The forum will help to change the history of humanity

www.granma.cu Havana. January 26,  2003 • Affirms Lula to tens of thousands attending the 3rd World Social Forum

“WHATEVER is, whatever happens, I will try to fulfill every word promised in the government program that elected me as president of the Republic of this country,” declared Brazil’s leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, addressing tens of thousands of participants in the 3rd World Social Forum at Porto Alegre.

Acclaimed by crowds, Lula warned that governing is like undertaking a Marathon, in that one cannot start at 80 kilometers per hour but take solid, concrete steps in order to complete the mandate with the security of having kept ones word. He went on to allude to the strategy he plans to develop in the international context and added that it would be good to say to the rich nations that instead of producing and wasting money on so many weapons, they should invest those resources in producing beans and rice to kill people’s hunger.

In reference to the possibility of a military conflict, he referred to the trillions of dollars that would be wasted on such a war, with soldiers killing other soldiers, killing innocent people, and, close to here, he stressed, “there are children who look up to beg a plate of food that in many cases is thrown away and not given to them.”

Speaking to Brazilians and the rest of the 100,000-plus participants from more than 100 countries in the Forum, he promised he would not fail them nor leave undone the things that have to be done. He also announced that he is hoping to make his contribution to helping other comrades win elections in other countries, so that the people, for once and for all, begin to elect persons of greater sensibility, who believe it is possible to change the history of humanity.