The movement was born on the American far right in Internet forums, where an anonymous (QAnon) went on to make publications with false information in which he claimed to have secret information from security agencies about a group led by a corrupt elite formed by Satanist pedophiles. who kidnapped and sacrificed children.
In Brazil, QAnon adapted the local conspiracy narrative and its disseminators, who claim to defend Christian and conservative values, use social media to spread lies against people who criticize the current government led by Jair Bolsonaro.
David Magalhães, a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP) and a member of the Extreme Right Observatory, told Lusa that elements of conspiracy theories present in the QAnon movement in the United States began to be introduced in Brazil by Olavo de Carvalho , an influencer who inspires sectors of the Bolsonaro government, known for attacking progressive ideas and left-wing parties.
According to the expert, the thesis of globalism began to circulate in Brazil in the early 2000s, that is, a conspiracy theory that there is a set of international institutions, foundations, great fortunes, that articulate with local elites to build a totalitarian government that wants to control the world.
“This started to circulate in the late 1990s in the United States in a very specific group of the Republican Party, it was brought to Brazil by Olavo de Carvalho, who started to make a virtual preaching of these ideas”, said Magalhães.
“These ideas about an international elite, about a world government that would be a kind of global dictatorship aimed at destroying sovereignties and diluting religious and conservative identities have been circulating with Olavo de Carvalho on the Brazilian right for some time,” he added.
Odilon Caldeira, a professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora and a member of the Observatory of the Extrema-right, estimated that the fact that the Brazilian President himself and his Government have a very strong link with diversified tendencies of the American right, including speeches from the alt -right (far right of the United States), helps to boost conspiracy speeches in the country.
“In Brazil, there is a process of reproducing this tactic, starting with the Bolsonaro government, because as this more radical discourse is articulated, it is introjected, it ends up causing a more particular link between individuals and political leadership,” he said.
“The conspiracy discourse helps to project a relationship between leaders and people who believe in them, which goes beyond the political arena. They see these leaders as more than political representation in the system, but [veem estes políticos] in an almost religious dimension, in an almost messianic dimension ”, he added.
The professor at the Federal University of Juiz de Fora pointed out that political leaders with influence in far-right groups like Bolsonaro use conspiracy theories as an element of formation and intensification of political support to produce a more faithful adherence.
“It is not surprising that QAnon was successful in a sense in the field of the American extreme right. This success helped to mobilize many militants and it is also not surprising that sectors that are used to ‘bolsonarismo’, to the ‘bolsonarista’ field, will use these speeches ”, he pointed out.
Magalhaes, from PUC-SP, recalled that the Bolsonaro government is not homogeneous, that is, it is formed by different segments, some of which are publicly commanded by followers of conspiracy theories.
“Brazilian foreign policy is controlled by two ‘olavistas’ [pessoas que defendem ideias de Olavo de Carvalho] Felipe Martins [assessor de política internacional do Governo] and Ernesto Araújo [ministro das Relações Exteriores] and even Eduardo Bolsonaro himself [filho do Presidente] who is a great admirer of Olavo de Carvalho ”, he stressed.
“If we look at other branches of the Government, such as the generals, we know that they do not believe in any of these conspiracy theories. Or the core of [ministro Paulo] Guedes, who to a certain extent is a cosmopolitan neoliberal, also does not believe this ”, he added.
Thus, Magalhães concluded by highlighting that conspiracy theories linked to QAnon in Brazil find fertile ground and support among people linked to the core of foreign policy, in evangelical leaders who defend anti-abortion guidelines and navigate conspiracies about pedophilia and radicalized militancy sectors’ bolsonarista ‘.
–
