Dictatorial propaganda and the invasion of everyday life: the military regime in Brazil in comparative perspective

• Autor(a) principal: Schneider, Nina
• Data de Publicação: 2017
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Estudos Ibero-Americanos
• Texto Completo: https://revistaseletronicas.pucrs.br/index.php/iberoamericana/article/view/24745
• topic: Official propaganda; Everyday life; Dictatorship; The military regime in Brazil; AERP; Collaboration; Nazi propaganda; DIP; Propaganda oficial; Cotidiano; Dictadura; Régimen militar brasileño; AERP; Consentimiento; Propaganda nazista; DIP; Propaganda oficial; O cotidiano; Ditadura; Regime militar brasileiro; AERP; Consentimento; Propaganda nazista; DIP

The dictatorships of the twentieth century used different kinds of propaganda machines to justify their illegal rule. During the Nazi dictatorship and under Stalinism, for example, huge propaganda organs were created that both produced propaganda and became engaged in censorship. Combined with further political mechanisms (violent repression, surveillance, obligatory organisations, etc.), these means were used in order to mobilise the masses in favour of the regime and to silence any form of political dissent. During the New State (1937-45) a similar propaganda apparatus was built in Brazil that tried to amplify the notion of a union between the supposed leader figure, Getúlio Vargas, and the people (more specifically the urban working class). This propaganda organ – the so-called Departamento de Imprensa e Propaganda (DIP) – tried to annihilate the difference between the public and the private sphere. Focusing on the Brazilian military dictatorship (1964-1985) and offering a preliminary analysis, this article investigates to what extent Brazilian citizens were subjugated to the influence of official propaganda in their everyday lives, and to what extent the regime invaded their private lives. Drawing on the state of art, the article asks: Who was influenced and by which means? What knowledge do we have about the effect of the campaigns? The article shows that in contrast to the Nazi and Vargas dictatorships, the military regime operated only a small propaganda organ that rejected a politicisation and mobilisation of Brazilian citizens and refused to invade their everyday lives in an aggressive manner. To the contrary, the regime supported the private initiative and free-market ideology as one of capitalism’s building blocks; hired civilian filmmakers to produce their propaganda; and opted for depoliticising and supposedly apolitical campaigns.