On January 8th, demonstrators attacked buildings of power in the Brazilian capital. Symbols were vandalized in the wake of a presidential election of which many voters disputed the outcome. The events that shook Brazil resemble the attack on the US Capitol by pro-Trump militants on January 6th, 2021, in terms of the political climate, the nature of the attack, reactions, and consequences.

A similar post-election context

Over the last few weeks in Brazil, some supporters of the incumbent President did not accept the result of the election in which their candidate lost. Similarly, in Washington on January 6th, 2021, demonstrators waved flags in praise of Republican Donald Trump, who then claimed - and continues to do so - that the Democratic party had falsified the election.

Like the former US president, Jair Bolsonaro has made numerous statements of defiance towards the election that saw Lula return to power, refused to attend his successor’s investiture ceremony, and holds staunchly right-wing political positions.

However, the Washington Post article draws a “strange parallel” between Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump. Indeed, experts have been warning for months about the possibility of such action. Months before the election, Jair Bolsonaro called Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a corrupt “thief” and claimed without evidence that Brazil’s electronic voting machines were not trustworthy.  

Different political objectives

In Brasilia, protesters turned into rioters and attacked symbols of Brazilian democracy. On the one hand, pro-Bolsonaro supporters ransacked three buildings representing the three branches of government: the National Congress, the Planalto presidential palace (where President Lula’s office is located) and the Federal Supreme Court, the highest court in the country. On another hand, in Washington, pro-Trump activists assaulted Congress, the centre of American legislative activity. 

The objective of the pro-Trump protesters was relatively clear: to prevent the confirmation of Joe Biden’s victory by disrupting the official vote count by the US electoral college. But in the case of the attack in Brasilia, supporters of far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro seemed to have a different goal, namely to send an “SOS” to the military to overthrow the elected government - and perhaps allow Bolsonaro to return to power. This is what the Bolsonarists spray-painted on the walls and dome of the Senate, as the Brazilian journalist Marina Dias reported on Twitter (in Portuguese).

A more significant toll in Washington

On the day of the attack on the Capitol in Washington, members of Congress, staff of the institution, as well as ex-Vice President Mike Pence were present and had to be placed in security. According to NBC News, a 43-year-old police officer, Brian Sicknick, was killed while trying to repel pro-Trump activists. Two other police officers who had intervened in Washington committed suicide in the following days.

In Brasilia, the three buildings attacked were almost empty. This was normal for a Sunday, especially as the members of the Legislative Assembly and the Supreme Court were on holiday throughout January. President Lula was travelling to the small town of Araraquara in southern Brazil, which has been hit hard by floods in recent weeks.

Two years ago, four supporters of Donald Trump were killed, including a protester shot by a Capitol Police officer, and around 50 people were arrested the same day. Apart from dozens of injuries, the toll is not as high in the case of the attack in Brasilia, where no related deaths have so far been reported, though nearly 300 protesters have been arrested. 

Very different reactions from Jair Bolsonaro and Donald Trump

There were differences in how the two outgoing presidents commented on the events while they were still taking place. On January 6th, 2021, Donald Trump encouraged his supporters by posting vehement messages on Twitter, before calling on them to refrain from violence and finally “go home.”

In the case of the attack in Brasilia, Jair Bolsonaro did not immediately comment on the riots. It was only after calm had returned to the Brazilian capital that the ex-President, who had been on holiday in the United States since December 30th, condemned the assault. “The depredations and invasions of public buildings are against the rules,” he wrote on Twitter. Lula accused him of having “encouraged” such acts in his recent speeches, but he rejected the “evidence-free accusations” of his successor.

In the United States, the noose had tightened around Donald Trump in the months that followed the Capitol attack. The parliamentary investigation committee recommends criminal proceedings against the former President, notably for calling for insurrection and plotting against the state. This event created a new challenge for the Brazilian President, who chose to give a speech of solidarity and unity at his inauguration on January 1st.

Impact of social media in both of these insurgencies

As with the attack on the Capitol in the United States, the assault on the places of power in Brazil was mostly organized on social networks: the organizers used coded messages to mobilize the Bolsonarists. Three words were enough to launch the call for pro-Bolsonaro rallies on social networks: Festa da Selma, “Selma Party.” 

The term “Festa da Selma” was not chosen at random. Faced with the restrictions put in place by social media, the organizers changed one letter to “selva”-- “jungle” in Portuguese, a term sometimes used as a war cry by the Brazilian military. These three words made it possible to mobilize without being spotted. 

As with the assault on the Capitol in the US, such calls “proliferated on platforms just days before the rally,” according to the Washington Post. Some participants said they were preparing for “a thousand buses” to bring “two million people to Brasilia” from several Brazilian states to the federal capital, while also indicating the date or routes to be followed in “freedom caravans.”

Other accounts encouraged the exchange of handwritten and photographed messages since the algorithm does not read handwritten messages. These photos were then widely relayed, passing from one platform to another.

Social networks have inevitably facilitated the transmission of messages of hate and violence in the US and Brazil. They have undermined the stability and compromised the authenticity of the results of the presidential elections. Hence, in the cases of Brazil and the United States, social media has been employed as a weapon against democracy. 

According to the Washington Post, the attack is “the most significant threat to democracy in Latin America’s largest country since the 1964 military coup.” It suggests the spread of a scourge of far-right disruptors in Western democracies, “radicalized by incendiary political rhetoric who refuse to accept election losses, cling to unfounded claims of fraud and undermine the rule of law.” 

To conclude, there are undeniable similarities between the assaults on symbols of democracy and power. These attacks show the increasing speed at which our environment is changing and provide insight into the many challenges our society faces, especially given the revolutionary impact of new technologies on our lives. These revolutionary movements misused social networks to spread misinformation and create division, ultimately generating nationally destabilizing socio-political movements.  Joe Biden and President Lula are governing in the face of voters who are distrustful and respond to fake news and populism. As the Washington Post, argues, this attack “suggests the spread of a plague of right-wing disruptors in Western democracies” who employ social media in their fight for extremist rulers.