The two leaders participated in a meeting with Union leaders in Montevideo.
By Leonardo Wexell Severo and Isaías Dalle, from Montevideo
“All around the world, political leaders complain about the means of communication. I have heard Obama complain, and Angela Merkel, and the leaders of various countries. This is a very delicate issue and I believe that we should not have media monopolies in Brazil, where a few families control the sector. This runs counter to democracy, which for me is no small thing. Democracy is the only reason for being and the only means available to a left-of-center government to implement the necessary changes.”
To download high-resolution photographs visit Picasa do Instituto Lula.
Former President Lula made the statement above on Thursday evening, April 4, at the headquarters of the Mercosur Parliament in Montevideo during a discussion between political and union leaders entitled “Transformation at Risk? Outlook and Tension for Progressivism In Latin America”, sponsored by the Trade Union Confederation (CST) And Trade Union Confederation of the Americans (CSA) with support from the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES).
The president of Uruguay, José “Pepe” Mujica, compared the behavior of large conglomerates in the communications industry to the “despotism” of military dictatorships and argued in favor of “regulatory mechanisms” to assure diversity of opinion. Today, he said, “the freedom of the press that has to be seen through the keyhole of a corporate system is very narrow. The truth is, he explained, that rather than freedom of the press there is freedom of the corporation and a manipulation “through a clear conceptual bias of conservative political positions and philosophies.”
The issue of democratization of the means of communication was introduced by the Secretary General of the CSA, Victor Báez, who was the first to respond to the question posed by the moderator, historian Gerardo Caetano, about the most pressing challenges in Latin America in consolidating the advances of democracy and the battle against inequality. “In the union movement we note that every time that the press covers an issue of social interest, the reports are filled with prejudice and bias and critical of the process of inclusion,” declared Victor
The Battle Against Inequality
While pointing out the countless advances obtained from a socio-economic perspective during the last decade, the moderator noted that the region continues to have the third largest income gap in the world and asked the discussants about which measures should be taken given such adversity.
Lula responded that the fist thing that needs to happen is that the people should continue to elect popular-democratic governments, “because you cannot overcome all of the legacy of inherited mismanagement in 10 years, but for a conservative government it is possible to regress from one day to the next.” “In various countries in Latin America we have managed to establish the State as a development complex. We have overcome the idea that the State does not serve the interests of the community, that the State is worthless; and that the market, which only operates where there is a profit is where the solutions lie. But what we have seen in Europe is that the Market Gods have failed and the poor old State had to step in and help,” he warned.
The Uruguayan president said that he believes in the essentially restorative capacity of democracy that opens and ventilates the environment and brings with it rejuvenating elements. “The effective, real army of democracy strengthens popular participation and helps to overcome the mistakes that those that govern inevitably make,” he added.
Commenting on inequality, Victor Baez suggested: “Countries must impose higher taxes on the rich. Inequality can only be reduced by reducing the concentration of income.” Later, the General Secretary of the CSA recalled that the countries that had made the greatest strides in combating income inequality were those in which the majority of workers are protected by collective bargaining agreements negotiated by union organizations.
Integration
The need to continue and strengthen the process of integration, principally via Mercosul, was identified as one of the ways to confront asymmetries and reduce the negative impacts of the crisis in the capitalist countries of the center. The three discussants agreed that this integration, however, should not be limited to trading agreements, but should give equal priority to the recognition for work.
“I believe that 15 years from now we will be the most envied continent in the world, because we have strategic resources – an abundance of water for example – with the immense possibilities that now are beginning to become realities,” said Mujica, in making a prognosis about the future of the region.
Victor Báez also affirmed his belief in a promising future, if the left and progressive forces are able to promote a “political centrifuge”, in which solidarity is once again seen as an essential value.
Ending the evening, Lula reiterated his optimism with regard to the Continent and the collective decisions that need to be implemented, summarizing the outlook for the future with a metaphor: “Once someone has tasted meat for the first time it will be very hard to return to living without meat. There is nothing that can make Latin America return to the past. Those who would govern need to take care, because the people have learned to achieve things.”
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