Lula, the streets, and the deconstruction of his image.

I reiterate my position that former Labor president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva should go to the streets, seeking out those who support and trust him. Lula must appeal to the immense Brazilian working class and his voters if the conservative "politician" and Attorney General of the Republic, Roberto Gurgel, and ideologically right-wing judges, such as Joaquim Barbosa, Marco Aurélio de Mello, and Gilmar Mendes, among others, are once again associating themselves with the PSDB politicians defeated three times at the polls and the press barons who control the oligarchic, monopolistic, and historically coup-plotting media, who insist on considering Brazil, with its two hundred million inhabitants and the sixth largest economy in the world, as their own backyard.

It is never too late to warn labor politicians and government officials that they cannot and should never remedy or equivocate on the historical conduct of the Brazilian right wing, one of the most violent and powerful in the world, which built a bloody dictatorship that, over a period of 21 years, turned Brazil into a place of barbarism, where laws became a blur on paper and human rights were considered according to the will of the dictator in power and the military, judges, politicians, and police officers who served him as subordinates, with the financing and complicity, evidently, of large businessmen.

The right wing knows what the popular leader, who left office after eight years with an 86% approval rating, represents. Lula is the greatest political figure to emerge in Brazil after Juscelino Kubitschek and the historic statesman Getúlio Vargas. A politician of international stature, recognized as a pop star when he goes to the streets or to Brazilian and foreign universities, Lula must be fought, his image must be tarnished, and his governments discredited, because the deconstruction of his political persona and what he represents as a humanist are the only tools that the right wing, heir to slavery, has to use as a strategy to achieve victory at the polls.

Lula and certain sectors of the left know what is happening. And the right wants the former president, still very popular, quiet, in his corner, perhaps at home, watching the immolation of his character, the deconstruction of his image, and the destruction of his political, economic, and social legacy. They want to treat Lula as if he never existed and, for example, lifted more than 30 million Brazilian citizens out of poverty, recovered the economy in practically all sectors, paid off the external debt, and saved the country and its people from the crisis of the European Union and the USA. Lula built Brazil to near full employment, a trend that is being continued by President Dilma Rousseff, with the fall in interest rates and the exemption of taxes and duties on numerous products.

The right wing is desperate. It is deliberately incompetent, extremely selfish, morally violent, and socially sectarian. This political current wants a Brazil for the few, a place where about 30 million people have access to education, health, housing, and consumption. It is a struggle to maintain class hegemony and thus enjoy a country of VIPs. A Brazil for the rich, the very rich, and a small middle class that maintains its purchasing power to fill the pockets of the Brazilian business class, with its colonized mindset and immeasurable inferiority complex.

For this reason, and because of this, there is a systematic and incessant fight against politicians from the labor and socialist currents. To maintain this fight, the partisan and business right wing relies on the substantial cooperation of the powerful market media, the private business media whose owners are alien to the interests of Brazil and its working people. Lula is the most powerful politician in the country, along with Dilma, even without holding office. Consequently, having long perceived Lula's position in Brazilian society, conservatives have opted for the strategy of deconstructing the image of the labor political leader.

The investigation into Lula by the Public Prosecutor's Office is more than just an investigation; it's a move in the political chess game that the right wing is using to politicize the judiciary, in addition to betting on a police-like connotation by the foreign press, which will be responsible for disseminating Lula's discrediting. For now, the private media system is silent, but the former president is the main topic, which is being discussed in the backrooms of newsrooms.

Businessman Marcos Valério, an advertising executive who began his career in the PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) nest of former Minas Gerais governor Eduardo Azeredo (1995-1998), was sentenced to 40 years in prison. Azeredo was not re-elected, but left a trail of illegalities in the wake of the PSDB. To this day, men and women of the PSDB have not been investigated, and the Supreme Court sleeps soundly, as there is no news of when the PSDB's "Valério pipeline" will finally be judged. There's a popular saying that the Judiciary of this country is destined to punish and imprison the three social groups that form the three Ps (prostitute, poor, and black). The truth is that, judging by the way things are going, the three Ps have become four—prostitute, poor, black, and PT (Workers' Party) supporter.

It is outrageous the actions of the Attorney General, Roberto Gurgel, an ally of the traditionally coup-supporting press and the right-wing parties, in the persecution of Lula. Gurgel sent documents concerning Valério's accusation that Lula benefited from the "mensalão" money, which allegedly covered the personal expenses of the most popular president in Brazilian history, surpassing even the statesman Getúlio Vargas.

It turns out that Marcos Valério has a mouth, and anyone with a mouth says what they want, how they want, especially when it becomes necessary and urgent to save their own skin. Attorney General Gurgel, very aware and zealous of his responsibilities, immediately sent Valério's statements, published in the press that has become a tool and instrument of systematic opposition to the labor government, to the Federal Prosecutor in Minas Gerais, Leonardo Melo. Prosecutor Melo dismissed the investigation into Lula's alleged involvement in the "mensalão" scandal and decided to return the documents to the Attorney General's Office in Brasília.

