Lula beats Bolsonaro in Brazil’s presidential runoff elections

 Brazil joins the global trend in beating back fascism

Brazil’s former leftist president, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has sealed an astonishing political comeback, beating the far-right incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in one of the most significant and bruising elections in the country’s history.

With 99.97% of votes counted, Silva, a former factory worker who became Brazil’s first working-class president exactly 20 years ago, had secured 50.9% of the vote. Bolsonaro, a firebrand who was elected in 2018, received 49.10%.

Addressing journalists at a hotel in São Paulo, Lula vowed to reunify his country after a toxic race for power which has profoundly divided one of the world’s largest democracies.

“We are going to live new times of peace, love and hope,” said the 77-year-old, who was sidelined from the 2018 election that saw Bolsonaro claim power after being jailed on corruption charges that were later annulled.

“I will govern for 215m Brazilians … and not just for those who voted for me. There are not two Brazils. We are one country, one people – a great nation,” he said to applause. “It is in nobody’s interests to live in a country that is divided and in a constant state of war.”

A few streets away on Paulista Avenue, one of the city’s main arteries, ecstatic Lula supporters gathered to celebrate his victory and the downfall of a radical rightwing president whose presidency produced an environmental tragedy and saw nearly 700,000 Brazilians die of Covid.

“Our dream is coming true. We need to be free,” beamed Joe Kallif, a 62-year-old social activist who was among the elated throng. “Brazil was in a very dangerous place and now we are getting back our freedom. The last four years have been horrible.”

Gabrielly Soares, a 19-year-old student, jumped in joy as she commemorated the imminent victory of a leader whose social policies helped her achieve a university education.

“I feel so happy … During four years of Bolsonaro I saw my family slip backwards and under Lula they flourished,” she said, a rainbow banner draped over her shoulders.

Ecstatic and tearful supporters of Lula – who secured more than 59m votes to Bolsonaro’s 57m – hugged and threw cans of beer in the air.

“This means we are going to have someone in power who cares about those at the bottom. Right now we have a person who doesn’t care about the majority, about us, about LGBT people,” Soares said. “Bolsonaro … is a bad person. He doesn’t show a drop of empathy or solidarity for others. There is no way he can continue as president.”

There was celebration around the region too as leftist allies tweeted their congratulations. “Viva Lula,” said Colombia’s leader, Gustavo Petro.

Argentina’s president, Alberto Fernández, celebrated “a new era in Latin American history”. “An era of hope and of a future that starts right now,” he said.

Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, commemorated what he called a victory for “equality and humanism”.

Joe Biden issued a statement congratulating Lula on his election “following free, fair and credible elections”.

“I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead,” the US president said.

Justin Trudeau said: “The people of Brazil have spoken. I’m looking forward to working with @LulaOficial to strengthen the partnership between our countries, to deliver results for Canadians and Brazilians, and to advance shared priorities – like protecting the environment. Congratulations, Lula!”

Brazil’s former president Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who governed before Lula’s historic election 20 years ago, tweeted: “Democracy has won, Brazil has won!”

The French president, Emmanuel Macron, said Lula’s election “kick starts a new chapter in Brazil’s history” while Spain’s president, Pedro Sánchez, called Lula’s triumph a move towards “progress and hope”.

The speed of the international reaction reflected widespread fears that Bolsonaro, a former army captain who has spent years attacking Brazil’s democratic institutions, might refuse to accept defeat. In the lead up to the election he indicated he would contest a result he considered “abnormal”.

Outside Bolsonaro’s home in west Rio there was dejection and anger as the news sunk in. “I’m angry,” said Monique Almeido, a 36-year-old beautician. “I don’t even know what to say.”

João Reis, a 50-year-old electrician, said he was convinced the vote had been rigged.

“It’s fraud without a doubt, they manipulated the count. The armed forces must intervene,” he demanded.

And if they didn’t? “The population must take to the streets to demand military intervention so that we don’t hand power over to the communists.”

At Lula’s celebrations the mood was very different as the veteran leftist vowed to wage war on hunger, racism and to combat environmental destruction which has soared under Bolsonaro. “We will fight for zero deforestation in the Amazon … Brazil and the planet need the Amazon alive.”

