Samidoun is an endorser of the following statement, based at the website of the Friends of the MST: http://www.mstbrazil.org/news/social-movements-other-allies-united-states-canada-caribbean-europe-condemn-political
Social movements and other allies from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe condemn the political persecution and threat of imprisonment against Lula, the leading candidate in Brazil’s October presidential election. Brazil’s weakened democracy is at stake.
The intensifying political persecution of former Brazilian president Luiz Ignácio Lula da Silva escalated to a full-scale crisis yesterday following a high court decision that likely disqualifies his candidacy in the fall presidential contest, and clears the path for his imprisonment on trumped up corruption charges. Lula’s candidacy is supported by mass based support movements, labor and progressive organizations and public figures, and tens of millions of Brazilians. If Lula is sent to jail, his popular candidacy will be derailed.
This political prosecution against President Lula da Silva further weakens Brazil’s already fragile democracy. Recent electoral polls show that Lula da SIlva is the leading candidate in the next presidential election, scheduled for October. Brazil’s right wing and neoliberal political class seek to prevent the popular ex-president from recapturing the presidency, which would threaten their current repressive, pro-corporate policies. This agenda includes privatization of energy and Brazil’s strategic resources, elimination of the federal government’s civil rights divisions, and the upward transfer of wealth to Brazil’s elite and foreign investors. Under these policies, Brazil is suffering dramatic increases in poverty and violence and the loss of national sovereignty.
Yesterday, we witnessed the Brazilian Supreme Court rule against the most basic of human and constitutional rights, the right to be treated as innocent unless proven guilty. President Lula da Silva is accused of crimes in absence of any hard evidence against him. Yet, a narrow majority of the Supreme Court denied his petition of Habeas Corpus, a decision that goes against the 1988 National Constitution. Lula now faces a twelve-year jail term and disqualification from the presidential contest.
The high court’s decision follows a direct threat of military intervention by a retired general of the Brazilian Army, and an aggressive campaign by Rede Globo, Brazil’s largest television network. The New York Times and other US corporate media suggest that Lula’s prosecution advances the anti-corruption cause. However, Brazil’s unelected President Michel Temer and several of his political allies who are accused of graft and other crimes have received softer treatment from Brazilian prosecutors. Despite hard evidence against Temer, Senator Aecio Neves, and other supporters of the 2016 institutional coup against democratically elected President Dilma Rousseff, these politicians are not facing imminent incarceration. The prosecution of Lula is a politically driven intervention in the forthcoming presidential contest and a severe blow to Brazil’s already weakened democracy.
We stand alongside our brothers and sisters in defense of former President Lula da Silva’s right to justice under the law, against interference by the military, and in defense of free and fair elections. At stake is not only the freedom of a leading champion of democracy in Brazil, but the future of Brazilian democracy itself.
Undersigned:
- US Friends of the MST (Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement), United States
- Brazilians for Democracy and Social Justice, Washington DC, United States
- Northeast Organic Farming Association, Massachusetts Chapter, United States
- Defend Democracy in Brazil – New York, United States
- Climate Justice Alliance, United States
- Friends of the ATC (Nicaragua’s Rural Workers Association), United States
- Sociedad Cientifica Latino Americana de Agroecologia (SOCLA) – Section North America, United States
- Organic Consumers Association, United States
- Forum of Sao Paulo of Washington DC – Maryland – Virginia, United States
- Community to Community, United States
- US Food Sovereignty Alliance, United States
- Hidden Acres Farm, United States
- Alliance for Global Justice, United States
- Sustainable Agriculture Louisville, United States
- Food Chain Workers Alliance, United States
- Grassroots Global Justice Alliance, United States
- Committee in Solidarity with the People of El Salvador (CISPES), United States
- Labor Network for Sustainability, United States
- Pesticide Action Network, North America, United States
- Community Global Justice Alliance, United States
- Latin America Solidarity Committee, United States
- Quixote Center
- National Association of Rural and Indigenous Women (ANAMURI), Chile
- Coletivo Boston Contra o Golpe, United States
- National Lawyers Guild – International Committee, United States
- Cooperation Jackson, United States
- Political Education Project, United States
- Centre Paysan, Canada
- Soul Fire Farm, United States
- Community Services Unlimited, United States
- Portland Central America Solidarity Committee, United States
- Laundry Workers Center, United States
- Union Paysanne, Canada
- Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, United States
- Party for Socialism and Liberation, United States
- Carlos Marentes Sr., Border Agricultural Workers Project, United States-Mexico
- Alastair Iles, Associate Professor, Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California at Berkeley, USA.
- Maywa Montenegro, PhD Candidate, UC Berkeley, Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management, USA
- M. Jahi Chappell, Ph.D., Adjunct Faculty, Washington State University, United States
- Johanna Jacobi, Project Coordinator, Project Towards Food Sustainability in Africa and South America, Switzerland
- Hannah Wittman, Associate Professor, Faculty of Land and Food Systems, University of British Columbia, Canada
- Antonio Roman-Alcalá, International Institute of Social Studies, The Hague, Netherlands.
