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The Persecution of Political and Social Scientists in Brazil

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 November 2022

Philippe C. Schmitter
Philippe C. Schmitter*
Affiliation:
University of Chicago and Center for International Affairs Harvard University
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Extract

In recent issues of PS, American political and social scientists have been accused – by their colleagues – of subservience to the established order. Of equal concern to the profession should be the paradoxical plight of their Brazilian colleagues who, while pursuing much the same goals and utilizing many of the same techniques of inquiry, find themselves accused – by their government – of subversion, and very actively persecuted for this charge.

The following is a description of the situation of Brazilian social scientists since December 1968. Official censorship, self-imposed prudence and the understandable propensity for foreign journalists to concentrate on the more spectacular and horrifying aspects of Brazil's current regime, e.g. torture, assassination by “political police” or vigilante group, arbitrary arrest and loss of political rights by prominent politicians, make it difficult to obtain reliable documentation. Much of the information I gathered personally during a three week stay in Rio de Janeiro, Sāo Paulo and Pôrto Alegre in May of 1969. This has been updated with the help of Brazilian scholars resident in the United States. For obvious reasons I cannot recognize their efforts personally. I would, however, like to thank Mr. William Wipfler of National Council of the Churches of Christ and Professor Ralph Della Cava of Queens University who are preparing a comprehensive dossier on civil rights violations for proximate publication. Peter Bell, formerly with the Ford Foundation in Rio, has been particularly helpful with information and criticism.

Type
Research Article
Information
PS: Political Science & Politics , Volume 3 , Issue 2 , Spring 1970 , pp. 123 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © The American Political Science Association 1970

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References

1 For descriptive and interpretive material on the March 30-April 1, 1964 Coup see Fagen, Richard R. and Cornelius, Wayne A. (eds.), Political Power in Latin America: Seven Confrontations (Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 1970), pp. 155–227 Google Scholar.

2 According to a recent article by Novitski, Joseph in the New York Times (February 9, 1970)Google Scholar there were approximately 1,116 “non-persons” whose political rights had been suspended for ten years by the three “revolutionary” regimes.

3 This system of institutionalized denunciation within educational establishments operates somewhat independently of the other national security services – all of which also have their agents posted in classrooms. I was told of one professor in Sāo Paulo who was fired when he publicly protested the frequent interruption of his classes by political police agents arresting students!

4 Costa e Silva suffered an incapacitating heart attack. After a tense and prolonged interregnum by junta, the Armed Forces High Command managed to agree on a candidate, General Emilio Garrastazu Medici, and imposed him as president on October 1969, constitutional provisions to the contrary notwithstanding.

5 Frank Bonilla of Stanford University was visiting professor at the Minas project. In solidarity with his colleagues he formally resigned his post, although he continues to reside and work informally with students in Belo Horizonte.

6 Verified and detailed accounts of torture began pouring out of Brazil in late 1969. For examples, see The New Republic, August 2, 1969; Newsweek, December 8, 1969; Le Monde, October 2, 1969 and October 16, 1969; Der Spiegel, December 15, 1969; Mensaje (Santiago de Chile), January-February 1970; New York Times, March 5, 1970. The latter incident occurred five months after Medici was inaugurated. By far the best single account of the intellectual climate in Brazil is Iglesias, José “Report from Brazil: What the Left is Saying”, New York Times Magazine, December 7, 1969 Google Scholar. Iglesias specifically describes the repressive situation at the Instituto de Filosofia e Ciências Sociais in Rio.

7 New York Times, March 2, 1970.

8 An informant told me of one instance when the remaining tenured personnel were so afraid that no candidate was forthcoming tor the post of the “retired” rector of the faculty. He had been such an acknowledged conservative that no one, regardless of his political views, felt safe in the job. The Rector of the University had to call them into his office and threaten them all with denunciation before they managed to come up with a candidate.

9 Stanley J. Stein of Princeton, Richard M. Morse of Yale, Charles Wagley of Columbia and Thomas Skidmore of Wisconsin have solicited support from other American scholars in an attempt to convince the Brazilian government of the injustice of the charge against Caio Prado Junior.

10 Partially, only because surprisingly few Brazilian intellectuals have gone into exile – unlike Argentines in 1965. Most have chosen to stay, working in private organizations and quasi-public research institutions where possible. Stepped-up support, especially from the Ford Foundation, has been very important in keeping research and teaching from collapsing completely.

11 The Decree instructs all government officials to denounce “to the relevant authorities” (read political police) all cases in which researchers deviate from their originally approved design.