“We are going to restart the monitoring and surveillance of the Amazon and combat any kind of illegal activity,” he vowed. “We are not interested in a war over the environment but we are ready to defend it from any threat.”

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Nigeria’s president is urging people to “avoid panic” and “remain calm”

 The wake of warnings by several Western countries of possible terror attacks in the capital, Abuja and elsewhere in the country. Nigeria’s president is urging people to “avoid panic” and “remain calm”

The US, UK, Canada, Ireland and Australia have advised their citizens against travelling to Nigeria, and the US has gone a step further by ordering all non-essential diplomatic staff to leave.

In a statement on Friday, President Muhammadu Buhari downplayed the threat – saying security forces and citizens should stay “vigilant and careful” but that Nigeria was “no exception” in this regard, because the US and UK also warn of the “high likelihood of terror attacks in many Western European nations”.

He added that Nigerians’ safety remains the “highest priority of government” and that “security agents are proactively rooting out threats to keep citizens safe – much of their work unseen and necessarily confidential”.

Nigeria is grappling with several security challenges including violence by extremist groups and kidnappings for ransom by armed gangs.

“Unfortunately, terror is a reality the world over,” and these latest alerts by Western countries do not mean “an attack in Abuja is imminent… security threats are real and have been with us for a long while,” Mr Buhari said on Friday.

Source: BBC

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Stampede at Fally Ipupa concert kills 11 in DRC’s capital

 Interior minister blamed organisers for the packed concert headlined by African music star Fally Ipupa in Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Eleven people were killed in a stampede at a packed concert headlined by African music star Fally Ipupa at the biggest stadium in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s capital, the country’s interior minister has said.

Interior Minister Daniel Aselo Okito on Sunday blamed the organisers for the deaths, saying the Martyrs’ stadium concert in Kinshasa “went beyond 100 percent capacity”.

The stadium was packed beyond its capacity of 80,000 and some of the crowd ended up forcing their way into the VIP and reserved sections, reporters of Reuters news agency at the concert said.

“Eleven people dead … including two police,” the minister told reporters at the stadium, sending condolences to relatives of the casualties.

He said he deplored the “loss of human life” and said the organisers “must be punished”.

Security forces had earlier fired tear gas to disperse violent crowds in the streets outside the stadium where many had gathered before the concert by Kinshasa-born Ipupa.

The 44-year-old is one of Africa’s leading musicians whose albums sell worldwide. Singer-songwriter Ipupa, “like all Congolese singers”, had arrived several hours after the show had been scheduled to start, the agency noted.

Spectators at the concert of Fally Ipupa at Martyrs stadium in Kinshasa [Paul Lorgerie/Reuters]

The eventual number of attendees inside the stadium vastly exceeded the number of state and private security personnel present could control.

In 2020, French police evacuated the Gare de Lyon railway station in Paris after people started fires nearby in unrest before a planned Ipupa concert.

“It was a stampede,” that caused the deaths, a policeman on the scene told the official Congolese Press Agency ACP.

“The music lovers suffocated.” Kinshasa police chief General Sylvain Sasongo had earlier told ACP nine people had died, amid reports the venue had been jammed with people for the local favourite’s performance, with one witness saying “even the corridors” of the stadium were overflowing.

ACP, which had reporters in the stadium covering the concert, said police had cordoned off three areas to secure the pitch, the VIP stand and the stage.

“Under the pressure of the crowd, the police could not hold out long,” ACP said.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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German authorities looking into reports of illegal Chinese police in Frankfurt

 BERLIN, Oct 28 (Reuters) – Authorities in Germany are investigating whether China maintains an illegal extraterritorial police station in Frankfurt, a spokesperson said, a week before Chancellor Olaf Scholz heads on an already contested visit to the economic giant.

The Chinese embassy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

A spokesperson for the interior ministry in the German state of Hesse said police and internal security services were checking a report by Spanish activist group Safeguard Defenders, who said China had set up undeclared police offices in 30 countries, including Germany.

