PT militants propose a left-wing front to confront Bolsonaro's fascism.

The following text is a public statement from left-wing activists committed to the struggle in defense of life, social rights, democratic freedoms, national sovereignty, and socialism. It is also a call to action against the fascism and ultraliberalism of the Bolsonaro-Mourão government, whose removal is urgently needed to free Brazil from the crises – sanitary, economic, social, political, environmental, and cultural – that are sacrificing our people.

1. Brazil is experiencing an unprecedented crisis in its history. This crisis – sanitary, social, economic, political, environmental, and cultural – is intertwined with a global crisis. The country is therefore enveloped in a systemic global crisis of capitalism, in the face of which the Workers' Party, as a socialist and left-wing party, must present a similarly systemic alternative.

2. The global situation of crisis and instability predates the pandemic, but it has been exacerbated by it. This is a crisis of capitalism, stemming from structural contradictions, aggravated by the aftermath of the 2008 crisis, the fall in trade and global GDP, which is expected to plummet by around 5% in Europe, dragging millions into unemployment and condemning more than 60 million to misery and hunger.

3. Faced with the crisis, in an attempt to maintain and expand their profits, capitalists violently attack the rights and achievements of the working classes. With the same intensity, imperialist countries promote all sorts of aggressions against the peoples of the world, especially in Latin America: coups, sabotage, criminal blockades, political destabilization, and threats of military interventions, both external and internal, against non-aligned governments.

4. In this context, there is an intensification of economic, political, and military competition between powers, with particular emphasis on the geopolitical dispute between the United States and the People's Republic of China. Military conflicts erupt, reigniting the arms race, and localized provocations typical of the "Cold War" follow, which may escalate due to the interests of the United States.

5. Migratory waves are triggering pent-up manifestations of xenophobia, racism, and religious fundamentalism in various parts of the world, leading governments in different countries to blame migrants for rising unemployment, especially among young people.

6. No less serious, and associated with these phenomena, is the catastrophic socio-environmental crisis, whose proportions are growing geometrically due to the destructive dynamics of capital and most of the major powers. The crisis encompasses everything from global warming, the depletion of non-renewable energy sources, and biodiversity loss, to wars over water, land, and minerals. The indiscriminate use of genetically modified organisms, chemical pesticides, and poisons spreads with impunity – and Brazil is a sad example – in addition to the cumulative effects of disordered industrialization and urbanization, which favor the emergence and spread of pests, as well as respiratory viral diseases, such as Covid-19.

7. Viewed holistically, although distinct, this crisis is as devastating as the one that plagued the world between 1914 and 1945. If, at that time, the "day after" was a world with greater well-being, with widespread decolonization and relative democratization, this only occurred because, after much struggle, the socialist and democratic sectors prevailed. The immediate outcome of the crises of 1929, 1970, and 2008 was different. Hence, it is a mistake to imagine, guided by an idyllic vision, that in the post-pandemic world "nothing will be the same as before," or that a better world will necessarily emerge in the wake of the current crisis.

8. This is because the current global crisis has had and continues to have profound impacts on the global working class, which, with rare exceptions, has been accumulating losses for decades. These losses stem from changes in global capitalism such as the globalization of production; the concentration of capital; precarious employment and outsourcing; and mass unemployment. The losses suffered by the working class have negatively affected the living and working conditions of hundreds of millions of people, accompanied by a reactionary ideological offensive and the restriction of democratic freedoms, notably the disorganization and relative weakening of trade unionism.

9. The attack is relentless, but there is resistance from the working classes who do not renounce their rights, their dignity, and their lives; and from the peoples who defend their wealth, their independence, and their sovereignty against a process that destroys their prospects for development, their public policies of industrialization and scientific-technological capacity building, condemning them to a totally subordinate place in the international division of labor.

10. Therefore, to build a new future for humanity, it is fundamental to revive hope and achieve victories in the struggles being waged at this moment. Without the optimism of will, action, and class struggle, the "new normal" may exacerbate the worst characteristics of "yesterday's normal." That is, with more inequality, more exploitation, more states of exception, more neoliberalism, more wars.

11. It is a fact that we live in a world of global problems, for which capitalism has no solution, often being the cause. But to defeat capitalism, a tough confrontation between classes and between states will be necessary, on a national, regional, and global scale. Even moribund, capitalism will not die a natural, bloodless, painless death. It is precisely for this reason, in the face of the systemic crisis of capitalism, that the Workers' Party, since its inception, has defended an alternative to the capitalist system: socialism.

