With the G20 meeting set to take place in Brazil, Lula must be thrilled with the stage that has been set for him. He likely sees this as an opportunity to showcase Brazil’s importance and his own stature as a statesman on the world stage.
The recent election of Trump and the political shifts to the right and left in Europe highlight that the ruling class has lost control of the situation. In the USA, the entire legal, media, and political apparatus was mobilized to prevent his election. Despite this, with all the legal battles and the media war against him, the workers voted for Trump. He was the only candidate who managed to galvanize the anti-establishment sentiment of the American people. It’s important to note that he is an authentic representative of the richest 1% of America, who will only make this 1% even richer. What we see here is a gain in consciousness of the American working class. Although this gain is not necessarily in a direction of higher quality, it shows that the working class is waking up. Much like a bear in hibernation that, when disturbed too much, lets out a growl.
Thus, they sought some way out, and the only candidate they saw as anti-status quo was Trump. His entire campaign was based on the working class’s desire for change, and we must keep this in mind. His promises to end the deep state and bring more jobs to Americans resonated with the masses’ desires. Trump was very skillful in redirecting Americans’ anger towards the left-wing culture of woke movements that support LGBT rights and combat racism, creating an enemy to be defeated. He used a dialectical principle that informs us that, at some point, everything becomes its opposite. What started as positive movements for LGBT rights and combating racism were twisted by right-wing social media campaigns into something negative, creating division and animosity. Americans were inundated with propaganda informing them that the only thing the left (the Democratic Party, in this case) offered were policies for LGBT rights and combating racism. Here we must blame the reformists because, instead of clearly stating that the problem is the class struggle, they decided to focus on reforming capitalism, giving more space to these causes. This was the cue for the Republicans to use this problem, turning something not so big into reality and magnifying it. Soon, all the worst elements and ideological strands were turned into caricatures that could be consistently exploited. And the working class decided to vote for the wolf to take care of the henhouse.
We must keep in mind and focus on the fact that this vote was not, in reality, a vote for right-wing standards. Practically 40% of Americans abstained in these elections, not believing in either candidate. Of Trump’s voters, we can believe that most voted with their gut.
And it’s not just in the USA that this movement is happening. In Europe, none of the countries have the ruling class sleeping peacefully. In France, we saw a huge growth of the far right, and we are seeing the same in Germany and other central countries. The ruling class is afraid because, with the advent of these demagogues, they see more strongly protectionist policies eliminating the globalized market they worked so hard to create. Each country will impose tariffs on its imports, causing real chaos in world trade. “America first,” “Germany first,” and “France first” will lead to a shockwave that will shake the foundations of the world.
With limited global trade, the workers will have to pay the price to ensure profit margins do not decrease, and with that, the exploitation of labor will become more frantic and unrestrained. This means: more hours worked, less employment, lower pension fund values, more hunger, and more war in the world. The ruling class knows all this and, therefore, is afraid. The pressure cooker is with its steam flow control valve at its maximum capacity, and even so, through the redirection of workers’ anger, the chosen path was to increase the temperature.
Lula and Brazil will host the representatives of the ruling class in the coming weeks. This fact alone would be enough for anyone to be ashamed of participating in a meeting of a true gang of bandits. However, the hole is even deeper. The bandits who will be gathered these days know clearly that they are losing control of the situation. Everything that will be discussed there may have no future because the situation is changing very dynamically. Some of them, like Lula, think it is a movement that can still be directed and corrected with actions from the world elites. These people are completely mistaken because the masses are moving and sending tectonic shocks to capitalism, at this moment for the worse.
The solution to this necessarily involves building a revolutionary alternative that places the class struggle, the expropriation of the means of production, and workers’ control as fundamental issues, along with revolutionary internationalism to end capitalism in all regions of the world.
Recently, Brazil proposed the creation of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty, an initiative aimed at uniting international efforts to combat these problems. However, this initiative faces significant challenges and has little chance of success due to the policies of various countries prioritizing their internal populations. Additionally, the lack of available financial resources worldwide makes it even more difficult to implement effective measures to eradicate hunger and poverty on a global scale. Most developed countries are facing significant deficits due to the amount of money they have to borrow to finance themselves. The reality is that, without a significant change in priorities and resource distribution, the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty risks becoming just another unfulfilled promise.
Ultimately, any promises or actions emerging from the G20 have lost touch with reality. They are stillborn creations, incapable of being managed by multilateral organizations or financed, as there is simply no money left in the world.
Leave a Reply