Lula tops Time's influential list

[Meshuga]

NEW YORK, April 29 (UPI) -- Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva tops Time magazine's list of influential leaders, it was announced Thursday.

Coming in at No. 2 is J.T. Wang, chief executive officer of Taiwan's Acer Group and chairman of Acer Inc.; followed by Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, at No. 3; U.S. President Barack Obama at No. 4; and Ron Bloom, senior counselor to the U.S. president for manufacturing policy...

http://www.upi.com/Entertainment_News/2010/04/29/Da-Silva-tops-Times-influential-list/UPI-96781272560513/

From the Buenos Aires Herald:

...According to the article that portraits a Lula picture, "when Brazilians first elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva President in 2002, the country's robber barons nervously checked the fuel gauges on their private jets. They had turned Brazil into one of the most inequitable places on earth, and now it looked like payback time. Lula, 64, was a genuine son of Latin America's working class - in fact, a founding member of the Workers' Party - who'd once been jailed for leading a strike."

The three failed attempts that Lula had to face in order to be a first-time president were also mentioned in the Time review: they are used to justify the Brazilian leader for being "a familiar figure in Brazilian national life."

The question "what led him to politics in the first place?" is posted. Many ideas and possible answers are given; however, one is taken as the valid respond: "At the age 25, he watched his wife María die during the eighth month of her pregnancy, along with their child, because they couldn't afford decent medical care." That, according to the Time's view, is the underlying reason for Lula's ideas: "there's a lesson here for the world's billionaires: let people have good health care, and they'll cause much less trouble for you."

The articles goes on: "And here's a lesson for the rest of us: the great irony of Lula's presidency - he was elected to a second term in 2006 and will serve through this year - is that even as he tries to propel Brazil into the First World with government social programs like Fome Zero (Zero Starvation), designed to end hunger, and with plans to improve the education available to members of Brazil's working class, the US looks more like the old Third World every day."

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/BreakingNews/View/32063

[naaman fletcher]

1. a great man /nt.

[protocol rv]

2. Yep, he sure is

If only we had Lula in Venezuela, we could have been contenders. Now, this country is really screwed up.

[rabs]

3. Found it interesting that Michael Moore wrote the text for Lula

Which was not mentioned above. JB also says Lula is at the top of the list of 100, which TIME seems to play down. :shrug:

-------------------------

From JB online

For readers of English, MM says:

--Lula is a "genuine son of of the working classes of Latin America"

--He was forced to leave school in the 5th grade and later working as a machinist lost two fingers.

-- One of the main reasons Lula entered politics was because his wife died in the eighth month of pregancy because of inadequate medical treatment.

-- Lula is working to close the social inaqualities gap in Brazil (which Moore says is widening in the United States.)

-- "The great irony of Lula's presidency ... is that while he is trying to raise Brazil into the First World with programs such as Zero Hunger and with plans to improve available education for the working classes, the USA with each passing day looks more and more like the Third World."


------------------------

So Michael Moore managed to laud Lulu while at the same time bash conditions in the United States.

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Lula encabeça lista de líderes que mudaram o mundo em 2010


Portal Terra


ESTADOS UNIDOS - O presidente Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva encabeça a lista de líderes na edição da revista americana Time das 100 pessoas que mais influenciaram o mundo em 2010, publicada nesta quinta-feira. No texto escrito pelo cineasta Michael Moore, a revista diz que Lula tem lições a dar aos Estados Unidos.

O texto chama Lula de "um filho genuíno da classe trabalhadora da América Latina" e cita as dificuldades vividas pelo presidente no passado, como a necessidade de abandonar a escola na 5ª série para trabalhar como engraxate e o acidente de trabalho que o fez perder um dos dedos da mão.

Para o cineasta, um dos motivos que levaram Lula a entrar na carreira política foi a morte de sua mulher durante o oitavo mês de gestação, por não receber atendimento médico adequado. "Eis uma lição para os bilionários de todo mundo: deixem o povo ter um bom serviço de saúde, e ele irá lhes causar muito menos problemas", diz o texto.

Segundo Moore, Lula trabalha para diminuir as desigualdades sociais no Brasil, enquanto os Estados Unidos enfrentam uma situação de concentração de renda cada vez maior. "O que Lula quer para o Brasil é o que nós costumávamos chamar de 'sonho americano'", diz o texto. "Paradoxalmente, os Estados Unidos, onde a população 1% mais rica detém mais riqueza financeira do que o conjunto dos 95% mais pobres", estão se transformando em uma sociedade que está se encaminhando rapidamente para um cenário semelhante ao brasileiro.

"A grande ironia da presidência de Lula (...) é que mesmo quando tenta impulsionar o Brasil para o Primeiro Mundo com programas sociais como o Fome Zero, destinado a acabar com a fome, e planos para melhorar a educação disponível à classe trabalhadora, os EUA se parecem a cada dia mais com o Terceiro Mundo", diz o cineasta.

http://jbonline.terra.com.br/pextra/2010/04/29/e29048894.asp

-------------------

"Meshuga?" Que e isso? Doido?? Não, não pode ser !!!

:hi:

[Judi Lynn]

4. That's very cool, learning Michael Moore has made his support public.

I doubt M.M. has too much in common with the right-wing idiots who claim to support Lula, in hopes it gives them "progressive" creds in someone's eyes!

I hope Lula has seen M.M.'s films. Undoubtedly he'd admire them.

I remember reading that Lula's brother was imprisoned and tortured by the regime, for his political positioning.

[rabs]

6. The Lithuania Tribune (which I only learned of today)

The article is more than a week old, but Mockus' Green tide is making news in his ancestral country too. The comparision to Obama has come up in other media too.

---------------------------------


Lithuanian aims to lead Colombia

An ethnic Lithuanian in Colombia is running for president for the second time, despite suffering from Parkinson’s disease.

Antanas Mockus has had his attempt to lead Colombia compared by local media to Barack Obama’s fight for the president’s chair in the United States.

Mockus, 58, does not belong to the major parties in the country and attracts strong support for not using the traditional structures of the political work.

http://www.lithuaniatribune.com/2010/04/21/lithuanian-aims-to-lead-colombia/
Check out the comments below the article.

-------------------

http://www.facebook.com/a.mockus?ref=ts
Mockus is closing in on 500,000 followers on Facebook. About three weeks ago he had 9,000.
This alone will translate into an amazing number of votes. Check out the coments here too.


(edit to fix typos -- eyes not so good anymore ..grrrr.)

[Judi Lynn]

7. The comments should restore any sane person's faith in Colombia.

There are still some wonderful people living there, despite the hideous government. They've been waiting for a human government, just as we have.

I'm going to chech those comments later to see the new ones. What a gratitude one feels seeing so many GOOD people voicing strong support for this guy. Clearly they express observations about the man we know the corporate media would NEVER allow itself to publish.

Wonderful.

Lithuanians SHOULD be proud.

[Meshuga]

5. Claro que sim!

Prestar atenção no que acontece nas notícias deixa qualquer um enlouquecido. Então acho que o apelido é perfeito. :-)

[rabs]

8. Lol, now I understand.

A clear explanation -- with typical Brazilian sentido de humor.

Btw, planning to get a flat-screen TV so as to watch Brasil conquer the Sexta !! (if it can get by the USA -- lol)

[Meshuga]

9. It is going to be tough

Brazil will have a hard opponents in every round. If it doesn't happen in 2010 it will happen in 2014 with the crowd behind them and an already impressive generation of prospects. I'm buying tickets for the final at the Maracanã! :-)