Communiqué of the International Liaison Committee of workers and peoples

Algiers, Paris, 14 July 2017

The judiciary, in the person of Judge Moro, has condemned, without proof, former president Lula da Silva to 9 and a half years in prison in first instance.

Almost simultaneously, the Senate, composed of a majority of senators accused of corruption, voted the counter-reform of the Labour Code, destroying one of the principal conquests of the Brazilian working class.

The 6^th Congress of the Workers’ Party, of which Lula was the founder, had decided to commit all its forces with the majority of the union organisations against the reforms dictated by financial capital and against the government.

After the days of general strike of 28 April and 30 June 2017 that opposed the counter-reforms of the Labour Code and of the retirement program, a large movement shakes the whole country to bring down the government of the putschist Temer.

There can be no doubt that the objective of Lula’s condemnation is to impede him from being a candidate in the next presidential election, which constitutes a serious violation of democracy.

As several organisations in Brazil say, without Lula, the elections would be a sham.

The International Liaison Committee of workers and peoples, which is preparing the 9^th Open World Conference against war and exploitation for the coming months, asks all its organisations that participate in the ILC’s activities on the international level to join the campaign engaged in Brazil and on the international level against the condemnation of Lula.

With our internationalist greetings,

The coordinators of the ILC:

Louisa Hanoune (Workers’ Party of Algeria)

Geoffrey Excoffon (Independent Workers’ Party – France)