The glorification of Olavo de Carvalho at the Brazilian Embassy in Washington D.C.
Brazilian Ambassador to Washington declares that “Carvalho has recovered spiritual immensities” for Brazil
By Julio Severo
“Olavo de Carvalho has developed since the
1980s the formation of a new intellectual class in Brazil… The professor has
not stopped teaching for over 40 years, by all means available, in courses,
seminars, books, handouts, newspaper articles, podcasts, hangouts, live
streaming, online courses, etc.,” said Nestor Forster, Ambassador of the
Brazilian Embassy in Washington D.C.
 |
| Nestor Forster and Olavo de Carvalho |
Confirming what Forster said, on May 17,
2016 Carvalho emphatically stated:
“All the cultural changes that have
happened in Brazil in recent years, with the accompanying political
consequences, were the direct and partly indirect result of a PLAN that I began
to apply from the mid-1980s.”
Although the public knows Carvalho today
for his anti-Marxist speech, 40 years ago, when Forster claims Carvalho was
engaged in forming an intellectual class, he was actually actively involved in
pure esotericism. In 1980, Carvalho was interviewed by Veja, the Brazilian
counterpart of Time magazine, as one of the greatest astrologers in Brazil.
Years later he was interviewed by former TV Manchete as an astrologer. Watch
this video: https://youtu.be/-XDFh_eLgPI
Thus, it is publicly attested and
confirmed that 40 and 30 years ago, Carvalho was engaged in the occult and
actively forming people in the occult. But Forster quoted nothing from this
famously astrological past. He also did not mention that this is not the first
time Carvalho has received a government award. In the 1980s, Carvalho received
from the Islamic dictatorship of Saudi Arabia an award for a biography of
Muhammad that he wrote. Forster did not want to count this as one of the
“spiritual immensities” that Carvalho recovered for Brazil.
The mystery Forster should explain is how Carvalho
was involved in anti-Marxism and training of an alleged anti-Marxist elite
since the 1980s if in the 1990s Carvalho warned his readers not to try to see
him as an “anti-socialist hydrophobe.” He said:
“I voted for [socialist Luiz Inácio] Lula
as president and would do it again, with pleasure, if he took [certain]
measures.”
More than that, Carvalho said: “Lula is a
decent man.”
Therefore, in view of this reality, to say
that Carvalho began to raise an anti-Marxist awareness since the 1980s is at
least opportunistic.
Since I first heard about Lula’s name
decades ago, I knew he was indecent, immoral, socialist, communist, and so on.
How did Carvalho, who boasts of seeing and predicting things perfectly, see him
as a decent man? I never voted for Lula and his socialist Workers’ Party for
feeling disgusted with their socialist ideas. My values were and remain the
same: Christian values.
Carvalho had esoteric values and was a
great propagandist of the Islamic occultist René Guénon for decades. What to
expect from Guénon adherents? No one has defined better a Guénon adherent than did
President
Donald Trump, who expelled out Steve Bannon from the White House by calling him
an opportunist and traitor.
Bannon is a Guénon adherent. Bannon openly
praises Guénon and his most important disciple, Julius Evola. Carvalho
and Bannon are friends today, under the spiritual fellowship of Guénon. Evola
was a right-wing populist who inspired and influenced Nazism and Italian
fascism with his books promoting the right and the occult.
So right and occultism is not a phenomenon
that started in Carvalho. It is also in Bannon. And it was in Evola.
Right-wing populism that is succeeding
today at the expense of Christian conservatism and often exploiting Christian
conservatism existed almost 100 years ago in Germany and Italy. This populism
is synonymous with opportunism.
In his speech, Forster noted that Carvalho
is the author of more than 20 books, highlighting those of philosophical
appearance, but completely omitting books written by Carvalho as:
*
A Imagem do Homem na Astrologia [Male Image in Astrology]. São
Paulo: Jupiter. (1980)
*
O Crime da Madre Agnes ou A Confusão entre Espiritualidade e Psiquismo [Mother
Agnes’s Crime or The Confusion between Spiritualism and Psychism]. São
Paulo: Speculum. (1983)
* Questões de Simbolismo Astrológico
[Issues of Astrologic Symbolism]. São Paulo: Speculum. (1983)
* Astros e Símbolos [Stars and Symbols].
