Speech by Brazil’s President Lula during act in defense of democracy and the rule of law at the Brazilian National Congress

Ladies and gentlemen,

my friends.

First of all, I want to salute all the Brazilian citizens who rose above their differences to say an eloquent NO to fascism. Because only in democracy can disagreements coexist in peace.

I want to offer a special greeting to everyone who—the day after the attempted coup—walked arm in arm from the Planalto Palace to the Federal Supreme Court in defense of democracy.

Never has such a short walk had such historical outreach.

The courage of congressmen and congresswomen; of governors; of Supreme Court ministers; of State ministers; of legalist military personnel; and, above all, of the majority of the Brazilian people ensured that we could be here today celebrating the victory of democracy over authoritarianism.

I would like to take this opportunity to salute the workers of the security forces—especially the Legislative Police—who, even though they were a minority, refused to join the coup and risked their lives in the line of duty.

If the attempted coup had been successful, much more than windows, furniture, works of art and historical objects would have been stolen or destroyed.

The sovereign will of the Brazilian people, expressed at the polls, would have been stolen—and democracy, destroyed.

Today, Brazil would be plunged into economic and social chaos. The fight against hunger and inequality would be back to square one.

Our country would once again be isolated from the world, and the Amazon would soon be reduced to ashes to make way for livestock and illegal mining.

Judging by what the former coup-plotting president preached in his campaign, and by what his followers plotted on social media, political opponents and established authorities could have been publicly shot or hanged.

All those who funded, planned and carried out the attempted coup must be exemplarily punished.

There is no forgiveness for those who attack democracy, their country and their own people.

Forgiveness would sound like impunity—and impunity, freedom to commit new terrorist acts.

We have saved democracy, but democracy is never quite complete: it must be built and cared for every single day.

Democracy is imperfect, because we are human, and therefore imperfect.

But we all have the duty to join forces to improve it.

My friends:

Hunger is the enemy of democracy.

There will never be full democracy as long as inequality persists—whether in income, race, gender, sexual orientation, and access to health, education and other public services.

A child with no access to education will never learn the meaning of the word democracy.

A father or mother at a traffic light, holding a sign that says “help me for the love of God”, will never know what democracy is either.

Perfecting democracy means recognizing that democracy for only a few is not democracy at all.

If we were able to put our differences aside to defend the democratic regime, we are also capable of coming together to build a fairer and less unequal country.

My friends:

There is no democracy without freedom—but let no one mistake freedom for permission to attack democracy.

Freedom is not authorization to spread lies about vaccines on social media—lies which may have led to hundreds of thousands of Brazilian deaths to COVID.

Freedom is not the right to defend the establishment of an authoritarian regime and the murder of opponents.

Lies, misinformation and hate speech were the fuel of January 8.

Our democracy will be under constant threat until we firmly regulate social media.

In the days, weeks and months that followed the attempted coup, we refurbished the headquarters of Brazil’s Three Powers. We changed window panes, removed dirt, restored works of art, and recovered historical objects.

Above all, we reaffirmed the value of democracy to Brazil and the world.

Now we must advance more and more towards building a full democracy.

A democracy that translates into equal rights and opportunities, and that promotes better quality of life, especially for those who need it most.

We are on this journey together, and we will go even further if we walk arm in arm.

I want to close by renewing what I said in my inauguration speech at this National Congress:

Democracy always.

Thank you very much.