Already in the third moment of the visit, after the laying of a wreath on the sarcophagus of Antonio Agostinho Neto and a meeting with João Lourenço at the Presidential Palace, Lula da Silva was honored with the decoration and stressed that it is not yet time to stop .
"When human beings reach the age I am [77 years old] many people think it's time to stop and when I receive an Order, the most important in Angola, which bears the name of a symbol of that country, of the person who died before his time, I will carry this medal with the commitment that whoever has a cause cannot stop fighting", stressed the Brazilian head of state, "assuming the commitment to try to make a world campaign against inequality".
In his first official statements in the country, the Brazilian President called for “indignation” against inequality and assumed the commitment of a worldwide campaign in this sense, stressing that “whoever has a cause cannot stop fighting”.
Lula da Silva said that inequality is found in many places, in terms of race, gender, age, education or health and took the opportunity to praise a recent law by his executive, which obliges women and men to pay the same salary function.
He also appealed to the indignation of those who can eat and study against those who cannot, so that "this fight" works and creates awareness that the world produces enough food to support "billions of humans".
"It makes no sense the number of children who go to sleep all night without a glass of milk to drink, because they don't have money", he lamented, criticizing the increase in the concentration of wealth in "1 percent of the richest".
"I hope that with this medal on my chest, fueled by the revolutionary thinking of Agostinho Neto, I can win in the attempt to convince humanity to be indignant against inequality", he said, in the room where he was decorated at the Presidential Palace, before the President of Angola and a vast entourage of Brazilian officials.
Lula da Silva said that he spoke about the fight against poverty with Pope Francis, urging it to be chosen as a world "priority".
He also spoke about the inequality in the treatment of women, which still cannot be expressed in politics "as the majority that it is" and criticized the "more serious" inequality of women being treated as "bed and table object" in the 21st century.
"It is necessary for men to mature and for Humanity to mature", he highlighted.
João Lourenço was equally touched by the gesture of the Brazilian President recalling Angola's struggle and sacrifices for the freedom of peoples, independence and sovereignty of other nations.
"The sacrifice we consented to was immense, but we still have the satisfaction of having contributed to the affirmation of South Africa and Namibia in the concert of nations as free peoples", he stressed, pointing out the yearning of Africans for freedom "which are, deep down, the same ones that enslaved Africans fought for in the past".
