By Mohamad Hojeije | Staff Writer
On January 8th, 2023, only a few days after president Luis Inácio Lula da Silva was sworn in, supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro stormed the country’s capital, Brasilia. In an unprecedented event, the extreme-right mob of thousands were protesting in front of the country’s congress, later invading and vandalising buildings and public institutions such as the Supreme Federal Court, the National Congress building, and the Planalto Presidential Palace in the Three Powers Plaza. The mob either demanded that the government performs several undemocratic procedures such as nullifying the 2022 presidential election results for instance, or chanted for military intervention in the hopes of spurring a military Coup D’état to overthrow president-elect Lula. Others chanted for the return of former president Jair Bolsonaro who had already left the country and is currently residing in the United States of America. President Lula was also not at the site of the attack. Nonetheless, the harm done is incalculable; not only because of the damage done to artworks, religious icons, and artefacts as well as the building itself, built by world-class architect, Oscar Niemeyer – but it exposed a possible erosion of the country’s democratic structure.
These attacks on well-established and strong institutions were motivated both by terrorist hatred groups and misinformed supporters of Jair Bolsonaro who fear that the new president will transition the country into a communist regime. In addition, the incident is part of a greater chain of events carried out by extreme-right and right-wing groups that have consistently attempted to refuse the 2022 election results. Prior to the congress attack, a substantial trucker’s strike paralyzed areas of the country, and thousands of supporters rallied in front of Army facilities demanding military intervention for several weeks. These events led to the public raising questions regarding the social class of the people demanding military intervention, as it seemed that they could easily afford to sustain the logistics of their manifestation. Until this moment, more than a thousand have been arrested.
The congress attack seemed to have been well coordinated as on the afternoon of January 8th buses arrived carrying the mob from several different areas of the country, which then timely marched to the Three Powers Plaza. They strategically showed up in traditional Brazilian flag colors, green and yellow – portraying a negation of the color red, commonly associated with the leftist parties in Brazil, especially the Worker’s Party (Partido dos Trabalhadores), which elected Lula.
The aftermath of the attack was the destruction and heavy looting of several public spaces such as the First Lady’s office, the Noble Hall and Plenary of the Federal Supreme Court, the Congress Lobby, and the Green, Blue, and Black Halls, as well prompted a response from the international media and world leaders, which, shocked, seemed disappointed at the country. Joe Biden, Anthony Blinken, and French President Emmanuel Macron uttered their concern, while the U.K. PM Rishi Sunak expressed full support for Lula. It is now clear that the phenomenon of mis- and disinformation in Brazil and Latin America, coupled with a lack of public policies on the memory of the atrocious military regime are being increasingly regarded as threatening the country’s democratic structure.
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