In the weeks leading up to Sunday’s violent attacks on Brazil’s congress, supreme court, and other government buildings, the country’s social media channels surged with calls to attack gas stations, refineries, and other infrastructure, as well as for people to come to a “war cry party in the capital,” according to Brazilian social media researchers.
Online influencers who deny the results of the country’s recent presidential election used a particular phrasing to summon “patriots” to what they called a “Festa da Selma,” tweaking the word “selva,” a military term for war cry, by substituting an “m” for the “v” in hopes of avoiding detection from Bazilian authorities, who have wide latitude to arrest people for “anti-democratic” postings online. “Festa” is the Portugueses word for “party.”
