Podcast

Explaining Brazil #85: How Lula’s story explains Brazil

580 days after being arrested for corruption and money laundering, former Brazilian President Lula is out of prison. And he’s grabbing all the headlines.

This week’s episode is about him.

Yes, we’re sure it might seem repetitive to, once again, have another episode about the same guy. This is a weekly podcast, and we try to keep our subjects are varied as possible. It’s our 85th episode, and we’ve managed to keep our Lula count down to just three—including this episode.

But there’s a good reason to talk about him. You can’t understand Brazilian politics without talking about Lula. Heck, you can’t understand Brazil without knowing his history. Love him or hate him, there’s one thing you can’t take away from the ex-president: his story epitomizes Brazil more than any other politician.

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On this episode:

Andre Pagliarini was a visiting assistant professor of modern Latin American history at Brown University in 2018–2019 and is currently a lecturer at Dartmouth College. He is preparing a book manuscript on 20th-century Brazilian nationalism.

Background reading:

Lula is free. What happens now in Brazil? Natália Scalzaretto and Gustavo Ribeiro lay out the possible scenarios.
Read about the Supreme Court decision that changed how prison sentences are enforced in Brazil, setting Lula free.
The many criminal cases against the former president.
Listen to the 55th episode of the Explaining Brazil podcast, published at the one-year anniversary of Lula’s imprisonment.
The Workers’ Party was founded 38 years ago, supported by many intellectuals and members of the middle-class. Since then, Lula has been the sun around which the party has revolved. The party has struggled to be on its own without Lula.

Explaining Brazil is made by:

Gustavo Ribeiro, editor in chief of The Brazilian Report. He has extensive experience covering Brazilian politics. His work has been featured across Brazilian and French media outlets, including Veja, Época, Folha de S.Paulo, Médiapart, and Radio France Internationale.
Euan Marshall, editing. is a journalist and translator who has lived in São Paulo, Brazil since 2011. Specializing in Brazilian soccer, politics and the connection between the two, his work has been published in The Telegraph, Al Jazeera, The Independent, among others.

Do you have a suggestion for our next Explaining Brazil podcast? Drop us a line at podcast@brazilian.report