Brazil’s prominent Bolsonarist writer, Olavo de Carvalho, dies at 74

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Considered the guru of Bolsonarism, writer Olavo de Carvalho, 74, died on Monday night, January 24. He was admitted to a hospital in Richmond, Virginia, in the United States.

The cause of death was not announced. Carvalho was currently married to Roxane had eight children and 18 grandchildren.

Born in Campinas (São Paulo State), Carvalho has lived in the United States since 2005. According to him, one of the reasons for his move from Brazil to the USA was the arrival of the Workers’ Party (PT) to the Presidency of the Republic.

In April last year, Olavo was admitted with respiratory problems to a hospital in Virginia and later came to Brazil for medical treatment. In Brazil, he was taken to InCor, the Heart Institute of the Hospital das Clínicas of the University of São Paulo (USP), where cardiologist José Antonio Ramires treated him.

Carvalho had been dealing with the consequences of Lyme disease, popularly known as “tick disease,” which can cause skin irritation, joint pain, and limb weakness.

President Jair Bolsonaro, also through social networks, lamented the writer’s death. “Olavo was a giant in the fight for freedom and a beacon for millions of Brazilians. His example and teachings will mark us forever,” the profile posted.

A smoker, Carvalho propagated the idea that smoking is good for your health and said that tobacco had no connection with lung cancer or heart disease. Olavo once had a tumor in his windpipe, which forced him to undergo delicate surgery.

“Cigarette smoking is not bad for you; this is all a manipulation by the pharmaceutical industry that sells drugs that kill the population. Cigarettes are good for brain activity and lower cholesterol. How many people with Alzheimer’s who smoke have you seen?

An opponent of political correctness, in 2013, Olavo published the book “The Least You Need to Know Not to Be an Idiot,” considered one of the manuals of the Brazilian right-wing. Other books of his authorship are “O Jardim das Aflições” (“The Garden of Woe” 1995) and “O Imbecil Coletivo” (“The Collective Moron” 1996).

FROM ASTROLOGER TO REPRESENTATIVE OF CONSERVATISM

In his youth, Carvalho says he was a militant of the Brazilian Communist Party between 1966 and 1968 and an opponent of the Brazilian military dictatorship, later becoming anti-communist.

He worked as a journalist in vehicles such as Folha de S.Paulo, Planeta, Bravo!, Primeira Leitura, Jornal do Brasil, Jornal da Tarde, O Globo, Época, Zero Hora, and Diário do Comércio. As an astrologer, he collaborated in the first university extension course in astrology at Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP), in 1979, offered to psychology graduates.

Critical of what he called “hegemonic left-wing thinking” in the press and academia, Olavo de Carvalho became an exponent of the Brazilian right. In 2020, he founded the website “Mídia sem Máscara” (MSM – “Unmasked Media”) to combat the “leftist bias of the Brazilian mainstream media.”

From the United States, Olavo taught philosophy courses broadcast by videos on the internet. He is known for using foul language and criticizing several politicians and public figures on his YouTube channel and Facebook profile. One of the points he rejects is the abandonment of Judeo-Christian values by society.

Despite the great repercussion in social networks, Olavo does not enjoy a good reputation in academia, where his peers ignore his works.

RELATIONSHIP WITH BOLSONARO GOVERNMENT

Olavo was seen as a caricature of Brazilian conservatism. After the election of Jair Bolsonaro as president, however, he revealed himself as a consultant and a kind of intellectual guru to Bolsonaro’s close advisors.

In an interview with journalist Pedro Bial in 2019, on TV Globo’s show “Conversa com Bial” (“Talk with Bial”), Carvalho advocated that the president of the Republic give a ministry to each of his sons who pursue political careers: senator Flávio Bolsonaro, federal deputy Eduardo Bolsonaro, and Rio de Janeiro city councilman Carlos Bolsonaro.

“I hope he puts all three of them as ministers. They are very sincere, very honest people,” he defended.

The president’s sons, who refer to him as “Professor Olavo,” are precisely disciples of the writer. The list of followers includes figures who have already broken with Bolsonaro, such as the right-wing blogger Felipe Moura Brasil and federal deputy Joice Hasselmann.

In one of his first interviews after being elected, Jair Bolsonaro presented “The Least You Need to Know Not to Be an Idiot” by Olavo de Carvalho as one of his bedside books. The work was accompanied by the Bible, the Federal Constitution, and Winston Churchill’s “Memoirs of the Second War”.

Regarded as the godfather of Ernesto Araújo’s nomination to head the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Ricardo Vélez Rodriguez’s appointment to the Ministry of Education (MEC), the philosopher has recently seen his influence in the government decline. In addition to the departure of Vélez and Araújo, brothers Arthur and Abraham Weintraub also left the government after accumulating a series of controversies.

The departures of ministers are accompanied by others in the second echelon and seen as a weakening of the ideological wing in the government. Since Bolsonaro began to seek a base in Congress to ensure his governability with a view to reelection in 2022, Carvalho began to criticize the rapprochement with parties of the Centrão.

Although less influential, “Olavism” still has its share in the government. Its primary representative today is Filipe Martins, special advisor for international affairs to the president of the Republic. Accused of making a racist gesture in a session of the Federal Senate, Martins managed to hold on to his position despite the fall of Ernesto Araújo.

In 2017, a film dealing with Olavo de Carvalho’s home life, biography, and worldview was released. The work was directed by Pernambuco filmmaker Josias Teófilo and shot at his residence in Colonial Heights.

The feature takes its name from one of the books published by Olavo, “O Jardim das Aflições” (“The Garden of Woe”). The film was entirely made with funds raised through collective financing.

SUED BY BRAZILIAN SINGER CAETANO VELOSO

In 2017, the Bolsonarist writer published consecutive posts on social media classifying the singer Caetano Veloso as a “pedophile.” In a lawsuit filed by the artist, Olavo was ordered to pay damages of R$2.9 million (US$526,185) for moral damages.

In May 2021, Judge José Giordani, from the 12th Civil Chamber of the Court of Justice of Rio de Janeiro (TJRJ), denied a new appeal by Carvalho. Despite the TJRJ decision, Olavo could still file a motion for a declaration of appeal.