“The Bolsonaro government has failed the Brazilian people at a horrific cost of half a million lives lost in the pandemic” – Jeremy Corbyn
Figures from the British Labour movement have added their solidarity and support to the hundreds of thousands of Brazilian protestors who’ve taken to the streets in recent weeks, demanding the removal of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro. The mass mobilisations have also been supported by a number of demonstrations in the UK.
Read the powerful statements from Union leaders and MPs here…
Jeremy Corbyn MP – former Leader of the Labour Party
I send my full support and solidarity to those demanding justice, social progress and democracy in Brazil.
The Bolsonaro government has failed the Brazilian people at a horrific cost of half a million lives lost in the pandemic.
Lula’s release from political imprisonment and return to political life provides a progressive and hopeful alternative in Brazilian public life.
The victory of progressive forces in Brazil will be a vital step in facing up to and resolving the crises the world faces, from runaway climate change to pandemic recovery. The country deserves a government willing and capable to advance the interests of its people and human rights and social justice everywhere.
Christine Blower – Labour Peer & Vice-Chair of the Brazil Solidarity Initiative
Comrades and friends,
My name is Christine Blower.
I’m a member of the House of Lords in the UK, nominated by Jeremy Corbyn
I’m a former Trade Union leader and I’m sending this message to offer solidarity greetings, particularly because as we know in Brazil there have been 500,000 deaths under Bolsonaro’s watch.
In fact, the criminal mismanagement of this pandemic can be, and has been, labeled “genocidal” by social movements, by unions and of course by indigenous groups.
So we want to give our solidarity greetings to the hundreds of thousands taking to the streets with the unified message of Bolsonaro Out!
We here in the social movements, the trade unions and on the left in the UK will always stand with those fighting for public health and resisting the far-right in this deeply difficult time for Brazil.
There are protests taking place outside the Brazilian embassy in London this weekend to support all of those protesting Bolsonaro and to say for the sake of Brazil, we need Bolsonaro Out!
Solidarity
Claudia Webbe MP
It is heart breaking and utterly unforgivable that Brazil has passed the tragic milestone of 500,000 deaths.
Bolsonaro’s criminal mishandling of the pandemic is rightly being challenged in the streets,
I stand in full solidarity with the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians who are calling for “Bolsonaro Out!”
Bolsonaro’s racist, reactionary and increasingly authoritarian regime is cause for concern across the globe – and the demand for his impeachment is growing by the day.
This a President whose actions since assuming office have been relentlessly hostile to indigenous peoples, and that since Bolsonaro’s election, Brazil’s indigenous peoples have been in nothing less than a historic, and heroic, struggle for survival.
Despite widespread international condemnation, he has also encouraged deforestation of the Amazon – with grave consequences for global planetary health.
If elections were held today, former President Lula would win. I look forward to the day when the Brazilian people are free of the scourge of Jair Bolsonaro.
I stand with all those who are fighting for equality, justice and public health at this critical time, both in Brazil and around the world.
Tony Burke, Assistant General Secretary of Unite & Vice-Chair of the Brazil Solidarity Initiative
Greetings and solidarity from Unite.
There has been 500,000 COVID deaths under Bolsonaro.
He has overseen a criminal handling of the pandemic – spreading misinformation, downplaying the virus and allowing its spread to vulnerable communities across Brazil.
Unite gives our solidarity and support to the hundreds of thousands taking to the streets calling for “Bolsonaro Out!”
Lula’s return to the political scene is cause for celebration after the long fought campaigns to end his political persecution. If elections were held today, Lula would win!
Unite stands with those workers resisting Bolsonaro’s right wing regime and supports our Brazilian comrades.
Viva Lula!
Christina McAnea, UNISON General Secretary
On behalf of UNISON, the UK’s largest union representing 1.3 million public service workers I want to express our solidarity with the workers and people of Brazil and especially those essential workers who, like UNISON members, have kept Brazil functioning under terrible conditions putting their lives on the line on a daily basis.
Our horror at the election of a far-right, racist, misogynistic, homophobic and transphobic president after the disgraceful congressional coup again Dilma Rousseff has turned to anger and dismay at his handling of the Covid-19 pandemic. His failure to recognise the scale of the pandemic has led to the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Brazilian people. We hope that not only will he be defeated in the presidential elections next year but that he will be held publicly accountable for his gross mismanagement of this health crisis.
The Trades Union Congress (TUC)
We send our solidarity to the people of Brazil as they demand urgent change, to save lives and protect rights at risk from the misrule of their President and his cronies.
Brazil has a corrupt and anti-science leadership that has seriously compounded the horrors of Covid. It has been caught using Covid as cover for profiteering, while abandoning workers to unemployment or precarious informality. A disease which Bolsonaro dismissed as “just a little flu” has now killed more than half a million Brazilians.
Under Bolsonaro, Brazil is again one of the ten worst countries for working people in the ITUC’s annual Global Rights Index. Union leaders are threatened for organising strikes; two have been murdered. And Bolsonaro has shattered collective bargaining – a system that drives equality and fairness.
But instead of giving up, workers are massing their collective power on the streets. Trade unions and their allies are already winning victories against his far-right agenda, and the TUC is proud to stand with them as they hold him to account.
Brazil Solidarity Initiative 