Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva: Union activist and presidential candidate, Brazil
Neto, Paulo de Mesquita
Comparing the Workers Party (PT) today and ten years ago, would you say that the PT is gaining or losing strength in Brazil? I would say that the PT is gaining strength. If you analyze the...
...Cardoso in 1998, in my opinion, will be much more vulnerable than he is now and than he was in 1994...
...The Broad Front in Uruguay is a respectable political force...
...There is no disenchantment...
...longer has Is the PT well connected with pro- gressive groups and parties in Latin th it had America...
...Unfortunately, in the electoral struggle the PT has a serious problem...
...We created the Sdo Paulo Forum, which brings together the Latin American left...
...It' PT in the short and in the long term...
...In 1997, the party is more present in the political struggle...
...an ideal, and pro...
...We will hold our sixth meeting soon in Porto Alegre...
...In the world in which the PT was born, Cardoso was on the left...
...I seemed unbeatable in 1994 and I did not win the election...
...The PT was born from the labor movement, from the strikes of 1978, 1979 and 1980...
...There is a general agreement with neoliberal policies-the opening of borders, the privatization of all companies, the reduction of the role of the state...
...But it continues to have a privileged and I would say priority linkage with the PT...
...still hand out win votes...
...You left the presidency of the PT and created the Citizenship Institute last year This change, as you said, makes clear your position regarding the importance of organizing society and the formulation of alternative policies...
...The social struggle is also necessary...
...We were more mobilized because the social movements were also more mobilized than they are today...
...What conservatives attempted unsuccessfully, Cardoso is achieving through this hegemony...
...Yes it is...
...It is not only that the PT has lost ground in the social uch more struggle, but that the social struggle no longer has the strength that it once ten years had...
...Ten years ago, the PT was more present, more active in the social struggle...
...The main difficulty is that the PT did not win the presidential election in 1994...
...First, we had to confront an authoritarian military regime that was opposed by everyone...
...We want to prove that Brazil can participate in the bef global economy without submission...
...The candidates spend fortunes on campaigns...
...Political education is a priority for a party like the PT...
...Yes, we are...
...If afterwards a movement against forced labor emerges, the PT should not want to be the vanguard of the movement...
...Today you cannot find a single newspaper in Brazil that opposes the neoliberal policies, only a few journalists...
...Do you think the PT can win the next presidential election...
...Tomorrow, if a homeless people's movement emerges, our role will be to demonstrate our solidarity with them...
...The PT has to resume that social struggle...
...The CUT and the labor movements in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay are unified and have concrete proposals for Mercosur...
...How is this relationship...
...Landless people are concerned specifically with agrarian reform and our role is not to compete, but to show solidarity with the struggles of the MST...
...The popular movement no longer has the same strength...
...During the governments of Presidents Sarney and Collor, the press portrayed the PT as a progressive party...
...Today, he is not...
...This doctrine predominates today in the media and those against it do not have spaces...
...Each country has a history, but the PT has a great chance of not only making alliances but also of winning govazil, ernment power...
...In Brazil, candidates still hand out food to win votes...
...There was a strong relationship between the PT and the labor movement when the PT was founded 17 years ago...
...The relationship is not as strong as it was in the beginning...
...The electoral process is highly subordinated to economic power...
...Cardoso, who came from the left, was drawn to the neoliberal project, and was able to make an alliance with the conservatives...
...The struggle against the military regime, which unified everyone, no longer exists...
...What is happening is that Cardoso is achieving a certain hegemony around neoliberal ideology...
...It is necessary to increase the equality of opportunity in the electoral system...
...Is the development of new party activists tied to the question of popular organization...
...But I can guarantee that the PT will have a candidate and I think that the PT can be competitive against the other parties...
...In the 1996 elections, the PT was the most-voted party in Brazil's 100 largest cities...
...We even built the largest labor confederation in Latin America, the Central Federation of Workers (CUT...
...Every year since 1982, the PT has grown...
...This is one difficulty...
...When we obtain agrarian reform, it will no longer be the MST...
...I would say that in the beginning we were constantly mobilized...
...The progressive church, for example, does not have the strength that it had in the 1980s...
...I don't think anyone is unbeatable in elections...
...The PT neglected it for some time and now we have to make up for lost time...
...We need policies that can result in more jobs for the Brazilian people...
...In El Salvador the left had a great victory...
...The PT as you say, has to combine efforts to win the electoral and party struggle and efforts to organize society...
...The left can never dispense with popular organization...
...I am trying to show that it is possible for anyone to work for the things in which he or she believes without being in political office...
...Is the PT closer to this objective, or in better condition to achieve this objective, than other parties of the left in Latin America...
...I left candidates the National Executive Commission food to because I want to be free to work on the organization of society...
...A party like the PT has to make political alliances in order democratic...
...How mobilized are these groups and movements compared to a decade ago...
...You said that the party has become more open and enjoys the participation of different social groups and movements other than the labor movement...
...In Brazil and in Latin America the mass media are not are at the service of the dominant class...
...ago tha What are the main objectives of the today...
...Are there many ties between the landless people and the PT...
...I would say that 85% or 90% of the persons We were participating in the landless movement are sympathetic to the mobilized Worker's Party, but the movement is autonomous...
...The PT has always been in favor of agrarian reform...