12. The construction of a democratic, popular, and socialist solution to Brazil's problems is linked to the course that the global crisis of capitalism takes. It is also connected to the establishment of a new world order, profoundly different from the one that currently exists. To this end, the action of the working classes and the Brazilian people, of the political and social left, will be crucial. Therefore, to liquidate and bury "moribund capitalism," an appropriate political orientation, firm organization, internal democracy, discipline, unity of action, and the stamina to fight until victory are essential.

13. The Workers' Party (PT) took an important step by taking up the defense of "Out with Bolsonaro." After all, the President of the Republic is a permanent threat to the life of democracy and to the life of the Brazilian people. For this very reason, the PT, together with other parties and several hundred entities and movements, filed an impeachment request in the Chamber of Deputies so that, at the end of the process foreseen in Article 86 of the Federal Constitution, Jair Bolsonaro can be removed from office and condemned to the loss of his mandate. With the same objective, the PT and other parties filed criminal complaints with the Supreme Federal Court in order to remove Bolsonaro from office. And we reaffirm the challenge processed, back in 2018, against the manipulated and illegitimate election of the Bolsonaro-Mourão ticket.

14. It is worth remembering that the crimes, both common and impeachable, committed by the president are known to, supported by, and complicit in, the vice-president of the Republic, as well as all members of his government. Therefore, to eliminate the causes of the crisis that has befallen the Brazilian nation and people, it is fundamental to remove Bolsonaro and Mourão, their government and their policies, calling upon the people to elect, through universal, direct and secret suffrage, who will occupy the Presidency of the Republic, in elections in which our comrade Lula, with his unjust convictions annulled and his political rights restored, may, if he so wishes, participate.

15. It is around this central political struggle, but also around the struggles in defense of life, social rights, democratic freedoms and national sovereignty, of rural and urban workers, of women, black men and women, of youth and indigenous peoples, that the Front – leftist, democratic and popular – will be constituted, capable of resuming the thread of the structural changes indispensable to saving the present and the future of Brazil.

16. This is not an easy task. Among other reasons, because we are racing against time. Insensitive and mocking the thousands of deaths caused by his genocidal policies, Bolsonaro promotes economic and social chaos, the destruction of freedoms, affronts the Legislative and Judicial branches, and the militarization of the country.

17. The president, the vice president, and a large number of ministers are military officers, including those who have their offices and conduct daily business at the Palácio do Planalto (Presidential Palace), as well as a key ministry during the pandemic: the Ministry of Health. In other levels of government, there are approximately 2 military personnel. At the same time, the link between the Bolsonaro clan, traditional militias, and digital militias is notorious. Paramilitarism is being publicly encouraged. The belligerent facet of the government is directed against indigenous peoples, rural workers, Black people, women, LGBT people, the landless and homeless, social movements, and the left in general. Faced with a government with this violent, authoritarian, dictatorial, and neo-fascist behavior, there is no possible compromise: only firm and resolute confrontation is appropriate.

18. If they are not stopped, Bolsonaro, Mourão, their government, and their policies will continue their offensive against democracy, society, culture, the national economy – especially small businesses and workers – and threaten the survival of the population. This same population mourns the deaths of thousands of relatives and friends, claimed by the coronavirus, while witnessing the growing number of already unemployed and the return of the legion of hungry and destitute.

19. Before the pandemic, Brazil was already suffering the effects of the coup offensive, notably Constitutional Amendment 95 (which froze budget spending); the labor reform; the Social Security reform and dismantling of the INSS (National Institute of Social Security); the extinction of the Ministry of Labor and Culture; and the dismantling of the Unified Health System (SUS). The succession of attacks launched by the government itself affected Funai (National Indian Foundation), Ibama (Brazilian Institute of Environment and Renewable Natural Resources), public universities, and public research institutions (INPE, Fiocruz, and others).

20. But this dismantling was not the only thing that occurred; there was also an increase in unemployment, a reduction in wages and income for the working classes, the dismantling of legal social protection networks—and a brutal onslaught by predatory capital (large landowners, logging companies, mining companies) against social leaders, especially the serial assassinations of indigenous people and peasants in remote and agricultural frontier regions. Indigenous and quilombola peoples have been intensely affected by the effects of the environmental crisis and also by the offensive of neo-fascist ultraliberal capital. In the countryside, the advance of the mechanized, export-oriented agribusiness model continues to systematically stifle family farming production. In the cities, urban and social problems are piling up, without solution.