São Paulo: Nova Stella. (1985)
* Astrologia e Religião [Astrology and
Religion]. São Paulo: Nova Stella. (1986)
*
A Nova Era e a Revolução Cultural: Fritjof Capra & Antonio Gramsci [New Age
and Cultural Revolution: Fritjof Capra & Antonio Gramsci], Rio de Janeiro:
Instituto de Artes Liberais & Stella Caymmi. (1994)
No wonder Forster
omitted that Carvalho is the author of occult books, as it is the custom of
adherents to conceal the inconveniences of the cult and especially of its top
leader. Forster is a hard-core Olavist [adherent of Olavo].
Forster made it clear that “the decision
of President Jair Bolsonaro to grant Professor Olavo de Carvalho the Grand
Cross of the Order of Rio Branco is not routine, but, on the contrary, has a
truly extraordinary character.”
The award was originally given on late
April 2019, but because Carvalho did not want to travel to Brazil to receive
it, the delivery was made at the Brazilian Embassy in Washington. Carvalho’s
explanation for his departure from Brazil had two main causes. In an interview with the New American in 2010, on
the first cause he said he left Brazil because he was tired of receiving weekly
death threats from leftist maniacs. But since Brazil today has a president who
is an Army captain who loves him, there would be plenty of protection for Carvalho
to visit Brazil to at least receive the award.
Would his reluctance to return to Brazil actually
be fear to face lawsuits from former students who felt cheated by his astrology
and occult courses? Would it be the fear of facing lawsuits from ex-partners?
The second cause he used as an explanation
was that he took a job at the Brazilian newspaper Diário do Comércio to be a
correspondent in the U.S., although it is not clear how this newspaper, which
is not large, could afford to give Carvalho a compatible high salary guaranteeing
a correspondent’s visa in the U.S.
How the Diário do Comércio, a small-circulation
newspaper (just 25,000 copies), could afford
to support a correspondent’s visa for Carvalho for years in the U.S. is a
mystery. The newspaper ceased its print edition in 2014.
Schemes for obtaining American visas were also detected at
the Inter-American Institute, created by John
Haskins, but whose creation Olavo attributes to himself.
In any case, there was no reason for Carvalho
to avoid receiving his award in Brasilia, Brazil on April. His safety was and
is guaranteed against such “weekly death threats from leftist maniacs.” But it
is not known whether such a guarantee can protect him from possible lawsuits
from former students and former partners.
On April Ernesto
Araújo, the foreign minister, was so moved by Carvalho’s award that he compared
President Jair Bolsonaro to Jesus Christ. It is a typical cult-thrill
reaction and emotion.
Araújo was such a devoted student of Carvalho
that he absorbed
one of the literary references recommended by him: the Islamic occultist René
Guénon, who founded the Traditionalist school. Guénon and his disciple Evola
are positively cited by Araújo as the basis of his “conservatism.”
Passion for Carvalho is not restricted to
Araújo. According to a
senior PSL leader, Bolsonaro’s party, what drives Bolsonaro to propagandize and
honor Carvalho is passion — the same passion that drove Forster’s entire
speech, who said:
“Perhaps the most conspicuous aspect of
the extraordinary character of this tribute to the professor is that it is not
just a tribute from the Brazilian President, our Chancellor and the entire Brazilian
diplomacy, his thousands of students in Brazil and abroad, but from all good
Brazilians who, tired of seeing their homeland debased and assaulted by
criminals, took to the streets in protest with signs that proclaimed ‘Olavo is
right.’”
The slogan “Olavo is right,” widely used
by Carvalho and his adherents, is not originally from Carvalho. Italian fascist
dictator Benito Mussolini, who was advised by Evola, had a propaganda whose slogan
was that he was right.
