Lula Free: The Strength of a Victorious Chant

By Carlos Aznarez on November 8, 2019

Lula Free is the justice coming from the victory of reason that always walked against the systemic justice that kept Brazilian ex-president Luis Inacio Lula da Silva in jail only out of revenge and retaliation.

Lula Free is the best news that the Brazilian people and our entire America could receive hours after the U.S. empire’s puppet Jair Bolsonaro committed the affront of voting together with Donald Trump in favor of the blockade against Cuba – a sister nation of the hemisphere.

Lula Free is evidence of the total failure of those who devised the strategy to take him out of the political stage, starting with Judge Sergio Moro – who was rewarded a Ministerial post by Bolsonaro – and even Michel Temer, ex-president and participant of the coup against Dilma Rousseff had his hand in it. They thought that putting Lula in prison “until he rots in jail” (as Bolsanaro crowed)  they would manage to destroy someone who was shaped amidst the struggles in the sixties in the Villares Industries, a metallurgical plant in Sao Bernardo do Campo, someone who was elected member of the workers’ union directorate together with his brother. In that opportunity or today, Lula never backed off in the face of authoritarianism on behalf of wrecked soldiers who imposed a brutal dictatorship. Leading the ABC Paulista workers’ union, he proved to be one of those leaders able to combine trade union tactics and politics to prevent abuses over those below.

Lula Free is the deserved gift for those who waited for him at the doors of the Curitiba prison from the very first day he was put there, hoisting the flags of groups like the Landless Movement (MST) or the Workers’ Party (PT), knowing it was going to be hard but not impossible. Many times under the rain, their improvised tents flooded or faced the blows of the Brazilian police batons, those dark-skinned women and men with hands shaped under dehumanizing work to which they were subjected by those who hate Lula responded to the negative situations with a smile, knowing that they would be winners sooner or later.

Lula Free is also the victory of international solidarity, from South to North, from East to West, that chant was translated into tens of languages at mass actions and gatherings in front of Brazilian embassies. It also entered right-wing formal and solemn events around the world, proving that political prisoners are not forgotten. “Free Lula,” someone yelled at Trump’s face and it was repeated to others like him in Europe. No need to say how many times Bolsonaro had to hear it to it during his tours, some of them interrupted by the anger of Brazilians abroad.

Lula Free, from now on, means hope. The hope of being able to get rid of a ruler doubtlessly linked to fascism, racism, war and death.

Lula Free is a homage paid to Marielle Franco and many others who were murdered like her by the bullets of the pro-Bolsonaro paramilitarism.

Lula Free is joy and encouragement for those struggling in Chile, in Haiti, Honduras, Panama, and Palestine. Also for those defending the democratically elected governments of Evo Morales and Nicolas Maduro, great friends and comrades of the one who has been released.

Lula Free, I say it here from the Island of Dignity, Socialist Cuba, is a chant that caused a cry in unison everywhere when the news was released. In the streets, people greet each other precisely with a smile and chanting “Lula Free.”

Now, let’s start singing another chant: “Bye Bolsonaro! Get out with (Argentina’s Mauricio) Macri before you live what (Chile’s Sebastian) Piñera is living.”

Source: Resumen Latinoamericano, translation North America bureau