International Affairs
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Echoes from Brazil
The Absence of a Right in Brazilian Politics
The analysis of the popular manifestations that recently occurred in Brazil, presented in a previous article, inspired a broader research. As a consequence, I updated the data for the select and cultured audience of Tradition in Action, and am presenting this overview with the hope of putting into perspective what is happening in Brazil, the sister-nation of the U.S. in South America.
Of the 29 political parties in Brazil, not a single one takes the position of the right. It is a unique situation. All the great democracies of the world have at least one strong conservative party. In Brazil the rhetoric adopted by the political parties has little variation: All adopt a socialist platform, different only in the radicalism of their positions, which range from a moderate Socialism to a full identification with Cuban or Chinese Communism. Expressions such as “social justice,” distribution of wealth” and “equality” are so common that they no longer mean anything. No party is conservative either in name or platform.
It seems opportune to add that in Brazil “leftism” does not just defend an ensemble of social and economic reforms aimed at achieving complete equality among men. It also struggles to implant laws that corrode, corrupt and dissolve the base of Catholic Morals, the foundation of Western Civilization.
The pervasive permissiveness of our days can, and must be, considered a genuine expression of the mentality and doctrine of the left. Moral permissiveness is as typical of the communist regimes as their totalitarian character in the State and economy.
The right, dictatorship & Nazism
For a national political debate to be authentic, it is necessary to have a party representing the right in Brazil. Some people have wrongly associated the right with dictatorship. This is neither fair nor correct. The fact that the dictatorship established in the country by the Revolution of 1964 resulted from a strong anti-communist reaction and was labeled as ‘rightist’ does not signify that the right is in favor of a dictatorship.
I believe that, independent of its origin and actions taken against some radical communists, the military regime installed in Brazil in 1964 cannot be considered authentically rightist. To the contrary, it was an essentially socialist regime.
One need only consider that one of its first initiatives was an onslaught against the institution of the family with its attempt to implant divorce in the country. Soon after, it attacked the right of private property with the Land Statute, a long and prolix resolution that employed an incomprehensible language. The Land Statute resolution was rushed for approval without allowing time for due discussion.
In 30 days the Congress had to discuss and approve a resolution composed of 133 articles with more than 500 paragraphs, parts and subparts. As Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira warned on that occasion, “Thus, one of the most important acts in the life of our nation since our independence was hastily consummated.”
On the whole, the Brazilian military regimes have been profoundly socialist. For example, at the end of the government of General Ernesto Geisel, (President from 1974-1979), Brazil was classified as one of the most socialist nations in the world, surpassed only by Cuba, China and the countries of the then-USSR.
Another example of how the concept of the right became misunderstood comes from the belief - shrewdly disseminated by the Revolution - that the opposite of Communism is Nazism and Fascism. This is completely false. Nazism and Communism are cousins, coming from the same socialist family. The original name of Nazism was the National Socialist Party of German Workers. Mussolini was a socialist since his youth.
Thus, all over Brazil there is a myth about the right: If someone says he is a rightist he is rejected; he becomes politically incorrect. He is considered to be someone who favors social injustice, a disproportionate concentration of the wealth, a military dictatorship, torture, press censorship, etc.
A missing leadership
While this myth intimidates many, socialist or communist decisions have been taken by the government and socialist laws have been approved by the Congress, destroying what is left of an organic State in Brazil. Many upright Brazilians are unaware that the most threatening aspect of the communist danger today is the effort to make the country slide into Communism through socialist laws.
It is a paradox because we know that the majority of our public opinion is conservative. It backs the defense of a properly constituted family, is against abortion and “gay marriage,” and supports the defense of property. Likewise, the general public wants to see State power diminished and is against gun control, drug traffic, crime, gangs, etc. Missing are qualified representatives with a rightist platform to represent the majority.
An irrefutable verification that the left does not have popular support is the fact that the MST (Landless Workers’ Movement), which invades farms to “distribute” the land among the “poor,” has never won the support of the peasants employed on the farms - not even one!
The MST - the sharper edge of the left’s spear - is literally communist and lives from the exploitation of class struggle, fomenting the revolt of the rural workers against the farm owners. This movement is an extra-official organization, without juridical personality, so that it cannot be prosecuted by the Justice. It enjoys the full support of the government and has impunity for all of its actions that go against law. It has, therefore, everything it needs to be successful, but it lacks the support of the people.
To the contrary, the enormous majority of the population is conservative, but it is orphaned. It lacks a rightist political representation and the support of the government. Nonetheless, the right has what is most important, the people’s support, the “trust of the man of the street,” as someone once observed to Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, referring to the good reception TFP had in the streets of São Paulo. In a certain sense, the Brazilian population itself is an orphan, lacking a legitimate and authentic leadership.
Some general suggestions
Just as the Marxists began their conquest of Brazil by taking over the universities, representatives of the right should start by challenging their dominium in this arena. After retaking the universities for the good cause, persons with a rightist platform and formed by traditional Catholic principles should gradually assume key positions in society. They should aim to reconstruct an organic society in which organization, power and work are hierarchically distributed, without bureaucracy, and strongly opposed to corruption.
A rightist party should fearlessly take this position of defending the principles of an organic society. It should proclaim this platform from the beginning. I do not believe in parties of the center: A party is either of the right or the left. Parties of the center can be defined as moderate leftist. Sooner or later, they end by supporting the full leftist agenda. In Brazil the parties of the center today are actually leftist.
I believe that a party of the right that knows how to represent the deepest fibers of the Brazilian soul and to give it liberty within the boundaries of order would enjoy an enormous success.
In the present situation, after the impressive street manifestations we recently witnessed, the moment is propitious for airy, polite, logical and intelligent discussions.