21. The implementation of the coup-driven and ultraliberal plan did not produce the economic recovery that had been promised. On the contrary, we witnessed a growing deterioration in all indicators, except for the profits of the financial and banking sector, as well as those sectors that benefit from the primary export agenda and the devaluation of the real.

22. The unfolding of the pandemic exacerbated everything that was already happening in the country: unemployment (with increasing rates for youth, Black people, and women); worsening working conditions (exposure to biological agents without protective measures, exhausting workdays, especially for women, who unequally accumulate domestic and caregiving tasks); wage cuts; deterioration of the social situation (particularly affecting Indigenous and Quilombola communities); poverty; reduction of public and social policies; depression of economic activity; increased domestic violence against women and children, and even (as in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, for example) an escalation of murders committed by the Military Police, mainly targeting young Black people from the periphery. If that weren't enough, the dramatic public health situation exacerbated the social crisis, which primarily victimizes the popular sectors, the Black population, and women; and affects some regions with greater proportional violence, such as the North of the country.

23. Incredibly, there is method to this apparent madness. As Minister Paulo Guedes made clear – seconded, among others and not by chance, by the Minister of the Environment – ​​the idea is to take advantage of the pandemic (which focuses the attention of those who defend life above all else) to maintain and, preferably, accelerate privatizations, widespread deregulation, denationalization, the erosion of rights, income concentration, reduction of public and social investments, the offensive against the environment, and the regression of the national economy to the condition of primary-export production. While in other countries the ruling class itself plans the way out of the crisis, even if temporarily, through an expansion of the role of the State, in Brazil the Bolsonaro government intends for the "recovery" to occur by abandoning the country to ruin and offering, to a population exposed to mass unemployment and extreme poverty, starvation wages and semi-slave labor conditions.

24. It is important to emphasize: in the face of the global and geopolitical crisis, Bolsonaro/Guedes' option is the complete subordination of Brazil, relegating the country to a mere supplier of raw materials in the international division of labor and a geopolitical pawn of the United States. In this context, the Brazilian state must behave, essentially, as a repressive power; while the working classes are largely seen as obsolete and disposable. Therefore, they are condemned to structural unemployment, informality, mass incarceration, or even death, which is why the death toll caused by the pandemic is functional to the Bolsonaro government's project.

25. This is the ultraliberal project that underlies the coup plot that removed the PT from government in 2016, convicted and imprisoned Lula in 2018, and supported Bolsonaro's election. This is why, despite the discomfort with his style, the Bolsonaro government continues to have the support of big business, especially the financial sector and agribusiness – as long as it remains faithful to the agenda and interests of these groups. For the same reason, sectors of the media oligopoly that criticize the president remain silent in the face of the outrageous nature of his economic policy. Furthermore, the government has the backing of the Armed Forces, military police, militias, and, last but not least, enjoys support from sectors and leadership within conservative churches with significant popular influence.

26. However, despite being unified around the neoliberal program, the ruling class and the coup coalition exhibit several political fissures. The far-right favors concentrating power in the federal "executive branch," including to more easily treat social issues as police matters. Other sectors of the coup seek to preserve their power structures in municipal and state executive branches, the legislative branch, the judiciary, and also in the media.

27. The conflict within the coup plotters could have three outcomes: an agreement, a victory for the Bolsonaro clan, or their defeat. The most likely scenario remains an agreement from above, based on unity around the neoliberal program and military tutelage. Therefore, the clan's defeat, if achieved by sectors of the right—through an explicit coup, military tutelage, temporary removal for trial for a crime, or impeachment with replacement by the vice-president—should not cause a change in ultraliberal policy. In fact, depending on how it occurs, the clan's defeat could be accompanied by even more restrictive measures against democratic freedoms. On the other hand, both the agreement scenario and the clan's victory imply a deepening of military tutelage, with increasingly authoritarian elements. In all three scenarios, immense threats weigh heavily against the left and the Workers' Party.

28. The so-called Lava Jato Operation – in which former minister and former judge Sérgio Moro played a central role – is the main, but not the only, expression of the effort to destroy or at least profoundly weaken the Workers' Party. This effort encompasses the most varied operations of the ruling class, in the judicial, legislative, executive, media, paramilitary, and international spheres. Although the main target is the PT, the objective is to destroy the conditions for independent action by the left as a whole and by the working classes.

