Dear Dr. Menges,
I am Mr. Castles' wife and he sent me a copy of your prompt response to his e-mail regarding your article published on The Washington Times, which is wreaking havoc among Brazilians all over world via Internet.
Please pardon some of my grammar mistakes since English is my second language, but I did want to write to you in order to give you a Brazilian's point of view of Lula and the left-wing movements in Brazil.
As a Brazilian journalist who witnessed several so-called left-wing meetings with international
attendants in Brazil, I can assure you that it is very common in this kind of forum that parties and organizations that deeply disagree with one another will gather with one common objective -- be it to demonstrate against world neoliberalism, be it to protest against the Area of Free Trade of the Americas, which they consider a bad deal for every country except the US. Like with the Social Forum of Porto Alegre and other meetings, any international
organization is free to attend and they will not be denied participation. Usually the atmosphere in this meetings is festive, democratic and pacific, and the most radical organizations are looked upon as a curiosity rathen than taken seriously. These events
are usually sponsored by several non-governmental organizations, and not by one party only. Political parties prefer not to be involved in these events' organization, even though their militants and some of their polititians will be present, depending on the prestige or visibility (for the public or press) of the event.
Now, regarding Luís Inácio Lula da Silva and the Workers Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores-PT), you have no reason to be afraid. Both Lula and PT have come a
long way since the party was founded in 1980. The ideologic naiveté and administrative inexperience has given place to a much more mature program of ideas and administration proposals and experiences that are receiving compliments from all segments of society,
including international bankers that met with Lula earlier this week. The Workers Party's constituents range from grassroots unionists to enterpreneurs, professionals and intelectuals. PT has had several members elected governors and mayors all over the
country in the last 15 years, and they pretty much stuck to the orthodox ways of management, with conservative budgets and all. It was NEVER in the PT
program the idea of revolution, armed violence or the like. By the way, the Brazilian people have the most absolute aversion to violent radicalism, guerrilla-like movements, etc. Most Brazilians would rather stay poor for the rest of their lives than having to fight with arms to change their political situation. They will try to improve the economy by voting for the candidate they consider the most promising, and every once in a while take part in
pacific street demonstrations, period. Brazilians love their happy-go-lucky lifestyle too much to jeopardize it by engaging in war games. Therefore, rest assured that Brazilians will NEVER be doctrinated to become terrorists, as you state in your article.
PT has even deleted the word "socialism" from their programs and principles statements. PT is for a capitalist society that is capable of promoting better income distribution, through moderate changes in the taxing system, incentive to industrial production and employment, etc. PT and Lula are even supporting the current Government's agreement with the IMF.
If Lula ever showed afinity with Castro or Chavez, it was only regarding some of their policies that were directed to improve the poor population healthcare, education, or to guarantee national sovereignty, etc. Lula does not support the antidemocratic way those men rule their countries, but he does want to make the point that there are some positive aspects in their administrations that should be noted. It's as if an American radical Republican who hated Clinton would recognize that at least he did a great job with the
economy. But anyway, Lula would never try to emulate Castro's or Chavez's government style in Brazil, because the Workers Party is a very ethic and democracy-oriented party, and so are their voters. Populism is definetly not the PT style.
Anyway, since you are a Portuguese speaker I would suggest that you should read the Brazilian newspapers coverage of the presidential elections, so you would have a more accurate scenario of our political situation. Good websites of Brazilian news are:
www.uol.com.br/folha
oglobo.globo.com
www.jb.com.br
I would rather rely on the daily coverage of the election facts and the analysis of competent Brazilian political columnist's articles (such as the ones at Folha On Line "Pensata" and Jornal do Brasil's Dora Kramer) than on the opinion of other scholars that might not be really up-to-date with recent Brazilian history.
Thank you for your attention.
Leila Costa
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