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Will A Poor President From Brazil Succeed In Changing The Capitalist System?
Selim Nassar Al-Hayat 2003/12/16
On Wednesday December 10, 2003, the Brazilian President, Luiz Ignacio Lula De Silva, took a leave of President Moammar Gadhafi, ending a one-week tour during which he visited Syria, Lebanon, the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Libya.
Although he expressed his desire to visit other Arab countries such as Saudi Arabia, Morocco and Tunisia, his timetable did not allow him to include the other countries. Hence, the Brazilian president decided to schedule a second tour next year during which he would visit China, India, Russia and several Arab countries. These intensive tours fall within the framework of a political plan President Lula adopted in order to get out of the regional isolation his predecessors had adopted ever since 1876, i.e., ever since the historical visit of the Brazilian Emperor Pedro II to Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Egypt. Diplomats consider President Lula as the first to change the track of his country's foreign policy when he decided to benefit from its huge population, its wide geographic area and its agricultural and industrial potentials towards assuming the role of political guide of the Latin America countries. Lula was not one of the founders of MERCOSUR, but he is currently responsible for it and supervises the execution of its objectives in a way that enhances its position and respect in South America.
MERCOSUR was established in 1991 following the collapse of the Soviet Union. It includes Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay in addition to Chili and Bolivia. This organization referred to the EU statutes to set its own charter and objectives, to pave the way for building an economic union that would include in the future Bolivia, Peru, Venezuela and Ecuador. It is obvious the U.S. considered this organization as a developing economic force that could compete with it over the international markets in the future. And to the end of preventing the emergence of this new force, Washington imposed on it the standards of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).
European leaders accuse the U.S. administration of establishing this organization in order to have access to the Latin America countries and gain control over their financial and industrial institutions. Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez persists in holding the U.S. administration responsible for Argentina's economic collapse. He also blames it for instigating protests and turmoil that were about to topple Bolivia's president, Gonzalo De Lozada. Chavez's analysis is based on historical facts that started with the downfall of Argentina's president Peron. At the Yalta conference, Stalin recognized Washington's right to protect its national security from the threat of neighboring countries. In return, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to Moscow's hegemony over the Eastern European countries. In his memoirs, Khrushchev said that Castro had tried to implicate him in a destructive conflict, by changing this strategic equation. The two superpowers would have entered a nuclear war hadn't Khrushchev changed his mind.
Although the situation has changed, the Brazilian president is still seeking to save Latin America from foreign hegemony under the excuse of fighting communism. He personally intervened with Castro and Venezuela's president to shun the harm of the U.S. In addition, he discussed this issue with President Bush and Prime Minister Blair, asserting that the Labor Party he presided has no links with the Marxist ideology. He admitted choosing the members of his cabinet among well-known people in the field of politics and economy.
President Lula stated his political and economic suggestions during the talks he conducted with President Bashar Al Assad, President Emile Lahoud, Sheikh Zayed, President Husni Mobarak and Moammar Gadhafi, stressing the need for adopting a method that provides developing countries with a wide margin of freedom of action. He pointed out that Brussels was ready to allocate in the coming years huge amounts of money to help ten countries that would join the EU in 2004. Lula called for the establishment of a union, similar to the non-alignment movement, which might influence all negotiations held between powerful countries. He said Arab countries had agreed to participate in a summit that would be held in Brazil by the beginning of May. The summit is expected to discuss the need to strengthen the UN's role and find ways of removing trade and customs barriers that industrial countries impose on the agriculture of developing countries. It is known that the industrial countries support its allies with 300 billion dollars yearly while denying poor countries in the Arab world, Africa and Latin American the opportunity to profit from their best competing agricultural characteristics.
Observers agree the Brazilian president would be the leader of the political clash against the American hegemony for he insists on respecting the UN organization and the necessity of restoring its role. When the Brazilian president came to power, he promised to fulfill his electoral promises focused on improving the poor people's situation, fighting corruption and bribes and developing the education curricula. Observers consider the astonishing victory of Lula as a white coup against the military, wealthy and owners class. Lula decided to remain devoted to the people who helped him realize a 23-year-old dream of being the most powerful party in Latin America.
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