Monteiro Lobato - Political Ideas

Political Ideas

• English should be taught at schools because he believed it was more important than French or Latin (So he had the children characters learn English in one of his books)
• It is generally assumed that Lobato advocated that ores and oil should be managed by the state to prevent their control by international corporations not interested in developing Brazil but in keeping it as consumer market (Viscount's Oil). But it is not to say that Lobato wanted a state monopoly over natural resources, as is widely believed. In a letter to Getúlio Vargas' administration found in the archives of Yale University, Lobato clearly says that oil should be explored by Brazilian companies, not by international Big Oil (his main target was U.S.'s Standard Oil), while government should support the local enterprises without creating a state-owned monopoly.
• The Brazilian folk traditions were the cornerstone of national identity, they should be preserved and more cherished
• The world was changing fast and those who could not adapt to its pace would end up being "eaten" (The Size Switch)
• That scientific research could eventually enable man to make deeper changes to nature, and that such changes, if not wisely directed, could result in disasters
• That war exists only because of corporate greed, political alienation of the masses and racial prejudice (The Size Switch)