Sorry, Haddad messed up!

A man, after crossing a river, is no longer the same upon reaching the other bank, just like the river. This is the law of dialectics in a constantly transforming world, as Heraclitus said in Greece. Little has changed since then, with the new always taking the place of the old. In the 2012 elections in São Paulo, there was a new pre-candidate with a good chance of changing the city, presenting new ideals and methods for governing. That's what I wrote. in this corner of Brazil 247, on the 10th of September 2011.

I attended two meetings where candidate Haddad discussed Housing and Health with the party's grassroots, and it seemed he could bring back to the streets the fierce, unpaid activism and intellectuals. Now, almost a year later, I return to apologize to my readers and voters. Some didn't know that colleague, a professor I praised, the candidate who would be anointed by Lula and soon adopted by the PT and its foul-smelling coalition for the São Paulo mayoral election. The fruit of a good harvest was rotten. The new candidate aged prematurely and sold himself to the devil to pick up the pieces from his television days. The struggle is difficult, but without ethics, the Marxist philosopher cannot win the election and, according to the famous eleventh thesis, transform the world. The people are not fools, and Lula is not a saint to single-handedly elect the mayor based on "the ends justify the means."

Luiza Erundina (1989/92), in the name of change and ethics, succeeded Jânio Quadros (1984/87) and defeated Paulo Maluf, João Leiva, and José Serra. It was the socialist PT that switched sides and tried to create a popular government in São Paulo. However, all it achieved was mediocrity, leaving no major works behind. Nevertheless, Erundina still lives in the same simple house as years ago. Maluf, who succeeded her (1993/96), finished Jânio's projects and hoarded money abroad – however, he is prevented from leaving Brazil. Interpol is on his trail, with an arrest warrant issued in the United States.

Meanwhile, the PT, which was once a symbol of morality, has since descended into corruption, as evidenced by its current trial in the "mensalão" scandal, which has triggered the possibility of imprisoning the party president during that election period, as well as part of Lula's government: the treasurer, the operator, the "head of the gang," former ministers, deputies, some front men and cronies. Today it shows its evolution and has become corrupt! It's conclusive proof that change is necessary to remain the same. The slogan says it all, and vanishes into thin air: "A new man for a new time." It loses the votes of the elderly, women, gays, and its running mate.

Erundina, certain of the class struggle, jumped from the sinking canoe of the bourgeois who believe that only rivers have left and right banks. As for Lula, with his voice silenced, without heeding the voice of the streets, he loses charisma by publicly adopting the traditional populist style. That photo of the hand-kissing ceremony, with his protégé Haddad between his masters Lula and Maluf, at the home of the dictatorship's offspring, is self-destructive. It seems like something out of Machiavelli: it's the negation of the negation sold as the holy trinity.

The Workers' Party (PT) is experiencing a similar identity crisis in municipal elections across Brazil. A mass party, it has already completed its cycle. It was born and will end in São Paulo. A new party will emerge that unites people of similar principles in the fight against antagonistic political projects. Until then, let's consecrate the experienced José Serra as the good administrator of São Paulo to return and continue his work. Or, instead of reheated coffee, the São Paulo voter can count on the newest Chalita. Let's teach this bunch a lesson and show that you don't sell your vote or your soul. To King Lula everything, except our honor. Out with the new Maluf and the old, warring PT.

Journalist and geologist, Everaldo Gonçalves was a professor at USP and UFMG, and president of CPFL.