The coordinator of the nucleus of the Workers’ Party (PT) in Lisbon said on Monday that during the visit of the Brazilian president to Portugal, in April, there should be a public debate on the defense of democracy, something in which the two countries they can be allies
“Regarding democracy, on April 25 it makes sense for there to be a public debate on this issue,” said the head of the PT in Portugal, stressing that “it is up to the Portuguese authorities to define the best model or format” for this debate.
What “is fundamental”, in his opinion, is that the two countries dialogue and “can build together and exchange experiences in what is the affirmation of democracies in countries that have gone through processes of extreme right, of authoritarianism, in Brazil a military dictatorship. and in Portugal a fascist dictatorship and, in the previous government of Brazil, almost a coup process”.
Because “Brazil has to learn from Portugal in this matter and Portugal also has to learn from Brazil in what are the risks of the extreme right,” he considered.
“We saw what happened in Brazil with Bolsonaro, who was a deputy and in a few years he was promoted to President of the Republic,” he added.
Today, according to the representative of Lula da Silva’s party in Lisbon, Brazil “is a country that managed to fight the extreme right, beat Bolsonaro at the polls [ex-chefe de Estado do Brasil apoiado pela extrema-direita]in the fight against ‘fake news’ and misinformation, the fight against xenophobic speech, hate speech, and all that cover that is used to create a social division made by the extreme right”.
And these are issues that “can be the subject of dialogue in the context of both countries,” he said, alluding to the growth of the extreme right in Portugal in the last legislative elections, with Chega winning a parliamentary seat.
For this reason, it is important “that Brazil and Portugal exchange experiences, and that they dialogue in the sense that they cannot accept false news, and that they are aware that democratic institutions have to work and reinforce action in the sphere of government, in the sense of participatory democracy, to have mechanisms that can include the population and the representative organizations of the population in the processes of both construction of legislation and governance”, he defended.
Because, in addition to other aspects, there is between the two countries “something that is common today, the risk of the extreme right, also of the neoliberal process, which destroys certain structures and policies that contribute to cohesion and dialogue between peoples.” .
Despite the fact that Lula da Silva won the last presidential elections, in the second round, which took place on October 31, 2022, contested with the far-right candidate and former president of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, “there is another non-democratic side, attacking the institutions, and who carried out that terrorist act on January 8 [a invasão dos três poderes em Brasília]”, recalled the head of the PT in Portugal.
“So we have to have public policies, we cannot deny the role of the State in public investment, in addition to private investment in the economy,” he considered, adding: “and I think that the destruction that Bolsonaro caused in Brazil serves as a warning for Europe”.
So it will be “in the exchange of experiences that performance and respect for democracy can be reinforced,” he concluded.
Faced with this scenario, Pedro Prola says that “he has no doubts” that Lula, while in Portugal between April 22 and 25, “will pay a profound compliment to Portugal, to its democracy and will recognize what a historic democratic process is in Portugal, which was the overthrow of the dictatorship”.
And, “respecting what is the sovereignty of the states, surely you will remember that the experience of Portugal in the conquest of democracy is also something with which, in what is the experience of Brazilian democracy, we have a lot to learn and inversely It’s the same,” he said.
“I think that the Portuguese men and women will also say that in terms of the democratic experience that Brazil has and the challenges it faces, the Portuguese people often also recognize themselves,” added the PT leader, considering that in the process of struggle In defense of democracy there are inspirations and the April revolution is one of them.
Regarding the controversy surrounding the participation or not of the Brazilian president in the solemn session of April 25 in the Assembly of the Republic, announced by the Portuguese Foreign Minister, João Cravinho, in Brasilia almost two weeks ago and that began A controversy that the president of the Parliament Augusto Santos Silva tried to put an end to last Wednesday, Pedro Prola preferred not to comment.
He only said that the Brazilian president “knows historically how the democratic process was in Portugal and has been in Portugal several times, including participating in commemorative activities on April 25 with President Mário Soares.”
Augusto Santos Silva announced last week that Lula da Silva will have a “solemn welcome session” in parliament, on a date yet to be defined, and in which the Brazilian head of state will intervene, clarifying that it is not the same as on the 25th April, as announced by João Gomes Cravinho.
“We will be delighted to receive the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil in a solemn welcome session, which is especially due to him,” announced Augusto Santos Silva at the end of a meeting of the conference of leaders.
As for what he expects from this visit by the president of Brazil and Portugal, Pedro Prola, he considered that “the expectation among the people is that it be a visit that consolidates the relationship between the two countries, first, that is fundamental, and it comes from what is the need and the political responsibility that governments have, which the previous government of Brazil did not respect, which is to dialogue in the sense of responding to the challenges and needs from the point of view of relations between the two countries ” .
In the context of the populations of the two countries, which are partly Brazilian, Portuguese or with dual citizenship, on the economic issue, which has the relationship of commercial investment, the relationship of Europe and the European Union with Mercosur, the cultural and political issue in terms of democracy, which “also involves April 25,” he said.
This goes beyond “the preservation of the environment, which is an issue that is gaining great weight, and the defense of indigenous peoples, which also occurs outside of Brazil,” he concluded.
Source: TSF
