The choice facing Brazilian voters on October 2 could not be more stark: either four more years of Jair Bolsonaro, the gun-loving, God-fearing, right-wing populist whose time in office has seen hundreds of thousands of COVID-19 deaths and record levels of destruction of the Amazon rainforest, or the return of Luiz Inácio “Lula” da Silva, the Workers’ Party (PT) icon who governed Brazil from 2003 to 2010.

While Lula’s two terms in office delivered a massive rise in living standards for the working class and a number of progressive reforms, accusations of corruption (mostly baseless and cynically weaponized by the Right) and a judicial coup against his successor Dilma Rousseff fed a dynamic of reaction that ultimately brought Bolsonaro to power in 2018. Since assuming the presidency, he has worked hard to privatize as much as possible, roll back the social welfare programs instituted under the PT, and foster a toxic atmosphere of chauvinism and resentment.

Lula, making his political comeback after being jailed on bogus corruption charges four years ago, is now campaigning to “defeat the totalitarian threat” and “rebuild and transform Brazil.” The stakes, to put it mildly, are high.