“What really bothers me,” Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva told political leaders assembled in Barcelona on Saturday, “is the comeback of the emperors that believe they are the owners of the world.”
The 80-year-old, known as Lula, was part way through a 20-minute stump speech that took in the Iraq War, violence against women and the imprisonment of his predecessor, Jair Bolsonaro.
It also covered the weakening of the United Nations (UN) and the heavy hand of the Security Council, the monopoly powers of digital media and the fight against extremism.
There was a passionate call to avoid military conflict – including a long list of countries that Lula did not want to go to war with (“I don’t want war against Albania, my brother”).
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“Individually, there’s no way out for any of us,” he said, finishing up a thumping speech.
He spoke without notes throughout, by turns smiling or staring intently, reaching out to pat the Uruguayan president’s arm as he dropped a joke. Gesticulating passionately, his eyes sweeping the room, his speech sprinkled with theatrical pauses, the pitch climbing and descending.
He was addressing 20 or so leaders, having been introduced as the “spiritual leader” of the Defence of Democracy conference, this year being held in Spain.
Leaders included Catherine Connolly, who was attending on her first overseas visit as President.
Welcomed by Spanish prime minister Pedro Sánchez, she also met, among others, Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum, South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa and the leaders of Colombia, Uruguay and Barbados.
Connolly’s speech stuck to one of Lula’s main topics: a strong defence of the UN and of multilateralism generally. “We believe that multilateralism is not a luxury, it is a necessity,” she said, arguing Ireland was “uniquely placed to offer a valuable perspective as a neutral, post-famine, postcolonial republic”.
At the core of her speech was an overriding concern for the sidelining of the UN – and a warning that its members had acquiesced in this process.
“Over 80 years, it has happened through accommodation, through the quiet retirement of inconvenient principles and through our collective willingness to treat violations by powerful states as exceptional cases rather than the precedents they have become,” she said, also saying that countries played their part by “valuing stability over accountability, and consensus over candour”.
After a domestic presidential campaign trail that was at times divisive, the opening months of Connolly’s term were quiet. That was until International Women’s Day when she issued a statement that none-too-subtly criticised theCoalition’s equivocation over the United States and Israel’s actions in the Gulf.
Connolly steered away from controversy on her first overseas trip. She skated past an invitation to comment on recent upheaval caused by protests and blockades over the price of fuel in Ireland.
She said little on her decision to summon her Council of State on the Government’s International Protection Bill – a step which ultimately could see her refer it to the Supreme Court to test its constitutionality.
And her speech stopped short of even implicit criticism of the Government, the EU or Irish allies – although, unsurprisingly, Donald Trump’s presidency of the US loomed over it, even if not mentioned by name.
The Barcelona gathering was being held next door to a gathering of the Global Progressive Mobilisation – a close cousin to the leaders’ event. At lunchtime, a singer belted out John Lennon’s Imagine while a crowd wearing red baseball caps emblazoned with “Make Love, not Fascism” milled around outside. Labour leader Ivana Bacik was attending as was the SDLP leader Claire Hanna.
With this trip, Connolly made clear that she intends to make progressive internationalism a core theme of her presidency, and to align herself with leaders like De Silva and Sanchez. And she has asserted that she has the scope and intent to do so independently.
Connolly’s presence in Barcelona caused unease for some in Government. There were concerns there could be a joint declaration of some sort, which, if signed by her, could contain policy recommendations that would be problematic for Government. There were also grumbles that Ireland’s closest allies weren’t going – although, as it turned out, UK deputy prime minister David Lammy was there.
But the Barcelona trip was more in line with the presidency Connolly promised. it is an indication she plans to shape her own political programme during her presidency.
