Senator Lindbergh Farias addressed the European Left Forum on behalf of Brazil’s Workers Party (PT) in Bilbao on Friday 9 November 2018. He asked the participants of the Forum to build an enormous movement in solidarity with the Brazilian people who are resisting US intervention, the rise of fascism and the political persecution of the country’s most popular politician, former President Lula da Silva who is languishing in jail.
The European Left Forum, a gathering of left wing political parties and social movements from across the continent, very warmly welcomed Farias’ contribution and formally expressed its concerns at the election of Jair Bolsonaro in a statement which can be read in full at the end of this article.
Farias explained that the rise of fascist Jair Bolsonaro has being directed and sponsored by the US, which is attempting to “re-colonise” Brazil in order to expropriate natural resources and the wealth of the country. Donald Trump’s former chief strategist Steve Bannon played a role in Bolsonaro’s election campaign, which gained massive momentum in the last month ahead of the final round of voting through the widespread proliferation of fake news.
The US was also involved in stripping Dilma Rousseff from her Presidential office in the Parliamentary coup of 2016 and also in the imprisonment of Lula in April of this year. Lula is a political prisoner, jailed spuriously on the basis of “undetermined acts of corruption” with no material evidence against him. The prosecuting Judge, Moro, has close links with the US and has agreed to join Bolsonaro’s government as Justice Minister. Lula was jailed by Moro in order to stop him becoming the next President of Brazil. All the polls indicate that he would have beaten Bolsonaro in the election.
Farias said that the left in Brazil is going to fight and struggle against Bolsonaro and to free Lula from prison. The resistance in Brazil will need the support of the left internationally in the battles ahead: against neo-liberal attacks, the threats to human rights and democracy, the plans to empower the police to kill more people as well as chopping down the world’s most important rainforest, the Amazon.
The left throughout Latin America will also require solidarity. Trump is planning to collaborate with the right wing governments in both Columbia and Brazil to militarise the situation against the left in the region.
STATEMENT OF THE EUROPEAN LEFT FORUM
Solidarity to the whole Brazilian progressive forces
The European Forum of Progressive, Ecological and Leftist Forces which was held from 9 – 11 November 2018 in Bilbao would like to express its strongest concerns on the outcome of the elections in Brazil and express its solidarity to all democratic forces which face a historic challenge in the country. With the election of ultra –right-wing politician Jair Bolsonaro as the new president of Brazil, democracy is in severe danger, which can be countered only with combined forces. This election will not only have an impact on Brazilian democracy and population but also on Latin America and the world as a whole.
The politics of Bolsonaro against women, the opposition, the poor, the indigenous and LGBT community and many others means a massive danger for the human rights in Brazil. With his election, the implementation of an anti-social model is to be expected, which will cause a raise in poverty and inequality, as well a destruction of the welfare state and the expropriation of the strategic resources of the country. The European Forum of Progressive, Ecological and Leftist Forces calls for:
- A close observation, in a detailed and systemic way, of the situation of Brazil and further developments
- We will watch the situation especially with a focus on three main issues: democracy and human rights, the lawsuit against Lula (a political prisoner of the Brazilian antidemocratic forces) and the environmental question
- The Forum expresses its solidarity to the whole Brazilian progressive forces that struggle with the economic, social and political setbacks that endanger this country.
Eyes on Latin America 