Anarchism in Brazil

Anarchists have since maintained a relevant, albeit minority, participation in various types of collective actions, such as union organizations, community and neighborhood associations, student mobilizations, homeless and landless movements and in waves of protests, like those of 2013 and the demonstrations against the 2014 World Cup.

[8] The newspaper Correio Paulistano, official body of the Republican Party of São Paulo (PRP), denounced in 1893 the entry of anarchist immigrants into the country, classifying them as dangerous individuals, heads of "a terrible destructive sect", which aimed to "implant disorder and a fratricidal struggle, incompatible with the abundance and excellence of our living resources.

[27] From 1900, multiple anarchist publications appeared in Brazil: O Libertário and A Terra Livre in Rio de Janeiro; O Amigo do Povo, A Lanterna and La Battaglia in São Paulo; A Luta in Porto Alegre; O Despertar in Curitiba; and O Regenerador in Ceará.

The favorable environment for the satisfaction of demands due to the resumption of industrial activity led the labor movement to an accelerated process of reorganization in disarticulated resistance societies during the crisis, resulting in a strike wave starting in 1917.

In Rio de Janeiro, a speaker took the floor to deliver an impassioned speech, saying that hunger was knocking on the doors of the working class and that it was necessary that "the people act with energy, going to the warehouses where the goods that are missing in the workman's home are stacked and accumulated.

[74] On July 13, Tirso Martins distributed two newsletters, the first prohibiting meetings in the squares and on the streets; the second advising the people not to leave their homes at night, making it known that "the police are acting with all their energy against the rioters and the anarchists who have been attacking public order for days".

[77] The industrialists maintained their agreement to grant increased wages; they were willing to respect the workers' right to form associations, not to dismiss any employee for taking part in the strike, and to "improve the moral, material and economic conditions of the São Paulo workforce".

[89] The insurrectional plans were thwarted when Ricardo Correia Perpétuo, a member of the board in charge of distributing seditious newsletters among the soldiers stationed in Vila Militar, invited Army lieutenant Jorge Elias Ajus to participate in the movement, since he was in favor of the implantation of an "entirely popular" form of government in Brazil.

Military conspirators came to seek the support of José Oiticica in organizations under anarchist influence and initiated contacts with Evaristo de Morais [pt] and Sarandy Raposo, whose CSBC supposedly exercised control of the railroad workers and miners of the three southern states from the country.

Examining the fact that they did not have sufficient strength, among the working and popular classes, to make their own revolution, they decided to participate in the movement, in an attempt to influence it;[123] they soon offered to take up arms, proposing the formation of battalions of autonomous civilians, without military discipline and interference.

[131] At the same time that Bernardes repressed the workers' movement in general, and anarchism in particular, he also took some steps in the field of social legislation, creating a National Labor Council and a post of Special Curator of Accidents at Work, for the provision of free medical assistance for victims of occupational accidents; enacted laws regulating assistance and protection for the least abandoned and delinquent and prohibiting the work of minors under the age of 14; in addition to enacting a vacation law, which obliged commercial, industrial and banking establishments to grant their employees 15 days of paid vacation annually.

[174] Anarchists were invited by Trotskyists to participate in meetings with other groups of the left, in order to seek to establish a joint action in the anti-fascist struggle; but they ended up opposing any possibility of acting regularly in the FUA, an initiative driven by the Communist League (LC).

[174] The anarchists were present at the founding meeting of FUA, defending a front of struggle that was formed through the union of all anti-fascist individuals and, “on the basis of the broadest and most complete autonomy of factions, principles and doctrines that subdivides men into clubs, legions, parties and dissidents”.

[180] Anarchists played a fundamental role in the organization of the movement, giving up the FOSP headquarters for some meetings, which counted the active participation of notorious militants such as Edgard Leuenroth, Juan Perez Bouzas, Pedro Catalo and Jaime Cubero.

Anarchists subsequently tried to reorganize the FOSP and seek ways to help the militants who were arrested as a result of the anti-fascist struggle, even creating the Social Prisoners Committee, which carried out some festive activities aimed at raising aid funds for incarcerated comrades and their families.

