The increase in violence in Brazilian schools has become alarming. Recently, a 25-year-old man jumped the fence of a kindergarten and killed four children between the ages of 4 and 7 with an axe, just ten days after a 13-year-old boy entered another school in Sao Paulo and stabbed his teacher to death. Police recorded 279 threats or suspicions of possible school attack plots in seven days in the state of Sao Paulo alone. A study by the State University of Campinas (Unicamp) identified 23 violent attacks in schools, mostly public, in the last 20 years in Brazil that have left 24 students dead, four teachers, two education professionals, and five assailants.
In these cases, the attackers are mainly young men between the ages of 10 and 25, often with a violent history, characteristics of social isolation, restrictive interpersonal relationships, mental health problems, and toxic masculinity issues. They act out of rage and revenge and often have links to extremist groups, primarily on social media. These young men often come from economically downwardly mobile homes with no future prospects, and some experience domestic violence.
Attackers are often attracted to communities that encourage hate speech, including neo-Nazi groups, which they easily access on social networks. In at least five of the attacks, the assailants wore skull masks used by members of Atomwaffen Division, a neo-Nazi group founded in the US in 2013.
The Brazilian President, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, called a meeting to address the problem and announced a 3 billion reais (about $600 million) package for states and municipalities. The proliferation of hatred through the Internet and arms policies has been at the center of the president’s speech. Lula questioned the education received by children and also the digital platforms, and he emphasized the need to regulate social networks. The Minister of Justice, Flávio Dino, reported that in the last ten days, 756 internet accounts were closed for “influencing or encouraging” violent attacks in schools.