Let's build a new project for Brazil.

In partnership with the Perseu Abramo Foundation, the Workers' Party launched a public consultation this week to build a collective development project for Brazil. This is being done through the platform... The Brazil That the People WantAvailable online at https://brasilqueopovoquer.org.br/, the public can express their opinions on topics such as national sovereignty, demography, the environment, taxation, quality of life, national integration, and many others. In parallel, PT (Workers' Party) branches throughout Brazil will encourage their members to promote an intense agenda of debates to broaden the process of popular participation. Intellectuals and public policy experts will also participate in the process. The expectation is that the initiative will allow for a critical overview of the current situation, with solutions to reverse the setbacks imposed on the country since the coup against President Dilma Rousseff.

The "Brazil That the People Want" platform can be accessed via computer, tablet, or mobile phone, and registration can also be done through Facebook or Twitter. After registration, users can participate in open discussions on various topics selected by the Perseu Abramo Foundation, agreeing or disagreeing with the opinions of other participants, or contributing their own ideas for others to comment on. It's an opportunity for society to clearly state the kind of Brazil it wants for the coming years. The consultation will run until the middle of next year, and its conclusions will be presented to the PT leadership, which will use the proposals to develop a government program with the participation of millions of Brazilians.

The challenge is immense, but it can be facilitated by the PT's history of listening to the population. Of all the experiences developed throughout our 37 years, one of the ones we are most proud of is the Participatory Budget, a program initiated during Olívio Dutra's PT administration in Porto Alegre in 1989. Its success was so great that the initiative inspired similar actions in several cities around the world, including Barcelona (Spain), Paris (France), Toronto (Canada), Montevideo (Uruguay), and Brussels (Belgium). Furthermore, it was identified by the United Nations (UN) as one of the 40 best public management practices in the world. In the Brazilian municipalities where it was implemented, the PB has translated into more paved roads, daycare centers, health clinics, leisure areas, lighting, and even more complex issues such as the implementation of the Single Ticket system and prioritization of investments in basic sanitation and various infrastructure projects.

During the Lula and Dilma governments, between 2003 and 2014, organized civil society witnessed the holding of 98 national conferences, which resulted in proposals that helped the Federal Government develop policies for women, the environment, social assistance, racial equality, children's rights, and indigenous health, totaling 43 themes. The conferences mobilized approximately 9 million Brazilians and benefited segments of the population that previously – and now again – remained invisible to the public authorities, such as small farmers, homeless people, waste pickers, quilombola communities, and foreign refugees.

With the "Brazil That the People Want" platform, the PT (Workers' Party) proposes that the population discuss its future in a transparent and inclusive way. It is clear that we cannot leave this in the hands of the coup-plotting elite, who in just over a year have destroyed labor rights, reduced social investments, and frozen public spending, primarily affecting the poorest. The PT is convinced of the importance of contributing to this process of collective construction, which respects the diversity of ideas and solutions, and the regional, racial, and gender differences that mark our society. The challenge is set, and you are invited to participate in this transformation.