OLAVO DE CARVALHO IN THE DEBATE ON THE COUP AND THE MILITARY DICTATORSHIP

Abstract

This paper analyzes Olavo de Carvalho’s narrative about the 1964 coup and the military regime in Brazil. The objective is to understand the differences and similarities between the Olavo narrative and sectors of the Brazilian far right and part of the academic historiography on the subject. The results show that Carvalho is close to “revisionist” and liberal strands of academic historiography, as well as military discourses. Using the concept of “cultural Marxism,” Carvalho denies the violent nature of the coup, attributing the violence to sectors of civil society from the far right and left, and constructs an image of a “soft dictatorship.” Critical of the concept of “revolution,” he distances himself from the military narrative and accepts the concept of “coup,” considered an inevitable necessity in view of the threat of a “communist dictatorship” during the João Goulart government.