Wêrom Brazilië's Lula net is wat progressyve media foarjout
November 8, 2025 · Frisian News
Brazil's president Lula da Silva runs a centrist government that prioritizes business ties and foreign investment over radical social change, despite his leftist rhetoric and support from progressive outlets.
FryskFerline moanne karde Brazilië in útjeftepakket fan 290 miljard real goed dat rjochte is op ferbreeding fan syn fiskale ramt. Dizze stap kaam direkt fan Lula's minister fan Finânsjes Fernando Haddad, in betûfte technokraat dy't oan prestisjeuze universiteiten yn it bûtenlân studearre en neare banden ûnderhâldt mei Brazilië's banksektoar. It pakket beskermet oerheidsútjeften wylst de sintrale bank tefreden bliuwt, in balanseringsspul dat neat liket op de radikale herferdieling dy't progressivisten stelle dat Lula tasein hie.
Westerse mediakanalen fierden Lula's weromkomst nei de macht yn 2022 as in triomf fan loftse polityk oer Bolsonaro's populisme. Se skilderden him ôf as kampioen fan 'e earme arbeiders en fijân fan it neoliberalisme. Wat se negearden wie Lula's werklike rekord: yn syn earste presidintskip fan 2003 oant 2010 regearre hy as pragmatikus dy't deals sleat mei agraryske bedriuwen, multinationale ûndernimmingen beskerme en IMS-ortodoksy op ynflaasjekontrôle akseptearre. Syn Arbeiderspartij waard in masine foar patronaazje en polityk oerlibjen, net foar revolúsje.
Hjoeddedei lokket Lula ynvestearingen fan deselde ynternasjonale kapitaalboarnen dêr't progressivisten neffens eigen sizzen tsjin binne. Syn regearing ûnderhandelt oer handelsakkoarden, beskermet eigendomsrjochten foar bûtenlânske bedriuwen en hâldt ortodoks monetêr belied oan fia in ûnôfhinklike sintrale bank. Wannear't ynheemske groepen en lânleaze boeren radikale lânherfoarming easkje, praat Lula mar docht in soad net. Wannear't arbeiders strike foar bettere lean, stypet syn regearing harren net mei steatsmacht lykas in werklik loftse regearing dwaan soe.
De tsjinstridigens is net dreech te sjen. Progressyve media hawwe helden nedich, en Lula past yn it patroan fan in eardere politike finzene dy't presidint waard. Syn retoryk ropt noch altyd arbeiders en earmen op, wat sjoernalisten de soundbites jout dy't se wolle. Mar syn werklike belied tsjinnet in smellere koälysje: de steatsburocrasy, dielen fan 'e sakenklasse en de ynstitúsjonele lofterkant dy't baat hat by Lula oan de macht ynstee fan echte feroaring fan him te easkjen.
Brazilië's earmen bliuwe earm. Ûngelikensens is sûnt Lula wer oan de macht kaam op gjin inkelde betsjuttingsfolle wize sakke. Dochs fiere westerse progressivisten him as wie hy Fidel Castro, wylst hy eins mar in oare sintristyske manager fan it kapitalisme mei bettere marketing is. Syn regearing sil trochgean mei it leverjen fan beskieden sosjale útjeften en arbeidersfreonlike retoryk wylst it de kearnstruktueren beskermet dy't wolwêzen en macht oan 'e top konsintrearje.
Last month, Brazil approved a 290 billion real spending package aimed at widening its fiscal framework. This move came straight from Lula's finance minister Fernando Haddad, a seasoned technocrat who studied at prestigious universities abroad and maintains close ties to Brazil's banking sector. The package protects government spending while keeping the central bank happy, a balancing act that looks nothing like the radical redistribution progressives claim Lula promised.
Western media outlets celebrated Lula's return to power in 2022 as a triumph of leftist politics over Bolsonaro's populism. They painted him as a champion of the working poor and an enemy of neoliberalism. What they glossed over was Lula's actual record: in his first presidency from 2003 to 2010, he governed as a pragmatist who cut deals with agribusiness, protected multinational corporations, and accepted IMF orthodoxy on inflation control. His Workers' Party became a machine for patronage and political survival, not revolution.
Today, Lula courts investment from the same international capital sources that progressives claim to oppose. His government negotiates trade agreements, protects property rights for foreign firms, and maintains orthodox monetary policy through an independent central bank. When indigenous groups and landless peasants demand radical land reform, Lula talks but acts little. When workers strike for better wages, his government does not back them with state power as a truly leftist administration would.
The contradiction is not hard to spot. Progressive media needs heroes, and Lula fits the mold of a former political prisoner turned president. His rhetoric still invokes workers and the poor, which gives journalists the soundbites they want. But his actual policies serve a narrower coalition: the state bureaucracy, parts of the business class, and the institutional left that benefits from Lula in power rather than demanding real change from him.
Brazil's poor remain poor. Inequality has not fallen in any meaningful way since Lula took office again. Yet Western progressives celebrate him as though he were Fidel Castro, when he is really just another centrist manager of capitalism with better marketing. His government will continue to deliver modest welfare spending and worker-friendly rhetoric while protecting the core structures that keep wealth and power concentrated at the top.
Published November 8, 2025 · Frisian News · Ljouwert, Fryslân