Brazil had never become accustomed to the daily absence of Lula. But she has received the return of her best son with great emotion.

“Springtime brought Lula back”, “Lula brought Springtime back”, “Brazil dresses up as Lula”, “Pardon, but this man makes the country happy”. A few of so many expressions, mixed with songs, with which the people commemorate having Lula at their side every day.

When I went to visit him, the joy and the emotion of embracing him again, of reencountering him, can only be compared to the sadness of saying goodbye. Of feeling like scum to depart, leaving him imprisoned, in the midst of scum. I only wanted to take him by the hand and bring him out, saying to him: “Come, Lula, your place is not here, someone such as you has to live in freedom, come and meet with the people, come to your place, in the midst of the people”.

These were the scenes that we have finally lived out, with Lula out and free, as he always wanted it, without any limits, to vanish in the midst of the embraces of the people. We all slept better, knowing that Lula has slept free and woken free, in the midst of the people that he has chosen.

One can image the void that he left behind, in that cold cell in which they had enclosed him for more than 600 days and 600 nights. What a relief he must feel to no longer have to be on those cold flagstones where he could take a little sun. In those interminable weekends, when he had no visits. With the TV that only allowed him to see the open channels, at times unable even to see his Corinthians.

Lula returns to San Bernardo, where he began his career as a union leader, to resume his public life where he had left off, in the Union of Metallurgists of San Bernardo, where he pronounced his first great public discourse, where later he said goodbye to everyone, saying that if he could not walk, he will walk with our legs, that if he could not speak, he will speak with our voices, if his heart stops beating, it will beat in our hearts.

The country is reborn different, not only in that it can count on Lula all the time, but also because while Lula was imprisoned, the destruction of Brazil has advanced fast. That was what most hurt Lula and he has expressed it since he came out of prison.

Lula has lived through difficult moments in his life, not so much, according to his sentiments, for the extreme poverty of his infancy, but for when he left jail the first time, escorted to the funeral of his mother, doña Lindu, to whom he returned to pay homage yesterday. Much later facing cancer and its painful treatment. Losing the companion of his life, doña Marisa, and the loss of his beloved grandson while he was still in jail.

For all this, he looked so happy when he left prison. When his turn came to speak, he said that it was a long time since he’d had a microphone in his hands, an expression that means the possibility to speak and bring his word to millions of peoples. Folha de Sáo Paulo confessed that prison had not made Lula lose his capacity of communication. In truth, he has lost nothing of what they wanted him to lose. He is more mature, with more reading, more reflections, more life experiences.

We no longer need to think how Brazil is faring without Lula, with Lula imprisoned. In truth, we have never been able to think of Brazil without Lula, just as Lula is never thought of without thinking of Brazil.

Spring comes to Brazil and with it comes Lula, in the arms of the people. What will Brazil be with Lula back? How will a country without democracy be possible with Lula released? (Bolsonaro has recalled that he would never have been elected were it not for the action of Moro to imprison Lula). “Lula libre”, (Lula free) Lula and his caravans, will be a test for Brazilian democracy.

11/11/2019

(Translated from Spanish for ALAI by Jordan Bishop)

- Emir Sader, Brazilian Sociologist and Political Scientist, is the Coordinator of the Laboratorio de Políticas Públicas with the Universidad Estadual de Rio de Janeiro (UERJ).