Irish Examiner view: Biggest task for Lula is to reunite Brazil

Lula has a big job on his hands to reunite and refocus Brazil on issues of social justice, destitution, hunger, climate, and Covid 

Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva celebrates defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a presidential run-off election to become the country's next president, in Sao Paulo, Brazil, last October. Picture: Andre Penner/AP

There was a palpable sense of relief in Brasília on Sunday as tens of thousands lined the streets of the Brazilian capital to herald the inauguration of the country’s new president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.

In something of a mirror image of the divisiveness and bitterness between right and left which has riven America in recent years, so too it was in Brazil under the presidency of populist Jair Bolsonaro. 

Mirroring much of hate and bile that characterised the presidency of Donald Trump in America, the regime led by the rancorous and bellicose Bolsonaro served only to create divisions and not unity.

It was notable too that the former army officer turned politician, like Trump, cast doubt on Lula’s election and then refused to attend the swearing-in of the winner. That he too sloped off to Florida in defeat was notable as well.

The presidency of defeated incumbent Jair Bolsonaro was marked by rancour and division making his successor's task all the more challenging — and all the more important. Picture: Bruna Brado/AP

But Brazil is now in the hands of a former factory worker and veteran left-wing politician who has vowed to end an era of “darkness, uncertainty, and great suffering” and one of unparalleled environmental vandalism, carried out in the name of freedom and justice.

As a former victim of an injustice which saw him being maliciously jailed on false corruption charges, Lula has taken office for the third time in charge of Latin America’s most populous country. 

He is also leading a resurgent left, which is now in power in the six largest economies in the region.

Lula has a big job on his hands to reunite and refocus his country on issues of social justice, destitution, hunger, and a complete failure to adequately deal with the Covid pandemic, which cost some 700,000 Brazilians their lives. And, as is the case in the US, the new president will have to deal with potentially prosecuting his predecessor for crimes committed in office.

However, his biggest job will be to try to unite a country torn by political enmity and violence. His movement has overcome a regime which, he said at his inauguration, used the public machine as an authoritarian project of power. Now he has to try to repair the damage done to Brazil’s democracy and politics.

Fiscal challenges will present difficulties for the incoming president and his government, as will the task of embracing marginalised minorities and Brazil’s majority black community. His words on tackling deforestation are as important a sentiment for us all, as they are solely for Brazilians.

Dismantling a system which was unashamed of its indifference to indigenous and traditional black peoples, as well as favela dwellers and civil rights activists, will take time.

Even so, the Brazilian nation is today in safer hands and can afford to be optimistic.