President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner an ex Brazilian head of state Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva inaugurated tonight the Metropolitan University for Education and Labour (UMET in Spanish) in in Buenos Aires City. «We have the right and the duty to fight for a fairer world,» Lula said.
Among officials and Victory Front MPs attending the opening ceremony were Cabinet Chief Juan Manuel Abal Medina, head of the government-aligned CGT splinter Antonio Caló, senator Daniel Filmus, Vice President Amado Boudou and Education Minister Alberto Sileoni.
First addressing the audience, the ex president of South America’s giant Brazil praised both the administration of Cristina Fernández and Néstor Kichner saying that “no one will be able to deny that (their governments) supported the poor.”
“Workers’ struggle con not be limited to salary”, Lula said as he hosted the inauguration ceremony of the UMET, created by the Union of Buildings Workers (SUTERH in Spanish). “It is extraordinary to inaugurate this university created by workers. I started as an activist also in an unionized organization. The struggle over opportunities and rights can not be limited to salaries and, without a doubt, education is one key mainstay,” he stressed and added that unions “struggling for workers’ education help strengthen citizenship and social inclusion.”
The historic leader of Brazil’s Workers Party (PT in Spanish) went over his 8-year presidency and -in tune with CFK’s statements calling Argentina’s past years the “won decade»- he stated that “conservative sectors in Brazil do not understand what happened during this decade, just like they don’t get what happened in Argentina during the 40´s and what is going on now.”
In his 45-minute speech, Lula also renewed his call to strengthen Latin American current integration process pointing out what he considered the key role played by late Presidents Hugo Chávez and Néstor Kirchner in such process. Paying tribute to Kirchner, the ex Brazilian president said indeed “his body is buried but his ideas are flowing all around Latin America.”
“We have the right and the duty to fight for a fairer world. It will be fairer when rights are no longer patrimony of those who have money to buy them,” he said spreading applause at the UMET conference hall.
Source: Buenos Aires Herald