Monday, November 29 in the morning, Geraldo Alckmin [ex-gouverneur de l’Etat de São Paulo de 2011 à 2018] participated in a meeting with representatives of Força Sindical, UGT (União Geral dos Trabalhadores), CST (Central Sindical de Trabalhadores) and CTB (Central Única dos Trabalhadores), in São Paulo. The invitation to the meeting was issued on Friday, November 26, and was quickly accepted. The meeting was marked by statements of support for the proposal addressed to Alckmin – who is leaving the PSDB (Partido da Social Democracia Brasileira) – to be Lula’s vice-president for the 2022 elections. [Voir à propos d’un possible ticket présidentiel Lula-Alckmin pour 2022, l’article de Valério Arcary publié le 12 novembre 2021]
With the exception of BTC, the presidents of the other central unions present have, according to a report from the daily Or Balloon, insisted on this proposal, asking Alckmin to accept this solution. Alckmin said he had prepared, again, to run as governor of the state of São Paulo, but that “the federal hypothesis arose”: “I have again prepared to be governor of the state of São Paulo. ‘São Paulo State. But the federal hypothesis [le ticket Lula-Alckmin] introduced himself. The challenges are great. This hypothesis is in the process of being realized and I consider that this meeting with the four main trade union centers is historic. ”
Alckmin’s speech confirms that the proposal made during the phone conversation with Lula – as reported on November 10 – appears to have moved forward. Until then, the former governor had confined himself to saying that he felt honored by the advance made by Lula, while insisting that it was a very initial exchange. He kept open the possibility of becoming governor of São Paulo again and negotiating with a wide range of parties, such as the PSB (Partido Socialista Brazilian), the PSD (Partido Social Democrático), the União Brasil (result of the Democratas-Partido Social Liberal merger) and even the PSDB itself, to which he was then still affiliated; party that went through internal struggles and a heated battle in its primaries, won by the wing of the current governor of the state, João Doria1.
The very initiative of these trade union centers in search of Lula-Alckmin convergence also indicates that the dialogue is no longer just an exchange of civilities between Alckmin and Lula. The leader of the Brazilian Workers’ Party (PT) did not make a statement. However, important party leaders – such as Senator Jaques Wagner (Senator of the State of Bahia, of which he was also the governor) – spoke in favor of this proposal.
A historical error
Lula and the PT are looking for Alckmin in order to calm the bourgeoisie and deflate the attempts of the sectors of capital to present a candidacy of “third way”, which could have the face of Eduardo Leite (PSDB, governor of Rio Grande do Sul), by Sergio Moro, João Doria or Simone Tebet (Senator since 2015 of the State Matto Grosso do Sul). The approach of the PT and Lula constitutes a major error: the gestures of the left to gain the “confidence” of the right do not guarantee anything. Dilma Rousseff, after her re-election [en 2014], appointed a person from the world of finance at the head of the Ministry of the Economy (Joaquim Levy: president of Bradesco Asset Management, a subsidiary of Bradesco, the second largest private bank in Brazil). Joaquim Levy implemented a severe structural adjustment plan in 2015, which did not prevent the ruling class, including Alckmin and then-vice president Michel Temer, from supporting the 2016 constitutional coup. against Dilma Rousseff.
Alliances with the right lead to the renunciation of the program of the left. To gain the “confidence” of the bourgeoisie, Lula will not be able to commit, for example, to repealing the legacy of the 2016 coup. The counter-reform of social security and labor, privatizations, all the democratic and social attacks applied in the last period, should they not be canceled by a new left government? How to respond to the demands (relating to food, employment, housing, education, health, the right to life and culture) of the working and oppressed population, by aligning itself alongside Alckmin, the executioner of the people of Pinheirinho [des milliers d’habitants furent brutalement chassés de leurs habitations, en janvier 2012, par la Police militaire, du «quartier» qu’elles avaient bâti et quiétait situé à São José dos Campos, dans l’Etat de São Paulo, cela alors qu’Alckmin était gouverneur de l’Etat]? How to fight in depth structural racism, which is at the origin of our abysmal social inequalities, without facing in depth the secular privileges of the bourgeoisie?
Continuing on this path means abandoning the program of defense of the popular masses and of structural changes in the country, causing discouragement in the ranks of the left, following a reduced program in order to please the “elites”. An orientation which implies a diminished capacity to arouse the enthusiasm of the working class for the prospect of change. More than ever, it is necessary to fight for a united candidacy of the left, without Alckmin and the right.
Drafting translation Against
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