- Rafter Sass Ferguson, Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, Environmental Studies, Haverford College, Haverford PA, United States
- Rebecca Tarlau, Assistant Professor, University of Pennsylvania, United States
- Nikhil Aziz, Human Rights activist, United States
- Claudia Tamsky, Partido dos Trabalhadores – Boston, United States
- Molly D. Anderson, Professor of Food Studies, MIddlebury College, United States
- Anni Bellows, Professor Food Studies, Syracuse University, United States
- Magha García Medina, Pachamama Bosque Jardìn, Puerto Rico
- Dorinda Moreno, Fuerza Mundial, United States
- Michael Leon Guerrero, United States
- Aline Piva, Deputy Assistant Director, Council on Hemispheric Affairs, United States
- Saulo Araujo, WhyHunger, United States
- Diana Bell, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States
- Tarso Ramos, United States
- Jovanna Garcia Soto, United States
- Omar Angel Perez, United States
- Lydia Joels Simas, United States
- Catherine Badgley, Professor, University of Michigan, United States
- Luciana Coelho, Coletivo Boston Contra o Golpe, United States
- David Crump, United States
- Betania Ramos Schroder, Germany
- Elsa Nunes-Ueno, United States
- Paulo Nunes-Ueno, United States
- Maria Luisa Mendonca, Network for Social Justice and Human Rights, Brazil-United States
- Otoniel Figueroa-Duran, United States
- Alexander Main, Senior Associate of International Policy, Center for Economic and Policy Research.
- Laura Valdes, United States
- Cheryl LaBash, retired City of Detroit inspector, United States
- Roger D. Harris, Task Force on the Americas, United States
- Dawn Belkin Martinez, United States
- Jodie Evans and Medea Benjamin CODEPINK: Women for Peace, United States
- Melissa Cox, grassroots organizer, United States
- Charlotte Casey, United States
- Jose Bravo, Just Transition Alliance, United States
- Hayat Imam, United States
- Soya Jung, United States
- Tammy Bang Luu, United States
- Kathleen McAfee, Professor of International Relations, San Francisco State University, United States
- Carmen Vega-Rivera, United States.
- Banbose Shango, National Network on Cuba, (USA); All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC), United States
- Elizabeth Yeampierre, Executive Director, UPROSE, United States
- Suren Modliar, Encuentro 5, United States
- Rob Wallace, Institute for Global Studies, University of Minnesota, United States
- Joan Ramos, United States
- Cindy Domingo, United States
- Scot Nakawaga, United States
- Juliana Moraes, American University, United States
- Kathia Aviles-Vazquez, Organizacion Boricua de Agricultura Ecologica, Puerto Rico
- Jean Entine, United States
- Ayla Fenton, National Farmers Union, Canada
- Steve Williams, Left Roots, United States
- Patricia Rodriguez, Associate Professor, Ithaca College, United States
- Cornelia Butler Flora, Distinguished Professor of Sociology Emeritus, Iowa State University and Research Professor, Kansas State University, United States
- Dr. Jan L. Flora, Professor Emeritus, Iowa State University, United States
- Linda Farthing, writer, Bolivia
- Vanessa Castañeda, PhD Candidate, Tulane University, United States
- Karen Miller, LaGuardia Community College, United States
- William W. Goldsmith, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University, United States
- Brenda Biddle, Adjunct Instructor, Queens College, United States
- Frances Fox Piven, United States
- Amy Chazkel. City University of New York, United States
- Jon Steinberg, United States
- Sara Koopman, Assistant Professor, School of Peace and Conflict Studies, Kent State University, Kent, United States
- Wendy Wolford, Vice Provost for International Affairs, Robert A. and Ruth E. Polson Professor of Global Development, Cornell University, United States
- Ann H. Peters, United States
- Scott Alves Barton, Assistant Adjunct professor, New York University and Queens College, United States
- Roger Keil, York Research Chair in Global Sub/Urban Studies, Faculty of Environmental Studies, Canada
- Professor Michael Edwards, UCL Bartlett School of Planning, United Kingdom
- Ute Lehrer, York University, Canada
- Kanishka Goonewardena, Associate Professor, Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Canada
- Stefan Kipfer, York University, Canada
- Enrique Gonzalez-Conty, Puerto Rico
- Pamela Sertzen, Perú/United States
- Max Ajl, Jadaliyya/International Jewish anti-Zionist Network, United States
- Liliana Cordova, United States
- Helena Falcon Ramos, United States
- Ines Beron, United States
- Anthony Pahnke, United States
- Michael Croft, Australia
- Laura Carlsen, CIP Americas Program, Mexico
- Kathia Ramirez, United States
- Jeff Juis, United States
- Sean T. Mitchell, Associate Professor of Anthropology, Rutgers University, United States
- Tim Shenk, Coordinator, Committee on US-Latin American Relations, Cornell University, United States
- Frederico Jayme Jr., Professor, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Brazil
- Carlyn Kazdin, United Steelworkers, United States
- Stanley A. Gazek, Senior Advisor for Global Strategies, United Food and Commercial
- Workers International Union, United States
- Adrienne Pine, Associate Professor of Anthropology, American University, United States
- Marco Castro, Pro-Honduras Nework, United States
- Joanna Beltran Giron, University of Texas at Austin, United States
- Mike Golash, ANSWER Coalition, United States
- Gloria La Riva, Cuba and Venezuela Solidarity Committee, United States
- Jeffrey Frank, Attorney, United States
- National Lawyers Guild, United States
- Miguel Pickard, Mexico
- Mary Taylor, Center for Place, Culture and Politics, City University of New York, United States
- Jovelino Ramos, United States