Confirming an earlier report in the Frankfurter Allgemeine newspaper, the spokesperson said they so far had no indications such facilities existed in Frankfurt.

Germany prospered for two decades from China’s insatiable demand for German machine tools, but Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has prompted soul-searching over the longer-term costs of economic ties with authoritarian countries.

Scholz has faced criticism from foreign allies and from within his own government over his decision to allow the sale of a minority stake in a terminal at Hamburg, Germany’s largest port, to a Chinese state company.

Next Friday’s trip to China, where Scholz will be accompanied by a delegation of bosses from Germany’s biggest companies, has also been criticised by political opponents who say Berlin must learn lessons from the failure of a past policy of engagement with Russia to deter President Vladimir Putin.

Dutch authorities on Wednesday said they were investigating Chinese offices that were operating illegally in the Netherlands, carrying out tasks like renewing driving licences.

That followed allegations, denied by the Chinese embassy in The Hague, that the office had also harassed a Chinese dissident living in the Netherlands.

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US midterm elections: Barack Obama hits the campaign trail

 Democrats hope the former president can help them keep control of Congress – in most midterms, the incumbents lose seats.

Barack Obama is trying to do something he couldn’t during his own two terms as United States president: help his Democratic Party win midterm elections when they already hold the White House.

Obama is more popular than he was back then, and now it’s President Joe Biden, his former vice president, who faces the prospects of a November rebuke.

Obama begins a hopscotch across battleground states on Friday in Georgia, and he will travel on Saturday to Michigan and Wisconsin, followed by stops next week in Nevada and Pennsylvania.

The itinerary, which includes rallies with Democratic candidates for federal and state offices, was drawn up as Biden and his party try to stave off a strong Republican push to upend the Democrats’ narrow majorities in the House and Senate and claim key governorships ahead of the 2024 presidential election.

Four states have competitive Senate races where Republican candidates appear to be gaining momentum. Michigan has a competitive governor’s race.

Republicans need to pick up just one additional Senate seat to secure control of that chamber, and Georgia and Nevada are their prime targets.

Republicans are expected to win enough seats to take over the House of Representatives. Holding both chambers would enable them to stonewall Biden’s agenda; block his nominees, including federal judges; and launch investigations of his administration.

With Biden’s approval among voters hovering at 39 percent, according to the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll, it is Obama who is assuming the role as the party’s closer in the final days of campaigning ahead of the November 8 elections.

“He’s probably a better ambassador for swing-state Democrats than Biden is since he’s more popular – especially in the competitive states – and less tied to the current issues on voters’ minds,” Jacob Rubashkin, an election analyst in Washington with Inside Elections, told the Reuters news agency. “He’s also a more natural campaigner.”

Biden’s low job approval ratings make him an albatross for Democrats like Senators Raphael Warnock of Georgia and Catherine Cortez Masto of Nevada. Party strategists see Obama as having extensive reach even in a time of hyperpartisanship and economic uncertainty.

“Obama occupies a rare place in our politics today,” David Axelrod told the Associated Press. He helped shape Obama’s campaigns from his days in the Illinois state Senate through two presidential elections. “He obviously has great appeal to Democrats, but he’s also well-liked by independent voters.”

Former US President Barack Obama has higher approval ratings than incumbent Joe Biden, and  Democrats hope his star power will help bring voters to the polls in the midterm elections 

Neither Biden nor former President Donald Trump can claim that, Axelrod and others noted, even as both men also ratchet up their campaigning ahead of the elections.

“Barack Obama is the best messenger we’ve got in our party, and he’s the most popular political figure in the country in either party,” Bakari Sellers, a South Carolina Democrat and prominent political commentator, told AP.

Obama left office in January 2017 with a 59 percent approval rating, and Gallup measured his post-presidential approval at 63 percent the following year, the last time the organization surveyed former presidents. That’s considerably higher than his ratings in 2010 when Democrats lost control of the House of Representatives in a midterm election that Obama called a “shellacking”. In his second midterm election four years later, the GOP also regained control of the Senate.