...The main objective of the progressive sectors must be to conquer government power because only in government can one initiate a different political project, define the nature of the state and who the state will serve, and change the rules of the game...
...There was a time when the unions were the most important actors in the process of redemocratization...
...Today it is the MST...
...What is happening...
...You cannot organize the people one year because you are thinking about the general elections and in another year because you are In B thinking about the party elections...
...There are other social segments and the labor movement no longer has the same influence that it had at the beginning...
...In Brazil, we are now forming a bloc in the National Congress, to act jointly in the Chamber of Deputies and in the Senate...
...Then there was a strong linkage...
...We will show our solidarity with the struggle if it is just and improves the quality of life of the Brazilian people...
...It is hard to know what will happen in 1998...
...This is This is the only thing that can guarantee not only the conquest of the government problemati but also the exercise of government of the le power by a party like the PT...
...n n s t t 9. gi We were much more mobilized then than we are today...
...A third difficulty is popular organization...
...The struggle of the Brazilian people is cyclical...
...Brazilian society remains the same, but Brazilian politics is different...
...In Argentina, the opposition won 30% of the votes...
...No, on the contrary...
...But conditions are different in each country and our dream may happen in another country and not in Brazil...
...Now we are confronting Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who was able to gain a great deal of support in the university, to divide the intellectual base of our party, and who has a positive image due to his political history...
...Obviously, there is a substantial difference if you compare the PT ten years ago and today...
...The PT is the biggest party of the left in Latin America...
...This must be accomplished soon, because the people cannot wait a long time...
...Political education and the development of new Workers Party activists is linked to popular organization...
...If there are many conservative candidates, the PT's chances increase...
...that th The PT's main long-term objective is to build another model of space in society in which the people receive a fair share of the fruits of their struggle...
...This means, of course, that the opposition is at a serious disadvantage, and this obviously complicates things...
...This is obviously problematic for a party of the left that struggles for an ideal, a principle and program, and not only for power...
...Thus, we are taking important steps towards unifying of the left...
...As the party grew, it opened itself to other social segments...
...Isn't it also an expression of disenchantment with the electoral and party struggle...
...we are We are planning to start a campaign not just against unemployment...
...It has to compete in general elections and when there are no general elections, there are party elections...
...The PT was born in this struggle...
...not o to come to power, but it must do so without abandoning its identity and its principles...
...At first, we had difficulty because the president built a powerful coalition in the political arena...
...It may be the homeless people's movement, 17VOICES ON THE LEFT the human rights movement, or another...
...We have to solve this problem...
...How would you describe this relationship today...
...We have to animate the electoral system in Latin America and above all in Brazil...
...To achieve this objective, we have to change our view of electoral competition...
...In seven cities we competed in the second round and lost because everybody united against us...
...Does the government of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, which combines neoliberal policies and reformist initiatives, help or hinder the growth of the PT...
...Is this situation changing with the emergence of the Landless People's Movement (MST...
...During the government of President Cardoso, the press has painted the PT as a conservative party, a party with old ideas...
...After that, we confronted the government of President Sarney, that was opposed by everyone...
...work...
...If the conservatives are united around one candidate, as they were in 1994, it will be more difficult...
...Next we confronted Collor, who was also opposed by everyone...
...Where is the PT concentrating its efforts, in the electoral and party struggle or in the organization of society and the formulation of an alternative project...
...Workers F strug...
...I am trying to show that it is possible to make politics without an electoral mandate and a party apparatus, and that it is possible to establish a direct connection with society...
...obviously ic for a party ft like the Sarty, which gles for a principle gram, and inly for power...
...I was very successful in this struggle...
...It is important to remember that there is a difference between the world in which the PT was born and the world today...
...I confess that the Cardoso government has been the most difficult government to confront...
...We have to pressure the Brazilian government to ensure that it fulfills some of the promises it made during the campaign, even if it doesn't do all the things we would like...
...The objective in the short run struggle nc is to prevent the government of President Cardoso from destroying the stren Brazil as a nation...
...The objec- tive of this campaign is not only to PT lost critique the neoliberal policies which cause unemployment, along with the ie social globalization of the world economy, but above all to present proposals to he social create jobs...
...The government of President Cardoso has helped the PT formulate better policies and better proposals...
...Since the PT was founded, it, along with the labor movement, has led the progressive movement in Brazil...
...We want to prove that it is possible to formulate an industrial policy, an agricultural policy, a health policy, an education policy-policies that are different from the existing ones...
...Now, we have to combine the two things, the social struggle and the political struggle...
...The other difficulty is access to media...
...The labor movement is no longer the only one...
...He demands more competence in the art of being an opposition movement and in the art of formulating alternative proposals for the country to show clearly the difference between our policies and his neoliberal policies...
...If you analyze the election results, the PT has grown after each election since its founding in 1980...
...They Is the difficulty of making alliances the main problem that the PT and the progressive parties have to overcome in the next few years...
...It NACIA REPORT ON THE AMERICASVOICES ON THE LEFT is hard to say...
...It is the most important thing for a party of the left...
...We will not stop because we did not win...
...By the way, I have never seen the Brazilian press as subservient as it is today...
...Now the party is agreeing that the political struggle by itself does not solve the problem...
...Yes, there are many ties...
...It is absurd...
...I competed in two elections for the presidency of the republic with a good chance of winning...
Vol. 31 • July 1997 • No. 1
