Brazil's Lula

Ted Goertzel é um cientista social norte-americano que já há algum tempo tem se dedicado ao estudo da vida política brasileira. Depois de significativas análises sobre os tempos de FHC, Goertzel coloca na praça agora uma biografia de Lula, em língua inglesa (BrownWalker Press, 224 págs.). Permito-me dizer que uma biografia escrita por um estrangeiro  sobre uma personalidade de outro país pode conter um risco e uma vantagem. O risco: não ter informação suficiente. A vantagem: ser mais imparcial do que um autor nacional. No caso específico de Goertzel, parece-me a mim que ele escapa do risco e nos brinda com a vantagem. A conferir. Abaixo, a capa do livro e uma pequena síntese. 

 

Raised in a shack in the Brazilian northeast by a single mother, Lula da Silva rose from a working-class background to become a union leader, organizer of Brazil’s Workers’ Party, and, in time, the most popular president in Brazilian history.  In admiration, Barack Obama called Lula “the most popular politician on Earth” – perhaps a fitting title for a man who finished eight years as Brazil’s president with popularity ratings over 80%.  As president, he rose above ideology to build his country’s self-esteem with a growing economy and relief from poverty.  This is the first full biography of a democratic leader whose remarkable success will be an inspiration for decades to come. 

Spanning his childhood, his years in the labor movement, his four campaigns for the presidency, his two presidential terms and the election of his successor, Dilma Rousseff, this volume focuses on Lula as a personality and explores his impact on Brazilian Society.  Elected on an ill-defined platform of “change,” Lula’s inaugural address promised that hope had conquered fear and that it was time for Brazil to blaze a new path.  However, he understood that what most Brazilians actually wanted was relief from stressful and demanding changes.  Drawing strength from his mother’s courage, optimism and religious faith, Lula forged a new leadership style emphasizing consensus and contrasting sharply with that of many populist Latin American leaders.

Lula offers a model of leadership for an age when democratic revolutions sweep the globe and presidents-for-life are thrown out in disgrace.  Despite his overwhelming popularity, Lula refused to allow his supporters to attempt to amend the Brazilian constitution to allow him a third term as president.  His biography is essential reading for anyone concerned with building democratic order in a developing society.