ATTACKS ON SCHOOLS AND HATE SPEECH AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE

IMPACTS AND REFLECTIONS

Abstract

In the historiography of violence, records of school attacks were fortuitous episodes. However, there has been a progressive increase in this type of violence since 2017, resulting in 49 attacks. Researching these attacks committed by young people requires understanding the different dimensions of school violence and, in particular, the relationship between hate speech and Brazilian youth. The explanations for the attacks sometimes focus on bullying practices, sometimes on access to firearms; moreover, the participation of young people in extremist groups emerges as an issue to be problematized. Aware of the complexity of this phenomenon, this analysis sought to investigate Brazilian school attacks and was based on Peter Gay’s precepts regarding the cultivation of hatred, Adriana Dias’s thesis on the formation of the subject in neo-Nazi groups, and reflections on school shootings by Glenn Muschert and Johanna Sumiala to assess the episodes in Realengo, Suzano, Barreiras, Aracruz, and Cambé. This exploratory and qualitative research relied on broad methods, ranging from the use of secondary (documentary) sources to materials produced by the young perpetrators. In the cases analyzed, these individuals engaged in copycat crimes, glorifying the Columbine tragedy and making Nazi apologias. A mixture of hate speech was observed, intertwined with principles of misogyny, reflecting the co-optation of these young people by anti-democratic actors in online groups. School attacks alert us to the need to critically examine youth culture and establish effective public policies to regulate social media and online platforms that violate human rights.