Year XXXIX, Number 1, July 2026

Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva

President of Brazil. Trade unionist and former metal worker.

[…] What we are doing here is the beginning of a movement that must act every single day, every week, every month, 365 days a year, so that we can restore the most sacred thing in the world: democracy and multilateralism. The name of this initiative, Global Progressive Mobilization, says a lot. Each of these three words carries a program of action. It is important to understand what it means. People want to eat – to eat well, to live well, to have quality schools, quality hospitals, a serious and responsible climate policy, strong environmental protection. They want a clean and healthy world, a dignified job with a balanced workload, a salary that allows a decent life. The far right has managed to capitalize on the frustration of unfulfilled promises of neoliberalism. It exploits people's anger by spreading lies – about women, Black people, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants – turning the most vulnerable into targets of hate. Our role is to point to the real culprits. Billionaires concentrate most of the world's wealth. They want people to believe that anyone can get there. They feed the fallacy of meritocracy, but they kick away the ladder so others do not have the same opportunity to climb. They pay less taxes or none at all. They exploit workers, destroy nature, manipulate algorithms. Inequality is not a fact – it is a political choice. What makes us progressives is choosing equality. Our motto must always be to stand on the side of the people. This struggle needs to be global. It is useless to keep our house in order in a world in disorder.

The lords of war drop bombs on women and children, spend billions of dollars on weapons that could be used to end hunger, solve the energy problem and the health problem. The Global South pays the price for wars it did not provoke and for climate changes it did not cause. It is treated as the backyard of the great powers, suffocated by abusive tariffs and unpayable debts. It is once again seen as a mere supplier of raw materials. To be progressive in the international arena is to defend a reformed multilateralism. It is to defend that peace prevails over force. It is to fight hunger and protect the environment. It is to restore the credibility of the UN that has been eroded by the irresponsibility of its permanent members. It is to create a system in which the rules apply to everyone, in which developed and developing countries stand on equal footing in the Security Council, the World Bank, the IMF and the World Trade Organization. This is not only an effort of governments. The internet has become a battlefield. Disputing the virtual networks is unavoidable, but the dispute must go beyond the screens, it must be taken to universities, churches, unions, associations, neighborhoods and society as a whole. […] Pope Leo XIV said that democracy risks becoming a mask for the domination of economic and technological elites. Our role is to unmask these forces, to unmask those who say they are on the side of the people but govern for the richest, who claim to be patriots but put sovereignty up for sale and call for sanctions against their own country, who proclaim they defend the family but turn a blind eye to violence against women and the sexual abuse of children, who claim to own the truth but spread lies and disinformation, who present themselves as men of God but have no love for their neighbor, who speak of freedom but persecute those who are different. […] As the poet said: "The path is made by walking." Democracy is not a destination – it is a daily construction. It must go beyond voting and bring concrete benefits to people's lives. There is no democracy when a father does not know where to get his next meal. There is no democracy when a mother spends hours on a crowded bus and cannot give her children a goodnight kiss.

There is no democracy when someone is discriminated against because of the color of their skin, when a woman dies simply for being a woman. We must replace discouragement with dreams, hatred with hope. The global progressive mobilization has an important mission: to recover the capacity to project a better future – a future with social justice, equality and democracy. These three terms – global, progressive, mobilization – must go together, not as slogans, but as a living reality. […] Now I look at what is happening in the world. The United Nations, created after World War II to maintain peace, has become paralyzed by the power of its permanent members. Today we are living with more armed conflicts than at any time since World War II. […] So I say to the leaders of the world: fulfill your responsibility to guarantee peace. Stop this madness of war – the world cannot take it anymore. The poor do not want much. They do not want to take anything from the rich. They want a decent job, a decent home, access to education, healthcare, and opportunities for their children. That is all. Everything we want is already written – in the Bible, in constitutions, in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So why is it not fulfilled? I will finish by saying this: I am 80 years old, and I want to live to 120 to prove one thing – we do not grow old because of time passing. What makes us old is losing motivation, losing a cause. If we wake up every day with a cause, we do not grow old. My cause is democracy. My cause is freedom. My cause is equality. My cause is dignity for all people. I do not want war. I want peace, love and fraternity. My weapon is argument. My weapon is reason. Even if I am poor, I have something essential: character, honesty and dignity. That is what allows us to respect everyone. Thank you.

* Speech by the President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, at the IV Meeting In Defense of Democracy, Barcelona, 18th April, 2026. Excerpt from: https://advocatetanmoy.com/complete-lula-speech-in-english-democracy-global-south-and-justice/