FSP | The Integralist Movement grows | 29-12-18

Created eight decades ago, and given as dead countless times, the Brazilian integralist movement is alive. The golden phase has been lost in the past, but the current leaders renew their cadres, maintain good relations with politicians and consider the current scenario conducive to the diffusion of their ideas.

Today the main nucleus of the movement is the Brazilian Integralist Front (FIB). Founded in 2005, it has strong ties to PRTB, the party of General Hamilton Mourão, deputy to Jair Bolsonaro.

Integralism was born in Brazil in October 1932, when Plínio Salgado (1895-1975) -politician, journalist and writer- founded the Brazilian Integralist Action (AIB).

A pioneer in the study of the subject, Professor Hélgio Trindade, from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, says that AIB was the first mass organization in Brazil. In the 1930s there were 1 million militants.

Researchers define integralism as a movement of fascist inspiration, characterized by authoritarian nationalism, the defense of religious and traditional values, and the rejection of the model of liberal democracy. The ideas are summarized in the motto "God, Fatherland, Family".

The AIB, like other political parties or groups, was extinguished in 1937, in the establishment of the Estado Novo de Getúlio Vargas. The second major coup came with the death of Plínio Salgado. In the following decades his followers tried to preserve the doctrine through various initiatives, all short-lived by lack of continuity or expressive adherence.

There are still some nuclei scattered around the country, the IBF being the most articulate of them.

Last week, the group's president, Victor Emanuel Vilela Barbuy, talked to Folha in a cafe in the center of São Paulo.

He was accompanied by a member, Fernando Zanardo, an 18-year law student. Barbuy is a lawyer, a master in law from USP with a thesis on the legal ideas of writer José de Alencar.

He is 33 years old, but speech, formal language, early baldness and austere expression make him look older. It incorporates to perfection the traditionalism estimated by the group.

Barbuy joined Integralism at age 15, when he read the memoirs of Miguel Reale (1910-2006) -jurista, former dean of USP and one of the movement's ideologues in the 1930s, alongside Plínio Salgado and Gustavo Barroso (1888-1959 ). Attracted by the principles in defense of the family, religion and nation, he immersed himself in studies on the subject.

The IBF, according to him, has 8,000 affiliates across the country. It proposes a faithful interpretation of the original principles of integralism, defined by Salgado in a manifesto of 1932.

"We are a movement inspired by the teachings of the Gospel, in the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. We defend the values ​​consubstantiated in the triad God, Motherland, Family. We fight for organic democracy, for social justice, "says Barbuy.

He explains that the main objective of the group is to form a school of culture and civics in the country, in the mold of what was the former Brazilian Integralist Action.

In the 1930s, some of the main Brazilian intellectuals of the 20th century were part of the group: besides Salgado (a participant in the Modern Art Week of 22), Reale and Barroso, there were also, with varying degrees of involvement, the anthropologist Câmara Cascudo, the politician and lawyer San Tiago Dantas, and the writers Augusto Schmidt and Vinicius de Moraes.

The vice president of the FIB is another legendary figure in the cultural milieu - the publisher Gumercindo Rocha Dorea, 95, first to publish Rubem Fonseca.

"Integralism is a very profound political, social and philosophical thought. At my age, I am more limited today, but the young people have an extraordinary dedication, "he told Folha by telephone.

One task Barbuy devotes himself to is to combat what he calls the misconceptions of the researchers.

"Integralism has never been xenophobic. It distanced itself from Italian fascism as being contrary to the totalitarian state. And Nazism moves even further, as it is contrary to racism. Many blacks belonged to the movement, such as João Cândido, leader of the Chibata Revolt. "

A reversal of this argument is Gustavo Barroso's position in relation to the Jews.
In the book "Integralism - Brazilian Fascism in the 30s" (1974), Professor Hélgio Trindade says that Barroso was inserted "in a radical anti-Semitic attitude."

"Except for the set of conferences published in 1933, all his later books are infused with anti-Semitism," wrote the professor. "It is undeniable that he committed some exaggerations, which were common at the time," says the president of the IBF today.

"But these criticisms were not a basic principle of integralism. So much so that the manifesto of 32 makes no reference to that. "

In the manifesto that laid the foundations of the movement, Plínio Salgado saw as unviable political parties and universal suffrage. Barbuy states that the extinction of both would not be possible in the current context, but considers the criticisms of liberal democracy valid.

