They are all Auschwitz: The Impact of the Brazilian Military Dictatorship on Flusser’s Communication Theory
This essay argues that Vilém Flusser’s experience with Brazil’s military dictatorship (1964–1985) not only shaped his personal narrative but was also crucial for his theoretical thinking, especially his later theoretical production, particularly his contribution to Communication Theory. By exploring an unpublished corpus of correspondence from the Vilém Flusser Archive in São Paulo, along with complementary essays and published texts, this essay seeks to bridge the gap between Flusser’s personal experiences under political repression and his theoretical assertions. Methodologically, the article adopts an exploratory qualitative approach. It categorizes extensive letter exchanges with figures like José Bueno, Miguel Reale, and others associated with the Brazilian Institute of Philosophy (IBF), the epicentre from which the ideological and legal defence of the 1964 coup emanated . This triangulation between private correspondence, unpublished essays, and Flusser’s published work provides a framework for analysing his nuanced engagement with repression and the notion of the apparatus. The results indicate that although Flusser’s published writings on the Brazilian context are relatively ambiguous, his correspondence unveils a thinker deeply affected by the repressive climate. His cautious yet critical stance against the military apparatus is based on his original notion of politics as a communicational phenomenon – emphasizing the continuous rearticulation of social relationships and advocating transformative dialogue.