Trying to swim against those historical tides, Biden travelled on Thursday to Syracuse, New York, for a rare appearance in a competitive congressional district. After months of Republican attacks over inflation, he offered a closing economic argument buoyed somewhat by news of 2.6 percent GDP growth in the third quarter after two previous quarters of retraction.

“Democrats are building a better America for everyone with an economy … where everyone does well,” Biden argued.

Yet Lis Smith, a Democratic strategist, said Obama is better positioned to take that same argument to Americans who haven’t decided whom to vote for or whether to vote at all.

“If it’s just a straight-up referendum on Democrats and the economy, then we’re screwed,” Smith said to AP, acknowledging that no incumbent party wants to run at a time of sustained inflation. “But you have to make the election a choice between the two parties, crystallize the differences.”

Obama, she said, did that in the 2008 and 2012 presidential elections “by winning over a lot of working-class white voters and others we don’t always think about as part of the ‘Obama coalition’”.

He couldn’t replicate it in the midterms, but he’s not the president this time. Smith and Axelrod said that means Obama can more deftly position himself above the fray to defend Democratic accomplishments, from the specifics of the Inflation Reduction Act to the $1.9 trillion COVID-19 pandemic relief package that many Democrats have avoided touting because Republicans blame it for inflation. Smith said Obama can remind voters of years of Republican attacks on his 2010 health care law that now seems to be a permanent and generally accepted part of the US health insurance market.

Beyond those policy arguments, Sellers noted that Obama, as the first Black president, “connects especially with Black and brown voters”, a bond reflected in the opening days of his itinerary.

In Atlanta, he’ll be on stage with Warnock, the first Black US senator in Georgia’s history, and Stacey Abrams, who’s running to become the first Black female governor in American history. Warnock faces a stiff challenge from Republican nominee Herschel Walker, who is also Black. Abrams is trying to unseat Republican Governor Brian Kemp, who narrowly defeated her four years ago.

In Michigan, Obama will campaign in Detroit with Governor Gretchen Whitmer, who is being challenged by Republican Tudor Dixon, and in Wisconsin, he’ll be in Milwaukee with Senate candidate Mandela Barnes, who is trying to oust Republican Senator Ron Johnson. Each city is where the state’s Black population is most concentrated. Obama’s Pennsylvania swing will include Philadelphia, another city where Democrats must get a strong turnout from Black voters to win competitive races for Senate and governor.

With the Senate now split 50-50 between the two major parties and Vice President Kamala Harris giving Democrats the deciding vote, any Senate contest could end up deciding which party controls the chamber for the next two years. Among the tightest Senate battlegrounds, Georgia, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania are three where Black turnout could be the most critical to Democratic fortunes.

Plans have been in the works for Obama and Biden to campaign together in Pennsylvania although neither the White House nor Obama’s office has confirmed details.

A wider embrace for Obama is a turnabout from his two midterm elections, but it’s at least partly a rite of passage for former presidents. “Most of them — maybe not President Trump, but most of them — are viewed more favorably after they leave office,” Axelrod said.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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Two men acquitted of Malcom X murder to receive $36m

 The two men, Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, always maintained they did not kill the civil rights leader in 1965.

The two men whose convictions for the 1965 assassination of Malcolm X were overturned last year will receive $36m from the city and state of New York, their lawyer confirmed.

“The tragedy of Malcolm X’s murder was felt all over the world, and compounded by the fact that it led to the convictions and imprisonment of two innocent, young, Black men in America,” their lawyer David Shanies said in an emailed statement to AFP on Sunday night.

The two men, Muhammad Aziz and Khalil Islam, always maintained they did not commit the murder.

Aziz, 84, had sought $40m after serving about two decades in prison and more than 55 years after being wrongly blamed in the case that raised questions about racism in the criminal justice system. Aziz is married and has six children.

Islam, who died in 2009 at age 74, also spent more than 20 years in prison and was exonerated in November 2021. His estate had also filed a $40m suit.

They were released in the mid-1980s, but it was not until November 2021 that their names were fully cleared by the New York State Supreme Court, which called their convictions almost a half-century ago “a failure of justice”.