29. For all these reasons, it becomes crucial that the PT (Workers' Party) contribute – firmly, skillfully, and without arrogance – to uniting the democratic and popular field into a left-wing front that presents a comprehensive solution to the situation, a political alternative that creates the best conditions not only for the implementation of an emergency plan to defend life, employment, and income, but also a program of structural reforms and environmental protection. A program of a democratic, anti-imperialist, anti-monopoly, anti-landowning, anti-patriarchal, and anti-racist nature, pointing the country in a new political, economic, and social direction; a program of development and democratization whose paradigm would not be a return to the New Republic, but a new constitutional order. A program that has as one of its axes the regional integration of Latin America and the Caribbean, transforming our region into one of the poles, including industrial and technological, of a new world order.

30. Judging by historical experience, building a popular left-wing front is a process that will be woven by many hands and will go through many stages. This is because we are currently living through a moment of strategic defensiveness, where defensive banners of resistance from the working classes and other sectors of the Brazilian people stand out, for example: defense of life and public health; defense of democracy and civil rights; public education and democratic universities; opposition to pension reform; the annulment of President Lula's unjust conviction and the restoration of his political rights. It is a moment in which the political struggle against ultraliberalism and neofascism is still largely waged within institutions and elections. And it is a moment in which the working class is relearning how to organize and fight under the difficult conditions of the pandemic, which have exacerbated previous problems, including divisions within the left itself.

31. In the context of the pandemic, the defense of life takes center stage. For ultraliberalism, large segments of the Brazilian population simply do not matter. That is why defending life is, in itself, a fundamental banner of the political struggle. It is necessary to radicalize in the defense of immediate lockdown; of a single waiting list for beds in public and private hospitals; of the nationalization of private health services; of the financing of the SUS (Unified Health System); and of the continuation of the income transfer policy. More than ever, it is urgent that we also be radical in our proposals for the resumption of the economy on new foundations, which will require heavily striking financial, rentier, and speculative capital.

32. It is in the trenches of these battles that popular unity is generated, from below and from above. If we manage to promote a permanent and expanded cycle of mobilizations, which puts millions of Brazilian men and women into motion, we can move from resistance to the offensive, widening the divisions within the conservative bloc and paving the way for more progressive alternatives.

33. The political basis of a popular front must be the unity of the entire Brazilian left, in alliance with democratic sectors of society and also with sectors of center-left parties such as the PSB and PDT. In this sense, it is fundamental to create a dynamic of convergence with social movements, cultural, intellectual, and religious leaders of the resistance.

34. The role of the Workers' Party is indispensable in this process of creating a broad, radical, left-wing popular front. The PT's leading role is determined by its social insertion, by the fact that it has the largest bloc in Congress, and by having won state governments with great popular support that must be integrated into the same national project. However, what is fundamental is the PT's political line and its ability to demonstrate to the majority of the people that their lives will only improve if we defeat neo-fascism and ultra-liberalism. This will only be achieved through a broad left-wing popular front.

35. Throughout this journey, we cannot, at any point, succumb to the appeals to become an auxiliary force for any functional solutions for the defenders of the ultraliberal agenda, who are seeking a less risky political environment to implement their program. It is an illusion to associate ourselves with any front that does not clearly state its commitments to the living conditions of the majority of the Brazilian people, to the reconstruction of our national sovereignty, to the defense of real democratic freedoms, and to the defeat of the far-right and fascism. As we have already said, historical and international experience has shown that the only way to stop the rise of fascism is from the left. In the current situation, to be broad, it is necessary to be radical.

36. Agreements, movements, and specific actions can be carried out with bourgeois factions that clash with Bolsonarism and defend, even if partially, democratic freedoms. However, this should not foster the illusion of forming an organic, permanent, and stable coalition that entails programmatic concessions of any kind.

37. Nor can we act as if we were in a normal situation, making calculations and focusing our intervention exclusively on the 2020 and 2022 elections. Our tactical perspective is concentrated on the campaign “Neither Bolsonaro nor Mourão! Direct Elections Now!”. We must reject as illegitimate and undemocratic any solution that does not involve popular vote. And, as has already been said, truly free elections are elections in which Lula can participate.

38. It is essential to emphasize that the democracy we defend can only be a democracy without tutelage of any kind over the popular sectors and the working class. That is, a democracy without vetoes against the PT (Workers' Party) or Lula, as this would mean accepting a veto on the self-organization of a large segment of the country's popular sectors, both within and outside the party structure. Broad fronts that do not propose the removal of Bolsonaro, that do not advocate impeachment, that do not defend popular sovereignty as the basic premise of democracy, that do not advocate new elections, that condone or remain silent about military tutelage—fronts with such characteristics do not interest us. On the contrary, they weaken us because, in addition to confusing our popular base, they would impose on us the limit of acting according to rules pre-defined by the dominant sectors of the country.

