The journey of recently elected Brazilian president Lula da Silva is worthy of closer inspection.
Da Silva’s long road from former president to being convicted and then acquitted of trumped up corruption charges and finally his return to power is definitely one for the history books.
But what makes Da Silva’s victory even more remarkable is the challenges he faced within a system that was designed to destroy him.
‘Lula’, as Da Silva is affectionately known in Brazil, was very much a victim of an ‘Information War’, where propaganda tools were initiated to destroy him.
Besides the propaganda tools, the use of state institutions like Brazil’s security apparatus etc. to attack him was clearly crafted to create a narrative devoid of facts but rather one that pushed a certain agenda to create controversy around him and his re-election bid.
However, despite all these sinister efforts, Lula swept to victory albeit by the finest of margins.
Why is this important for us here in South Africa?
There are many lessons we can learn from Brazil. The most important one is how to identify the pillars of propaganda so that we do not venture down the same route.
We need to be on guard because there are certain signals that point to us being in the midst of a propagandist, information war.
One of the pillars of propaganda is the capture of regulatory institutions – like the Public Protector’s office, who recently said that it would take almost three years to deal with the very serious Phala Phala matter. Why?
Another pillar is the media, which so often is used to coordinate attacks on those that have different viewpoints, sometimes to the extent of censorship, like we saw when eNCA blatantly refused to upload an interview I did with JJ Tabane simply because it was critical of the powers that be. Why?
The last pillar is the government itself that uses state institutions to discredit opponents or simply avoid accountability by not responding to questions or using private media houses and NGOs to attack opponents. Like we see with the incessant attacks on myself, Independent Media, and associated entities by the likes of Daily Maverick etc. Why?
What is the common thread through all of this ? The answer is simple – capital.
All of the above pillars are directly or indirectly funded by hostile capital, who place their commercial interests above South Africa and its people.
In Brazil, Lula faced a similar propagandist, information war fuelled by right-wing agitation.
He had to deal with hostile, embedded media and a private sector that was fuelled by profit at the expense of the people of Brazil.
However, despite the intensity of the war against Lula, the ordinary people of Brazil rejected the far right. They rejected capital simply because they did not believe in them any more.
Similarly, we saw a young leftist in Chile going up against the establishment and winning that country’s presidential election against all odds and closer to home we saw Kenyans reject the cosy deal between Kenyatta and Odinga.
All of this shows us that as much as it seems impossible, the people can overcome. But for that to happen, we need to be vigilant.
We need to hold power to account and we need to place our goal of a better life for all at the centre of everything that we do.
That is what democracy is about – contestation of ideas, systems and opinions underpinned by accountability and a robust media that holds power to account.
Lest we forget, ‘absolute power, corrupts absolutely’.
