XVII Congress of the Brazilian Studies Association

Heirs of TFP: Ultra-Catholic Groups and the Renewal of Conservatism

• In Event: 1964 in Perspective, 60 Years After the Coup Part III: Afterlife of Authoritarianism

Abstract

"Tradition, Family and Property" was a powerful organization to prepare the grounds for the 1964 coup and to support the civil-military governments in Brazil. After re-democratization and the death of the famous TFP leader Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira in 1995 the association split into several groups. Two of them show great resilience and even managed to reinvent and remobilize conservatism in Brazil and abroad: the “Heralds of the Gospel” and the "Institute Plinio Corrêa de Oliveira (IPCO)". With different strategies but sharing the same goal, both are playing an important role in resisting societal change in the 21st century and contributed through their war of ideas and elite lobbying to the rise of the New Right. As Miles Christi, soldiers of Christ inspired in the Templars, they both follow the mission to subvert, transform and in last instance overturn the secular modern state. This makes them a serious though underestimated threat to democracy, both nationally and - through their extensive networks - internationally. Based on recent empirical research, my contribution presents the Herald's and IPCO's centenarian ideological background, discreet political strategies and hidden international connections.

Author

• Georg Wink, University of Copenhagen