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MEDIA: Lula a "Tireless Advocate" for the Poor and Landless
By Katherine Stapp
UNITED NATIONS, Sep 22 (IPS) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who rose from a poor childhood to lead a
growing economic powerhouse that has placed the ideal of inclusive prosperity at the centre
of its development policies, received the Inter Press Service (IPS) International Achievement
Award 2008 Monday.
"We would like to honour you because you fought side by side with the landless and
deprived, and for your efforts in initiating and supporting policies towards social inclusion
and peaceful resolution of conflict, and the full exercise of basic human rights and
freedoms, not only in Brazil but among sister nations in Latin America," said IPS Director
General Mario Lubetkin.
The Brazilian president, popularly known as Lula, has been deeply involved in international
efforts to end poverty and hunger, Lubetkin noted, playing a key role in mobilising
support from other world leaders and international organisations.
The award ceremony was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the eve
of the high-level segment of the 63rd session of the General Assembly, which is expected
to be attended by over 150 world leaders.
In his acceptance speech, Lula emphasised the importance of a free and vibrant media in
the global fight against poverty and marginalisation.
"As we move toward social justice and pluralism, the independence of sources is
fundamental for a democratic dialogue that is enlightened and balanced," Lula said. "Free
access to information is also fundamental in building a world that is more fair and
prosperous."
"We know that one of the pillars of democracy and freedom is a free press," the Brazilian
president noted. "That is one of the lessons I learned during the struggle against
repression and authoritarianism."
"IPS has brought greater pluralism and diversity to the international press. For 44 years,
IPS has given voice to the voiceless. IPS is more than crucial than ever in the creation of
South-South dialogues and alternatives to the existing alliances," he said.
Lula was born in 1945, the seventh of eight children, in the small town of Garanhuns,
Pernambuco State. He started working at the age of 12 in a dry cleaning shop, later
finding jobs as a shoeshine and office boy.
Lula first became involved in Brazil's labour union movement while working at a factory in
Sao Paulo. In 1975, he was elected head of the large Metallurgists' Trade Union. Four years
later, he helped lead a strike of 170,000 steel workers.
"His political career is a good demonstration of the virtues of democracy," said Enrique
Iglesias, secretary-general of the Ibero-American Conference, a political, cultural and
economic cooperation initiative in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula.
"The virtue of giving the chance of becoming president of one of the biggest nations on
Earth to a worker with a long history of leadership in a workers' union," said Iglesias, who
gave the keynote speech at the ceremony.
In 1980, Brazil's military dictatorship cracked down on the organised labour movement,
using the National Security Law to imprison several prominent leaders, including Lula,
who served 30 days in jail.
That same year, Lula founded the Workers' Party, which would eventually catapult him to
the presidency after nearly three decades without direct elections. He came to office in
October 2002 with 53 million votes. He was re-elected in October 2006, garnering about
58 million votes.
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