When Modernism Met the Mob in Brasília
The striking architecture of the Brazilian capital made a dramatic backdrop for pro-Bolsonaro rioters. It might also have helped thwart their attacks.
Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro ascend one of architect Oscar Niemeyer’s many ramps as they attack the National Congress in Brasília on Jan. 8, 2023.
Photographer: Sergio Lima/AFP/Getty Images
On Jan. 8, supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro pushed past police barricades and stormed Brazil’s Presidential Palace, Congress, and Supreme Court in the capital city of Brasília, vandalizing buildings and destroying priceless artworks by renowned Brazilian artists such as Emiliano Di Cavalcanti. The event had many echoes of the attack on the US Capitol mounted by supporters of former President Donald Trump in Washington, DC, on Jan. 6, 2021. In both cases, a peaceful transition of power from one democratically elected leader to another was disrupted by a nominally populist rejection of election results.
Both efforts failed, and in Brazil, unlike DC, no deaths were directly attributed to the rioters’ actions. One might credit the relative tameness of the Brazilian attacks on the absence of Bolsonaro, who had left for Florida even before the official transition of power to his successor, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, on Jan. 1. In contrast, Trump was still the sitting president when he led a rally on the edge of the National Mall and encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol.