Lula's Legacy

The Brazilian media is gagged, seduced and/or bullied into submission by parties in the government. That is the ONLY explanation why they are not yelling into the four winds against the perspective of perpetuating a regime that has thrown ethics out the window along the last eight years.

Presidential elections are up next month in Brazil. Lula has become Brazil's international poster boy for progress and social equity. The forerunner is Luis Inacio "Lula" da Silva's successor. Yet, the Internet and the printed press is booming with corruption scandals and a shady past that almost never makes it into the televised media. Why is that?

Scandal after scandal, the present government has managed to stay in power despite a flood of corruption and impunity that reaches down from the presidential palace, through the senate and into the lowest echelons of society. The damage done by leaving unpunished those that were amply proven guilty is permeating every level of our Society and is being perpetuated in our contemporary culture. From shoplifting to abuse of power to fraud, Brazilian Society has learned the lessons taught by the presidential palace in Brasilia.

Yet, the charismatic figure of Luis Inacio – the captivating ignorant immigrant worker that made president – has managed to divorce itself from each and every scandal simply by denying that he had any knowledge of them or even that they happened. On the streets, people are doing the same when they crash their cars or are caught stealing.

Here’s an admirable man, one that was given a great opportunity: the chance to really make a difference and change Brazil for the better. He had everything going for him. He had the presidency, the majority in the senate, the ample support of the people, an economy fixed by the previous administration and ready to boom and everything else a man could ask for in order to become a statesman. He could have changed this country beyond imagination by promoting good education and genuine opportunity by generating infrastructure for further growth.
Instead, Luis wasted it all and gave in to corruption to remain a dirty politician supporting his friends and family within the government. Why? Was it just greed? Was it incompetence? No. He is not the “ignorant immigrant” he wants us to believe. Here’s a fox masquerading as lamb.

His policy? The oldest possible: Bread and Circus. Circus is the cascade of scandals playing out on the tele every night, with NOT A SINGLE guilty party being prosecuted or arrested. They are sacked alright, but nothing is confiscated nor is anyone made to pay for their treachery. Bread is the change money he gives away as alms to the poor in the Northeast of the country. Notice that he didn’t solve the problems with the health infrastructure, nor did he build a future for these people by improving education and businesses. He but gave them a little money each month under the premise that they needed it to get out of misery. He didn’t give them jobs, he didn’t give them lessons, he gave them alms. His criterion for the value he gave them? The number of children in the family. You don’t have to be a genius to see where this will lead, do you?

Now Luis’ successor is nothing without his figure. She is not charismatic, nor can she claim to have been poor or ignorant at any point in her life. She is not a feminist, she is not an exemplary mother, she is not even one of the people. She was just a rebel who resorted to crime to keep her failed rebellion going. What is she today? Just another corrupt politician claiming to have brought Brazil out of poverty; claiming to have solved issues that had been already solved for her.

Just the other day her right hand and successor as the Cabinet Minister was implicated in a corruption scandal and sacked. She was the fourth Cabinet Minister that was sacked on corruption scandals. She is still free and Luis claims ignorance yet again. Just the other day a citizen who protested against the first Cabinet Minister (Luis' personal friend) was arrested upon returning to Brazil. No charges were made. He died in prision of a "virulent illness" forty-eight hours latter.

As for Luis’ legacy, that will certainly be the destruction of even the most basic moral values and the corruption of an entire society. Never a statesman, always just another dirty politician.