IN 2018, he has been denied the right to run in the presidential elections based on unfounded accusations. He has been subjected to a political prosecution and conviction that purposely disregarded overwhelming evidence of his innocence. 

The intention of the prosecution was clear — to stop the candidate who was predicted to win the elections by a huge majority in all polls. The Brazilian judiciary system dismissed the United Nations human rights committee decision that Lula could not be disqualified from the ballot as his legal appeals are still ongoing.

Lula became known to the public in 1980 when he was arrested for leading one of the most extensive industrial actions by the metalworkers in the state of Sao Paulo. This strike was a cornerstone of the process that ended the military dictatorship that had started in 1964. 

In Brazil the ’80s marked the rise of many organised social movements, such as the landless movement MST, the Catholic left-wing grassroots movement CEB and the new Trade Union Congress  (CUT) organised by the newly freed trade unions. 

All of them converged to form a new left-wing party, the Workers Party (PT), which managed to bring together trade unionists, intellectuals, students, artists, survivors of resistance and everyone else with a progressive agenda, with the promise to represent the Brazilian working class. Lula was one of the leaders of this new party.

PT disputed its first election in 1982, winning mayoral elections in a couple of cities and eight seats in parliament. A couple of years later, Lula joined the movement called Diretas Ja (Direct Elections Now) led by many prominent politicians demanding the right for the people to vote for the president, as at the time the choice was only in the hands of the members of parliament which was exclusively dominated by two parties representing the elite. 

The movement failed and the new president was elected indirectly. Ironically the person chosen by the parliament was Tancredo Neves, one of the leaders of the movement for direct elections. More bizarre was the fact that he never took office. He fell ill with abdominal pain and died a few months after surgery. His death coincided with the celebrations of the “national hero” Tiradentes and his funeral caused a nationwide commotion. His deputy Jose Sarney assumed office. He was a politician representing the oligarchy forces from the north-east of Brazil. 

In 1987, Lula was re-elected a member of parliament and contributed to the drafting of the new constitution of 1988. After decades of dictatorship, the people of Brazil were once again allowed to vote for the president. It was 1989 and Lula and Fernando Collor de Mello competed against each other on the second round of the elections. Collor de Mello won with the support of the elites and the mainstream media — in particular the television network Rede Globo. After the election Lula became the most crucial opposition leader and, by the end of 1992, a process of impeachment for corruption forced Collor de Mello to resign and his deputy assumed the presidency.  

The next year 1993, Lula and the PT activists travelled around the country to prepare for the next election, meeting local people in the communities to understand their needs in a movement called “caravanas da cidadania.” I shared the stage with Lula at Sao Miguel das Missoes, the ruins of a Jesuit mission in the south of Brazil, close to the border with Argentina. 

This is a very symbolic place for the Brazilian “gaucho” people like me as it was the setting for the resistance against the Spanish and Portuguese imperial powers in the 18th century led by our hero Sepe Tiaraju, a member of the indigenous Guarani people. The indigenous people refused to leave their land, cattle and plantations and were massacred by their armies. His famous cry “this land has owners” still resonates among minorities such as the Guarani-Kaiowas, the Quilombolas and the many landless farm workers who make their living from the land and are still persecuted today by the economic forces interested in exploiting the vast natural resources of their territory. 

During the 1994 presidential elections, Lula suffered yet another defeat at the hands of Fernando Henrique Cardoso, the former minister of economy who was behind the creation of the Real, the new currency created to control inflation. With mass privatisations top of his agenda, Cardoso led the most neoliberal government in the history of Brazil. And just a few months before the end of this mandate he managed to approve new legislation to allow re-election and won a new mandate in 1998. This was known as the lost decade in Brazil and all Latin American countries, where neoliberal policies were applied by most governments, causing a massive flow of economic migrants to the US and Europe. 

After three defeats Lula finally won the 2002 general elections. This was a landmark victory for PT and the first time in 500 years of Brazilian history that a working-class candidate managed to break the stronghold of power held by the elite. 

His inauguration was the most celebrated of all time. It was the beginning of a prosperous period during which the Workers Party became the champion of free elections and the party of the masses, winning four presidential terms in a row and reaching its most significant number of representatives in the parliament.  

Lula became the most popular president in Brazilian history and the Workers Party governments will be remembered for important social programmes to tackle poverty, such as Fome Zero and Bolsa Familia, as well as for introducing successful social housing projects such as Minha Casa, Minha Vida (My house, my life).

Workers Party governments invested massively in education and health projects, such as Mais Medicos, which ended the shortage of doctors in the regions of the country that were suffering most from lack of medical assistance, covered mostly by doctors from Cuba.  

Brazilian people enjoyed a decade of happiness and prosperity and Lula took a more active role in the international political agenda, signing important agreements to protect the environment and liaising with the other countries in the Brics bloc to build a multipolar world. 

He won many prizes, medals and awards all around the globe for his achievements as a statesman. During this period, other Latin American countries also managed to end neoliberal policies, electing left and centre-left governments, with new or improved economic blocs such as Mercosur and Unasur (Union of South American Nations), which developed trade and economic relations between South American countries.

Brazil was the key to success for Latin American progressive governments and Lula exercised a vital leadership in the continent and in the world. This was way too inconvenient for the capitalist imperialist elites, whose hold over the riches of Latin America had been jeopardised.

The left and centre-left governments were too popular to be defeated, so the local elites had to ask for help from their best ally, the US. They started using the institutions which they controlled, such as the mainstream media, the judiciary and parliament to promote a “soft” coup d’etat in some countries, as well as to persecute left-wing politicians, activists and political parties.

The accusations of corruption against former presidents such as Lula, Correa and Kirchner are a clear example of the use of “lawfare” to destroy their political and economic opponents. History repeats itself, much like the Operation Condor in the ’60s and ’70s, whose plan was to eliminate the most important leaders of South America. 

To understand these processes, we need to go back to 1954 when another Brazilian president, also accused of corruption, Getulio Vargas, committed suicide to avoid being removed from the office. He left a letter denouncing the conspiracy of the elite and imperialists against Brazilian sovereignty, accusing them of aiming to control the oil and electricity state-owned energy companies Petrobras and Eletrobras. 

Coincidence or not, both companies are currently being lined up for privatisation by Michel Temer, president of Brazil since the 2016 coup d’etat, which removed his Workers Party predecessor Dilma Rousseff for no constitutional reason in a Kafkaesque trial. 

Likewise, Lula’s trial for corruption for “undetermined acts in office” and his arrest before the end of his appeal procedures was the means used to prevent him from running as a candidate when he was ahead in the polls. As a consequence, a candidate from the extreme right, Jair Bolsonaro, won the election and threatens civil liberties, the rights of minorities and Brazil’s fragile democracy. These dark forces are preventing Brazil from being a truly democratic country. 

Lula is a political prisoner and that’s why we need his freedom now. We don’t want to wait for history to recognise his legacy and make him another “national hero.”

We would like to thank you all for the solidarity received so far.

Nara Jararaca is Committee to Free Lula UK coordinator, a member of PT Londres and Workers Party activist since the 1980s. Contact the committee at [email protected], visit https://www.facebook.com/ComiteLulaLivreUKFreeLULA/ or follow it on Twitter @FreeLulaUK.