ABSTRACT
In the past years, the rising right-wing in Brazil has enforced the unfair representation of teachers as “criminals,” adding this theme to a plethora of similar matters to be fought against in this antidemocratic scenario. However, in order to disrupt hate, we must first understand it. The goal of this chapter is to analyze the history of how different strands of right-wing forces and agendas have articulated themselves to compose a united hate speech against teachers. A major example of this is advocacy surrounding the “School Without Party” movement. A double challenge is posed here: 1) to understand how the adhesion of such speech has shifted from a completely irrelevant agenda in the public debate to a theme that has been receiving enormous attention, with significant support among the Brazilian population; 2) to evaluate the importance of libertarianism in this history, especially in its beginning. The chapter argues that the articulation with libertarianism may have played a major role in weakening the basic elements of democracy, allowing the emergence of more violent antidemocratic strands at a time of democratic consensus.
