Disclaimer: this post is not in support of any given politician, party, or national movement!
On January 6th, 2021, American protesters supporting Donald Trump "stormed the US Capitol" by walking around and taking selfies. One guy was famously photographed carrying a podium. Such effrontery! I suspect, but cannot prove, this whole debacle was instigated by agents provocateur. There was no evidence of any practical plan of action. The people doing the "storming" were surprisingly mellow and non-destructive. Interruptions would not change the certification of election results.
And yet to the Democrats, who tended to support "mostly peaceful" protests against police brutality which resulted in significant arson, vandalism, and general destruction, this was an act of terrorism. To the Donald Trump faithful, this was instead a noble battle for liberty in the face of blatant electoral fraud and political malfeasance.
Image from Know Your Meme
News broke today, January 8th, 2023, of much more serious action in Brazil. I'm not there, and I don't speak Portuguese, so everything has been filtered through mainstream news media. According to CBS:
Supporters of former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro who refuse to accept his election defeat stormed Congress, the Supreme Court and presidential palace in the capital on Sunday [...] Thousands of demonstrators bypassed security barricades, climbed on roofs, broke windows and invaded all three buildings, which are connected by the vast Three Powers Square in Brasilia.
[...]
The incidents recalled the Jan. 6, 2021, assault on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of then-President Donald Trump. Political analysts have warned for months that a similar storming was a possibility in Brazil, given that Bolsonaro has sown doubt about the reliability of the nation's electronic voting system — without any evidence.
[...]
Bolsonaro supporters have been protesting Lula's electoral win since Oct. 30, blocking roads, setting vehicles on fires and gathering outside military buildings, seeking the armed forces to intervene.
Image from the article linked above, attributed to Eraldo Peres / AP
Based on such descriptions, it appears this protest actually has teeth. The Republicans who supported Trump were law-and-order types by and large. They tend to support police and the military, but I don't think they actually tried to get the military to overthrow the election, and their "invasion" had no prospect of gaining that result either.
If these reports from Rio de Janeiro are accurate, the Brazilians are actually demanding a military coup, actually trying to take over government buildings, and destroying things as they go.That's what storming the capitol actually implies, unlike that bunch of American doofuses on an unauthorized tour. I await any Democrat congresscritter apologizing for the mischaracterization of January 6th in light of January 8th. I won't hold my breath, though. And I acknowledge the possibility news from Brazil is equally overblown, too.
Meanwhile, anything which undermines public perceptions of political legitimacy have potential for progress. I know, I have a weakness for pompous alliteration. This kind of unrest is often called "anarchy," but has no relation whatsoever to the philosophy of state illegitimacy. These people want a government, just not the one that was "legitimately elected." Military juntas don't tend to result in more liberty. If matters are as dire as depicted, the people will suffer while the police state grows regardless of the outcome.
