Speech by President Lula during debate on multilateralism at the French Academy

Common sense says that the need to name things is what makes words come up — but words themselves have the power to transform reality.

This is the case of multilateralism.

The term is already part of dictionaries in Brazil, but it does not yet appear in the dictionary of the French Academy.

Originally, the word multilateral belonged to the domain of geometry and designated figures that have more than three sides.

After World War II, its use spread in the field of international relations.

Practices and forms of organization that today we would qualify as multilateral already existed before 1945.

The International Telecommunications Union was founded in 1865; the Hague Conferences took place in 1899 and 1907; the International Labor Organization and the League of Nations were both created in 1919.

The great innovation introduced after 1945 is summarized in the suffix ism added to the word multilateral.

This inflection translates the intention not only to describe a reality, but to focus on it.

The term multilateral describes a negotiation in which several countries participate.

The word multilateralism, on the other hand, denotes a set of values and objectives.

It presupposes a specific type of interaction in which countries come together to find collective solutions to common problems.

Countries would then be guided by the principles of sovereign equality and by cooperation over competition.

The emergence of the word multilateralism harbors the aspiration for an international order that is different from the one that preceded it.

The creation of the United Nations is umbilically connected to a determination to prevent the atrocities that were committed in the past from repeating themselves.

Collective action saved us from diving into the abyss again and again during the 80 years of the UN's existence.

Multilateralism was decisive to decolonization; to the prohibition of chemical and biological weapons; to the affirmation of human rights; to the promotion of free trade; to the protection of the environment; and to the resolution of several conflicts around the world.

Unfortunately, we are forgetting these lessons.

We are suffering from immobility in the face of the war in Ukraine; the genocide in Gaza; the forgotten conflicts in Sudan, Yemen, and Libya; and the violence in Haiti.

Arbitrary tariffs are disorganizing global value chains and risk throwing the world economy into a pernicious spiral of high prices and stagnation.

Attacks on international organizations, under the pretext of defending countries from a fanciful "globalist" ideology, ignore the concrete benefits brought by multilateralism to people's lives.

If today smallpox is eradicated, the ozone layer is preserved, and the basic rights of workers are still guaranteed, it is thanks to the work that is carried out within these forums.

If we managed to avoid the most pessimistic global warming scenario — which predicted a four-degree increase in temperatures by the end of the century — it was thanks to the Paris Agreement.

No global challenges will be overcome if the illusion that we can face them alone prevails.

In times of growing polarization, expressions that are not yet in dictionaries such as deglobalization have become commonplace.

Interdependence is a reality. It is not possible to deplanetize our life together.

It is unsustainable to keep islands of peace and prosperity surrounded by violence and misery.

There is an evident parallel between the processes that have been unfolding within the countries and among them.

Internally, denying politics feeds extremism, and threatens the rule of law.

Externally, denying diplomacy makes unilateralism prevail and puts international security at risk.

Democracy and multilateralism are the two faces of the same worldview, based on dialogue and respect for plurality.

Defending multilateral institutions is therefore defending democratic institutions and vice versa.

The solution to the crises they are both facing is not to abandon them, but to improve them.

It is necessary to recover the power of the word multilateralism as a way of transforming the reality that surrounds us for the better.

Thank you very much.