Editorial

With the Environmental Agenda, Lula Signals that Brazil Will Be a Protagonist in Global Politics

The world welcomed president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva back onto the international stage this week at the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference, referred to more commonly as COP27, in the coastal Egyptian resort town of Sharm El Sheikh. Despite not taking office until January, Lula had been personally invited by Egypt’s head of state Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in what could only be read as an implicit rebuke of President Jair Bolsonaro. Indeed, in the last year of his administration, Bolsonaro was close to persona non grata in much of the world. Lula, by contrast, was warmly received by leading political figures abroad and at home. Lula’s announcement at COP27 that “Brazil is back,” a reiteration of the message he delivered in his victory speech, was met with warm cheers from the audience, making abundantly clear the sense of relief that international actors invested in the health of Brazil’s environment felt at Bolsonaro’s defeat. 

Lula used the goodwill extended him at COP27 to commit himself even more explicitly to reversing the environmental damage overseen by Bolsonaro. Ahead of the conference, Marina Silva, former senator and environment minister under Lula, announced that “Brazil will return to the protagonist role it previously had when it comes to climate, to biodiversity.” Marina, as she is referred to in Brazil, is a respected environmental activist in her own right. Her reconciliation with the incoming president after years of bitterness and political disputes was taken as a good sign both for Lula’s ability to make peace with rivals in the service of defeating Bolsonaro and for his dedication to environmental issues. Under Marina’s leadership, deforestation in the Brazilian rainforest fell drastically. It remains to be seen whether she will take up her old job in the next Lula administration, but the president-elect is clearly listening to her closely on these issues. If she does not become environment minister, someone close to her will. 

As Lula basks in the glow of almost universal acclaim in the international press, there are a few negative storylines emerging domestically. These narratives aren’t likely to derail Lula’s early weeks in power, but they do underscore the fact that the media will be quick to pounce on even the appearance of misdeeds by the new administration. The first involves the private jet that Lula, his wife Rosângela da Silva, and his advisors took to Egypt. The plane was rented—not leant, as some initial reports implied—from a private businessman. Although there was nothing illegal about this, many pundits with a long history of hostility to Lula and his party used the incident to raise the president-elect’s supposed history of mingling public and private interests. It would be better for Lula, they suggested, to avoid even the appearance of impropriety. Fair or not, this is a standard Lula will have to acclimate himself to.

The other story has to do with the supposed dominance of Lula’s Workers’ Party (PT) over the transition process. Lula notably campaigned and won by striking a broad front negotiation of multiple parties from the far left to the center-right. This means that a diverse set of political actors will play a role in the new administration. On Thursday, however, O Globo reported with a critical slant that the transition was being “dominated” by the PT considering that the party had appointed 66 people to the transition team thus far. Out of a total 290 people, however, 66 hardly seems beyond the pale. Indeed, as it stands, less than a quarter of the names on Lula’s transition team belong to his party. While so much of the world extends a friendly hand to Lula as he reenters the world stage, he must also pay close attention to the domestic media narratives that threaten to blunt whatever momentum he might have to begin his administration in less than two months. 

Highlights

• LULA'S SPEECH AT COP27. On Wednesday 16 Lula (Workers’ Party) made an official statement at the UN Climate Conference, which took place in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt. He said that he "will spare no effort to bring deforestation to zero in our biomes by 2030." According to Lula, all environmental crimes will be fought "without truce." He also highlighted that he intends to rescue alliances with countries in South America and Africa and advocated that wealthier nations should help less developed countries tackle climate change. The president-elect stated that "the world is in need of global governance on the climate issue" and proposed the creation of "a multilateral forum with definitive decision-making power, which can be applied in countries."

• PROTAGONISM IN GEOPOLITICS. "If they want peace, China and the United States are capable of creating it," Lula told China's special climate envoys, Xie Zhenhua, and the United States representative, John Kerry, at COP27. The president-elect received authorities at the hotel where he stayed in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt. Meetings with Chinese and American emissaries took place separately and both dealt with the Ukrainian War. According to people who attended the meetings, the president-elect stated that Brazil is back as a mediator in the world, resuming the role the country always had through its diplomacy."

• WOMEN'S AGENDAS. Janja da Silva, sociologist and wife of president-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, participated in an informal meeting with the Sustainable Women Group within COP27 on November 15. The meeting signaled how Janja might help Lula's agenda in socio-environmental issues. According to the participants at the meeting, she discussed her professional history, including work in state-run companies such as Eletrobras and Itaipu. The approximately 20 women who met Janja had the opportunity to introduce themselves and, briefly, say how they work on the sustainability agenda. In an interview with a traditional television prime-time program on Sunday 13, Janja stated that she intends to re-signify the role of first lady, and cited first ladies Michelle Obama of the United States and Eva Perón (Evita) of Argentina as examples. She also said that she would be committed to the fight against violence women, racism, and hunger.

• BRAZILIAN SUPREME COURT JUSTICES IN NYC. On Sunday, November 13, six members of the Supreme Court (STF) who traveled to the United States to participate in the Lide Brazil Conference were harassed by dozens of Bolsonaro's supporters at the door of the hotel where they stayed. The protests had been expected, but the violence demanded the mobilization of the NYPD.

• PROPOSAL OF CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT FOR THE TRANSITION. Vice President-elect Geraldo Alckmin presented on Wednesday, November 16 the Proposal of Constitutional Amendment (PEC) for the Transition, which will finance the Bolsa Família program. The proposal would pay needy households R$ 600 (approx. US$120) a month plus an extra installment of R$ 150 (US$30) for each child under 6 years old. The transition team's draft calls for the program to be permanently excluded from the spending cap.

