Globo confirms it wants to isolate Lula within the PT to favor a coalition with coup plotters.

By Juca Simonard

In a column published last Saturday, the 18th, columnist Ascânio Seleme of the newspaper O Globo published part 2 of his article published the previous weekend in which he speaks to “forgive the PTNo new articleHe confirms what I had denounced in a polemic with the first text: Globo wants to isolate Lula to favor the broad front policy with coup-plotting sectors..

In the article published the previous weekend, Seleme seeks to defend a "new PT," a PT that would be more modern, open to dialogue and, above all, not led by the Lulaist wing, which he, maintaining the Bolsonaro-aligned political line of the newspaper, sought to defame with the argument of the alleged "corruption" that Lula, Dilma and other members, such as José Dirceu, would have committed.

Therefore, he stated at the time: "Those who believe in and support the PT are the majority of the party's perennial third of voters, not those who were caught in the two major corruption scandals that marked the PT administrations".

Naturally, some sectors of the PT (Workers' Party), such as the party president and federal deputy, Gleisi Hoffmann, former president Dilma Rousseff, and Lula himself, denounced the Globo article and reinforced the accusation that the organization is a coup-plotting channel that was at the forefront of the political rupture process. 

Globo has always acted as the main promoter of coups in the country, from the 1964 coup to the illegal impeachment of Dilma. Then, with the farcical imprisonment of Lula and the fraudulent election of Jair Bolsonaro. Any normal person would not heed Globo's call and, on the contrary, would strongly denounce this deception promoted by the newspaper.

However, in replying, Seleme again attacks the PT members of the Lula wing. “A large part of the PT members, starting with their president, congresswoman Gleisi Hoffmann, believe that the PT committed no crime to be forgiven. They claim that Dilma Rousseff was overthrown by a coup and that Lula was imprisoned without evidence. They don't admit that there were billions in embezzled funds from Petrobras, and for safety's sake they don't even touch the subject, and they claim that the mensalão scandal was an invention of the right wing and the media,” he states with all the cynicism in the world.

The argument remains along the same lines as the previous article: Lula, Gleisi, Dilma, etc. are corrupt and don't want to admit it, they don't want to engage in self-criticism. Therefore, Seleme tries to defend the "other PT," "which understands that it is urgent to overcome the 'us against them' stage and that a great understanding between democratic political forces is not only necessary, it is urgent," according to him.

The columnist for O Globo denounces that the Lula wing is a corrupt gang seeking hegemony. "If the Workers' Party organizes itself internally through some political tendencies that fight for power within the party, from the outside one can only see two distinct PTs. One of them is Lula's, the one in charge, and has among its leading figures Gleisi Hoffmann and José Dirceu." These people don't even want to hear about political understanding, about standing up against Bolsonaro.", the columnist criticizes.
To mean, Lula's Workers' Party (PT), which is the largest political movement in Brazil—a fact that one might agree with or not—does not want to speak "directly against Bolsonaro."That's because the only front that Globo presents as existing is the front with parties and individuals as unscrupulous and enemies of the people as Bolsonaro, such as PSDB, Ciro Gomes, Marina Silva, Luciano Huck, and so on. All of those who They are working together with Bolsonaro to approve unpopular measures in Congress....such as the pension and labor "reforms," ​​the privatization of water, etc., and which have even declared themselves against "Out with Bolsonaro," like the PDT and PSDB. The columnist does not mention, for example, that Lula's supporters have formed several fronts in recent years, with various parties and organizations - PCO, PCdoB, MST, CUT, etc. - to fight against the impeachment, Lula's imprisonment, and other measures of the coup. In other words, it's not that Lula's supporters are against forming fronts; they are, in reality, against... The "Bolsonaro stays" front imposed by the bourgeoisie. - and rightly so.

Cynically, the columnist for Brazil's most coup-supporting newspaper – as I said, the biggest promoter of coups – argues that the Lula supporters are betting on "rupture as the only way to regain power." Regarding this, I have nothing to comment on beyond the fact that Globo's cynicism and lies know no bounds. First, because they are the ones who promote rupture to seize power – history has proven this. Second, because they are trying to talk about a Lula-ism that doesn't exist, as if Lula were a revolutionary or something of the sort. This is not true; the PT came to power in alliance with important sectors of the bourgeoisie and carried out an extremely moderate government that benefited capitalists. If the coup plotters (including, naturally, Globo) staged a coup, it was precisely because they didn't want to accept even a little of the social policies promoted by the PT governments – which, frankly, fell far short of what they could have been.

