It is clear where Brazil comes from. The times of Bolsonarismo were the worst that the country has experienced since the military dictatorship. These were not only times of destruction of the really existing democracy, but also of the reestablishment of neoliberalism, in its most radical modality.
The most brutal moment was when Bolsonaro was the president of Brazil and Lula a prisoner. There could not be a situation where things were more out of place.
When minimally normal elections were held, Lula won and became president of Brazil again. Already in his first month of government, the country has resumed a climate of political coexistence, of hope that the economy will grow again and that the basic rights of the people will be taken care of.
Internally, Lula faces the need to resume economic growth, without relapsing into a rise in inflation. The pressure from the media is focused on the specter of inflation, trying to put obstacles to satisfying the needs of the population linked to economic recovery.
They try to make Lula fall into the traps of neoliberalism: either economic growth with inflation and lack of control of public accounts, or economic recession. The big businessmen accelerate the rise in prices and the media create the climate that Lula would be a prisoner of the typical dilemma of neoliberalism.
Having 6 percent annual inflation – by the levels Brazil was used to – is considered unacceptable by the media, putting pressure on Lula to fall into that trap. At the same time they consider that low economic growth would be an insurmountable obstacle for Lula to fulfill the objectives with which his government has always been identified: improvement of the population’s living conditions.
Politically, Lula has managed to broaden his base of support, allowing him to have a sufficient majority to approve the tax reform, the government’s first major test in Congress. Support for the victims of the rains on the northern coast of the province of São Paulo has allowed everyone to realize the difference between Lula’s government and his predecessor’s. While Bolsonaro stayed on a jet ski when there was a similar disaster, Lula immediately suspended his vacations in Bahia to visit the affected areas, in addition to mobilizing resources for the population and putting his entire government to work on various aid programs. .
In international politics, the prestige acquired by Lula makes him suffer pressure from different countries for Brazil to get involved in the war in Ukraine. Zelensky insists that Lula go to the Ukraine, to show him the damage caused by Russia in the country. John Kerry came to Brazil to pressure Brazil to send weapons to Ukraine.
Lula had already defined Brazil’s position at the beginning of the conflict. The country condemns the invasion of Russia, but concentrates its efforts on seeking the conditions for the restoration of peace. Brazil refuses to send weapons, which would mean participating in the war, instead of seeking peace.
Lula proposed the formation of a Peace Group with the participation of China and India, among other countries, to negotiate peace conditions. Lula has replied to John Kerry that Brazil condemns Russia, but it also condemns NATO. And that he seeks a speech that allows Russia to participate in the negotiations to pacify the conflict. Brazil will not send weapons: it would mean participating in the war, the opposite of trying to end it.
In his second month in office, Lula has restored the presence of a legitimate government with the presence of a president attentive to all the country’s problems, with political authority, conversing with almost all sectors of the political spectrum.
It is still early to judge Lula’s performance in facing the serious problems inherited from the six worst years in Brazil’s history this century. But the political climate is already radically different. There is a government, there is a prestigious president and the image of Brazil in the world has recovered.
The strengthening of the Brics and the mobilization of the Latin American governments – especially Argentina, Mexico and Colombia – projects Brazil as an important player in the world. This recovery makes Lula’s Brazil once again a weighty subject in the contemporary world.
