Since birth, Lulismo has been diagnosed in crisis and even in his final stages. Right from the start of the first PT (Workers’ Party) government, it was pointed out that it would fail. This continued even after their successful governments. However, he was elected to four terms. And this wave is not over yet.
In 2018, a book by a political scientist on duty was released entitled Luismo in crisis, just before Lula was re-elected President of Brazil. Just then, a weighty columnist proclaimed, “Lula’s last chance.”
In short, the path of Lula and the PT has always been accompanied by disastrous forecasts. In his first elections, Lula lost twice in the first round of the presidential campaign to Fernando Henrique Cardoso. Lula was seen as a failed politician and the PT as a party unable to defeat the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy).
The PT is meant to be portrayed as constantly in crisis and piling up defeats. As if his project could not be realized. It seems that Lulismo was born to “live in crisis”. The idea is always to criticize Lula, badmouth him, and distrust his words. The journalist who writes these things will surely gain media prominence, be invited to debate, be invited to write, be promoted to “specialist” on Lula and the PT.
However, in the political history of Brazil there is no such great success as that of Lula and the PT. Not even a comparison with Getulio Vargas and Getulismo would allow such a huge success.
It must be remembered that Lula welcomed the country back then with severe economic stagnation, rising inflation and high unemployment. Lula left the government after two terms amid systematic media opposition but with 76 percent support.
The economy had grown again, social and regional inequalities were falling, as was unemployment. So much so that Lula chose Dilma as his successor, who in turn managed to get re-elected.
For 14 years, Brazil has experienced an unprecedented cycle of economic growth, reduction of inequalities, political stability and international prestige. Lulismo led this process and established himself as the country’s greatest political force in the 21st century, which would have continued had it not been for the coup against Dilma.
After his arrest, conviction and imprisonment, Lula was re-elected president despite receiving an important legacy to govern Brazil: the institutional catastrophe caused by the previous government, in addition to the climate of violence in right-wing discourses accompanied by a president the neoliberal central bank and a conservative-majority Congress.
Lula is an enigma that cannot be deciphered by either the right or the ultra-left, who end up being devoured by the enigma. Lula managed to figure out that neoliberalism is the enemy to defeat and conquer. His administration’s success rested on his ability to shift the priority from fiscal adjustment to social policy, formal job creation, and the expansion of education, health, and welfare policies. And complementary policies such as Bolsa Família, Minha Casa and Minha Vida, among others, for those not participating in the formal market.
Overall, the Lula governments, which face the media as a great adversary, are also accompanied by those who insist on the Lulismo crisis. A “crisis” that has already turned into a crisis.
Taken from page 12