Without naming names and to the applause of the participants of the 59th Congress of the National Union of Students (UNE), the founder of the Workers’ Party also noted that in the previous government (2019-2022) the country had experienced fascism and Nazism.
“You have to understand how important democracy is. “Recently you have learned about fascism, Nazism and how conquests can be destroyed in just four years and the democracy that we have built over centuries,” said the former trade unionist.
He said that “democracy may not be the most perfect thing” but “nothing like it” ever existed.
He insisted that “only in this can we live in freedom and plurality”. (…) That we can scream and boo. “In democracy, we learn everything,” said Lula, who was accompanied by former Uruguayan President José (Pepe) Mujica and First Lady Janja da Silva.
He defended that the motivation of human life, the ability to get better or not, lies in whether there is a reason for it or not.
“A person who has no cause has not much reason to live. Anyone who has them can say they want to live 120 years, and that will be me,” said the 77-year-old ex-turner.
He assured that he returned to power because “you voted together to restore this country, to restore democracy and the quality of life of our people.”
He pledged that during his tenure, more universities, more laboratories and more technical schools will be built, and the poor will be at the heart of his government’s priorities and the Union’s budget.
According to Lula, this student event is proof that the country has changed because of the presence of mulattos and blacks, the children of the Brazilian people.
He recalled that in 2009 he was the last President to attend a UNE Congress and gave his word that he would also attend the next Congresses.
The 59th edition will take place in Brasilia from July 12th to 16th, where the students delivered a letter to the head of state with the most important demands in the field of education.
According to Lula, the required guidelines are lengthy and tedious, but a government like his is capable of approving the proposals.
In Defense of Democracy: Against Authoritarianism and Hate Speech in Brazil is the theme of the forum, which brings together more than 10,000 students from all states.
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