I think that the need for a true rightist leadership places Brazil at a crossroads, one of the gravest of its history: Either the country makes its voice heard through this leadership or a general turn-around of the State can occur. What we have seen in the street demonstrations seems to signify that the country no longer will bear to be gagged and silenced.
Of the 29 political parties in Brazil, not a single one takes the position of the right. It is a unique situation. All the great democracies of the world have at least one strong conservative party. In Brazil the rhetoric adopted by the political parties has little variation: All adopt a socialist platform, different only in the radicalism of their positions, which range from a moderate Socialism to a full identification with Cuban or Chinese Communism. Expressions such as “social justice,” distribution of wealth” and “equality” are so common that they no longer mean anything. No party is conservative either in name or platform.
It seems opportune to add that in Brazil “leftism” does not just defend an ensemble of social and economic reforms aimed at achieving complete equality among men. It also struggles to implant laws that corrode, corrupt and dissolve the base of Catholic Morals, the foundation of Western Civilization.
The pervasive permissiveness of our days can, and must be, considered a genuine expression of the mentality and doctrine of the left. Moral permissiveness is as typical of the communist regimes as their totalitarian character in the State and economy.
The right, dictatorship & Nazism
For a national political debate to be authentic, it is necessary to have a party representing the right in Brazil. Some people have wrongly associated the right with dictatorship. This is neither fair nor correct. The fact that the dictatorship established in the country by the Revolution of 1964 resulted from a strong anti-communist reaction and was labeled as ‘rightist’ does not signify that the right is in favor of a dictatorship.
Neither the dictatorship of Geisel, top, nor Nazism, bottom, represents the true right
One need only consider that one of its first initiatives was an onslaught against the institution of the family with its attempt to implant divorce in the country. Soon after, it attacked the right of private property with the Land Statute, a long and prolix resolution that employed an incomprehensible language. The Land Statute resolution was rushed for approval without allowing time for due discussion.
In 30 days the Congress had to discuss and approve a resolution composed of 133 articles with more than 500 paragraphs, parts and subparts. As Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira warned on that occasion, “Thus, one of the most important acts in the life of our nation since our independence was hastily consummated.”
On the whole, the Brazilian military regimes have been profoundly socialist. For example, at the end of the government of General Ernesto Geisel, (President from 1974-1979), Brazil was classified as one of the most socialist nations in the world, surpassed only by Cuba, China and the countries of the then-USSR.
Another example of how the concept of the right became misunderstood comes from the belief - shrewdly disseminated by the Revolution - that the opposite of Communism is Nazism and Fascism. This is completely false. Nazism and Communism are cousins, coming from the same socialist family. The original name of Nazism was the National Socialist Party of German Workers. Mussolini was a socialist since his youth.
Thus, all over Brazil there is a myth about the right: If someone says he is a rightist he is rejected; he becomes politically incorrect. He is considered to be someone who favors social injustice, a disproportionate concentration of the wealth, a military dictatorship, torture, press censorship, etc.
A missing leadership
While this myth intimidates many, socialist or communist decisions have been taken by the government and socialist laws have been approved by the Congress, destroying what is left of an organic State in Brazil. Many upright Brazilians are unaware that the most threatening aspect of the communist danger today is the effort to make the country slide into Communism through socialist laws.
It is a paradox because we know that the majority of our public opinion is conservative. It backs the defense of a properly constituted family, is against abortion and “gay marriage,” and supports the defense of property. Likewise, the general public wants to see State power diminished and is against gun control, drug traffic, crime, gangs, etc. Missing are qualified representatives with a rightist platform to represent the majority.
Top, President Rousseff wears the MST cap; bottom, MST members set a fire in a freeway to protest
The MST - the sharper edge of the left’s spear - is literally communist and lives from the exploitation of class struggle, fomenting the revolt of the rural workers against the farm owners. This movement is an extra-official organization, without juridical personality, so that it cannot be prosecuted by the Justice. It enjoys the full support of the government and has impunity for all of its actions that go against law. It has, therefore, everything it needs to be successful, but it lacks the support of the people.
To the contrary, the enormous majority of the population is conservative, but it is orphaned. It lacks a rightist political representation and the support of the government. Nonetheless, the right has what is most important, the people’s support, the “trust of the man of the street,” as someone once observed to Prof. Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira, referring to the good reception TFP had in the streets of São Paulo. In a certain sense, the Brazilian population itself is an orphan, lacking a legitimate and authentic leadership.
Some general suggestions
Just as the Marxists began their conquest of Brazil by taking over the universities, representatives of the right should start by challenging their dominium in this arena. After retaking the universities for the good cause, persons with a rightist platform and formed by traditional Catholic principles should gradually assume key positions in society. They should aim to reconstruct an organic society in which organization, power and work are hierarchically distributed, without bureaucracy, and strongly opposed to corruption.
A rightist party should fearlessly take this position of defending the principles of an organic society. It should proclaim this platform from the beginning. I do not believe in parties of the center: A party is either of the right or the left. Parties of the center can be defined as moderate leftist. Sooner or later, they end by supporting the full leftist agenda. In Brazil the parties of the center today are actually leftist.
I believe that a party of the right that knows how to represent the deepest fibers of the Brazilian soul and to give it liberty within the boundaries of order would enjoy an enormous success.
In the present situation, after the impressive street manifestations we recently witnessed, the moment is propitious for airy, polite, logical and intelligent discussions.
I think that the need for a true rightist leadership places Brazil at a crossroads, one of the gravest of its history: Either the country makes its voice heard through this leadership or a general turn-around of the State can occur. What we have seen in the street demonstrations seems to signify that the country no longer will bear to be gagged and silenced.
Posted August 23, 2013
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