President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva called on Wednesday night for a constitutional amendment to turn cultural policy into a state policy, meaning rules that would survive changes of government. Running for reelection, he made the pledge at a campaign event with artists at Fundição Progresso in the Lapa district of downtown Rio de Janeiro, 11 days before the first round of the presidential election on October 4.

According to the president, the goal is to prevent cultural policies from being altered or dropped every time a new president takes office. "To make Culture fully lasting, we need to put in the Constitution what we want from culture," Lula said, according to news site g1. He then summarized the proposal:

"We have to work out how to pass a constitutional amendment that takes the centrality of Culture and turns it into a state policy. In other words, it cannot be touched, it cannot be changed with each government."

Lula said he had tried to consolidate cultural policies at the end of his second term through a kind of "CLT of Culture", a reference to Brazil's consolidated labor code. The plan was to gather and preserve the initiatives of his eight years in office. He asked the members of Congress at the event to discuss introducing a bill. The Constitution already requires the state to guarantee cultural rights and provides for a National Culture Plan and a National Culture System. In Lula's assessment, those structures are not enough.

In the same speech, Lula attacked the government of Jair Bolsonaro (PL). "Bolsonaro destroyed not only the Culture ministry; he destroyed the Labor Ministry, he destroyed the Industry and Commerce Ministry," he said. He defended keeping ministries that represent social sectors. "The ministries we set up as a representation of social segments are the cheapest thing, they spend the least and they yield the most political return, because they allow society to take part in drafting government decisions."

Lula renews criticism of Trump

The rally came one day after Lula addressed the UN General Assembly in New York. According to CNN Brasil, he was the first head of state to speak at the session and said Brazilian voters will choose in October between "democracy and denialism". In Lapa, he renewed his criticism of US President Donald Trump. "He speaks at every meeting, 'I am the greatest in the world, I have the greatest in the world, I like the greatest in the world', you know? As if he were threatening everybody," Lula said. "I, as someone my size, do not want to wage war on him. I want to beat him in the narrative, and we are winning the narrative."

The campaign's next steps include a business sector meeting on Friday (25) in São Paulo. According to g1, more than 200 guests are expected, among them bankers, industry and agribusiness executives and owners of large Brazilian companies. The culture amendment, in turn, depends on Congress: Lula left the drafting of the proposal to the lawmakers who attended the event. The first round is scheduled for October 4.