AND: Weekly editorial – Words in the wind
We publish an unofficial translation of the Weekly Editorial of A Nova Democracia of Brazil found here.
On his 15th international trip since the beginning of the year, Luiz Inácio went to Cuba to the “G77 + China” meeting, and spoke out: he said that the North American embargo on the island is illegal; he criticized the dominance of international organizations by imperialist powers and the fact that they do not follow the climate agreements so demanded to the “developing nations”. This week, he will also give the opening speech at the UN General Assembly in New York.
These are not the Brazilian president’s first acid words about the “global governance system”. Recently, he criticized that the International Criminal Court does not have the United States and other “rich countries” among its signatories.
It is very convenient for Luiz Inácio to act as an anti-imperialist abroad, while internally practicing the imperialist recipe. But he really wants to be remembered as a third world leader, who raised his voice in protest against injustices in the relationship between nations. This is his goal, but his objective is more pragmatic: to achieve international visibility, betting that this is one of the guarantees to remain immune from a possible movement, constitutional or not, for his deposition, when the inevitable political crisis in his government occurs – as inevitable result of the decomposition of the economy and the institutional disarray in which the country finds itself.
From the point of view of North American imperialism, given the country’s complex political conditions, perhaps a Luiz Inácio without good in his words on foreign policy, is preferable, but who manages to maintain, as much as possible, political and institutional stability and approve counter-reforms demanded through the fine balance between social demagoguery and “political pragmatism”. This is better than an ideal government (right-wing, civilized and in favor of the parliamentary path) which, in reality, is impossible. Furthermore, what determining effects can the words of the president of a country that is a semi-colony, subjected on all levels by the imperialist superpower of the North, and whose government reproduces such domination, have?
In domestic politics – where, in fact, Luiz Inácio has practical prerogative – the coalition government of opportunism and the civil right is servile for Yankees. Basically focused on tax reforms, an administrative reform is already on the agenda, considered an inevitable consequence of the new spending ceiling: after all, if it is necessary to have a primary surplus, it is necessary to cut spending, and the cut must be in public services. The demand is from Arthur Lira, the country’s de facto prime minister. In his favor, Haddad embraces the reform, which was already proposed by the previous government and by Bolsonarist Paulo Guedes, under orders from the Yankees.
With a world economic situation considered “adverse” – the general crisis of unprecedented decomposition of the imperialist system – the government still needs to maintain its game: serve the master from the North on fundamental issues to be able to recover the economic base and escape political suffocation, appease the generals and make a show of their social base organized by opportunist movements as a counterweight to the offensives of a “center” hungry for power. It is the triple task that guarantees minimum stability. It will, however, only strengthen the forces of reaction, particularly its most angry sector of landowners, who like vampires will want more and more blood. The masses, contrary to what Luiz Inácio expects, do not intend to continue tightening their belts in defense of a government that is already in the hands of the traditional right. This is his error.
