by London Lad on Fri Sep 26, 2008 3:27 pm
Lula of Brazil - new book puts the 'Lula Years' under the microscope
Following Lula’s re-election in 2006, interest in him has died down, rather in the same way that the enthusiasm of Brasilian voters seemed to dwindle after his first term in office. Providing an insight into how public opinion of the Lula administration and the president himself shifted since his election and subsequent re-election, British-born Richard Bourne launches his book Lula of Brasil: The Story So Far on 30th September at the Brasilian Embassy in London.
A senior lecturer at the University of London, Richard “lost his heart to Brasil”, as he himself puts it, in 1965 when he was 24. He was offered a scholarship by Itamaraty, the Brasilian Foreign Office, to
cover Brasilian politics in the wake of the military dictatorship as a trainee journalist at The Guardian. JD talked to him to find out why people should know about Lula’s story.
Why did you lose your heart to Brasil?
On and off I have probably spent at least a couple of years in Brasil since 1965. I lost my heart to the vitality and colour and fun of Brasil, it seemed a young country, and I found the politics very
different from the UK.
What comparisons can the British Labour Party learn from Lula’s PT? What does thefuture have in store for them both?
I think the British Labour Party can learn from the PT the importance of keeping in touch with its roots among workers and ordinary people, and also the danger of relying on wealthy people and companies for its finance. Both are in danger of becoming establishment parties, but both can expect to be around for a long time to come.
Is Lula a turning point in Latin America’s (the former backyard of the US) politics? Why do you think people should know about him?
Yes, Lula does mark a turning-point in two ways. Firstly because it is under his presidency that Brasil is being recognised as a significant world power, which cannot easily be pushed around by the US, the EU or any other country. Second, because his government has demonstrated that it is possible to do something about extreme poverty in Latin America on a continuing and sustainable basis (with bolsa familia, etc). Unlike Chavez in Venezuela, the Lula Government does not depend on high oil
prices or any narrow economic basis. People should know about Lula because it is inspirational for his individual success, and for how a military dictatorship can peacefully be turned into a democracy.
Where has the president failed and where has he succeeded?
His biggest successes have been with bolsa familia, although it was badly organised to begin with, getting Brasil to be taken more seriously by the international community and raising living standards. His failures include doing too little on corruption, on the climatic and environmental threats facing Brasil and the world, on crime, human rights and the quality of policing.
Media in the UK seems to have a lot of respect for Mr da Silva, whilst Brasil’s media has historically been against him. Where does that dichotomy come from?
Media owners in Brasil were frightened of Lula and of the PT in the 1980s and early 1990s largely out of their own self-interest. He worried them by seeming to threaten their wealth and power over public opinion. But following his third defeat Lula modified his own views, and media owners recognised that it would be hard for the Cardoso government – by then unpopular – to get Serra elected as president. The British media, apart from a handful of specialists, is ill-informed about Latin
America, but it admires the “poor boy made good” aspect of Lula, and is well-disposed towards Brasil.
Will Lula be able to make a successor?
I am not sure that Lula will be able to appoint a successor in 2010 – Cardoso could not in 2002, and if he does, it may not be a PT president. But I think Lula will be very important at the state level in getting governors elected, and in steering the PT nationwide. This will go on being true for as long as Lula is interested in politics. A key fact about Lula for the last five elections is that he is far more popular than the PT.