Forster attributed to Carvalho the
initiative of the people to protest in the streets against socialists, when
everyone knows that some adherents of Carvalho, taking advantage of protests
made by other movements, hitched a ride to propagandize him. What Forster did
was transform isolated acts of Carvalho’s propaganda into essential acts of the
manifestation. Like father, like son; opportunistic master, opportunistic adherent.
For him, Carvalho was largely responsible for the transformation of Brazil.
Such a flattering idea is also embraced by Eduardo Bolsonaro, who aspires to
the post of Brazilian ambassador in Washington. Eduardo is the president’s son.
On March 2019, Eduardo
said that “without Olavo, there would be no election of Jair Bolsonaro.”
Eduardo was promptly rebutted by Silas
Malafaia, Brazil’s most prominent evangelical leader who led millions of
evangelicals to vote for Bolsonaro. Malafaia said about Eduardo:
“Now comes his son, who is just an
apprentice of politician, to say that Olavo de Carvalho is largely responsible
for his father’s victory. JUST RIDICULOUS!”
Despite Malafaia’s effort, the government mindset
persists, supported by Bolsonaro himself and Olavist ministers appointed by
him, that “without Olavo, there would be no election of Jair Bolsonaro.”
Olavists’
view portraying Carvalho as a “savior” goes against reality. J.R. Guzzo, a
journalist at Veja magazine (the Brazilian counterpart of Time magazine), said
on a 13 January 2019 tweet:
“The plain, simple and unadorned fact is
this: evangelicals are today the greatest anti-leftist force in Brazil. They
are stronger, more numerous and more active than the Army, Air Force and Navy
combined. There has never been such force in Brazil. The left has no idea how
to defeat it.”
Carvalho sees differently. Realizing that
evangelicals today are the only force competing with his ambition to take the
place of leader of the anti-Marxist resistance in Brazil, Carvalho has bluntly
accused the evangelical churches of having done more harm to Brazil than the entire
left.
In his speech, Forster talked about how Carvalho
fights Marxism by repeatedly saying “Olavo is right” and then adding: “Olavo is
also right about the treatment he recommends to cure this spiritual illness.”
Forster has placed Olavo as a man who can solve
Brazil’s spiritual problems even though he cannot solve his vast personal
occult problems. Two of Carvalho’s sons are Muslims and another is an
astrologer.
Who can cure Brazil’s spiritual disease?
Only Jesus Christ. But senior members of the Bolsonaro administration think
that Carvalho has the spiritual answer.
Forster mentions writers Carvalho has made
known in Brazil, but he forgets to cite René Guénon, recommended for decades by
Carvalho. So much recommended that the foreign minister is an open fan of
Guénon and Evola.
Nevertheless, Forster unintentionally
revealed a connection with Guénon by saying in his speech that Carvalho has
made known in Brazil Wolfgang Smith, a notorious geocentric adherent of Guénon,
but whom Forster was very careful to present as a “science critic,” without
further details. The details would explain everything. “Science critic,” in the
case of Guenonian Smith, is to criticize the stance of science arguing that the
Earth revolves around the Sun. Smith simply does not believe this. Flat Earth adherents
use
Smith’s theories to defend the idea that the earth is flat, not a globe.
Bannon, Smith, and Carvalho consider
themselves “Catholic,” but all of the three share one thing: They are Guenon adherents.
When Guenon’s name was not widely
criticized, Carvalho recommended it at will. After I warned Brazilian
conservatives that Guenon was an occultist, Carvalho was no longer comfortable
praising his chief spiritual source. The same is true today with Carvalho
recommending and praising Wolfgang Smith. Once the public learns that Smith is
an occultist, Carvalho again will strategically stop praising his occult
connection and reference.
Forster also cited prominent people in
Brazil who praised Olavo. But is such a practice uncommon in Brazil?
Traditionally,
even Brazilian Catholic presidents have consulted spiritualistic mediums and
other occultists. There is the case of João
Teixeira Faria, known as “John of God.” He
was consulted by Brazilian presidents and lauded by international celebrities,
including Oprah Winfrey.
How has a spiritualistic medium become a
celebrity in Brazil, the largest Catholic nation in the world?