On the other hand, the columnist is right to say that these sectors want to promote a "rupture." In this case, however, the rupture is with the coup regime itself. In reality, I don't even know if they want it that much. However, whether they like it or not, politics, contrary to what the bourgeoisie claims to deceive people, is not a struggle of ideas and projects, but a class struggle that goes far beyond what ideologies present. The struggle surrounding Lula, against the convictions, in defense of his candidacy, puts the coup plotters' project in check. First, because this requires intense mobilizations, which are the school of class struggle, where workers, youth, and activists learn to gain their autonomy. Second, because as a result of these mobilizations, demands of their own begin to emerge among the mobilized workers (regardless of what Lula defends or not) that go against the scorched-earth policy and confront the enemies that sectors of the bourgeoisie want to promote, with the help of parts of the left.

Mobilizations against new convictions against Lula or for the annulment of fraudulent trials would necessarily lead to street demands for "Bolsonaro Out," against the broad front, for the repeal of all measures taken after the coup, for new elections, and probably for Lula's candidacy in 2022. In other words, the struggle surrounding the former president fuels the general campaign against the coup d'état, since Lula is also a direct victim of it, having been imprisoned for more than a year.

In 2018, the fight for Lula's candidacy, against the decisions of the judicial dictatorship (which was supported by the entire coup-plotting gang: the military, right-wing parties, the media monopoly, etc.), if victorious, would have led to a gigantic crisis for the coup regime, since the fraud to put Bolsonaro in power would have been hampered, with Lula being the main obstacle to the illegitimate rise of the fascist. Not to mention that the gigantic rallies surrounding the candidacy would have completely changed the balance of power favorable to Bolsonarism at that moment.

That's why the right wing is so concerned with ending the "hegemony" of Lulaism. To do this, they need to stimulate bourgeois and petty-bourgeois sectors within the PT (Workers' Party), which don't have much connection with popular and militant struggle, while at the same time encouraging other leaders with right-wing support, such as Ciro Gomes and Guilherme Boulos (recently chosen by the press as the left's candidate for the 2020 São Paulo elections).

Seleme also indicates that Lula's supporters "understand that an alignment with other forces in the democratic field could result in the election of a non-PT member." Indeed, that is the issue, but the overall problem is not whether a PT member will be in power or not, but whether it will be someone who represents a break with the coup or not. In other articles I have denounced that the broad front with sectors of the right generally aims only to favor the right-wing sector.Thus, with the approval of the left, political capital is being given to failing groups, while the left abandons its program and demands in the name of "unity."

For example, with the support of sectors of PSOL and PT, totally coup-plotting and bankrupt parties like PSDB (which is - or was - in the process of disintegration) and PDT are rising from the ashes. Not to mention the FHC and Marina Silva of the world.

Lula, however, is not entirely against the broad front, but only against this particular broad front, whose proposal is a slap in the face to all the activists who actively participated in the fight against the coup. Lula is against the proposed front because he understands that it is not a front for "Out with Bolsonaro," since it is formed with close friends of Bolsonarism, which is the case with the PSDB.

“But there is another PT,” as Ascânio would say, “that understands that it is urgent to overcome the ‘us against them’ stage and that a great understanding between democratic political forces is not only necessary, it is urgent.” In defending the “understanding between democratic political forces,” the columnist should explain in what way, exactly, parties that supported the coup and Lula’s imprisonment – ​​PDT, PSDB, PSB, etc. – are democratic if what they defended were precisely the most anti-democratic measures of the last period, especially since all of this was the process that put Bolsonaro in power.

But, in the name of getting rid of Lula, anything goes, including praising one sector of the PT against another, when in reality what Globo wants, along with the rest of the bourgeoisie, is to ban the party - which would be ideal for them and that's why they insist so much that the party is a criminal organization.

"This group, led by former minister, former mayor of São Paulo, and former presidential candidate Fernando Haddad, has already publicly acknowledged the PT's mistakes and shown itself ready to rebuild and revive the party. This group doesn't have the populist constraints of Lula and company; it's more..." Modern, it thinks about the future and is not content with merely serving immediate and corporate interests.Detail, Read "modern" as: more similar to the PSDB..

The columnist concludes: “As long as the one who owns the ball [who would be Lula] refuses to sit at the table to work together for the benefit of all, Brazil is the one that loses.” In other words, Brazil doesn't lose when Globo hands the country over to the United States and fascism; it loses precisely when Lula tries to prevent it. 

Here's the hysterical cry of the coup-supporting columnist who wants to become an opinionated commentator on the left: "A country like ours, with a social abyss that keeps tens of millions of Brazilians on the margins of well-being and progress, needs a strong, modern, and efficient left-wing party. Something that Lula's PT is not."