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AUTHORITARIAN TRENDS IN BRAZILIAN EDUCATION

Surveillance, disciplinary actions and attacks on academic freedom and Brazilian education

Curated by Fernando Romani Sales Published on 09/09/2020
  • Education
  • Curated by Fernando Romani Sales
  • Published on 09/09/2020

Attacks on academic freedom have become increasingly frequent, especially among countries currently suffering from anti-democratic crises. Its consequences are visible not only in the educational environment, but in society as a whole:

THEY SHRINK EVERYONE’S SPACE TO THINK, QUESTION, AND SHARE IDEAS FREELY AND SAFELY, IMPAIRING PUBLIC DISCOURSE AND DAMAGING SOCIAL, POLITICAL, CULTURAL, AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT”

(Scholars at risk, Free to Think, 2019, p.2)

Recent indexes and studies have pointed to worsening conditions of academic freedom over higher education in Brazil. The Academic Freedom Index, produced by the Global Public Privacy Institute and published in March 2020, classified Brazil in ‘group C’ on the world scale, which goes from ‘A’ to ‘E’. In the study, Brazil is the only South American country in this category, with the sole exception of Venezuela, which was in group ‘D’. Another report, produced by Scholars at Risk and published in November 2019 (Free to Think), also drew attention to the Brazilian situation by pointing out several attacks on higher education, among clashes on campus, politically motivated coercions, and threats of institutional violation, putting the very notion of university autonomy at risk. Since then, these trends have been compounded by other factors, such as budget cuts, dirigisme in the appointment of university rectors and lack of credibility of academic work.

Basic education has also been a target of interference and is especially affected in regimes with authoritarian tendencies. In Brazil, this has taken the form of agendas such as the anti-gender movement in schools,  with censorship practices; the expansion of civic-military schools; and proposals to alter the content of textbooks.

Here are examples of attacks on academic freedom that reflect these authoritarian tendencies in the current Brazilian scenario.

 
Type of power
Formal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION REMOVES COMMITMENT TO PREVENT VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AND PROMOTE THE ETHNICAL AND CULTURAL DIVERSITY OF THE COUNTRY IN TEXTBOOKS

Theme(s)
Education, Gender and sexual orientation
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Attacks on pluralism and minorities

Read more about it here [1] [2]. Also read more about interventions in the education and the war on leftist ideology here [find out here] [find out here].

Jan 02 2019
 
Type of power
Formal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

EDUCATION MINISTER DISSOLVES THE SECRETARIAT FOR THE PROMOTION OF DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION AND PROMISES TO ‘FIGHT MARXISM’

Theme(s)
Administration, Education, Gender and sexual orientation
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Attacks on pluralism and minorities

Read about it here [1]. Read more about Education Minister Vélez here [2].

Jan 02 2019
 
Type of power
Informal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

WOMEN, FAMILY AND HUMAN RIGHTS MINISTER CRITICIZES THE FACT THAT THE EVANGELICAL CHURCH HAS LOST SPACE IN SCHOOLS TO SCIENCE

Theme(s)
Academic freedom, Education, Religion
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Construction of enemies

Read more about this context here [1] [2]

Jan 09 2019
 
Type of power
Formal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATION AND RESEARCH’S (‘INEP’) PRESIDENT IS EXONERATED AFTER BOLSONARO CRITICIZED THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL EXAMINATION’S (‘ENEM’) ADOPTION OF LGBT VOCABULARY

Theme(s)
Administration, Education, Gender and sexual orientation
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Violation of institutional autonomy

Read more about it here [1] and more about the context here [2]

Jan 14 2019
 
Type of power
Informal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

NATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR EDUCATIONAL STUDIES AND RESEARCH (‘INEP’) PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE, RESPONSIBLE FOR THE NATIONAL HIGH-SCHOOL EXAM (‘ENEM’), SAYS THAT BOLSONARO OWNS IT AND CAN DECIDE ON ANY EXAM CHANGES

Theme(s)
Education
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Violation of institutional autonomy

Read more about it here – in Portuguese [find out here]

Jan 18 2019
 
Type of power
Informal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

CONTENT CONSIDERED ‘LEFTIST’ IS EXCLUDED FROM PUBLIC TV CHANNEL AIMED AT DEAF PEOPLE

Theme(s)
Education, Political positioning
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Construction of enemies

Read more about it here – in Portuguese [find out here]. Read more about changes in the Ministery of Education and anti-leftist agenda here [1] [2] [3]

Jan 30 2019
 
Type of power
Formal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

FOREIGN AFFAIRS MINISTER ALTERS BRAZILIAN DIPLOMATIC ACADEMY CURRICULUM AND EXCLUDES COURSE ON THE HISTORY OF LATIN AMERICAN COUNTRIES

Theme(s)
Academic freedom, Education, International relations
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Construction of enemies

Read more about it here – in Portuguese [find out here]. Read more about the Foreign Affairs Minister, Ernesto Araújo [1] [2] [3]

Feb 04 2019
 
Type of power
Formal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION REQUESTS SCHOOLS ASK THEIR STUDENTS, TEACHERS AND STAFF TO READ THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT’S SLOGAN OUT LOUD AND FILM IT

Theme(s)
Education
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Violation of institutional autonomy

Read more about it here [1]

Feb 25 2019
 
Type of power
Formal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

BOLSONARO ISSUES DECREE IMMEDIATELY EXTINGUISHING 5,000 FUNCTIONS AND JOBS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITIES AND EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTES; 16,000 MORE CUTS ARE PLANNED UNTIL THE END OF JULY

Theme(s)
Administration, Education
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Decrease of control and/ or centralization of power

Read about it here – in Portuguese [find out here]. Read more about budget cuts in public Federal Universities here [1] [2] [3]

Mar 12 2019
 
Type of power
Formal power
Branch
Executive
Power Level
Federal

BOLSONARO CREATES COMMISSION TO REMOVE ‘IDEOLOGICAL MATTERS’ FROM THE NATIONAL HIGH SCHOOL EXAMINATION (‘ENEM’)

Theme(s)
Administration, Education, Gender and sexual orientation
Authoritarian Inventory measures
Construction of enemies

Read more about the interventions in education concerning ‘leftist ideology’ and vigilantism here [1] [2] [3], about sexual education and LGBTQ+ rights here [4] [5], and about this episode – in Portuguese [find out here]

Mar 20 2019
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