39. The resumption of ties and support from popular sectors and the majority of the working classes—particularly those sectors subjected to outsourcing, gig economy, and informality, and the exploited, abandoned, and oppressed majorities—necessarily involves this path of programmatic polarization. Without it, discouragement, disorientation, and fragmentation in broad sectors will persist.

40. But it is fundamental to recognize that a general political orientation is not enough. Organizational and mobilization work is needed that involves understanding, solidarity, and the struggle to immediately improve the concrete living conditions of the working classes. In this realm of concrete conditions, the dimensions of race and gender play an essential role. They have a structuring weight, insofar as they condition the social experience of workers. The genocidal character of the Bolsonaro government, of neofascism and ultraliberalism falls more heavily on the Black population and women. It is no coincidence that the assassination of Marielle Franco has become a symbol. Equally important is paying attention to the regional and generational dimensions, which, also not by chance, have operated as prominent variables in the class struggle in the country at least since 2010.

41. If we succeed in the tasks we have set ourselves, if we forge a popular front with these attributes, we will pave the way not only to return to the federal government, but also to engage in the struggle for power, within the context of the fight for the effective implementation of the aforementioned structural reforms, which will inevitably provoke resistance. Rejection of these transformations will require a confrontation that combines institutional action with social struggle, and broad mobilizations of the working classes, as well as other social strata.

42. With the right approach, even if there is no immediate success, the battles fought will make future recovery possible. However, without proper political guidance, if we renounce being an independent force and bearer of a comprehensive alternative, the PT and the entire left could become an auxiliary force for sectors of the ruling class and the coup plotters. In this scenario, defeat, in addition to dragging the PT down, will compromise the rich experience of self-organization of the popular sectors it represents and will negatively affect other sectors of the Brazilian political and social left.

43. In this sense, what is at stake is the destiny of Brazil, but also the strategic significance of the Workers' Party. From 1989 to 2016, the PT polarized the political struggle in Brazil. Since 2005, and particularly from 2016 onwards, the ruling class has strived to destroy the PT or, at least, prevent it from playing a leading role in the contest for direction in Brazilian society.

44. There are disagreements within the PT and within the Brazilian left regarding the policies adopted in this past period, but our concern here is not with assessing the past, but rather with formulating a policy for the present and the future, in which there is no room for class conciliation, a naive belief in the "republican" and democratic conduct of the elites, or the exclusivity or primacy of institutional and electoral channels. More than ever, it is the PT's role to prioritize social struggle; grassroots organization; cadre training; independent social communication; militant financial self-sufficiency; and the construction of a democratic, popular, and socialist mass culture.

45. To achieve this, we need a political line that combines a strategy and tactics appropriate for the current historical period and that do not foster illusions of conciliation with factions of the ruling classes. We can and should form specific alliances whenever this is useful in defending freedoms, rights, and sovereignty. However, it is always necessary to bear in mind that the Brazilian bourgeoisie is united in its program and strategic objectives, which include prohibiting or even destroying the left. No faction of the ruling classes is willing to form a front with us: at most, they want to use us as an auxiliary force in their internal disputes. Given this, it would be a grave mistake to abandon our political identity in order to associate ourselves with forces whose ultimate goal is the defense of the media oligopoly and institutions that, with the exception of a minority of their members, were the architects and executors of the 2016 coup, which culminated in the deposition of President Dilma, the conviction and imprisonment of Lula, paving the way for the victory of Bolsonaro.

46. ​​Political independence must also materialize in the organizational field: it is necessary to prevent the annulment of the PT's leadership bodies, which have sometimes been converted into mere rubber stamps for decisions made elsewhere; which turn the PT into a "rearguard party"; and which progressively disconnect us from the younger, more oppressed and exploited sectors of the working classes. In this regard, our central task, politically and organizationally, remains to regain a majority among the working classes, among the exploited, abandoned and oppressed population as a whole.

