Lula Promised Me A Raise

by Alex Cuff/PNN News Brief Editor

For the first time in the history of Brazil, a leftist candidate of the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores), Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, has been elected President. Lula, a former factory worker, won Sunday’s presidential election with over 60% of the votes defeating Jose Serra of the ruling Social Democratic Party candidate. Partido dos Trabalhadores (PT), is a political formation that has grown from municipalities to state governments. The celebrations in the streets on Sunday by PT supporters prove the popular discontent with unemployment and inequality in Latin America's most populous nation.

Lula won by promising social reforms for the poor and working people. Most voters in Rochina – Brazil’s largest favela, or slum in Rio – voted for Lula. “Lula promised me a raise, and I'm expecting to get it," said Leila Maria Oliveira, 48, a fare collector on Rio's buses who makes about $125 a month. "If he doesn't give it to me, I'm going to have to go to his office and collect it." Including an increase in minimum wage and more employment, Lula has promised Brazil food subsidies, and more spending on health care and education.

Since Lula formed alliances with groups traditionally hostile to his Workers' Party, including business leaders and evangelical Christians, some are questioning to what extent the politicians will compromise the proposals of the PT party. Hope lies in the fact that the PT is deeply rooted in Brazil's social movements, particularly the Landless Movement (MST) and the CUT (Brazil's trade union federation). The questionable alliances and a highly sophisticated media campaign, helped guarantee Lula a huge show of support -- more than 50 million votes in all -- on his fourth attempt at the presidency.

The fact that this is the first time in forty years that an elected president transfers the government to the president-elect of another party reveals the previous lack of democracy in Brazil, a country immersed in social and economic problems. “The responsibility of governing will be very great," Lula said late Sunday. Although there are promises of economic growth and social justice advances, the next government faces serious challenges: external debt of US$216 billion, a social welfare deficit, and 8 million unemployed Brazilians. Workers' Party officials said last week that they might draw on public pension funds in an attempt to pay for social programs until Brazil recovers from its economic slowdown.

This election and the new government’s decisions regarding national and foreign policy, will not only affect Brazil but the rest of the Americas. Fifteen days after assuming the position, Lula will have to make a decision regarding the FTAA. Lula has said the current proposals amount to an "annexation" of Brazil by the United States. The Workers' Party has said it will push to seek better terms for Brazilian producers in negotiations with the Bush administration over the Free Trade Area of the Americas.