THE RADICALIZATION PROCESS AND THE TERRORIST THREAT WITHIN THE BRAZILIAN CONTEXT BASED ON OPERATION HASHTAG

Abstract

This article is aimed at identifying aspects in the evolution of terrorism in Brazil starting from an analysis of how a group of Brazilian youths were radicalized in a short period of time. These individuals, motived by a series of attacks perpetrated by the Islamic State (IS) in Western Europe, took advantage of how easy it can be to communicate using social media and formed a closed network in support of the IS in Brazil, whether it was to facilitate emigration towards Syria, or to plan a violent action inside our borders. The network of radicalized youths was dismantled during a Federal Police action called Operation Hashtag in July 2016, under the new counterterrorism law. One can analyze radicalization processes observed in Brazil as manifested along five superimposing layers: communities, indoctrinators, defenders of radical discourse, radicalized individuals inclined to action, and those proactively involved in planning and carrying out terrorist actions per se.