“What matters to me today is that we answer ourselves where the Democrats went wrong. Where and when did the left go wrong? Why have we allowed the far right to grow with the strength it is acquiring? Is it their virtue or our incompetence?” Lula asked at the meeting on the sidelines of the 80th United Nations General Assembly.

In his speech, the founder of the ruling Workers’ Party criticized himself as president and representative of the left.

“Where did we go wrong? What did I do as President of the Republic to strengthen popular and social organization? Because we often win elections with leftist rhetoric, and when we begin to run, we serve the interests of our enemies much more than those of our friends,” he warned.

Lula then questioned the motivations behind political decisions: “We often govern by responding to what the press publishes about us, to the demands of the market, to the need to please the market, to the need to please our opponents,” he continued.

He noted that often, “our voters who took to the streets, who were beaten, who were mocked, are considered by us to be sectarian and radical. And we begin to ignore them and pay attention to those who speak well of us. This is the failure of democracy,” he emphasized.

He called for the fact that, before seeking the virtues of right-wing extremism, “we must look for the mistakes that democracy has made in its relationship with civil society. How are we practicing democracy in our country?” he concluded.

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