BRAZILIAN President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who rose from a poor childhood to lead a growing economic powerhouse that has placed the ideal of inclusive prosperity at the centre of its development policies, received the Inter Press Service (IPS) International Achievement Award 2008.

"We would like to honour you because you fought side by side with the landless and deprived, and for your efforts in initiating and supporting policies towards social inclusion and peaceful resolution of conflict, and the full exercise of basic human rights and freedoms, not only in Brazil but among sister nations in Latin America," said IPS Director General Mario Lubetkin.

The Brazilian president, popularly known as Lula, has been deeply involved in international efforts to end poverty and hunger, Lubetkin noted, playing a key role in mobilising support from other world leaders and international organisations.

The award ceremony was held at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the eve of the high-level segment of the 63rd session of the General Assembly, which is expected to be attended by over 150 world leaders.

In his acceptance speech, Lula emphasised the importance of a free and vibrant media in the global fight against poverty and marginalisation.

"As we move toward social justice and pluralism, the independence of sources is fundamental for a democratic dialogue that is enlightened and balanced," Lula said. "Free access to information is also fundamental in building a world that is more fair and prosperous."

"We know that one of the pillars of democracy and freedom is a free press," the Brazilian president noted. "That is one of the lessons I learned during the struggle against repression and authoritarianism."

"IPS has brought greater pluralism and diversity to the international press. For 44 years, IPS has given voice to the voiceless. IPS is more than crucial than ever in the creation of South-South dialogues and alternatives to the existing alliances," he said.

Lula was born in 1945, the seventh of eight children, in the small town of Garanhuns, Pernambuco State. He started working at the age of 12 in a dry cleaning shop, later finding jobs as a shoeshine and office boy.

Lula first became involved in Brazil's labour union movement while working at a factory in Sao Paulo. In 1975, he was elected head of the large Metallurgists' Trade Union. Four years later, he helped lead a strike of 170,000 steel workers.

"His political career is a good demonstration of the virtues of democracy," said Enrique Iglesias, secretary-general of the Ibero-American Conference, a political, cultural and economic cooperation initiative in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula.

"The virtue of giving the chance of becoming president of one of the biggest nations on Earth to a worker with a long history of leadership in a workers' union," said Iglesias, who gave the keynote speech at the ceremony.

In 1980, Brazil's military dictatorship cracked down on the organised labour movement, using the National Security Law to imprison several prominent leaders, including Lula, who served 30 days in jail.

That same year, Lula founded the Workers' Party, which would eventually catapult him to the presidency after nearly three decades without direct elections. He came to office in October 2002 with 53 million votes. He was re-elected in October 2006, garnering about 58 million votes. [Courtesy IPS]

BACK