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CounterPunch
January
27, 2003
Porto Alegre Diary III:
Lula: Savior
or Sell-Out?
by JENNIFER C. BERKSHIRE
When Brazil's new president, Luiz Inacio Lula
de Silva, or "Lula" to friend and foe alike, took
the stage at the Porto Alegre amphitheater this week, the mostly
Brazilian crowd welcomed him like a rock star. Teenage girls
in midriff bearing t-shirts sporting the Workers' Party insignia
screamed Lula's name, while families waved small PT flags in
the air. One gentleman came in a gaucho costume, the baggy
pants and tall leather boots of the Pampas, along with a homemade
sign proclaiming: "Lula ? You Are My President." I
couldn't help wishing that he were mine as well.
The sense of hope that fills the air
here is almost tangible. Lula's victory last fall means more
than merely a new government; it is seen as a chance to try something
different. And if poor and working class Brazilians are rushing
to embrace the new president--they poured into the amphitheater
by the thousands, long after he had finished speaking--the Americans
who are here in Porto Alegre embrace him too. "Lula can
represent the interest of workers in Brazil and in the US,"
said a labor activist from the US. "There is no one in
power in the US that you can say that about."
But while optimism abounds, there are
plenty of skeptics too. When Lula left the amphitheater, he
exited stage right: to Davos, off to attend the World Economic
Forum. His decision to forego the people's forum for the annual
ruling class reunion has been a source of bitter divisiveness
here. Those representing the social movements--from Brazil and
elsewhere--view Lula as the anti-globalization president, and
expect him to act accordingly. "He's making a terrible
mistake by going to Davos," said Chris Nineham from Globalize
Resistance, the UK-based anti-war coalition. "It will lead
to disappointment and to the kind of compromises that let people
down."
Another compromise certain to disappoint
lurks in the not-so-distant future when Lula's administration
resumes negotiations over the Free Trade Area of the Americas,
known here by its Portuguese acronym ALCA. And activists in
North and South America who hope that Lula will simply kill
the deal are likely to be very unhappy. "We will sit down
to negotiate the FTAA with determination," said candidate
Lula on the campaign trail.
Not if the Brazilian far left can help
it. While the unions that are Lula's base take a rather more
measured approach to the question of FTAA negotiations, the
extreme left parties want none of it. Signs reading "Nao
A Alca" are everywhere around the city, and during the
Social Forum opening march, members of the PSTU, a left-wing
split off from the PT, loudly demanded a national plebiscite
on the hemispheric trade deal.
Meanwhile, many of the US activists present
here have expressed disbelief that "their" president
is likely to sell-them out on the FTAA. "I keep hearing
talk that 'another FTAA is possible,'" said Canadian labor
activist Michelle Robidoux. "If that's where things are
headed, people are going to be devastated. Canadians have seen
what has happened as a result of NAFTA. We know what this is
going to mean."
But Lula is not the anti-globalization
president; he is the leader of sovereign Brazil. And for his
anti-poverty agenda to have any chance of success--he has declared,
famously, that his goal is for every Brazilian to have three
meals a day--he has to take on a larger opponent than either
Brazil's far left, or the very rich in his own country. Lula
must go up against the global economy.
When Lula announced from the stage that
he would not be attending the World Social Forum, but was going
to Davos instead, the crowd fell silent. The PT flags stilled,
and the soccer chants, "Lula, Lula le-oh-le-oh-le,"
stopped as well. In his trademark baritone, Lula explained to
the crowd why he felt that he had to make the trip. All my life,
he said, people have told me what I shouldn't do. When I told
them that I wanted to join a union, they told me not to, that
unions were corrupt and antiquated. In three years, we had the
strongest union in Sao Paolo. I'm going to Davos to tell them
the truth about Porto Alegre, he said.
Among some leftist commentators in the
US, it is already fashionable to write off the new president.
"Is it right to scream 'sellout'?" asked one such
commentator. Like the Brazilians, I think I'll wait and see.
For now, he's all they and we have.
Jennifer Berkshire can be reached at: jenniferberkshire@hotmail.com.
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