Special interview with Josè Reinaldo Carvalho Secretary of International Affairs of Communist Party of Brazil (PCdoB)
ICP, 2nd March 2016
ICP: How would you describe the political mood in Brazil today?
Josè Reinaldo Carvalho (JRC): Brazil has been in a historical period since the election of Lula, who was the leader of the center left coalition, in 2003. There have been several political, social and economical transformations for securing the sovereignty of the country, enhancing the interests of the people and deepening the democracy since then. That was how Lula re-elected as the president after 4 years. Dilma Rausself , the current president, then took over the reform project from Lula.
These developments in Brazil are more or less the same with the processes in the other Latin American countries. As you know after Chavez’s victory in 1998 the elections were won by the left or the center left presidents in Uruguay, Brasil, Ecuador, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Nicaragua and El Salvador. On the other side the government was dropped by a coup in Paraguay. Eventually, many Latin American countries have been through this process. Therefore the developments in Brazil are not isolated from those processes of our continent. This is what I would say first about Brazil’s current political mood.
This is something novel for us, since we had been ruled by neoliberal reactionist governments for more than ten years before. Those right-wing governments have been in the imperialists’ service taking position against the people and democracy, being hostile to their countries’ sovereignty. And before that neoliberal period we had suffered fascist dictatorships. We have to consider today’s Brazil and Latin America in the light of those fascist and then neo-liberal periods.
We have to admit that, Brasil is passing through a tough period since there is an overall attack of the imperialist powers’ and nationalist oligarchies’ to prevent Latin America from those processes. Therefore we are in an unstable period. The reactionist and neo-liberal opposition is accumulating power to take down the government in the next elections. In Brazil, we experience the consequences of the crises of the capitalism worldwide. It is inevitable to see social unrest in a country having economical problems. The imperialist powers and the national capitalism try to take advantage from this and plan to provoke the instability.
On such a ground the main mission of the PCdoB is to stand against this threat. Because those are the forerunners of a coup. This the coup would be a constitutional and judicial one, like they had in Paraguay and Venezuela. Our party takes this mission as an urgent one because if this type of a coup is realized it would evoke cruel conclusions for our people.
On the other side PCdoB should also intensify its struggle against structural changes, since all those are directly linked with the gaps which our government left in its political reforms. If the structural reforms are not implemented by the current government, it wouldn't be enough just to prevent the attacks of the right wing forces. The agricultural reforms and the urban restructuring should be completed in order the defend the national economy against the neo-liberal policies of the imperialism and the EU.
Those are the things that has to be done. Otherwise the government would be defeated. And our mission is to force the government for those structural reforms.
ICP: What is your opinion about the WG meeting? Would you consider it as effective?
JRC: As PCdoB, we consider the proletarian internationalism, the international solidarity of the people, the anti-imperialist struggle and the empowerment of the communist movement in those senses are the most critical topics. We want to see the IMCWP as an important opportunity for the CWP’s to become together and build solidarity. We’d like to greet the 17th IMCWP which was held in İstanbul last October. The agenda which was developed in the 17th IMCWP has reached the next level at the recent WG meeting in İstanbul and the preparations for the next IMCWP has started.
We have agreed as the next host as being the Vietnam CP, eagerly. It is so important to hold the next meeting at a socialist country who had defeated the US imperialism epically.
The next IMCWP will in symbolic importance for us and our party is more than ready to enhance the upcoming WG meetings by our contributions.