Anarchists, even though they did not participate in the uprisings, were not spared from repression; many militants, such as Leuenroth and Rodolpho Felippe, were arrested, libertarian newspapers were jammed and several unions linked to FOSP had their headquarters invaded and closed by police forces.

[196] In addition, the intensification of police repression, especially after the Communist Uprising and with the proclamation of the Estado Novo; the questioning of direct action methods in the face of PCB discipline and centralization; and the lack of its own political organization to carry out its programmatic objectives, resulted in the decline of anarchism in Brazil.

[203] Brazilian anarchists wanted to overcome the experience of the First Republic, its performance was excessively focused on the union environment,[204] believing, at that moment, that organized in specific instances, they could have a more coordinated impact on social movements and without losing sight of your final goals.

[234] Among some of the most prominent actions were the campaign initiated by the CEPJO to save the Spanish anarchist José Comin Pardillos, who was smuggled to Brazil on a ship called Cabo San Roque, on May 17, 1959, and which had the support of National Union of Students (UNE).

[249] Soon, O Inimigo do Rei started to have collaborators from Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Porto Alegre, becoming an important vehicle for the rearticulation of Brazilian anarchism during the political opening,[250] proposing the constitution of a Libertarian Student Federation (FLE) and, later, the formation of the pro-COB nuclei, defending the union as "the worker organization par excellence".

[251] From the 1970s onwards, the influence of anarchist ideas on counterculture was perceived, through periodicals such as Tribo of 1972, and Soma, which circulated between 1973 and 1974, investing in visual experimentalism, seeking of new languages, dialogue with manifestations of the cultural industry and the cult of psychedelic aesthetics, with some specific references to anarchism.

[252] Even O Inimigo do Rei, despite its militant character, dialogued with counterculture themes, bringing a bolder language, quite ironic and humorous, and in addition to the texts on political and social issues, it published articles on topics such as drugs and sexuality.

[256] Also noteworthy is the creation of new journals, such as Utopia, which circulated between 1988 and 1992, and the foundation of the publisher Novos Tempos/Imaginário, through the initiative of Plínio Augusto Coelho, who was returning from France and translated several anarchist works, still unpublished, by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, Mikhail Bakunin and Errico Malatesta, among others.

[258] In 1991, militants linked to CEL created the bulletin Libera... Amore Mio!, to publicize the group's activities, which were disjointed after the removal of Ideal Peres and his wife Esther Redes, in addition to publish texts propagating anarchist ideology.

[272] From 2000, more occupations with a strong anarchist presence took place in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, such as the Centro Popular Canudos in 2003, Chiquinha Gonzaga in 2004, Zumbi dos Palmares and Vila da Conquista in 2005, Quilombo das Guerreiras in 2006 and Largo do Boticário in 2007.

[273] Several squats were also formed with the participation of anarchists, such as the Occupation Flor do Asfalto, in Rio de Janeiro, Casa da Lagartixa Preta, in Santo André, and Utopia Urban Settlement and Luta, in Porto Alegre.

[280] Following this logic, they created a Brazilian nucleus of the Independent Media Center (IMC), which from the campaigns against the establishment of the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) has come to play a prominent role in mobilizations against globalization in Brazil.

[281] Anarchists were involved in the origins of the movement for free public transport, started after protests against the increase in bus tickets in Salvador, in 2003, and in Florianópolis, in 2004, and that culminated, in 2005, in the founding of the MPL in a plenary session of the World Social Forum in Porto Alegre.

[284] According to sociologist Maria da Glória Gohn, "it cannot be said that June 2013 had completely anarchic manifestations", but that "several of the nuclei or collectives that organized the demonstrations" through social networks "were more inspired by the ideals of autonomists, anarchists, libertarians, utopian socialists, etc.

[288][289][290][291] Also seen as a legatee of the 2013 demonstrations, the 2016 student protests in Brazil presented, according to Pablo Ortellado, elements that can be considered libertarian, although not necessarily anarchist, such as, for example, the criticism of the representative system and direct action without the intermediation of parties, concretized in the practice of the occupations.