The Integralists propose what they call organic democracy, a regime in which people will be represented by the natural groups to which they belong, such as parishes, unions and corporations.

In this model, each Brazilian will be enrolled in his class, who will be responsible for electing the representatives. Those elected to the National Congress, for example, would choose the head of the nation.

"We do not understand that suppression of parties is the end of democracy. And in the model of liberal democracy there is no representation of the people. "Apart from this, the FIB website informs that integralism" intends to come to power by legal means, that is, respecting the laws and the current regime, ruling out any blow " .

Affiliated to the PRTB, Barbuy recorded videos in support of party candidates in this year's election:
- Levy Fidelix, president of the acronym, ran for federal deputy; Rodrigo Tavares, governor of São Paulo. Both were not elected. In his appearances in the electoral timetable on TV, Fidelix quoted the integralist motto "Deus, Pátria, Família" (God, Nation, Family)

In audio released by the FIB, comments on its affinity with the movement.

In another recording Tavares appears next to Barbuy, he welcomes the FIB as a great partner of the PRTB and ends his speech with the word "anauê", integralist greeting of Tupi origin that means something like "you are my brother".

To Folha, Tavares says that the FIB is a legitimate movement, which seeks in the principles of Plínio Salgado a way to build a healthier society

- "The PRTB is a conservative party in customs. This is what brings us closer to them: the defense of tradition, ethical and moral values, meritocracy and family. "Barbuy says that he has been on two occasions with General Mourão.

"We have some contact, but not the same as I have with Levy. Mourão shares some of our ideas, but at other points has more liberal positions. "

Researchers tend to place integralism in the political field of the extreme right, which Barbuy considers another grave error.

He explains that the movement is not right, neither left nor center. Such concepts, he says, are outdated, refer to essentially materialist and internationalist ideas, while integralism would be the opposite, spiritualist and nationalist.

- "We have positions that some consider left; others from the right, "he argues. On the one hand, they defend agrarian reform, the rights of workers.

On the other hand, in the field of customs, they would be closer to the conservatives.

- "The defense of the right to property is fundamental, but we are different from the liberal right. We are against capitalism, understood as the system that puts capital above all, above the social good. "

In the second round of the presidential election the FIB declared support for Jair Bolsonaro (PSL).

A week before the lawsuit, Barbuy called out, from the top of a sound car on Av. Paulista, that it was time to give a "loud and vibrant" no "to the PT," party "that institutionalized corruption and has fought with all its forces to destroy the Christian traditions of our Land of Santa Cruz and to implant a similar model to Venezuela's Chavez and Maduro! "

Odilon Caldeira Neto, who studies radical right groups in his postdoctoral studies, points out that Bolsonaro and integralism are both expressions of a Brazilian authoritarian nationalist camp.

- "That does not mean that Bolsonaro will make integralist management. There is an ultraconservative common ground, but there are also many differences, such as ultraliberalism in the economy of the future government. Other forces will also be in dispute. "

Barbuy sees many similarities between his group and Bolsonaro, although he says that the president-elect is not an integralist. "I suppose I do not even know the movement."

- "In any case, he is able to make a good government. Especially if he turns away from the economic proposals of Paulo Guedes and return to fully support the nationalist positions that he defended in the past.

- "The historian Leandro Pereira Gonçalves, author of a recent biography of the father of integralism, Plínio Salgado (FGV Editora), comments that the country goes through a moment of reorganization of conservative and authoritarian ideas, in which groups such as the FIB will be beneficiaries.

"Integralism must remain small, but its voice will echo more. Relevant part of the country's agenda will be consistent with it. "In October last year, USP students expelled Barbuy from a philology congress at the university.

The group that surrounded him, from inside the building to a bus stop, shouted "Fascists will not pass" and "Fascist place is at the end of the rifle." Barbuy says that an integralist sympathizer, now president of the state nucleus of the FIB of São Paulo, was attacked and had a broken nose.

A year later, he believes the movement will be viewed more favorably.

"The context is very conducive to integralism. And even many who do not fully share our ideas tend to admire them. Even people on the left recognize our values. "