Second Plenary Session of the PT Movement Here and There

In a packed virtual room, with nearly 600 registered participants from over 60 municipalities in Ceará, the event took place on the 27th. Second Plenary Session of the PT Here and There Movement,Organized by a dozen internal political forces within the Workers' Party, including the PT Movement, Socialist Democracy, Left Articulation, Optei, Articulation and Unity in the Struggle, Popular Nucleus, Dialogue and Petista Action, and featuring the participation of federal deputies José Airton Cirilo and Luizianne Lins, both pre-candidates for governor of the state of Ceará, and state deputy Elmano de Freitas, leader of the PT caucus in the Legislative Assembly, as well as councilors, presidents of municipal directorates, representatives of party secretariats and sectors, and the MST. The plenary session was broadcast online via the parliamentarians' social media, allowing an audience of around 2.000 people to follow the event in real time, a clear demonstration of the militants' interest and the rapid growth of this Movement in such a short time of its existence.

The central focus of the meeting was to assess the defense of the PT's own candidacy for the government of the state of Ceará as a strategic decision to advance the achievements made so far in the current PT administration, as well as to guarantee a strong and loyal platform, without ambiguities or hesitations, in the 2022 Lula President election and for all Workers' Party candidates for various elective offices.

The interventions were marked by profound analytical quality regarding the national situation, denouncing the evil produced by the militarized Bolsonaro regime in power, which causes suffering and impoverishment of the vast majority of the Brazilian population, through the surrender of national assets, the violent withdrawal of workers' rights, the absence of distributive and inclusive public policies, and the implementation of neoliberal policies under the leadership of Paulo Guedes, in an unprecedented health crisis, with more than 630 people dead from COVID-19, a consequence of the total irresponsibility of national health policy.

On the other hand, the highlight of the analysis of the state's current situation fell to the deputies present when they questioned a series of procedures by the state government of Camilo Santana, which does not properly include in its administration members of the Workers' Party (PT), of recognized value, who worked hard to elect him governor for two terms. For example, disguised as a technocratic government, the Camilo Santana government had, until December 30, 2021, in its cabinet names such as Lia Ferreira Gomes and Lúcio Gomes (brother and sister of Ciro Gomes, the habitual critic of President Lula).

Another political question raised concerned the commitment the current governor will have if his name is approved by the party convention as a candidate for the Senate: "Will Camilo be Lula's senator or Ciro's senator?", one of the speakers asked in his intervention. This is a political concern that needs to be resolved quickly due to the growing unease caused by the indecent and sordid attacks launched daily by candidate Ciro Gomes against President Lula and against Camilo Santana's PT party.

One of the speakers at the plenary session, a popular leader from the Cariri region, Rafael Silva, expressed himself as follows: “The funny thing is that to defend the Ferreira Gomes family, Governor Camilo Santana doesn't even wait for the sun to rise. Now, when Ciro Gomes attacks the PT and its greatest leader (Lula), the governor isn't even capable of issuing a single statement against Ciro's infamous attacks. And then, we're the radicals?”

In fact, the day after the PT Here and There Movement Plenary, Governor Santana went to the local newspapers.And surprisingly, he abandoned his classic polished and conciliatory demeanor, demonstrating evident discomfort, and launched a shallow attack, calling the activists and parliamentarians who opened a dialogue to reflect on the need for the PT's own candidate for governor of the state "political blind" and "radicals." Perhaps Camilo considers himself the holder of absolute truth. Maybe.

Governor Camilo's stance is regrettable. Democracy is built on debate. At no point did the speakers in the plenary session lower the level of personal treatment, nor did they resort to gratuitous aggression. Having different views is what makes democracy a space for building new possibilities. If it weren't so, we would still be living under the military dictatorship of 1964 to this day. It is precisely because there are different views that it is possible to create new worlds. Even if some, mistakenly entrenched in power, believe that they and their views will be eternal.

REPUDIATION NOTE 

The PT Here and There Movement, an alliance that brings together a dozen internal political forces of the Workers' Party in Ceará, vehemently repudiates all the attacks systematically, irresponsibly, mendaciously, and infamarily launched by presidential candidate Ciro Ferreira Gomes against President Lula, the greatest political leader in the history of Brazil, and against the Workers' Party.

Showing evident emotional instability, candidate Ferreira Gomes expresses a furious sectarianism, through manipulation of the facts, attacking the truth of the facts, to unscrupulously serve his electoral interests, in a clear disrespect for Brazilian citizenship, as happened recently, when on Friday (21) he attacked not only President Lula, but the Press in general in the person of journalist Luís Costa Pinto, editor-in-chief of the journalistic company Brasil 247, stating that that media outlet “is a Lula pamphlet maintained with dirty money”.

Ciro is trying to establish himself as a poorly finished version of a modern Bolsonaro in order to attract the sympathy of the market. In his numb zeal to launch his candidacy, he attacks the democratic field that has in President Lula the only leader capable of restoring hope to the Brazilian people, who have suffered so much from the dismantling of national public assets and the attacks on workers' rights that neoliberalism cowardly perpetrated starting with the coup against President Dilma Rousseff, deepened by the hands of Bolsonaro's necropolitics since 2019.

Thus, the PT Here and There Movement reiterates its explicit and unequivocal commitment to electing Lula President in 2022, bringing together our party forces, with its militants and political representatives, to build a strong and loyal platform, without ambiguities or hesitations, in this effective and unwavering objective towards our victory.

Fortaleza, January 29, 2022