“It was a honor to be a contemporary to Eric Hobsbawm”, says Lula on a letter to Hobsbawn’s widow

Former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva sent a letter to Marlene Schwartz, widow of Eric Hobsbawm. In that letter, Lula says that Hobsbawm was “one of the most lucid, brilliant and courageous thinkers of the 20st century” and that, from now on, Lula’s “commitment to our African brothers and sisters will be a tribute to the memory of your husband.”

Read the full text below.

São Paulo, October 1^st, 2012

Dear Miss Marlene Schwartz,

I have just received with profound sorrow the information of your husband’s, my dear friend Eric Hobsbawm, decease. He was one of the most lucid, brilliant and courageous thinkers of the 20st century.

From the moment I first met him, many years ago, I received from Eric – as he preferred to be called – uncountable manifestations of stimulus to the implementation of policy that could join workers to the sharing of the benefits and riches produced by the totality of the Brazilian society.

Throughout the past decade, I read with a sentiment of pride interviews in which he attributed the responsibility for the change in “the world balance” and “to take the developing countries to the center of the world politics” to our government.

Four months ago, a few days before his 95th birthday, Eric Hobsbawm sent me a message through a mutual friend. “Tell Lula to keep fighting for Brazil”, he said, “but to never forget the suffering Africa.” From now on, Lula said a letter to Marlene Schwartz, widow of Eric Hobsbawm, “my commitment to our African brothers and sisters will be a tribute to the memory of your husband.

More than a privilege, it was a honor to be a contemporary to Eric Hobsbawm and to have shared moments in life with him.

Please accept and convey to his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren my reverence.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva