President of Brazil Makes Time Top 100

Time magazine has selected Brazil's President, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) as one of the leaders who most affect our world. For Obelisk, Lula's inclusion in this exclusive list gives a strong indication of the importance of Brazil in the world today.

Time magazine, one of the world's most established news sources, turns its attention every year to the world's most influential people when it compiles its 100 issue. Readers are invited to vote for their most significant public figure. Lula sits at the top of the leaders list, ahead of J.T. Wang (CEO of the Acer group), Barak Obama and Dominique Strauss-Kahn (Director of the IMF).

Time gives a brief synopsis of Lula's political career in Brazil and concludes that it holds a lesson for us all. Lula is generally recognised as the politician who has propelled Brazil into the world limelight and the man who has finally guided Brazil into realising its future.

Once just another Latin American backwater and seemingly condemned to never quite making it, Brazil is now well-established among global powers. Brazil is the world's tenth largest economy and strongly contending for fifth place over the next decade. After a slight hiccup in economic growth and a brief drop into the red just over a year ago, Brazil is now steaming along to at least 6% growth this year. Unemployment is at an all-time low, consumer confidence and spending are up and investment in Brazil is booming.

Importantly, Brazil is seriously and successfully addressing its inequality. With working class origins, Lula is a man who knows far more about poverty and hardship than the average politician. According to Time, Lula was forced to leave school early to work as a shoeshine boy to support his family. Later on, his inability to afford medical care meant his pregnant wife and unborn baby died.

Now, after almost eight years with Lula at its helm, Brazil tells a different story. Although social inequality still exists, extreme poverty was halved between 2003 and 2008. And the middle class in Brazil now numbers 92.8 million people, almost double the figure registered five years ago. Major social programmes are now in place such as Minha Casa Minha Vida, the social housing scheme which aims to build 3 million low-cost homes in Brazil by 2015, and Fome Zero (Zero Starvation).

For Time, the quest to bring Brazil into the First World has been successful. The magazine claims that "what Lula wants for Brazil is what we used to call the American Dream" and says that the "great irony" is that while Brazil forges its way ahead, "the US looks more like the old Third World every day". Little wonder that for Time, Lula is one of the world's most influential figures.

While the President of Brazil did not actually win the final vote as the most significant leader globally - this went to Mir-Hossein Mousavi, the Iranian Presidential contender, Lula remains extremely influential on the world stage. Brazil and its President are now a force to be reckoned with.

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