On 10/6/06, Louis Proyect <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>But maybe in your opinion it makes no difference whether it will be
>Lula or Alckmin.
>
>--
>Yoshie
And at one time it would have probably made no difference to Sader as well.
"The Brazilian Left faces a serious dilemma with regard to the Lula
government. In power, the PT has not fulfilled any of its historic
aspirations, and cannot even be described as a government of the left."
"But the transformation of the PT into a party capable of governmentÂand in
particular the compromise with finance capital in the 'Letter to the
Brazilians' that helped him secure victory at the fourth attemptÂblocked
off that possibility. In effect, Lula governs in accordance with the
'Letter' and not his campaign commitments, still less in line with the
original promise of his party. The result has been to deepen the
insecurities and inequalities of Brazilian society: figures for violent
crime and homicide continue to rise. Halfway through its mandate, the Lula
government has lost its way politically and is plagued by allegations of
corruption."
full:
<http://www.newleftreview.net/?page=article&view=2564>http://www.newleftreview.net/?pa...ticle&view=2564
So, if this is true, why vote to re-elect a government that is not of "the
left" and which has "lost its way politically". It seems to me that it is
Sader who has lost his way politically.
I linked that article to Sader's name in the bio on the page, as you
would know if you clicked on it. But one can make choices only among
available options under the circumstances. In the first round, Sader
and other Brazilians on the Left had a choice of voting for Lula or
Heloisa Helena. Now the latter, having attracted only single-digit
support, is out of running, so the choice is mainly between Lula and
Alckmin. You can vote for Lula, or vote for Alckmin, or boycott the
runoff. The choice Sader recommends is to vote for Lula, which makes
sense, since voting for Lula doesn't stop you from fighting any of
Lula's policies if he gets reelected.*
One day, Brazilians may create a better choice than Lula and Alckmin
(in the second round), or Lula and Heloisa Helena (in the first
round), but they haven't yet.
* Lula's reelection is doubtful. Some leftists' desire to punish Lula
even goes further than Helena's (see below). If Lula loses, he sure
can only blame himself, but those who are hating him don't appear to
present any viable alternative that galvanizes the nation.
<http://today.reuters.com/news/articlenews.aspx?type=winterOlympics&storyID=2006-10-06T021335Z_01_N20314830_RTRUKOC_0_US-BRAZIL-ELECTION.xml>
Brazil PDT party may back Lula's rival in run-off
Thu Oct 5, 2006 10:13 PM ET
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (Reuters) - Brazil's leftist PDT party, whose
candidate came fourth in the first round of the presidential election,
is unlikely to back President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in this
month's run-off vote and may side with his rival.
Carlos Lupi, president of the Democratic Workers' Party or PDT, told
reporters on Thursday the group felt "betrayed" by Lula.
Party members had to give up ministerial positions they held in Lula's
government when Lula needed to seal new political alliances in 2003.
The PDT also disagreed with Lula's conservative economic policies.
"We voted for Lula three times. The pain of betrayal is very deep ...
I think it's improbable, almost impossible that we back Lula," Lupi
said.
He added that "a strong tendency in the party is to back (Geraldo)
Alckmin," the opposition challenger for the October 29 second-round
vote.
Lula had been expected to win the election outright, but a recent
campaign scandal involving his ruling Workers' Party deprived him of
the necessary votes.
Lula, back on campaign trail, visited Rio de Janeiro to form an
alliance with Sergio Cabral, a candidate for governorship from the
Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) -- the country's largest.
The party is divided between government supporters and opposition.
Lula's Workers' Party will support Cabral in the Rio governorship
run-off, while Cabral will back Lula's candidacy.
"We are forming a great center-left partnership in the popular field
in Rio," Cabral said.
Lula, a former union leader, attacked his rival Alckmin's program
saying his proposal to cut government spending would lead to public
servants losing their jobs and accused the opposition of only caring
about the elite and ignoring the poor majority. Alckmin is favored by
the country's business elite.
"The more luxurious people do not know that some people next door do
not have running water or sewage," he said at an event in the Rio
University.
PMDB's support in Rio could partly compensate for PDT's rejection,
given that PDT's candidate, Cristovam Buarque, a former education
minister in Lula's government, took just 2.6 percent of the vote last
Sunday.
Lula, Brazil's first working-class president, was just shy of 49
percent and Alckmin obtained 41 percent.
--
Yoshie
<http://montages.blogspot.com/>
<http://mrzine.org>
<http://monthlyreview.org/>
