It’s 13 or Nothing!

Mass rally for Lula, October 9, 2026 -- Lula Oficial, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

By Urariano Mota

These days in Brazil, our best efforts are focused on Lua’s reelection: it’s 13 or nothing! That “nothing” means a plunge into the depths of the abyss for the entire Brazilian people. This “nothing”—which is the far right, fascism—means the loss and destruction of historic achievements, the extermination of hope for all the people in the suburbs, the outskirts, the countryside, and the cities. If our unforgettable blood calls to us, how can we escape this irresistible call?

Our friends, our female friends, our comrades—both men and women—are speaking out, demanding action, and sharing posts on websites and social media outside the mainstream: type 13, speak up, and write #BoraLula, #Lula13, #ÉLula. What’s more, they’re calling on us: come out into the streets, help distribute flyers and leaflets, talk to the undecided, and convince relatives who didn’t vote in the first round—or, worse, who voted for the hell of fascism. However, we, who lack the strength of the young people in the PCdoB, the PT, the PSB, and their allied parties—how can we participate?

I’m nothing more than a writer—and I never thought I’d write that sentence. If my books could generate votes, if, for example, “Soledad no Recife” (Soledad in Recife) and “Never-Ending Yourh” had the practical power to change Brazil, oh, I swear by God and all the orixás, I’d be the happiest person in the world. But we only have what we have—and I never thought I’d make this redundancy: we only have what we have!

So I ask people—I ask the older folks—who they’re going to vote for. Wherever I go, I ask. Just yesterday, at the supermarket, I spoke to a woman who seemed undecided; I told her that the fires currently burning at universities and in ambulances that serve poor patients are the work of terrorists.

But as I was talking to her, I noticed that a man in the line next to mine was glaring at me, “staring” at my face, as they say. So I continued talking to the woman in my line, while actually addressing him:

- How can anyone vote for an animal that salutes the U.S. flag? Is that what a patriot is? How can someone who despises the flag of his own country be a patriot? I will defend mine to the death.

That said, and so that the person on the other end wouldn’t immediately decide to take my life, I stopped. And as I walked out across the huge parking lot, I looked at the cars coming up behind me, because I know they run over and kill true patriots. But that’s still not enough—not nearly enough—for our greatest president, Lula, to win this runoff election. So I, an atheist and materialist, ask God to transform my words, my books, and my articles into powerful weapons that will sway the Brazilian people’s votes. May they possess the magic to work in favor of democracy.

And I’ll wrap this up here, because no one reads long texts. How can my words enchant anyone if they aren’t read? And let’s head out into the streets and to the people beyond this moment.

Urariano Mota is a Brazilian writer and journalist, born in Recife on September 29, 1950. He is the author of novels about the horrors of the Brazilian dictatorship, such as “Soledad no Recife” and “Never-Ending Youth”