In the fourth episode of imPACT: Diálogos, historian Rodrigo Patto Sá Motta speaks about the history of anti-communism in Brazil, the conspiracy theories that often form part of it, and militarism in Jair Bolsonaro’s administration. He points to continuities as well as disruptions between the different anti-communist waves in the country’s history and discusses why and how anti-communism, as a catch-all term, resonated again in recent years.

Rodrigo Patto Sá Motta is a professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). He has been a visiting professor at the University of Santiago, the National University of Colombia, the New Sorbonne – Paris 3 university, and at several universities in Argentina. His work focuses mainly on political history with a particular interest in the 1964 coup d’état, the military regime, and issues of political repression and anti-communism.

imPACT: Diálogos is an original production that is part of the ERC-funded PACT: Populism and Conspiracy Theory project at the University of Tübingen, Germany.

It is written, produced, and hosted by PACT postdoctoral researcher, Katerina Hatzikidi.

Sound design and mixing: Ignacio Albornoz Fariña

Cover image: Yul Koh

Special thanks to: Steffi da Silva, Julius Haferkorn, Gabriele Höffner, Michael Butter

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