“Today we acknowledge that injustice and take a modest step towards rectifying it,” said Shanies.

He confirmed a report from the New York Times that the city of New York will pay $26m to be split between 84-year-old Aziz and the family of Islam.

The state government of New York will also pay five million dollars each, for a total of $36m in compensation.

Nick Paolucci, a spokesman for the New York City Law Department, told the New York Times on Sunday: “[T]his settlement brings some measure of justice to individuals who spent decades in prison and bore the stigma of being falsely accused of murdering an iconic figure.”

For more than half a century, the official record held that three members of the Black nationalist group Nation of Islam – which Malcolm X had recently renounced – shot the iconic 39-year-old leader in front of his wife and children when he arrived to speak at the podium of a Harlem ballroom.

A man with a sawn-off shotgun rushed the stage and shot Malcolm once in the chest. Two others with semi-automatic pistols charged forwards, firing at him. He was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital with 21 gunshot wounds.

Malcolm X speaks to reporters in Washington, DC, May 16, 1963 [AP Photo]

His funeral in Harlem was attended by leading Black civil rights leaders and as many as 30,000 mourners in the streets. Aziz, Islam and a third man, Mujahid Abdul Halim, were convicted in 1966 – but historians had long cast doubt on that thesis.

Abdul Halim – now 81 and released from prison in 2010 – confessed to the murder but maintained the innocence of the other two.

SOURCE: NEWS AGENCIES

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‘Halloween nightmare’: Witnesses recount deadly Seoul crowd crush

 Survivors describe people ‘falling like dominoes’ and being trapped in a crush of bodies in a disaster that killed at least 151 people.

The crush on Saturday night happened in a narrow lane in Seoul’s Itaewon district, after a huge crowd of people celebrating Halloween pushed into the downhill alley, witnesses said.

At least 151 people, mostly women and young people in their 20s, were killed. The dead included 19 foreigners, according to officials. Dozens more were injured, with at least 19 of them in critical condition.

It was not immediately clear what led the crowd to surge into the narrow sloped alley near the Hamilton Hotel, a major party spot in Seoul. Fire officials and witnesses said the crush happened when those at the top of the sloped street fell, sending people below them toppling over others.

“People kept pushing down into a downhill club alley, resulting in other people screaming and falling down like dominos,” one survivor was quoted as saying by the Yonhap news agency. “I thought I would be crushed to death too as people kept pushing without realising there were people falling down at the start.”

Bodies of victims covered with blankets in the popular nightlife district of Itaewon in Seoul on October 30, 2022 

Another survivor, a young man in his 20s identified as Kim, described the scene as a “Halloween nightmare” and said he also saw people falling.

“I heard voices calling for help, and I saw people who couldn’t breathe,” Kim told the Hankyoreh newspaper, adding that he was trapped in the crowd for about an hour and a half before he was rescued. “My legs are numb,” he said.

The Korea Joong Ang Daily newspaper said most of those who were killed were found near the northwest corner of the Hamilton Hotel. One witness told the newspaper he made it out via a small side street near the hotel before the crush turned deadly. “It was people fighting to leave and people fighting to get in,” he said.

Another survivor in his 20s said he avoided being trampled by managing to get into a bar whose door was open in the alley, Yonhap reported, while another said she managed to make it out alive because she was standing off to the side.

The woman, surnamed Park, told Yonhap: “[I] could survive as I was located on the sideline of the alley. It looks like people in the middle suffered the most.”

One victim’s mother, surnamed Ahn, told Yonhap that she had heard that her daughter had been under a pile of people for more than an hour.

“Her boyfriend called me around midnight, crying, saying she was dead, that she’d been under a pile of people for over an hour and that he’d tried to pull her out but couldn’t,” Ahn told Yonhap. “I rushed here after getting his call but haven’t received confirmation.”

Rescue workers, firefighters and police officers on the street near the scene in Seoul, South Korea, October 30, 

The sheer number of victims quickly overwhelmed paramedics called to the scene, according to emergency workers.

In an interview with local broadcaster YTN, Lee Beom-suk, a doctor who administered first aid to victims described passers-by stepping in to administer first aid.

