31 October 2022
Abahlali baseMjondolo Press Statement
Today we celebrate with our comrades in the MST!
The people have Brazil have spoken.
Lula da Silva from the Workers Party (PT) has been elected to be the president of Brazil again. The results were announced yesterday, 30 October 2022. This comes after Lula had endured suffering from the far-right government led by Jair Bolsonaro who imprisoned Lula.
Bolsonaro’s term was a catastrophe for the poor and the working class, for black and indigenous Brazilians, for LGBTIQA+ people, for the environment and for Latin American solidarity. In fact Brazilians of all classes suffered under Bolsonaro as he, like Trump, referred to Covid as ‘just a flu’. Thousands of people died as a result of his ignorance.
During Bolsonaro’s term in office our comrades in the MST faced repression from the government. In 2018 Bolsonaro said that wanted to declare the MST a ‘terrorist’ organisation. The Florestan Fermandes National School outside Sao Paulo was attacked by the police. Repression became the order of the day. We have been in constant solidarity with our comrades in Brazil during these attacks from the Bolsonaro administration.
The people of Brazil have made a choice and they chose to be happy. They have chosen to value life and affirm dignity. They have chosen to care for the world. They chose a democratic president. They chose peace and stability.
They rejected a cruel man who wanted to be a dictator and openly expressed his support for the dictatorship that run Brazil between 1965 and 1985.
The recent years of the Bolsonaro administration have proven that the most powerful capitalist forces in Brazil and internationally do not recognise popular democracy in Brazil. Capitalism is the enemy of the poor and the working class. Because it is destroying the planet it is actually the enemy of all of humanity. It must be abolished by the progressive forces that want to see a just and equal world where the dignity of all human beings is recognised .
The election of Lula as president of Brazil is a victory, not only for the Brazilians but the poor and the working class globally. It is a victory for all who value humanity.
We celebrate because a president who comes from the working class and who understands the plight of the poor and marginalised has been returned to office by the people. We look forward to a recovering economy, declining poverty and more involvement of the poor in government and decision making in everyday life in Brazil. We welcome the results of the election and that the people of Brazil have democratically elected their leader.
We are delighted that Thandeka Thusini, the secretary of our uMhlalane branch, is in Brazil where she is a student at the Florestan Fermandes National School as a guest of the MST and was able to witness this historic moment.
In this moment of joy we also remember Marielle Franco and all the comrades who have fallen in the struggle for a just Brazil. In Brazil, as in South Africa, the price for hope has been paid in blood.
Contact people:
Thapelo Mohapi 084 576 5117
Mqapheli Bonono 073 067 3234
Snenhlanhla Mncanyana 073 832 3331