47. For this very reason, the PT must fight with all its energy to defend the lives, jobs, and income of the population. This includes proposing concrete and immediate solutions to the health crisis, in line with the measures advocated by the Party, by our parliamentary groups, and implemented by our state and municipal governments. It also encompasses preventing layoffs, salary reductions, cuts in public policies, and, moreover, guaranteeing emergency income and housing for those in vulnerable situations, including the homeless population. This also requires class solidarity, through networks of mutual aid and support that strengthen community cohesion for resistance and survival in times of crisis and hardship. Not a paternalistic conception of charitable action, but politicized class solidarity that knows how to demonstrate to the people that true solutions depend on a political alternative. It presupposes incorporating into our politics all the constitutive elements of the working class, such as regional, gender, generational, and ethnic issues. Finally, it requires linking the defense of democracy, life, jobs, and the income of the population with the fight to oust Bolsonaro, Mourão, their government, and their policies.

48. In Brazil, the only way to halt and overcome the ongoing catastrophe is through the leadership of the Brazilian left, its parties, organizations, and movements, among which stand out, among many others, the Popular Brazil Front and the People Without Fear Front, the Unified Workers' Central, the Landless Workers' Movement, and the National Union of Students. This leadership depends, to a large extent, on what the Workers' Party does or fails to do. If the PT does not rise to this historical mission, we will experience a double catastrophe: a national catastrophe and a catastrophe for the PT itself.

49. It is within this framework that, instead of a passive or bulwark-like defensive attitude, we affirm the need for the PT (Workers' Party) to formulate a new strategy, consistently adopting a tactic of total confrontation with the ultraliberal agenda and the Bolsonaro government. It is with this conviction that we work and fight on all fronts, including in the 2020 elections, which the right wing wants to postpone, and in the presidential elections, which we advocate bringing forward. With great clarity, we are in favor of a program that is simultaneously emergency and structural, a program of national reconstruction on new foundations, which will impose defeats on agribusiness, private monopolies, finance capital, and imperialism.

50. It is from this perspective, in fact, that the PT decided, at its 6th Congress, to raise as one of our banners "the struggle for the convocation of a free, democratic and sovereign National Constituent Assembly, destined to structurally reorganize the Brazilian State and approve reforms that reshape its socio-economic and institutional foundations, torn apart by the usurper government. The democratization of Brazilian institutions is an indispensable preamble for the other structural reforms."

51. Guided by these guidelines, we continue to fight to expand the PT's influence among the working classes, which requires revolutionizing our culture of party action and organization, extensive grassroots work, and open confrontation with the different worldviews of other social classes. Therefore, it is urgent to prioritize party organization and the ideological and political training of the membership, so that, linked to the struggles of the working classes, it can drive their conscious and independent action. Consistent with this thinking, it is vital to completely modify the PT's leadership methods to prioritize a deep connection to the life, struggles, and organization of the large popular sectors of Brazilian society. And also to work towards Brazil's integration into Latin America and the Caribbean, a banner that has been raised by the São Paulo Forum since 1990.

52. We, the signatories of this DECLARATION, continue fighting to maintain the PT as the central force in the national debate and, thus, cooperate in ensuring that the solution to the crisis favors the vast majority of the Brazilian people, killing and burying capitalism and all forms of oppression and exploitation.

53. As comrade Lula rightly said in his historic May 1st, 2020 speech, "capitalism's days are numbered," and the task of building a new world, in which "no one exploits anyone else's labor, a world in which differences between one another are respected, a world in which everyone, absolutely everyone, has the tools to emancipate themselves from any kind of domination or control," is "in the hands of the workers."

54. We finished writing this text at the same time (June 2, 2020) that the streets of the United States are filled with demonstrations that, beyond repudiating racism and police violence, are protests against the injustice, oppression, and exploitation that characterize capitalism. Here in Brazil, while Bolsonaro parades on horseback and demonstrators reproduce Ku Klux Klan rituals, the streets are once again occupied by popular demonstrations in defense of democracy. The future will depend on battles that will be fought in the coming days, weeks, and months. Only struggle will stop the catastrophe.

Long live socialism, long live the working class, long live the PT!!!

Breno Altman, alternate member of the National Directorate of the PT (Workers' Party).

Celso Marcondes, journalist

Damarci Olivi, journalist

Daniela Mattos, lawyer

Jandyra Uehara, executive director of CUT

José Genoíno, former national president of the PT (Workers' Party).

Júlio Quadros, national director of the PT (Workers' Party).

Maria Carlotto, professor at UFABC

Múcio Magalhães, National GTE

Natalia Sena, national executive of the PT (Workers' Party).

Patrick Araújo, national director of the PT (Workers' Party)

Rui Falcão, national executive of the PT (Workers' Party).

Valter Pomar, national director of the PT (Workers' Party)