“We Will Continue To Take To The Streets To Fight For Democratic Elections and in Defense of the Rights of the Brazilian People”

Wednesday, January 24, 2018
Info Source: 
Popular Front of Brazil / The Dawn News / Photo credit: Paulo Pinto/ Agência PT

Over the last week, in Brazil and different parts of the world, hundreds of thousands of us have been mobilizing, handing out flyers, giving public classes, holding vigils, marches, actions, roadblocks and occupations in order to promote dialogue and alert the society about the farcical trial that is being carried out against presidential candidate Lula da Silva Porto Alegre and explaining its significance: it is a prolongation of the coup that began in 2016.

These days, the country has opened its eyes regarding the lack of meaningful evidence to make a case against ex-president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in the trial for corruption. And still, without it, the judges of the Regional Federal Tribunal of the 4th Region decided to go on with the process, deviating from the path of truth and justice to issue an unjust sentence.

The result did not surprise anyone. Sectors of the judicial power that should defend justice as a top priority, have instead supported the attack on Democratic Rule of Law, and in this political trial, they are the protagonists in another attack on Brazilian democracy.

In record-breaking time, the judges have read all of the documents, the testimonies of the 73 witnesses and there was still not any piece of evidence. Nothing. The main reason to declare Lula guilty, as we all know, is that he is leading all of the polls for the next elections. They want to beat Lula dishonestly.

They are taking away the right of the Brazilian people to choose their presidential candidate in free elections as they prevent them from choosing the direction the country will take, are the conditions needed to impose a program to take away the rights of the workers, destroy the welfare state, hand over our natural resources and submit to the imperialism of the United States.

The bourgeois media, especially Rede Globo, act as instruments of ideological battle to manipulate society and force those who do not align with their political interests.

Although there is no evidence against Lula, there are numerous “articles” in newspapers and “commentaries” in television programs that try to pass as evidence, which are nothing more than lies from communication companies, that sustain the program of institutional destruction that devastates the country.

It is not only Lula’s right to be candidate that is in play. It is also about the direction of our justice system and our democracy. We live in a state of emergency, under an illegitimate ruler who was brought to power by a putschist Parliament, and added to that a legal system that does politics instead of justice.

The forces that began to govern Brazil after the coup that ousted the first female President, Dilma Rousseff, continue to exclude the Brazilian people from the decision-making process about the country. They are scared of the elections, of voting. They are scared of the people’s will and that is why they don’t want Lula to run as a candidate.

These are the same that are draining the Nation and in one year in power, have taken the resources for education, science and technology, health and social services. They have attacked the Federal Constitution of 1988, the labor laws, and they take rights away every day. The next step is attacking pensions.

Our struggle is not new and it won’t end soon. The struggle for democracy will continue in the courtrooms, on the streets, on social networks, just like the struggle in defense of public social security and our right to retirement that is threatened to be destroyed by a reform that is being discussed in Congress.

The Popular Front of Brazil joins the unions in their cry that “if they suppress our vote, Brazil will strike!”

Our challenge is even greater: creating solutions to the political and economic crisis that ravages our country and attend to the interests of the majority of our people.

Because of this, the Popular Front of Brazil calls on all those who want to make Brazil a strong, developed, independent Nation with jobs and social justice, and commit to the creation of a Brazilian People’s Congress, to debate the future of the country and organize our struggles.

We will continue denouncing that elections without Lula are a fraud, and only make the coup stronger.

We will continue denouncing and combating the attacks on the rights won by the people and on the heritage of the nation. Only unity and mobilization can put an end to this crisis and plant the seeds for a future of prosperity and a dignified life for the people of Brazil.

Popular Front of Brazil