The
reality is that religious syncretism is widespread among Brazilian Catholics.
According to a poll conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion
& Public Life, more than 60% of the urban population of Brazil claims a
Catholic affiliation. Yet, there is an overlay of Afro-Brazilian religions
(like Candomblé, Quimbanda and Umbanda) with Catholic beliefs and practices,
which many Catholic Brazilians do not find inconsistent with their faith.
Astrologers,
spiritualistic mediums and psychics are immensely popular in Brazil. Paulo
Coelho, a Brazilian esoteric author who is seen as a “mystic Catholic,” has
several books published around the world, including in the United States. Even
Bill Clinton, when he was the U.S. president, had his books as favorite
reading. Coelho’s Facebook fanpage has about 30,000,000 followers.
Paulo
Coelho is, by far, the greatest esoteric writer in Brazil. A small Google
search delivers 23 million hits to his name.
The
late Brazilian medium Chico Xavier delivers almost 6 million.
In
2017, the name of Carvalho delivered almost 800,000 hits on Google, but with
the intense propaganda that Bolsonaro has been doing for him, the number shot to over 3,000,000.
Today,
the Facebook fanpage of Carvalho has slightly over 500,000 followers, virtually
the same number of fans of Walter Mercado, a Puerto Rican astrologer who became
famous on Brazilian TV in the 1990s. The Facebook fanpage of the Puerto Rican
has slightly over 500,000 followers.
Astrologers, spiritualistic mediums and
psychics in Brazil have a history of meetings with prominent politicians and
artists, who consult them for spiritual solutions.
In his capacity as an astrologer in the
1970s and 1980s, it would not be surprising if Carvalho claimed that he met
many important people in Brazil.
Forster then stressed: “Olavo has
recovered intellectual and spiritual immensities for Brazil’s cultural life.”
How exactly is Carvalho right, according
to Forster, in intellectual and spiritual matters?
Individuals intellectually affected by Carvalho
become zombies defending the Inquisition, just as individuals affected by Marx
become zombies defending communist atrocities.
How exactly did Carvalho “recover
spiritual immensities” if the essence of the spiritual life is Jesus Christ,
and all the individuals I knew who were affected by Carvalho’s “philosophy”
suffered a substantial deterioration in their spiritual lives? Bible readers
began reading it less so that they could read more of the books of Carvalho and
books recommended by him, including books by Guenon. This is not spiritual
improvement. This is spiritual deterioration.
Individuals, even evangelicals, affected
by Carvalho confess that they have learned to value the occult more thanks to Carvalho.
This is not spiritual improvement. This is spiritual deterioration.
Brazil then has a president in love with Carvalho.
A foreign minister in love with Carvalho. A Brazilian ambassador to the U.S. in
love with Carvalho. And if Eduardo Bolsonaro gets the post of ambassador, he
will be another one in love.
Only blind passion sees everything
spiritually good when nothing is good. Lovers always flatter, praise, and
reward the man who is the target of their passion. This passion has produced in
the Brazilian government a common feature in communist regimes: cult of
personality.
Often Eduardo and his brothers complain
that others hitchhiked in the Bolsonaro election to make themselves bigger. But
isn't that exactly what Eduardo & Company are doing to the millions of
evangelicals who elected Bolsonaro? They use evangelicals to exalt who they
want, and one of the exalted at the expense of evangelicals is exactly Carvalho.
The most troubling thing is that if Carvalho
was introduced as a man who has spiritual solutions for Brazil, it is because
the men who have praised and awarded him believe he had spiritual solutions for
them. It is not the Catholic Church, much less the Evangelical Church that has
spiritual solutions for Brazil. In the minds of Carvalho’s adherents and
rewarders, only he has these solutions.
Portuguese version of this article: A
glorificação de Olavo de Carvalho na Embaixada do Brasil em Washington D.C.
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Reading:
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Right-Wing Statism
How the Powerful Union of Trump with
Evangelicals Saved the U.S. from Steve Bannon and His Occult Plan of a
“Traditionalist” Government
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