Rest in Peace, Brazil's Old Warrior!

Leonel Brizola lost an election, lost another, and then modestly
became the vice presidential running mate of Lula. He set aside
all vanity because that was the moment for the young metal
worker to replace the old engineer in leading Brazil. With the
same coherence he joined the opposition to Lula in recent months.

Cristovam Buarque

Brizola in 61
Brazil has many politicians, but few are those among us who go down in history as leaders. Brizola was one of them. We have some leaders but few among them can point to a history of 50 years of struggle. Brizola was one of them.

Of these, few among them took up arms and headed for the streets to combat the forces of the military coup. Brizola was one of them. Of these, few lived their entire lives with austerity and honesty. Brizola was one of them. Among these, very few were coherent over 50 years in their commitment to the nation and its workers, in their commitment to the side of the people. Brizola was one of them. Among these few, which must number no more than ten in our 500-year history, only one carried the banner of education for our children as a life-long crusade. This one was Brizola.

For this reason Brizola is one of a kind: a valiant leader for 50 years, always patriotic and worker-oriented, and always carrying the banner of education. He will leave an enormous gap in the national scene.

It is said that we never forget our first vote but we are not always proud of it. I have the honor of saying that I am proud that in 1962 I cast my first vote after coming of age for Miguel Arraes Alencar as Governor of Pernambuco State and that the first vote I cast for President of the Republic was for Leonel Brizola in 1989.

At that time I had no political affiliation myself, and I campaigned alongside Fernando Lyra and Darcy Ribeiro for Brizola's election. I had great respect for another presidential candidate in that race, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who came to my house with Luiz Carlos Sigmaringa to request my support.

I made it clear that I saw the Workers Party (PT) as the only political party that one day could lead the destiny of Brazil and complete the revolution that had been stagnant since the Abolition of Slavery in 1888 and the Proclamation of the Republic in 1889.

But, I told them, the PT at that moment was not yet ready, and its program of government was concentrated upon the economy, upon salary, while that of Brizola was concentrated upon education, and he was in a better position to lead the destiny of the country.

Fifteen years later, I am convinced that I was correct. Brizola's election in 1989 would have permitted the responsible turn to the Left that Brazil and Latin America needed on the eve of the neoliberal adventure initiated by the winner of those elections.

Brizola would have signified a strong position in the international scene, the reorientation of priorities towards education, responsibility in public management, the example of an austere, honest life.

This observation was not merely the fruit of a hope for the future; it also came from observing the public life that he had led for almost 40 years. Brizola set an example for everyone with his valiancy, coherence and austerity, and his dedication to education.

His terms as mayor of Porto Alegre and as governor of Rio Grande do Sul have left these marks. Today Rio Grande do Sul still shows the best educational indices of all Brazil.

There are other reasons for that, but the actions of its mayor and governor were without a doubt fundamental. Fifty years ago he gave priority to the schools and invested in the future through education of his city and state's children.

It was also he who, at that time, gave value to a word not always liked in Brazilian politics: He said "No" to the powerful. He did not yield to the temptation of going with the wave.

He was against the wave of the military coup. And he did not surf on it. He confronted it, defied it and built a myth of the Resistance. Brizola's speech broadcast on the radio Rede de Legalidade (Network of Legality) woke up my generation.

In exile, he conducted himself with dignity and combativeness. He did not rest or slacken, two common tendencies among those condemned to life in exile.

I remember when, expelled from Montevideo, Uruguay, he arrived in New York and went to live in a small hotel, where I located him and invited him to a gathering.

Only a few days had passed since his surprising expulsion; even so, he accepted the invitation and traveled for a conversation with Brazilians without political weight. He came merely because we were Brazilians and he wanted to talk, listen, organize the struggle for democracy.

Without making any concessions, he returned to Brazil and in a short time was once again governor, this time of Rio de Janeiro State. As he had done twenty-five years earlier, he gave the same priority to education.

He brought with him the obvious goal that no national leader had seen, one that even today is still ignored: the right of every child to have all-day schooling.

With Darcy Ribeiro he defended and established the CIEPs, the Integrated Centers of Popular Education, which, had they been expanded to the entire country, would have made Brazil a different place.

Not because of their architecture but because of their commitment to giving every child a school with classes held all day long.

As a presidential candidate, Brizola centered his campaign upon rescuing nationhood and upon the defense of scholarship. And he would have done this. He knew that the Nation is made by the school, by the professors.

It was a field marshal who proclaimed the Republic, but only an army of well-prepared, well-motivated, well-paid teachers is capable of building it. He knew and denounced the fact that inequality in school causes inequality in society. He felt that the origin of inequality is the way that the school is unequal from its origin.

He lost an election, lost another, and then accepted something difficult for a leader of his stature. He modestly became the vice presidential running mate of Lula, a politician almost 30 years his junior, someone who had run against him and defeated him years before.

That modest gesture demonstrated his personal character. But, above all, the political gesture showed his love for his country and his disposition to serve his people.

He set aside all vanity because that was the moment for the young metal worker to replace the old engineer in leading national and workers' interests.

With the same coherence he joined the opposition to the Lula Government when he felt that, in his opinion, the government was not giving priority to education or defending the nationhood with the vigor that he wanted.

And he died criticizing, guided by his conscience. He called me two or three times, months ago, to confess his frustration with the present but within minutes he was speaking of his optimism about the struggle for the future.

He was an untiring combatant, coherent with the good causes of the Nation and of the people. He was, principally, a combatant for the children, in whom he saw the future being constructed in the schools.

Rest, Brizola. You deserve it. Brazil will not forget you.

Cristovam Buarque - cristovam@senador.gov.br -,6 0, has a Ph.D. in economics. He is a PT senator for the Federal District and was Governor of the Federal District (1995-98) and Minister of Education (2003-04).

Translated by Linda Jerome - LinJerome@cs.com.