Polarization turns to violence in Brazil

“Hey, faggots, beware: Bolsonaro will kill all the poofs,” sang a horde of men on the São Paulo subway. The scene was filmed – and shared on social media – by Luis Othavio Nunes, a homosexual man, who warned: “LGBT people must realize the risk [Jair Bolsonaro] represents to us all.”

Since last year, we’ve warned that the 2018 elections had all the ingredients to be the nastiest campaign in Brazilian history. But we could not anticipate the levels of violence and hatred we have seen. Over the past few days, we saw a journalist stabbed and threatened with rape; several LGBT people being assaulted and/or threatened; a capoeira master being stabbed to death; a woman attacked by three men who carved a swastika on her abdomen, and several swastikas were tagged on the walls of a century-old church in Nova Friburgo, 140 kilometers from Rio de Janeiro.

Since September 30, at least 70 acts of political violence have been recorded in Brazil, according to a recent survey carried out by Agência Pública, an independent journalism organization, in partnership with the Open Knowledge Brazil. The overwhelming majority of these violent acts were committed in the name of Jair Bolsonaro, the far-right candidate who is the heavy favorite to win the October 28 second-round vote for president.

When questioned about these incidents, Mr. Bolsonaro shrugged: “A...