When social and environmental activists are the target of hatred: a theoretical and documentary analysis

Abstract

This study problematizes the declared hatred towards Brazilian activists committed to social and environmental causes, aiming to understand its manifestations and collective effects. Starting from Social Psychology, initiatives to protect nature and social-humanitarian causes were analyzed, as well as the sad passions put on the scene for hatred of activists. Methodologically, the documentary study was used, having as units of analysis reports collected in documents of public domain that announce the aggressions to activists. As a result, the research demonstrated that collective hatred, expressed in the radical form of homicidal necropolitics, focuses on those who witness, with their life stories, how much more egalitarian society can be built. As a conclusion, the work shows that the development of public policies linked to the social security of activists has not guaranteed an effective fight against homicides in Brazil. Social and politics processes, such as hatred, are increasingly present and naturalized as something inevitable to maintaining capitalist planning.