Books and censorship in Brasilia during the Militay Dictatorship (1964-1985)

Abstract

Censorship is always present in authoritarian governments and in the Brazilian Military Dictatorship it served as a means of persecution of books. The moral censorship was carried out mainly by the Divisão de Censura de Diversões Públicas and political censorship was carried out after the publication of the books, due to the lack of legal provision. The present work sought to identify and analyze the cases of moral and political censorship in the city of Brasília, based on an exploratory and descriptive research of a qualitative and quantitative nature, with documentary research done in archives, in the materials generated by the repressive organs and with the realization interview and sending questionnaires to people who witnessed or experienced censorship cases. Several cases of seizure of books have been identified, occurring since the beginning of the military regime, with emphasis on the burning of books by firefighters from the Distrito Federal. The repression of books in Brasilia was intense and constant, even physically torturing a local editor.