Brazil’s UJS (Socialist Youth Union Of The Communist Party Of Brazil) Proclaims: We Will Defeat Bolsonaro And Elect Lula
Brazil’s UJS (Socialist Youth Union Of The Communist Party Of Brazil) Proclaims: We Will Defeat Bolsonaro And Elect Lula
Brazil’s UJS (Socialist Youth Union Of The Communist Party Of Brazil) Proclaims: We Will Defeat Bolsonaro And Elect Lula
UJS, the youth organization of the Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB), was founded in 1984. While the military dictatorship still ruled in Brasília, young people were announcing in the Legislative Assembly of São Paulo “We are young workers, peasants, students, artists and intellectuals. We seek the future and freedom, the rights that are denied us, the banished hope, the subjugated will.” More than 600 young people present affirmed the need to fight for a socialist Brazil.
In the midst of the pandemic, UJS built the largest online training courses in Brazil on feminism, anti-racism, anti-fascism, and Brazilian history, led important victories in education, and organized countless solidarity campaigns donating food all over Brazil. The manifesto of UJS envisions a bold socialist future for the youth of Brazil, free from the economic domination, fascism, and violent repression of Bolsonarism.
UJS Holds 21st National Congress to Chart Path Forward
On Friday, July 15th, in São Paulo, the opening of the 21st National Congress of the UJS took place, with representatives of organized youth, social movements, and Senator Randolfe Rodrigues (who was a former member of the UJS).
With the motto “Mel Gomes – For the Right to Dream”, the Congress took place both in person and online. In addition to debating the resolutions that will guide the entity in the coming years, the UJS elected its new national directorate. Much of the discussion was guided by organizing around the militancy needed to defeat Bolsonaro and elect Lula in this fall’s elections.
Events were held with former President Lula, pre-candidate for the presidency and leader in the polls, and with Fernando Haddad, pre-candidate for the government of São Paulo state, among others.
In his speech, Senator Randolfe emphasized that Brazil is facing the most important struggle of our times when facing Bolsonarism, referring to the radical history of the UJS and the other youth present.
“The underground rivers of fascism have surfaced. We are in the seventy most important days of our life and our history to defeat Bolsonarism at the polls and in the streets”, said the Senator.
“Next October 2nd is democracy against dictatorship, future against barbarism. No victory will be as important as this one. Let’s tell the lords of fascism that the black population will not go back to the slave quarters, that LGBTQ+ will not go back to the closet, that women will not go to the kitchen, as they want. This is not the land of racist, sexist, discrimination and social apartheid. What we want is freedom and inclusion for everyone”, added Randolfe.
Also present were the national president of the union federation CTB (Workers’ Center of Brazil), Adilson Araújo (representative of the Metalworkers’ Union of São Paulo and Mogi das Cruzes), Adriano Lateri, Ewerton Carvalho (pre-candidate for State Senator for the PCdoB in São Paulo), representatives of youth wings from PT, PSB, PV, Pátria Livre, from the social movements Afronte, Juntos, Rua, Levante Popular da Juventude, Para Todos, Disparada, Unegro, in addition to the UJS delegates from all states of the country.
Growing Number of Young Voters Mobilize to Defeat Bolsonaro
The last time the youth of Brazil engaged in registering to vote and participating in an election on a large scale was in 2002, on the eve of the first victory of Luís Inácio Lula da Silva (PT, Workers’ Party). Twenty years later, teenagers under the age of 18 are again mobilizing in large numbers to participate in the elections in which Lula can defeat far-right President Jair Bolsonaro (PL, Liberal Party).
The Superior Electoral Court (TSE) reveals that registration numbers among this segment of the population – which is not required to vote, unlike Brazilian citizens over the age of 18 – has grown again this year. According to data from the Electoral Court, the number of young people under the age of 18 eligible to vote dropped from 2.2 million in 2002 to 1.4 million in 2018, the lowest number in history. Today there are 2.1 million.
Voting at age 16 is an important achievement in the 1988 Constitution, the result of the struggle of the UJS, which mobilized alongside student organizations to move the constituent legislature. Afterwards, the UJS carried out the “Se Liga 16” campaign to promote the voting registration among this age cohort.
Every two years, the UJS continues to organize these campaigns across Brazil. Now, with the conservative advance of Bolsonarism in power, it returned with surprising enthusiasm. “The youth are the ones who reject Bolsonaro the most and who are most engaged in the struggle for transformation, to remove him from power and build a new era for Brazil,” said Tiago Morbach, president of the UJS. The novelty of social media is something that also influenced the voter registration campaign this year. “The youth is very connected to the web, which makes social networks contribute a lot. It makes a difference to raise awareness through the internet”, he added.
After dealing with the current national context, the Bolsonaro administration and the pandemic, the UJS declares: “We believe that it is possible to turn the page and build a new course for Brazil with more rights, democracy, sovereignty and opportunities … guided by the boldness to fight for socialism upfront, through the defense of a national project that develops its productive forces to improve the living conditions of the majority of the population.”
Thiago Morbach added that in this project, “the people will be in power and labor will be valued. The advancement of technology will be used in favor of the dignity of everyone and not just the elite. Class, gender and racial inequalities will be tackled. The misery and reality of everyday violence will no longer be tolerated. These goals today include Bolsonaro’s defeat at the polls and on the streets.”
Sources and additional reading:
vermelho.org.br | pcdob.org.br | ujs.org.br
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