Joao Pedro Stedile Stedile: “In the MST We are Convinced That We Must Defend Lula”

To Joao Pedro Stedile, the leader of the Landless Rural Workers’ Movement of Brazil, the plan to prevent Lula da Silva from running in the presidential elections is a sign of fear from the country’s right wing, which is deeply ingrained in the judicial system and the Public Ministry, and represents imperialist interests on Brazil’s sovereignty.

In a video interview published by Brasil de Fato, Stedile stressed that Lula Da Silva is innocent of the charges of corruption for which Temer’s government wants to send him to prison. Nobody has managed to prove that he appropriated any public resources.

“The Lava Jato case is a fantasy”, Stedile said in an interview with Brasil de Fato, since no real investigations are being carried out into the scandal that revealed corruption among high-level officials.

“But why is this happening?,” he asks rhetorically, “First of all, because Brazil is going through a serious economic, social, environmental and political crisis. The bourgeoisie and the right wing of Brazil have overthrown a democratically-elected government (led by Dilma Rousseff) saying that it had led the country to this crisis, but with them in power, the crisis has gotten worse. So, in order to remain in power, Stedile said, they need to prevent Lula from running for president.”

“And why is it important that Lula be a candidate for president? Throughout the years, Lula has become a symbol for the will of the people. Lula is bigger than the Workers’ Party he represents. It is not the parties nor the leaderships who want Lula to be President. It is one half of the Brazilian people, especially the poorest ones, because they realized that this is a class struggle.”

“In order to prevent Lula from running for president, there are three forces at play. First of all, the Brazilian Social Democracy Party (PSDB), which lacks a candidate that is popular among voters. Geraldo Alckmin, João Doria, and Fernando Henrique Cardoso—none of them have earned the trust of the people, and therefore can never reach the presidency”.

The second force against Lula, says Stedile, is the Globo Network—Brazil’s media giant, which is “the ideological party of the Brazilian right”, and defames Lula “every day” while it gives “minutes of fame” for his opponents.

The third force, about which “we should not be naive”, is the United States, which has economic interests in Brazil. The US agenda is to maintain its influence in the nation, prevent Brazil from becoming an economic power and maintaining its hegemony in South America in general.

Therefore, Stedile concludes, voting for Lula da Silva is not about Lula—it’s voting for democracy, it’s voting for the people of Brazil.

For all of these reasons, Stedile stated, the MST and other social organizations within the People’s Brazil Front have decided to stand for Lula. First of all, because he is innocent, but more importantly, because he represents the possibility of changes for Brazil and he is the only one who can solve the economic, social, environmental and political crisis, and revert the harmful measures taken by Michel Temer’s illegitimate government: the labor reform, the loss of sovereignty over natural resources, the elimination of public programs, etc.

Secondly the leader of the MST says, it is necessary to convene a Constitutional Assembly to renew the Constitution. This will be the way to reorganize the rule of law in the country and create a new democratic regime and restore trust in politics and democracy. This is a part of the MST’s program although Lula da Silva has not yet expressed the will to carry out a Constitutional reform.

And lastly, Lula could carry out the structural reforms necessary to solve the root causes of the problems of Brazil: create growth in the economy, re-industrialize the country, create jobs for the people, and improve the quality of life of the population.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick.