Leftists celebrate as Lula defeats Bolsonaro in Brazil’s election

Brazil election


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People around the world are joining Brazilians in celebration as they finally learn the outcome of the Brazilian election. There was a global sigh of relief as Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, known as Lula, beat fascist Jair Bolsonaro by a narrow margin, securing 50.9% of the votes. He’ll begin his role in the new year. The victory came after reports of police trying to disrupt the election on the streets.

After his victory, Lula stated:

It wasn’t Lula against Bolsonaro, it was a campaign of democracy against barbarity.

The incoming president has already held the top job, ruling Brazil between 2003 and 2010, before corruption allegations put him in prison for 580 days. The Supreme Court later annulled the sentences.

Lula said:

I went through a political resurrection, because they tried to bury me alive.

Bolsonaro has, so far, remained silent about the result. In the run-up to the election, there were huge concerns that the president wouldn’t accept a defeat, as he attempted to cast doubt on the validity of the voting system by arguing that it was vulnerable to fraud.

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Meanwhile, pro-Bolsonaro truckers have blocked roads in eleven states to protest Lula’s victory.

Death and destruction

Under Bolsonaro, Brazil saw the second-highest Covid death rates in the world. Just less than 700,000 Brazilians died of the virus. As Covid gripped the world in 2020, the president was criticised for repeatedly downplaying the severity of the virus, calling for the population to get back to work. At the time, he stated:

Some will die. I’m sorry. That’s life.

Also under Bolsonaro, 8.4 million acres of the Amazon were destroyed between August 2019 and July 2021. The main reason for this devastation was for beef production.

In the run-up to the election, the Canary’s Tracy Keeling reported:

The right-wing incumbent has overseen a wholesale assault on the vital biome since his election in 2018.

She continued:

The scale of destruction is a result of the current president’s gutting of protections for the Amazon via rule changes and cuts.

Cautious celebration

People have, of course, taken to social media to express their relief at the result. One person tweeted:

Another Twitter user commented:

Meanwhile, others have expressed a more cautious optimism. After all, Lula faces an uphill struggle. And while he’s a far better prospect than Bolsonaro, he is far from the ideal president. Journalist Jorge Martin tweeted:

And another user said:

Meanwhile, Crimethinc Brazil wrote:

The fight against the advances of the extreme right and fascism is not over. Let’s get ready for a long-term fight.

We know that the struggle against fascism is far from over. But as the world waits for Bolsonaro to concede defeat, we can cautiously celebrate the fall of another far-right leader.

Featured image via DW News / screenshot

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