• REPORTS IDENTIFY LEADERS OF PROTESTS IN SUPPORT OF BOLSONARO. The Military, Civil, and Federal police and the Public Ministry (a federal agency that defends public interests) to the Supreme Court (STF) issued reports revealing the names of the leaders and financial backers of the post-election protests with anti-democratic messages that resulted in roadblocks, as well as concentrations near the installations of the Army and Navy. The reports mention politicians, police and former police, civil servants, trade unionists, farmers, agribusiness entrepreneurs, and owners of shooting ranges.

Feature Article

The Importance of Lula’s Win

By Gladys Mitchell-Walthour

Lula’s presidential win was significant and should be celebrated. However, it was not a landslide, and the close race foreshadows the contentious environment in which he will govern. It will be difficult considering that a record number of Bolsonaro-sympathetic politicians were elected to Congress. In the Senate, 27 new senators were elected, and 20 of them are Bolsonaro supporters. Yet, Lula’s win is significant because he has the opportunity to challenge Bolsonarismo by bringing civility back into public discourse and more importantly, can positively aid marginalized groups, including Afro-Brazilians.   

Even though Bolsonaro will soon complete his term, Bolsonarismo, the right wing and conservative ideology of Bolsonaro, will remain. In fact, the close presidential race demonstrates the strength of Bolsonarismo in the minds of Brazilian voters. In the first round, Lula received 48.43% compared to his vote share of 50.9% in the second round; an increase of 2.47%. In the first round, Bolsonaro received 43.20% of the vote and increased his vote share by 5.8% to 49.10%. In other words, Bolsonaro's increase in votes compared to his first round was more than double Lula’s increase. This increase is indicative of the unwavering support Bolsonaro continues to enjoy, despite his slow response to the Covid-19 pandemic and his homophobic, racist, and sexist beliefs. His supporters admire him as a strong leader willing to represent unpopular beliefs.

A Lula presidency means that Lula can reintroduce civility to the toxic political climate in which Bolsonaro thrived. Society has not undergone a dramatic shift simply because Lula was elected. Yet, a shift is possible. An example of a societal change is public opinion of quotas in universities. In 1995, only 48% of Brazilians agreed there should be quotas for Blacks and Browns. By 2006, this percentage had jumped to 65% (Queiroz and Santos 2006). Some of this difference is due to the way survey questions are asked. Questions that frame quotas in terms of winners and losers, depress support.  In 2022, half of Brazilians agree with racial quotas in universities. While this percentage is lower than in 2006, it is still relatively high, especially when compared to the United States. According to the Pew Research Center, in 2019, 73% of Americans said colleges and universities should not consider race or ethnicity. The point is that under Lula’s and Dilma Rousseff’s presidencies, quotas were framed as a reparatory policy and a right, which helped to destigmatize the policy. Lula’s discourse of rights that marginalized people have earned, aided in changing public discourse. Rousseff’s federal implementation of quotas in 2012 aided in normalizing the policy as a right for students from public schools and for Afro-Brazilian students as there were sub-quotas for these students.   As some scholars have noted, the implementation of the policy aided in shifting political opinion. On the other hand, Bolsonaro’s extreme rhetoric against marginalized communities has led to a change in norms where it is acceptable to express hatred of marginalized people in public discourse.  A Lula government can allow a return to civility in politics, political norms, and in public discourse.

The second importance of the Lula win is to show, through action such as policies and appointments, his commitment to Black Brazilian rights.  There was an insurmountable level of effort from Black Brazilian activists and politicians to mobilize voters to support Lula going into the second round. Some of his most dedicated supporters were Black women. Talíria Petrone proudly campaigned, visibly showing her pregnant belly. Anielle Franco was by Lula’s side when he visited Complexo do Alemão, a favela in Rio de Janeiro. Vilma Reis and Olivia Santana also continued supporting him. The largest Black movement umbrella organization, “The Black Coalition for Rights,” ran social media campaign slogans such as “We are with Lula because we, Black men and Black women are 56% of the Brazilian population and demand to live in a country free of racial discrimination and racism.” Another slogan was, “We are with Lula because we need consistent public policies to face the femicide that touches women throughout the country, especially Black women and Trans women.”  Recently, Lula’s Vice-President Geraldo Alckmin announced 9 working groups including groups for Racial Equality, Women, and Human Rights as part of their transition team. Some of these groups included leading Black intellectuals and activists such as Silvio Almeida, Anielle Franco, Douglas Belchior, Nilma Gomes, and Preta Ferreira. Publicly announcing these working groups demonstrates these issues are important to the incoming government. In addition, including well-known Black leaders with progressive agendas also shows a commitment to those who supported him.  As he has done in the past, Lula should appoint Black Brazilians as ministers. Appointing these leaders as ministers, which would normalize what Black intellectuals and leaders have been saying all along, namely, that Black people also belong in spaces of power. However, the ministries in which they are appointed should also be given the necessary financial resources to properly function. 

Although it will be no easy task, Lula will also have to tackle issues of hunger and unemployment that have been devastating to marginalized people. None of this will be easy, but Lula is no stranger to overcoming what seems impossible. 

Gladys Mitchell-Walthour is Dan T. Blue Endowed Chair of Political Science, North Carolina Central University, National Co-Coordinator of the U.S. Network for Democracy in Brazil National, and WBO Board Member

Feature articles express the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editors or WBO.