Só faltou o capuz. Não tinha negro, não tinha pardo, não tinha pobre.
Às vésperas de uma eleição presidencial decisiva, Lula escolheu não falar de seu próprio programa, mas do que estava ausente no palanque adversário. Em Nova Iguaçu, no dia 8 de setembro de 2022, o ex-presidente transformou a crítica à comemoração do Bicentenário em um argumento sobre pertencimento: quem é o Brasil, e para quem ele é celebrado. Ao comparar o ato de 7 de setembro a uma reunião da Ku Klux Klan, Lula não apenas atacou Bolsonaro — ele colocou a questão racial e de classe no centro da disputa pelo que significa ser patriota.
- Bolsonaro converteu o Bicentenário da Independência em um comício pessoal, apropriando-se de um símbolo nacional para fins eleitorais a apenas semanas do primeiro turno.
- Lula respondeu com uma comparação deliberadamente provocadora, dizendo que o ato parecia uma reunião da KKK — faltavam apenas os capuzes —, acusando o rival de reunir apenas brancos, ricos e privilegiados.
- A ausência de negros, pardos, pobres e trabalhadores no evento bolsonarista foi apresentada por Lula não como acidente, mas como retrato fiel de um projeto político excludente.
- O empresário dono da rede Havan, apoiador notório de Bolsonaro, foi ridicularizado como o 'Louro José' da campanha — símbolo de uma aliança entre poder econômico e espetáculo vazio.
- O episódio expôs a profundidade da polarização brasileira: até a celebração da independência tornou-se campo de batalha, com cada lado disputando o direito de definir o que o Brasil realmente é.
Na tarde de 8 de setembro de 2022, Lula discursou em Nova Iguaçu, município da periferia fluminense, e escolheu como tema central não suas próprias propostas, mas o que havia acontecido quatro dias antes nas ruas do país. O 7 de setembro, data que deveria marcar duzentos anos da independência brasileira, tinha sido transformado por Bolsonaro em um grande ato de campanha — e Lula queria que ninguém esquecesse isso.
A comparação que ele lançou foi calculada para chocar: o ato bolsonarista, disse, lembrava uma reunião da Ku Klux Klan. O que faltava eram os capuzes. O argumento não era sutil. Lula apontava para o que seus olhos viam — ou melhor, para o que não via: nenhum rosto negro, nenhum rosto pardo, nenhum trabalhador, nenhum pobre. Uma fatia estreita do Brasil, reunida sob a bandeira nacional como se fosse o país inteiro.
Entre os presentes no ato de Bolsonaro, Lula destacou o empresário da rede Havan, apoiador de longa data do presidente. Com ironia, comparou-o ao Louro José, o boneco famoso da televisão brasileira — sugerindo que o homem era exibido como atração, não como voz política legítima.
No fundo, o recado era mais amplo do que qualquer nome ou comparação. Lula dizia que o movimento bolsonarista havia excluído justamente quem construiu o Brasil — os trabalhadores, os pobres, os negros e pardos que formam a maioria da nação. E ao fazer isso, Bolsonaro não estaria celebrando a independência: estaria traindo o que o país realmente é. A troca de acusações revelou o quanto a polarização havia se aprofundado — a ponto de transformar até uma data de festa nacional em mais um front da guerra eleitoral.
Lula stood before a crowd in Nova Iguaçu, a working-class municipality in Rio de Janeiro state, and delivered a sharp indictment of how his political rival had weaponized Brazil's most patriotic occasion. It was Tuesday, September 8th, 2022, just weeks before a presidential election that would reshape the country's direction. The former president had come to campaign, but what he chose to talk about was not his own platform—it was the spectacle Bolsonaro had orchestrated four days earlier on Independence Day.
September 7th had been meant to mark two hundred years since Brazil declared independence from Portugal. Instead, Bolsonaro had transformed the bicentennial into a campaign rally, mobilizing his supporters into the streets under the banner of national celebration. Lula saw this as a calculated maneuver: taking a moment that belonged to all Brazilians and converting it into a personal political event. The comparison he reached for was deliberate and inflammatory. The rally, he said, looked like a gathering of the Ku Klux Klan—all that was missing were the hoods.
What struck Lula most was who was absent. No Black faces. No brown faces. No poor people. No workers. The crowd, in his telling, represented a narrow slice of Brazilian society—the wealthy, the white, the comfortable. He singled out one figure in particular: the businessman behind the Havan retail chain, a prominent Bolsonaro supporter who had become a fixture at these events. Lula mocked him as the campaign's answer to Louro José, a famous puppet character from Brazilian television, suggesting the man was being paraded around as entertainment rather than treated as a serious political voice.
The language was crude and the comparison was meant to sting. Lula was not making a subtle argument about economic policy or governance. He was saying that Bolsonaro's movement excluded the very people who had built Brazil—the workers, the poor, the Black and brown citizens who made up the majority of the nation. By invoking the KKK, he was suggesting that the rally represented not just a political disagreement but a fundamental rejection of Brazilian diversity itself.
This was campaign rhetoric at its sharpest, deployed in the final stretch before voters would decide between Lula and Bolsonaro. Both men had spent months accusing the other of threatening Brazil's future. Bolsonaro had used Independence Day to energize his base and claim ownership of national symbols. Lula was now reclaiming those symbols, arguing that true patriotism meant including everyone, not just the wealthy and the white. The exchange revealed how deeply polarized the country had become—how even a celebration of national independence had become a battleground, with each side accusing the other of betraying what Brazil actually was.
Citas Notables
It looked like a KKK meeting. All it was missing were the hoods. There were no Black people, no brown people, no poor people, no workers.— Lula, at a campaign event in Nova Iguaçu
La Conversación del Hearth Otra perspectiva de la historia
Why did Lula choose the KKK comparison specifically? Wasn't that extreme?
It was extreme, yes—but intentional. He was trying to say that Bolsonaro's rally excluded an entire Brazil. The KKK reference was meant to shock people into seeing what he saw: a movement that didn't look like the country it claimed to represent.
But did the rally actually lack diversity, or was that Lula's interpretation?
Lula was making an observation about who showed up and who was centered. Whether it was literally all-white or just predominantly wealthy and white, the point was the same—it didn't reflect Brazil's actual makeup.
How did this land with voters?
It was red meat for his supporters and deeply offensive to Bolsonaro's. In a polarized election, you're not trying to persuade the other side anymore. You're energizing your own.
Was this about policy or just about optics?
It was about what the rally symbolized. Lula was saying Bolsonaro's vision of Brazil excluded poor people, workers, Black Brazilians. That's not just optics—that's a claim about who belongs in the country's future.
Did Bolsonaro respond?
The record doesn't show his immediate response in this moment, but the rally itself was his answer. He was claiming Independence Day as his own, and Lula was taking it back.