Brazil's president is welcomed by Lehman at ILR-New York event

Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman, left, poses with Brazil President Luiz Lula da Silva, center, and Cornell ILR Dean Edward Lawler at a special reception in Lula's honor at the Cornell Club in New York City, Sept. 24. Sam Hollenshead

By Linda Myers

Brazil's president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who was in the United States to address the General Assembly of the United Nations Sept. 23, also was the guest of honor at a special reception Sept. 24 at the Cornell Club in New York City sponsored by the School of Industrial and Labor Relations.

Cornell President Jeffrey Lehman greeted Brazil's president, who is known as Lula in his native country and is a former labor leader. ILR Dean Edward Lawler also welcomed Lula, and Richard Trumka, secretary-treasurer of the AFL-CIO, introduced him to the crowd of 75, which included prominent New York labor leaders and faculty, staff and students at the New York City extension offices of the ILR School.

Trumka recounted Lula's long road to political prominence. A former shoeshine boy, the Brazilian leader, now 57, began his career as a metal worker and rose to become president of Brazil's metal workers union in 1975. He was imprisoned for his labor organizing activities during the dictatorship that ruled his country in the 1970s. He went on to found the Brazilian Workers Party in 1980 and helped grow it into a national political force. He was the party's candidate for president four times, finally achieving victory in December 2002, when he earned 61 percent of the popular vote. Since then, he has promoted poverty alleviation and economic stability at home and has forged solid alliances with other Latin American countries. His efforts toward social justice, which he termed "the true name for peace" during his U.N. speech, prompted his nomination this year for a Nobel Peace Prize.

Lula also delivered a talk at the Cornell Club reception, during which he spoke about how his experience as a union representative of factory workers in São Paulo had prepared him for national office. He made reference to the recently failed World Trade Organization trade talks in Cancún, Mexico, where Brazil led a group of 21 developing nations in an effort to block European Union and U.S. agribusiness subsidies, which he asserted threatened the livelihoods of small farmers worldwide.

"The protectionism practiced by rich countries unfairly penalizes efficient producers in developing countries," he maintained. Without truly open markets, millions of people in developing nations around the world, Brazil included, are still struggling for a decent standard of living, he said.

Lula thanked the U.S. labor movement for supporting efforts for a living wage for all people, in Brazil and elsewhere, and he called for closer links between working people throughout the Americas as a means to promote peace and resist war and militarism.

"We were honored to have President Lula da Silva come and talk with us, and his visit was a wonderful opportunity to co-sponsor and host him," said Lawler, adding, "It was a significant gesture for President Lehman to be there. It showed his interest in Cornell's international reach."

New York labor leaders in attendance at the reception included Stephen Cassidy, president of the Uniformed Firefighters Association Local 94; Dennis Rivera, president of the Service Employees Union International Local 1199; Roger Toussaint, leader of the Transportation Workers' Union Local 100; Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union; and Brian McLaughlin, president of the New York City Central Labor Council of the AFL-CIO.

During his address to the U.N. General Assembly the day before, Lula reaffirmed the importance of the United Nations as an instrument of peace and justice in the world, and he lamented the death of U.N. career diplomat Sérgio Vieira de Mello, a Brazilian, during the recent terrorist bombing of the U.N. compound in Baghdad. He also called for the eradication of world hunger, which, he stated, "is a moral and political imperative" and proposed setting up a global fund to fight hunger. Among the heads of state he met with after his address were U.S. President George Bush and Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Sean Sweeney, director of Labor Studies for ILR extension in New York City, and Stanley Gacek, assistant director of international affairs, AFL-CIO, were instrumental in arranging Lula's Cornell talk, and Esta Bigler, New York City district director, provided support. Sweeney, who teaches courses on labor and globalization to non-matriculated students in the ILR School's New York extension offices, said of the event: "In addition to being a reception for a major head of state, it was also an opportunity to make a lasting connection between the city's labor community and a world leader who shares the same values and long-term goals. Cornell ILR helped bring the local and the global together, and opened the door to fruitful dialogue and collaboration in the future."

The reception also was co-sponsored by the New York Central Labor Council and the AFL-CIO's Department of International Affairs.