Yesterday, far-right forces and supporters of former President Jair Bolsonaro stormed several government buildings in a war cry party dubbed Festa da Selma.
The parallels to the Jan. 6, 2022, storming of the Capitol are chilling, from allegations of vote-rigging to organizing a “Liberty Caravan,” and not surprisingly, the attempted coup was fueled by Trump-era right-wing influencers.
The Washington Post has dealt with the role of social media in the riots: As with the storming of the Capitol, the anonymous chat service Telegram played a central role in coordinating the coup attempt, which is likely to fuel the debate about anonymous services again.
I know that the anonymity of net activists is considered sacrosanct for good reason and some activists speak of a human right to anonymity. But I also think that these utopian ideals, which are still based on ideas that can be read in John Perry Barlow’s declaration of the independence of cyberspace, among others, are outdated. It is time to acknowledge that these ideals have failed in the face of the reality of the human psyche.