Austrian Economics in Brazil

The Greatness of Helio Beltrão
Posted by Lew Rockwell on April 14, 2010 03:15 PM
The young Brazilian financial and ideological entrepreneur, Helio Beltrão, has done something great for the Austro-libertarian movement and the cause of liberty, for his country and the whole world: establish the Instituto Ludwig von Mises Brasil, and make it flourish. The website is already significant, and this month, MisesBrasil sponsored the first Austrian Economics conference in the country’s history. Hundreds of young people gathered in Porto Allegre to hear Joe Salerno. Mark Thornton, and Tom Woods from the US, and Antony Mueller, Rodrigo Constantino, Fabio Barbieri, and Urbiratan Iorio from Brazil. I was there too, along with David and Patri Friedman. The moderators were Helio and Globo TV journalist Maria Beltrão. There were simultaneous English-Portuguese and Portuguese-English transations, and the the whole program was webcast as well. All talks will be archived on the site, with subtitles in either English or Portuguese. MisesBrasil is also bringing back into print the excellent Portuguese translation of Human Action, as well as other books of Mises. Already in print is the translation of Economic Policy, with the far better title in Portuguese of Six Lessons.
This year, the 23rd for the allied Liberty Forum, sponsored by the Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, and held at the Pontifical Catholic University in Porto Alegre, the theme was the life and work of Ludwig von Mises, grandly illustrated, and the 4,000 students in attendance each got a copy of Six Lessons. Helio was presented with the Forum’s prestigious award for leadership in liberty. He then gave an amazing talk, an intellectual call to arms. Tom Woods spoke as well. There is secessionist sentiment, so it was fun to hear the students, faculty, and business people sing the anthem of Rio Grande do Sul, the southernmost state whose capital is Porto Alegre, but merely stand for the national anthem. I also learned that the state of São Paulo–where the North Americans flew into the capital city, a great commercial hub–fought a war for independence against the central government and its new dictator and constitution in 1934. The wrong side won, but there is an impressive monument to the secessionists, and a tradition. And at Helio’s conference Patri Friedman talked in part about secession, the basis of his Seasteading Institute.
Brazil’s taxes–a gigantic VAT being the worst–are even higher than Obama’s. The interventionism is horrific. The tariffs are abusive too. But a warm, well-mannered, and generous people can help make up for a cold, cruel state. And I was impressed by not having to take my shoes off at the airport, nor my laptop out of its case; by free-flowing shower heads; and by restaurant menus that listed lower prices for women than for men, to mention just a few things outlawed in the Land of the Free. Thanks also to Graziella Beltrão for one of the great parties in the history of the Western hemisphere, held in Helio’s and Graziella’s spectacular home, in honor of Joe, Mark, and me (Tom not having arrived yet), complete with traditional Brazilian food and band and singer. Also impressive were Helio’s “Taliban,” the well-read young Misesian-Rothbardians who aide him with the Instituto. Many thanks to Cristiano Chiocca, Leandro Roque, and Fernando and Roberto Chiocca, for all their help. One person had complained about the appropriate inclusion of Rothbard as well as Mises on MisesBrasil’s handsome crest. Wait until he sees the crest of the new Swedish Mises Institute–founded at our conference in Salamanca in discussions with Helio–said one of the Taliban. It features Mises and Hoppe.
We have long known that Austro-libertarianism is the only truly international economic-political movement outside of Marxism. How thrilling to see a boom, not Fed inspired, but truth based. This is a worldwide struggle, and now especially, we must work together, in the tradition of Mises and Rothbard, for the good of all.