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Brazilian Integralism

Brazilian Integralism (Portuguese: integralismo) was a political movement in Brazil, created in October 1932. Founded and led by Plínio Salgado, a literary figure somewhat famous for his participation in the 1922 Modern Art Week, the movement had adopted some characteristics of European mass movements of those times, specifically of Italian fascism, but distanced itself from Nazism because Salgado himself did not support racism. He believed that every person of every race should unite under the Integralist flag. Despite the movement's slogan "Union of all races and all peoples", members and leaders like Gustavo Barroso held anti-Semitic views.[1] The name of the party created to support its doctrine was Brazilian Integralist Action (Portuguese: Ação Integralista Brasileira, AIB). The reference to Integralism mirrored a traditionalist movement in Portugal, the Lusitanian Integralism. For its symbol, the AIB used a flag with a white disk on a royal blue background, with an uppercase sigma (Σ) in its center. (In mathematics, sigma indicates "discrete summation" of any given number of terms, following a set of rules)

For the belief that Catholic doctrine should form the basis of public policy, see Integralism.

Integralists and the military dictatorship (1964–1985)[edit]

Integralists and former Integralists took a range of positions inside the military right-wing dictatorship that followed the 1964 Brazilian coup d'état. Plínio Salgado joined the ARENA, the pro-military party. Augusto Rademaker and Márcio Melo, former Integralists, were two of the three-member junta that briefly ruled Brazil in 1969, in the transition from the second military government of Artur da Costa e Silva to the third (that of Emílio Médici). Rademaker was also vice-president of the third military government. He was generally considered one of the most diehard rightists in the contemporary military top brass.[9] Many former Integralists in the military occupied government posts in the second and third military administrations. On the other hand, Dom Hélder Câmara, also a former Integralista, operated at the time was the best-known opponent of the regime.

Neo-integralism[edit]

Today, two small remnant groups in Brazil uphold the strict integralist ideology: the "Frente Integralista Brasileira" (FIB) and the "Movimento Integralista e Linearista Brasileiro" (MIL-B). The FIB has close ties to Levy Fidelix's Brazilian Labour Renewal Party (PRTB), and supported the successful Jair Bolsonaro 2018 presidential campaign in the second round of the 2018 Brazilian presidential election[10] In 2021, FIB leaders joined Roberto Jefferson's Brazilian Labor Party (PTB).[11] Previously, many integralists were involved in Enéas Carneiro's Party of the Reconstruction of the National Order (PRONA), which dissolved in 2006.[12]


On 26 December 2019, a group called the "Popular Nationalist Insurgency Command of the Large Brazilian Integralist Family" claimed responsibility for a firebombing of the headquarters of comedy group Porta dos Fundos in Rio de Janeiro.[13]


On 30 December 2019, a member of the FIB and former Patriota and PRONA candidate for Congress, Paulo Fernando Melo da Costa, was appointed as a special advisor to Human Rights Minister Damares Alves in the Bolsonaro administration.[14] Sara Winter, a former member of Brazilian FEMEN, who worked in the ministry as national coordinator of maternity policies, while a member of Femen, declared that she sympathized with the ideas of Plínio Salgado, referring to him as a "defender of the country".[15] Also in the Bolsonaro government, Sara was part of the 300 do Brasil group, which had armed members and preached anti-democratic actions like the return of Institutional Act Number Five.[16] In his campaign for the Senate in the 2022 Brazilian general election in the Federal District, Damares Alves claimed to identify with Integralism.[17]

Grandpa Indian

(in Portuguese)

Brazilian Integralist Front

(in Portuguese)

Site of the integralist nucleus of the south of Brazil

(in Portuguese, French, and English)

Site of the integralist nucleus of the Rio de Janeiro

Ação Integralista Brasileira symbols at Flags of the World

Video clip showing Integralist uniforms, parades and leaders