Last night’s coup attempt in Brazil is not just about Lula, writes Jeremy Corbyn. It’s about the right of the Brazilian people to live in a free, peaceful, democratic society, and a right not to live in fear of returning to a violent, bloody dictatorship.
On January 8, far-right supporters of former Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the seat of Brazil’s government in a scene reminiscent of the US Capitol riot. But President Lula, unlike the US government, is swiftly cracking down on the perpetrators.
Bolsonaro doesn't need an open military dictatorship to crush his opponents. As the "Colombian model" demonstrates, he can lean on violent paramilitaries to do the dirty work for him.
Lula’s release will not change the course of Brazilian politics by itself. But the leftist leader has already said his time in prison further radicalized him — and that can only bode well for the popular movement resisting Bolsonaro’s reactionary politics.
The Bolsonaro government’s attack on Glenn Greenwald is an attack on free speech and democracy. We should unequivocally stand by his side.
From Israel to Brazil, violent far-right forces have taken up the language of “landlords” defending their threatened property. Their war on the dispossessed is built on a simple claim: we own this country, you only live here.
In solidarity with the recently imprisoned former president Jair Bolsonaro, Donald Trump levied tariffs of 50 percent on Brazil. He is quickly learning that the US’s influence is weaker than he thought, thanks largely to Brazil’s growing ties with China.
With former Brazilian president Lula da Silva now eligible to run in next year’s election, Jair Bolsonaro’s grip on power is looking weaker than ever before. Amid the tide of reaction, Lula’s return means there is finally some hope for democracy and social justice in Brazil.
The case against former Brazilian president Lula da Silva is over and fully discredited. Now the path is clear for Lula to take on Jair Bolsonaro’s right-wing government and save Brazilian democracy.
Socialist educator Paulo Freire was born one hundred years ago today in the Brazilian city of Recife. A longtime comrade of Freire, leading Marxist pedagogue Peter McLaren writes about how his life and work remain deeply relevant today.
Today, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva can return to power and build a more equitable and prosperous Brazil. Former Lula press secretary André Singer spoke to Jacobin about what’s possible in power and the enduring appeal of Lulismo.
The key to Lula’s success with religious voters is offering them respect without pandering to them. Lula artfully refrains from instrumentalizing religion and refuses to be instrumentalized by it.
The rise of Bolsonaro in Brazil, Trump in the US, and the far right throughout Europe has the word “fascism” on everyone’s lips. But that rising Right is distinct from twentieth-century fascism in key ways.
The evidence is now overwhelming — Lula was the victim of a politically motivated campaign to keep him from returning to power. He must be freed.
Last November, left candidate Edmilson Rodrigues defeated a Bolsonaro ally to become mayor of Belém in the Brazilian Amazon. The Belém experiment could be a chance to push back against a destructive far-right government that grossly mismanaged the pandemic.
The riots in Brazil have drawn Jan. 6 comparisons, but they’re even more reminiscent of a different episode: the Bolivian coup that liberals misguidedly backed. Another big difference from Jan. 6: Brazil is actually prosecuting its high-level coup plotters.
Brazilian president Lula da Silva knows the dangers of the far right all too well, and during his visit to the US last week he laid out exactly how to defeat such reactionaries: not by striving for a false unity but by confronting the foes of democracy head-on.
Since taking office as president, Lula has had to navigate a treacherous path, facing a powerful ultraconservative bloc in Brazil’s national congress. The job of repairing state capacity while avoiding an economic downturn will test his skills to the limit.
Jair Bolsonaro represents the rise of an authoritarian neoliberalism in Brazil and across the world. If he's elected president, Brazilian democracy could collapse.
After 40 years of struggle, Brazil’s Landless Workers’ Movement is now at nearly two million members and taking center stage in the fight for democracy and equality. It’s done that by flying the most unlikely militant banner of all: organic food.