Ex-President Lula Delivers Lengthy Impassioned Speech on Brazil’s Independence Day

RIO DE JANEIRO – Although 10 years removed from the seat of power, ex-president Lula delivered a long and blunt speech on Monday, September 7th, Brazil’s Independence Day, in a typically passionate political tone.

In his over 23-minute speech, the ex-president lamented the deaths caused by the coronavirus pandemic, spoke about the Bolsonaro government’s responsibility in the tragedy the country is experiencing, denounced the dismantling of national sovereignty and the environment, and also pointed ways for Brazil to develop again after the pandemic.

“Each one of these deaths that the federal government treats with disdain had a name, surname, address. They had father, mother, brother, son, husband, wife, friends. It hurts to know that tens of thousands of Brazilians were unable to say goodbye to their loved ones. I know what this pain is like. It would have been possible to prevent so many deaths,” he said, also denouncing that the money that could be used to fight the virus was used by the government to pay interest to the financial system.

“The National Monetary Council has just announced that it will take over R$300 billion (US$60 billion) from the profits of the reserves that our governments left. It would be understandable if this fortune were destined to aid the unemployed or to maintain the R$600 emergency aid for the duration of the pandemic. But this is not on the minds of the government economists. They have already announced that this money will be used to pay interest on public debt,” he said.

At another point in his speech, Lula addressed the alleged dismantling of national sovereignty that the Bolsonaro government has been pursuing and that, according to him, is a crime of treason.

“Sovereignty means independence, autonomy, freedom. The opposite is dependence, servitude, submission,” he said. “The current government humiliates Brazil and the United States and subjects our soldiers and diplomats to humiliating situations. It also threatens to involve the country in military adventures against our neighbors, contrary to the Constitution itself, to serve US economic and military-strategic interests,” the ex-president added.

“Brazil’s submission to Washington’s military interests was flouted by the President himself when he appointed a general officer of the Brazilian Armed Forces to serve in the US Southern Military Command, under the orders of an American officer,” he said.

Among other matters, Lula also spoke of the government’s plans to privatize state-owned companies, such as Caixa and Banco do Brasil, the sale of Pre-Salt oil and gas deposits, and the delivery of EMBRAER to Boeing.

He further commented on the persecution that the Bolsonaro government has been waging against the Culture area. “This government’s destructive obsession has entrusted national culture to a succession of adventurers. Artists and intellectuals cry out for the rescue of the House of Ruy Barbosa, of FUNARTE, of ANCINE. The Cinemateca Brasileira, where a century of national cinema is stored, is in serious danger of having the same tragic fate as the National Museum,” he declared.

Also on the leftist’s agenda were the usual allegations of genocide of the black population in Brazil and the violence against women, in addition to the attacks on the indigenous and quilombola communities and their territories.

At another time, Lula criticized the 2016 impeachment that removed Dilma Rousseff from the presidency, calling it a coup, and the government’s fake news machine, in addition to using fraud to disqualify him from the 2018 elections. “They accepted their escape from debates as natural. They poured rivers of money into the fake news industry. They shut their eyes to their terrifying past. They pretended to ignore their discourse in defense of torture and their public support for rape. The 2018 elections cast Brazil into a nightmare that seems to have no end,” he criticized.

He also made a point of highlighting potential ways for the country to develop again after the pandemic and once again made himself “available to the Brazilian people,” suggesting that he will continue to act politically to defeat Bolsonaro at the polls.

“I know – you know – that we can again make Brazil the country of our dreams. And to say, from the bottom of my heart: I am here. Let’s rebuild Brazil together. We still have a long way to go together. Stand firm, because together we are strong. We will survive and we will win,” he concluded.

Source: Fórum

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