Brazilian Senator tells the Lula’s strategy to win the second turn

By Micaela Ovelar, Brazil

Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (RR) is a prominent Brazilian politician, known for his abilities as a great orator and also had the particularity of being attacked by the opposition to Lula, for being born in the northeast region of Garanhuns, Pernambuco, the same city where the candidate and very likely the next president of Brazil was born. Also, Rodrigues belongs to the Rede de Sustentabilidade (REDE) party, whose main leader is Marina Silva, renowned environmental activist and former Minister of the Environment of Lula between 2003-2018. It is worth adding here that Marina Silva spent several years in opposition to the Worker´s Party (PT) trying to challenge Lula for the leadership. At present, and with the strategic objective of sheltering the threat that bolsonarism represents for Brazilian democracy, REDE is one of the political parties that had joined the coalition “Brasil da Esperança” (Brazil of Hope).

“Brazil of Hope” is made up of the party federations, such as PT, Green Party (PV), Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), and political parties, such as Socialist and Liberty Party (PSOL), REDE, Socialist Party of Brazil (PSB), Solidarity, Republican Party of Social Order (PROS), and the parties, such as Avante and Agir. In addition, Lula’s candidacy in this second round has received the support of Simone Tebet (Brazilian Democratic Movement – MDB), who came out third in number of votes in the first round, with nearly 5 million votes, Ciro Gomes (Workers’ Democratic Party – PDT), who came in fourth place with over 3.5 million votes, and former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso (Brazilian Social Democracy Party – PSDB), among other important personalities of Brazilian society.

Political Scientist and journalist Micaela Ovelar with Senator Randolfe Rodrigues

Election line

If there is something that no one would want to reveal to their enemy or political adversary in the middle of a conflict, it is precisely their strategy to defeat them on any type of battlefield. However, practically two weeks have elapsed since the first round of the general elections was held on October 2, and there are also two weeks to go until, on October 30, it is decided who will be the president of the Republic Federation of Brazil (in addition to other governors), the strategy of both candidates, Lula and Bolsonaro, has already been revealed. On this topic and others, we talked with Senator Randolfe Rodrigues.

‘Not only an election but also a referendum’

• Before getting into the strategy of the “Brazil of Hope” coalition, I would like to ask you, Senator, what does the second and final round of the presidential election represent for the country and for the Brazilian people?

Next October 30, it will be a decision between fascism and democracy, to decide if we continue on the axis of the democratic system of law or if the country is unfortunately heading to consolidate the authoritarianism that has come from the hand of Jair Bolsonaro. What is going to take place next October 30, here in Brazil, is not a normal election, it is a plebiscite. A plebiscite that will define whether the Brazilian Constitution of 1988, which brought us social achievements, materialized advances in fundamental rights, brought an environmental protection agenda, in short, brought democracy to Brazil, will continue to be valid, will continue to be vigorous, or, on the contrary, it will be revoked, given the possibility of Bolsonaro being reelected. Because if this happens, fascism will have been imposed in our country.

• And, briefly, what is Bolsonarism?

Bolsonarismo is fascism, what in the rest of the world is understood as fascism, in Brazil it is called Bolsonarismo. It is the worst delay in terms of democracy and rights that we can imagine. The struggle we are waging in Brazil is a civilizing struggle against fascism. And, in this context, Lula represents democracy and the civilizing pact. Lula is much more than the sum of the political parties that are supporting him. Lula is much more than a candidacy of the left or of the right, Lula is a candidacy of the democratic forces of all of Brazil.

Campaign strategy

On the part of the current Brazilian president, Bolsonaro has dedicated himself to use of the same instruments with which he managed to come to power four years ago: the FakeNews against Lula and the Workers’ Party, added to rhetoric that seeks to generate fear in the population, calling to arm themselves in a literal sense and embrace the conservative values “God, country, family, and freedom.”

We, the coalition that supports Lula, have not used the same mechanism as Bolsonaro, which basically what he does is spread lies everywhere, we are going to talk about truths. People in Brazil and in the world have to know who Jair Bolsonaro is, who he is, how he behaves inside and outside of political and public life. We must spread who he really is and what he has done against the Brazilian people. And we must do it in all the places and spaces that we can.

In our words, Lula’s campaign, from being first in the first turn, became more aggressive, more confrontational, something that had been claimed by a good part of his followers, who considered that Lula was too soft with Bolsonaro and his other opponents, some of whom have now expressed their support for Lula, including Simone Tebet (MDB-centre right) and Ciro Gomes (PDT-Social Democracy). So now, without neglecting the slogan “with love to be happy again”, Lula’s campaign has focused on unmasking Bolsonaro and his neo-fascist proposal.

Bolsonaro is that person who has admitted that he participates in cannibalism. Bolsonaro has threatened to break the democratic and legal structure that Brazil has had since the end of the dictatorship in the mid-1980s. Bolsonaro has said that the original peoples are a sub-race, that they are less than the rest of the Humans. Bolsonaro has repeatedly demonstrated his animosity against women, blacks, minorities, and diversity. That person cannot continue ruling this country. I believe that a large part of Brazilian society already knows who Bolsonaro is, and many Brazilians who voted for him in the last presidential elections are not going to trust the country in a psychopath again.

• Undoubtedly there are many Brazilians who are clear about who Bolsonaro is and what he represents for the country, however, it is also true that there are many Brazilians who listen to the criticisms made of the current president and do not change their minds. In fact, 51 million Brazilians (43.20%) supported Bolsonaro with their vote. Lula, for his part, obtained 57 million votes (48.43%). Why does this happen?

What has happened is that Bolsonarism has become a matter of dogma, which is more a characteristic of fascism. Fascism tries to cover up reality to hide its real intentions. Here more analysis from a sociological perspective is necessary. In this sense, there are sectors of Brazilian society that unfortunately identify with the false values ​​that Bolsonaro proposes. However, I am very confident that these sectors are not the majority in our country, and that will be demonstrated at the polls on October 30.

Here you have to clearly identify what is at stake. The recent alliances and support that Lula has received are to defend democracy, it is a civilizing pact, against the advance of fascism in Brazil.

Alliance strategy

• Regarding the alliances: How will these new allies of Lula be incorporated into the campaign?

Yes, with the new alliances, we are not necessarily going to change the profile that our campaign has had, but to broaden our profile with the new incorporations of political representatives with broad trajectories in the democratic life of our country. Our government program presented in the first round is the same as the one we defend in this second round; however, we are going to incorporate new points at the request of the parties that supported Lula’s presidency. And, from there, the identity of the campaign must portray these incorporations of new political forces, as well as new programmatic lines, to expand our electoral potential in this second round. Here it is not about dressing in red, blue, green or yellow, each political force has its defined identity and it is about joining efforts to achieve the strategic objective: to defeat Bolsonaro and bolsonarism’s at the polls and in the streets. In that sense, we are going to incorporate the proposals of our new allies, monitor Bolsonaro´s attacks, and organize our counter-attacks.

In conclusion, now it is clearer that the fight is for democracy and that the fight is to avoid, to stop and impede the advance of fascism in Brazil.