Djamila Ribeiro Celebrates Lula’s Reelection and Highlights the Importance of Grassroots Mobilization

The Brazilian philosopher values everyday activism and warns that electoral victory does not end the fight against racism and authoritarianism

Djamila Ribeiro celebrated President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva’s reelection in an Instagram post earlier this week, while stressing that social mobilization must continue beyond the election.

Lula, of the Workers’ Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores – PT), won the October 25 runoff with 64.2 million votes, or 51.79% of valid votes. Flávio Bolsonaro, of the Liberal Party (Partido Liberal – PL) and son of former president Jair Bolsonaro, received 48.21%.

“Given the strength an authoritarian political project showed in the first round, President Lula’s come-from-behind victory brought joy, relief, and the possibility of staying in dialogue with the government,” she wrote.

Reflecting on the win, Ribeiro paid tribute to several generations of activists: those who have been mobilizing since Lula’s first election in 2002, those who took part in political struggles during Dilma Rousseff’s administrations, and young people who became politically active during the pandemic.

“Work that often goes unseen and unrecognized, yet sustains hope in the hardest of times,” she said.

The author also pointed to the challenges that remain after the election. In her view, victory at the polls should neither halt political participation nor weaken the initiatives built by civil society.

“How can we turn mobilization into a lasting commitment? How can we strengthen the bonds and initiatives that keep the struggle for a less unequal society alive?” she asked.

The Ghosts of Brazil’s Colonial Past

Her reflections return to the theme of her column “Os fantasmas que o Brasil se recusa a enterrar” (“The Ghosts Brazil Refuses to Bury”), published in Folha de S.Paulo, one of Brazil’s leading newspapers, on October 22, three days before the runoff.

In the piece, Ribeiro draws on the metaphor of the ghost, developed by Grada Kilomba in Plantation Memories, to explain how Brazil’s colonial past remains present in Brazilian society.

Ribeiro points out that slavery was abolished without reparations for the enslaved population. Likewise, the end of the military dictatorship was not accompanied by adequate accountability for the regime’s agents. These unresolved issues help explain why racism, misogyny, and authoritarianism persist in institutions and in everyday social life.

In the column, the philosopher argues that defeating an authoritarian candidacy does not eliminate the conditions that allow authoritarianism to advance. Confronting those structures requires public policies that tackle inequality and advance education, historical memory, and reparations.

In her post on Lula’s reelection, Ribeiro ties that task to valuing social organizations and the people who sustain political engagement even outside election seasons.

“Carrying out the funeral rites that Brazil has put off for so long also means caring for these collective efforts and creating the conditions for them to flourish,” she said, adding: “May the joy of this moment give us the strength to keep going.”