According to Leonardo Melo's assessment, Valério's statements about Lula add nothing to the investigations carried out in Minas Gerais, nor to the cases pending in the Federal Court in that state. The truth is that Valério wants to reduce his sentence and, because of this, is negotiating a less painful way out of his case with the Attorney General's Office (PGR) led by Gurgel. Involving Lula benefits everyone who fights him outside the ballot box. The PSDB and its right-wing allies, such as the mainstream press, Roberto Gurgel, the deputy attorney general Cláudio Sampaio, the deputy attorney general Sandra Cureau, as well as clearly conservative judges like Joaquim Barbosa, Gilmar Mendes, Marco Aurélio de Mello, and Luiz Fux, among others, who have a side, an ideology, and take sides, preferably on the right.

Marcos Valério's accusations are unsubstantiated, and there is no evidence regarding former President Lula. They are merely words aimed at deconstructing and discrediting a left-wing politician who revolutionized Brazilian society and elevated Brazil to unprecedented international levels. A silent revolution, carried out in a government dedicated to democracy, which never attacked workers, and improved the living conditions of the poor and the middle class. It's visible. Only those who don't want to see it, or who simply oppose the Workers' Party, even if they benefit from it, fail to see it. It's a matter of ideology.

The frivolous attacks on Lula are an affront, a mockery of public intelligence, and a provocation with underlying political interests that could lead the Workers' Party politician to the streets. Lula is not in office. He is a former president, but he is attacked daily by the press and right-wing parties. It is in the establishment's interest to keep Lula in the crosshairs, even if the accusations against the labor leader are not proven. Deconstructing him is the strategy, because the right knows that Lula in the streets, in public squares, and on the electronic platforms of television, radio, and the progressive blogosphere is currently an unbeatable politician. The truth is that there is no evidence against Lula, but keeping the case in the spotlight is a way to combat him. The right did exactly this when Getúlio Vargas was out of power, at his ranch in São Borja, Rio Grande do Sul—the cradle of Brazilian laborism.

Lula will not remain inside his house in São Bernardo (SP), with his arms crossed, watching his immolation and the moral demoralization of his person. It is not in his temperament. Getúlio killed himself because of this. João Goulart suffered a coup d'état and only returned to Brazil to be buried. Lula will take to the streets if he perceives that the right-wing parties, media, and judiciary are embarking on anti-democratic, and consequently, coup-plotting paths. Lula knows our history and the evil intentions of an "elite" that inherited slavery. Lula will not be cornered by an alien and subservient press, without any commitment to Brazil, which fosters all kinds of banditry through its irresponsible and clearly oppositional headlines. Lula's place is in the streets, alongside the people, who will not tolerate coups. The Caravans of Citizenship are strategic and a solution for support and protection.

The right wing is desperate, especially the pro-PSDB media group, which in almost 20 years in power in São Paulo has become the destination of R$ 2,4 billion in the last ten years alone. As can be seen, the São Paulo taxpayer has supported the corporate press, which has ceased to do journalism and has begun to act as a press office, a veritable mouthpiece for the government. For this reason, and because of this, politicians, such as FHC—the Neoliberal—José Serra, Gilberto Kassab, and Geraldo Alckmin, have so much influence over the press, as well as influencing its agendas.

The amount of R$ 2,4 billion is no small sum. It's a considerable amount of money, destined to maintain the PSDB's propaganda machine, and also to serve as a "cannon" to demoralize and disqualify the PSDB's adversaries, treated as enemies, as has undoubtedly been the case for over ten years with the Labor Party presidents, targets of all kinds of attacks and accusations, many of them baseless. The commercial and private press depends on the money of the state of São Paulo like living beings need oxygen to live. Then, with utter audacity, this same media sector talks about private initiative, as if it weren't sustained by public money. Sleep on that. The hegemonic media must be deprivatized and stop treating readers like idiots.

Let's return to Marcos Valério. The Minas Gerais prosecutor returned the documents to Brasília. However, an investigation was opened by the Federal Police. Leonardo Melo requested the tracing of payments made by Valério. The investigation of these facts predates the testimony of the businessman of PSDB (Brazilian Social Democracy Party) origin. The process, in principle, does not involve former President Lula. Furthermore, the PT (Workers' Party) could pressure Lula to run for president if it becomes clear that the right wing and its agents, such as the STF (Supreme Federal Court) and the PGR (Attorney General's Office), insist on judicializing the political and electoral process. The PT member could also run for governor of São Paulo and, consequently, if he wins the elections, put the final nail in the coffin of the PSDB and the vast sums of money that the coup-supporting media has had access to for almost 20 years. In short, Lula has the streets and he should go to them if he feels cornered or disrespected in his citizenship. Never again a coup!

In my opinion, Lula should be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize because, during his two terms in office, he included tens of millions of people in terms of citizenship, as well as for his work integrating the nations that geographically occupy the Global South. His work in Latin America, Africa, and Asia is recognized by the international community, but, conversely, it is solemnly and cynically "forgotten" by the corporate press, which, if it could, would silence him, as it did with Leonel Brizola during the 15 years he spent in exile.

US President Barack Obama had barely taken office when he received the Nobel Peace Prize, only to then support the NATO invasion of Libya and the assassination of Muammar Gaddafi, in addition to having soldiers spread around the world continuing a policy of brute force based on intimidation and pure and simple military violence. Obama's award discredited the prize and left the Swedish Academy, which ridiculously behaved subserviently, in a difficult position regarding its credibility. If Lula had won the Nobel Prize, the slave-owning, tacky, provincial, and colonized Brazilian right wing would have cut its own wrists with a dull, rusty razor blade to hurt more. That's it.