Wednesday 24 September
2008, San José, Costa
Rica
MEDIA:
Lula a "Tireless
Advocate" for the Poor
and Landless
By Katherine Stapp
UNITED NATIONS (IPS)
- Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da
Silva, who rose from a
poor childhood to lead a
growing economic
powerhouse that has
placed the ideal of
inclusive prosperity at
the centre of its
development policies,
received the Inter Press
Service (IPS)
International
Achievement Award 2008
Monday.
"We would like to honour
you because you fought
side by side with the
landless and deprived,
and for your efforts in
initiating and
supporting policies
towards social inclusion
and peaceful resolution
of conflict, and the
full exercise of basic
human rights and
freedoms, not only in
Brazil but among sister
nations in Latin
America," said IPS
Director General Mario
Lubetkin.
The Brazilian president,
popularly known as Lula,
has been deeply involved
in international efforts
to end poverty and
hunger, Lubetkin noted,
playing a key role in
mobilising support from
other world leaders and
international
organisations.
The award ceremony was
held at the United
Nations headquarters in
New York on the eve of
the high-level segment
of the 63rd session of
the General Assembly,
which is expected to be
attended by over 150
world leaders.
In his acceptance
speech, Lula emphasised
the importance of a free
and vibrant media in the
global fight against
poverty and
marginalisation.
"As we move toward
social justice and
pluralism, the
independence of sources
is fundamental for a
democratic dialogue that
is enlightened and
balanced," Lula said.
"Free access to
information is also
fundamental in building
a world that is more
fair and prosperous."
"We know that one of the
pillars of democracy and
freedom is a free
press," the Brazilian
president noted. "That
is one of the lessons I
learned during the
struggle against
repression and
authoritarianism."
"IPS has brought greater
pluralism and diversity
to the international
press. For 44 years, IPS
has given voice to the
voiceless. IPS is more
than crucial than ever
in the creation of
South-South dialogues
and alternatives to the
existing alliances," he
said.
Lula was born in 1945,
the seventh of eight
children, in the small
town of Garanhuns,
Pernambuco State. He
started working at the
age of 12 in a dry
cleaning shop, later
finding jobs as a
shoeshine and office
boy.
Lula first became
involved in Brazil's
labour union movement
while working at a
factory in Sao Paulo. In
1975, he was elected
head of the large
Metallurgists' Trade
Union. Four years later,
he helped lead a strike
of 170,000 steel
workers.
"His political career is
a good demonstration of
the virtues of
democracy," said Enrique
Iglesias,
secretary-general of the
Ibero-American
Conference, a political,
cultural and economic
cooperation initiative
in Latin America and the
Iberian Peninsula.
"The virtue of giving
the chance of becoming
president of one of the
biggest nations on Earth
to a worker with a long
history of leadership in
a workers' union," said
Iglesias, who gave the
keynote speech at the
ceremony.
In 1980, Brazil's
military dictatorship
cracked down on the
organised labour
movement, using the
National Security Law to
imprison several
prominent leaders,
including Lula, who
served 30 days in jail.
That same year, Lula
founded the Workers'
Party, which would
eventually catapult him
to the presidency after
nearly three decades
without direct
elections. He came to
office in October 2002
with 53 million votes.
He was re-elected in
October 2006, garnering
about 58 million votes.
Lula's generous social
programmes have been
widely credited with
lifting millions of
Brazilians out of
poverty. For example, to
tackle the problem of
malnutrition, which
affects an estimated
15.6 million Brazilians,
the Lula government
devised Fome Zero (Zero
Hunger).
The fund builds cisterns
in Brazil's semi-arid
region, fights child
labour, strengthens
family agriculture,
subsidises food and
other essential items
for the poor, and many
other things. Fome Zero
requires families to
send their children to
school and get regular
vaccinations.
Lula's government has
also cancelled more than
1.7 billion dollars in
debts owed by the
poorest countries, and
participates in numerous
South-South cooperation
projects, including
sustainable farming
initiatives in Cuba and
some African countries.
"This type of
information is not
always publicised by the
big media outlets in
Brazil and abroad," Lula
said. "For that reason,
we need IPS to be an
example for the creation
of other similar
agencies."
On the economic front,
Brazil has diversified
its industrial base and
invested in both
agriculture and
lucrative exports like
oil, leading to both a
high growth rate -- 5.4
percent in 2007 -- and a
strong domestic market
that makes the country
less vulnerable to the
shocks rattling the rest
of the world.
"Brazil today is a very
important player in the
new generation of
emerging economies that
are trying to change the
rules of the game of
trade and finance in
order to build a new set
of international
relations based on a
more fair distribution
of opportunities among
the south and the north
in the world," Iglesias
noted.
At the same time, he
said, Lula's government
has focused its
attention on "areas that
directly impact the
poorest layers of
society. In one
generation, Brazil has
achieved great
improvements in
reduction of poverty and
elimination of hunger
and malnutrition. This
is reflected in
statistics, but also in
the political support of
the people for the
government's policies."
According to the World
Bank, Brazil's income
gap has shrunk by six
percent since 2001, more
than any of its
neighbours. In a
reversal of the trend in
many nations, the
poorest 10 percent of
Brazilians saw their
incomes rise by 58
percent between 2001 and
2006.
"You have proved, by
example, that your
country's vibrant
economy, achieved during
your tenure in office,
can go hand in hand with
the extension of its
benefits to the majority
of the population,"
Lubetkin said. "And you
have proved that
economic progress only
makes sense if it serves
to improve the living
conditions of society as
a whole."
The IPS International
Award was created in
1985 to honour
journalists and world
leaders who contributed
to peace, human rights,
gender empowerment, good
governance and social
and economic equity.
Past winners include
First Lady of France
Danielle Mitterrand
(1991); President of
Finland Martti Ahtisaari
(1994); U.N.
Secretary-General
Boutros Boutros-Ghali
(1996); Graca Machel,
First Lady of South
Africa (1998); and U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi
Annan (2006). |
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