Lula asks activists to start donating to the PT again.
"The problem is that the party needs to be aware that a true PT militant has an obligation to make a small contribution to their party," Lula argued this Friday in Salvador, on the second day of the 5th PT congress; the former president criticized the fascist demonstrations that tried to disrupt the event; "The important thing is that we know how this works. How did fascism or Nazism arise? Then we know how it starts. It starts by trying to discredit people in society," he stated.
Bahia 247 - Former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva defended this Friday (12), in Salvador, on the second day of the 5th PT congress, that PT militants should once again make financial contributions to the party.
"The problem is that the party needs to be aware that a true PT militant has an obligation to make a small contribution to their party. Because if nobody contributes, if deputies want to reduce their participation, if employees in appointed positions don't want to contribute, who will? It won't be any member of the PSDB. It won't be anyone from another political party or the poor journalists who earn little and are being laid off en masse," said Lula at the launch of a campaign to encourage donations to the PT.
Lula told party members that he would not disclose the amount of his contribution to the party. "I'm not going to say how much I'll contribute, but I will be a strong contributor to this party, not only by making the donation I already make every month, but also by helping and asking people to contribute to our party regularly and monthly," he said.
In defending the fundraising campaign this Friday, Lula recalled that, in its early years, the PT obtained a significant portion of its revenue through donations from members and also through the sale of party-related products, such as T-shirts, stickers, and buttons.
The former president recounted that he himself sold PT (Workers' Party) items to finance his election campaigns. "Me and some comrades who are here, some my age, some younger, know perfectly well that in the 82 campaign, which we conducted throughout the country, at every rally we held we had to sell t-shirts. Today, that's not even allowed anymore. We sold little stars. Nothing was given away for free," he recalled.
The former president also mentioned that, in the 1989 elections, in which he ran for President of the Republic for the first time, the party even sold stickers to put on cars. "Obviously times have changed, but I think back then we were more intensely involved with the PT than we are today," he stated.
Difficult moment
Lula reiterated that the party is going through a "difficult, very complicated moment," without specifying what he was referring to. "Many people thought this congress would be a failure, I read a lot of things, that Lula would want to change direction, as if our party still needed an emperor to come and tell us," he said. "We have to understand that there is a very well-planned attempt to criminalize the PT."
The former president even made a comparison with Nazism. "The important thing is that we know how this works. How did fascism or Nazism arise? Then we know how it starts. It starts by trying to discredit people in society. Trying to stir things up. You can attack, some insolent person can come to Congress and think they can mess things up," he said. This Thursday, a protester invaded the party's congress and called for Dilma's impeachment.