Born in 1984, Odilon Caldeira Neto is professor of contemporary history at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora (UFJF), in Minas Gerais (south-eastern Brazil). A specialist in authoritarian, conservative and neofascist movements, he coordinates the Observatory of the far right in Brazil.
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The coming to power in 2018 of the far-right candidate, Jair Bolsonaro, took the world by surprise. Brazil has long been considered immune from this political movement …
Yes, and we were seriously wrong! Since the end of the dictatorship in 1985, it was thought to be old history. That a new Brazil was born, consensual and democratic. We deluded ourselves. We have forgotten that Brazil had a long tradition of the extreme right and that it had in fact never disappeared.
When did the emergence of the far right in Brazil go back?
At the end of the XIXe century and early twentiethe century. In 1889, the empire [établi à la suite de l’indépendance du pays, en 1822] is abolished, and the republic is proclaimed. Brazil is modernizing, democratizing, secularizing, urbanizing and industrializing. For a part of the elite, which fears the end of the “moral unity” of the nation, this is too much. It organized itself in associations, such as the National Defense League, in 1916, to demand an authoritarian and Christian state.
In the 1920s, this movement accelerated. The creation in 1922 of the Brazilian Communist Party (PCB) frightened part of the urban middle classes. The fascism of Benito Mussolini, who came to power the same year in Italy, is seen by many as the only bulwark against communism. Small groups of fascist inspiration are born, like the Cearense Legion of Labor [en 1931], in the northern state of Ceara, which plays an important role locally.
Did the creation, in 1932, of the fascist movement Brazilian Integralist Action (AIB) constitute a tipping point?
This is indeed a crucial moment. Although little known, the Integralist Action was the largest fascist party outside of Europe, with several hundred thousand members! To sum up its history, AIB was founded by journalist and intellectual Plinio Salgado (1895-1975). During a trip to Italy, he met the Duce. Returning to Brazil, this mustachioed and charismatic little man sets himself the goal of importing the fascist movement to Brazil. With success.
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