gonçalves – representative of Força Sindical;
• Júlio Barbosa de Aquino – representative of the National Council of Extractive Populations;
• Karina Martins dos Santos – representative of the Movement for Popular Sovereignty in Mining;
• Kleber Luiz Santos dos Santos – representative of the Articulação dos Povos Indígenas do Brasil;
• Manoel Júlio De Souza Vieira – representative of the Union of Blacks for Equality;
• Maria Emília Lisboa Pacheco – representative of the Brazilian Forum on Food Sovereignty and Security;
• Maria Eunice Figueiredo Guedes – representative of the Articulação das Mulheres Brasileiras;
• Maria Josana de Lima Oliveira – representative of the National Confederation of Workers in Family Agriculture in Brazil;
• Maria Martilene Rodrigues de Lima – representative of the Movements of Fishermen and Craft Fisherwomen;
• Maria Stela Cabral – representative of the National Committee of Culture Points;
• Maureen Cristina Martins Dos Santos – representative of the Carta de Belém Group;
• Monica De Alkmim Moreira Nunes – representative of the National Human Rights Movement;
• Márcia Dos Santos Couto Dornelles – representative of the National Network of Territorial Boards;
• Márcio Astrini – representative of the Climate Observatory;
• Nalu de Faria da Silva – representative of the World March of Women;
• Nilza Pereira de Almeida – representative of the Intersindical Central of the Working Class;
• Nilza Valéria Zacarias do Nascimento Oliveira – representative of the Evangelicals Front for the Rule of Law;
• Pablo Santiago Capilé Mendes – representative of the Mídia Ninja Communication Network;
• Pedro Ivo de Souza Batista – representative of the Brazilian Forum of NGOs and Social Movements for the Environment and Development;
• Poliana de Sousa Pereira Inácio – representative of the Struggle Movement in towns, neighborhoods and favelas;
• Raimundo Nonato Pereira da Silva (Konmannanjy) – representative of the Network of Communities of Traditional Peoples of Brazil;
• Raimundo Vieira Bonfim – representative of the Popular Movements Central;
• Renato Sérgio de Lima – representative of the Brazilian Public Security Forum;
• Romi Márcia Bencke – representative of the Platform for the Reform of the Political System;
• Rudrigo Rafael Souza e Silva – representative of the Homeless Workers Movement;
• Rógean Vinicius Santos Soares – representative of the National Association of Graduate Students;
• Severino Cesário da Silva – representative of the Movement of Progressive Evangelicals;
• Sidnei Antonio Euzébio Pita – representative of the National Union for Popular Housing;
• Simone Ferreira Nascimento – representative of the Unified Black Movement;
• Tayson Costa Cordeiro – representative of the Movement of Workers for Rights;
• Túlio Batista Franco – representative of the Front for Life;
• Vanja Andréa Reis Dos Santos – representative of the Brazilian Union of Women;
• Verônica Chaves Salustiano – representative of the Coalition in Defense of Democracy;
• Wanderson Marques Morais – representative of the Brazilian Union of Secondary Students
• Zélia Amador de Deus – representative of the Black Coalition for Rights.