Died this Sunday (29), the anthropologist Adriana Dias, one of the greatest references in research on neo-Nazism in Brazil. She was also a militant for the rights of people with disabilities.
Dias was responsible for finding, in 2021, a letter signed by Jair Bolsonaro on neo-Nazi websites, published in 2004. The discovery, originally published in The Intercept Brasilserved to deepen the understanding that Bolsonarism is linked to neo-Nazi ideology.
“From the discovery of this letter, I look at all the endings of this government’s interviews from a different perspective. It has in fact had a link (with the neo-Nazis) since 2004”, said Dias, in an interview given in August 2021.
His research work also identified more than 300 neo-Nazi cells spread across the country, which bring together between 4,000 and 5,000 people. In an interview for German wave in 2019, she raised the alarm about the problem.
“Brazilian society is nazifying itself. People who had the idea of supremacy kept in them saw the resurgence of the right and are now able to talk about the subject with a certain tranquility”.
Repercussion
The Ministry of Human Rights and Citizenship published a note of regret for Adriana’s passing.
With regret, we received this Sunday (29) the news of the death of our partner Adriana Dias. Collaborator of the transition group of the Lula government, Adriana was an important figure in the composition of the new management.
Scientist, researcher and PhD in Social Anthropology from the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), Adriana was a woman with a reference disability for us and in studies on neo-Nazism. A fierce activist for human rights, she collaborated in the effective denunciation of Nazi actions in Brazil. Feminist by ideology, Adriana joined the National Front of Women with Disabilities. She was also coordinator of the Association of Life and Justice to Support the Victims of Covid-19.
We express here our tribute in gratitude to this great woman, and we send our condolences to the family.
On social networks, researchers, activists and politicians also mourned his death.
I lost a friend. An inspiration. Someone I looked up to. Brazil has lost a privileged mind. An anthropologist who uncovered the growth of neo-Nazism in the country. A disabled woman who deconstructed so many misconceptions about abortion and eugenics. + pic.twitter.com/h8LKf6hSYy
— Andrea Werner (@andreawerner_) January 29, 2023
we lose to @dias_adriana, a brilliant, generous and very dear person, who contributed so much, for so many years, with his almost infinite knowledge. I’m so sorry for her departure, and equally sorry for everything we didn’t have time to learn from her.
😔❤️
— Marina Amaral (@marinamaral2) January 29, 2023
Adriana Dias (@dias_adriana) is a force of nature. It carried out the largest mapping of neo-Nazi groups in Brazil, showing Brazilian public opinion the size of the problem. He is one of the great names in the country in the area of rare diseases and in militancy for people with disabilities.
— Leonardo Rossatto (@nadanovonofront) January 29, 2023
Sad day for the anti-fascist fight. The great companion, researcher and hunter of neo-Nazis, Adriana Dias, has just passed away. I leave here my best thoughts for your family and friends. Your fight will never have been in vain! Adriana Dias, present! pic.twitter.com/eETQsKYJwx
— Leonel Radde (@LeonelRadde) January 29, 2023
Editing: Thalita Pires
