Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva thrives on his rhetoric.

His words thrive when the crowds stand before him.

When the corruption convictions against the Brazilian politician were lifted last year, he went to the town of São Bernardo do Campo, where he once learned his trade as a skilled metalworker and later began his political career.

Addressing his supporters in March 2021, he said that every worker should finally be able to afford a piece of meat and a beer again.

That went down well with the public, even if he has often raised this demand in a modified form.

Even then it was clear what would later become official: He wants to be president again.

At the beginning of May this year, he made his long-awaited candidacy public.

Governing, he wrote pathos on Twitter, is an act of love.



It is his sixth attempt at the presidency.

The left-wing politician lost the first three times to his opponents.

At the beginning of the millennium, he succeeded in moving into the presidential palace, he was confirmed in office four years later, and he governed the largest country in Latin America from 2003 to 2011. The boom in raw materials at the time benefited him during his years in power.

Now Lula, as he is known for short, is 76 years old and wants to lead Brazil into the future once more.



Lula presents himself as a counterweight to the current, right-wing populist President Jair Bolsonaro, for example by speaking out early on in favor of corona vaccinations, which Bolsonaro demonized.

The election campaign against the incumbent is likely to be dangerous, threats suggest.

Lula refuses a bulletproof vest, even though he wants to attract the masses.

“There are people who believe that you no longer have to campaign in the streets, just conduct it on social networks.

Should do that who wants.

I will travel all over Brazil and talk to the Brazilian people," he said recently.

That was also a dig at Bolsonaro, who is said to have won the last election primarily through his digital election campaign with all kinds of fake news.





Tim Niendorf

political editor.

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A few months before the showdown between Lula and Bolsonaro, German journalist Andreas Nöthen published a biography of Lula, who will be the favorite in October's election.

Only two years ago, the author portrayed the current president with “Bulldozer Bolsonaro – How a populist is ruining Brazil” and successfully described both his unusual life and a piece of Brazilian history.

Can he do that with his opponent?

Unfortunately not so much, and that starts with a key question that the author asks at the beginning: "Is there such a thing as good corruption?" Hardly.

That is roughly the conclusion that Nöthen draws at the end of the book.

Lula as Brazilian history incarnate

A biography about Lula, that sounds interesting even without a central question, but tells a lot about his life and political career, especially now that he could soon be at the top of Brazil again.

So who is Lula: salvation from evil (Bolsonaro) – or just a populist from the left?

You can't really get that close to Lula on the 256 pages.

Even if it is a good approach to learn not only something about life, but also something related to Brazilian politics, you soon get the impression that too many side aspects, too many people are mentioned and the narration of the Person Lula thereby remains mostly superficial.