“When I first attempted CPR, there were two victims lying on the pavement. But the number exploded soon after, outnumbering first responders at the scene,” Lee said. “Many bystanders came to help us with CPR.”

“It’s hard to put in words to describe,” he added. “So many victims’ faces were pale. I could not catch their pulse or breath and many of them had a bloody nose. When I tried CPR, I also pumped blood out of their mouths.”

Saturday’s disaster was the deadliest crowd crush in South Korea’s history. President Yoon Yuk-seol has declared a period of national mourning and promised an investigation into what happened.

Seoul’s Metropolitan government meanwhile said it has received reports about some 355 missing people since the disaster.

Ju Young Possamai, a bartender in Itaewon, said he had been to several Halloween celebrations in South Korea and was shocked by the tragedy.

“It was very sad to see something that we never, never expected,” Possamai, 24, told the AFP news agency. “It’s always crowded, but nothing like this has ever happened before.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA AND NEWS AGENCIES

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World reacts as Lula wins Brazil presidential election

World leaders praise conduct of election after losing rival Jair Bolsonaro made baseless claims of electoral fraud.

Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has won Brazil’s election by a whisker, defeating incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in a closely-fought second-round vote.

Brazil’s election authority said Lula, a former union leader who was previously president between 2003 and 2010, secured 50.8 percent of the vote in Sunday’s election compared with 49.2 percent for Bolsonaro.

The 77-year-old tweeted a photo of his hand touching the Brazilian flag with the word ‘democracy’ written above in celebration of his victory, marking a stunning comeback for a politician who was jailed on corruption charges that were overturned by the Supreme Court last year.

Lula’s inauguration will take place on January 1.

Politicians from around the world have begun to send messages of congratulations on social media and through official statements.

Here are some of them.

Argentina President Alberto Fernandez

“Congratulations @LulaOficial! Your victory opens a new era for the history of Latin America. A time of hope that begins today. Here you have a partner with whom you can work to create a better life for all our peoples.”

Chile President Gabriel Boric Font

“Lula. Joy!”

Ecuador President Guillermo Lasso

“Congratulations to @LulaOficial for his election as president of Brazil. In democracy, we will continue to strengthen friendship and cooperation between our countries to ensure better days for our citizens.”

Bolivian President Luis Alberto Arce Catacora

“Congratulations brother @LulaOficial, elected president of Brazil.

Your victory strengthens democracy and Latin American integration. We are sure you will lead the Brazilian people along the path of peace, progress and social justice.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

“We celebrate the victory of the Brazilian people, who on 30Oct elected @LulaOficial as their new President. Long live the peoples determined to be free, sovereign and independent! Today in Brazil democracy triumphed. Congratulations Luna! A big hug!”

US President Joe Biden

“I send my congratulations to Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on his election to be the next president of Brazil following free, fair, and credible elections. I look forward to working together to continue the cooperation between our two countries in the months and years ahead.”

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

“The people of Brazil have spoken. I’m looking forward to working with @LulaOficial to strengthen the partnership between our countries, to deliver results for Canadians and Brazilians, and to advance shared priorities — like protecting the environment. Congratulations, Lula!”

French President Emmanuel Macron

“Congratulations @LulaOficial, on your election which opens a new page in the history of Brazil. Together we will join forces to address the many common challenges [we face] and renew the bond of friendship between our two countries.”

Portuguese Prime Minister Antonio Costa

“I look forward to working together in the coming years with great enthusiasm, in favour of Portugal and Brazil but also around significant global issues.”

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez

“Congratulations @LulaOficial for your victory in elections in which Brazil has decided to back progress and hope.

Let’s work together for social justice, equality and to tackle climate change.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell Fontelles

“Brazilian citizens went to the polls to elect their new president in a peaceful and well-organised election.

Parabens @LulaOficial on your election!

I look forward to working together and advancing EU-Brazil relations with your government, and with new Congress & State authorities.”

Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese

“Huge congratulations to @LulaOficial on a tremendous victory in the Brazilian elections. Look forward to working with you on protecting our global environment.”

SOURCE: AL JAZEERA

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