‘Boom-and-Burst’: Linking online and offline elements of right-wing ‘patriotic’ camps in Brazil

This article examines social media’s role in the “online-offline nexus,” focusing on how digital interactions translate into sustained, large-scale, right-wing protests. Using Brazil as a case study, the research combines document analysis with non-participant observation in open right-wing Telegram groups and participant observation at the largest of Brazil’s 100 protest camps. At this camp in Brasília, supporters of former president Jair Bolsonaro, as in many other cities, gathered for 70 days between 2022 and 2023 to protest the 2022 presidential election won by Lula da Silva. The camps and online groups prominently displayed nationalist symbols and similar slogans such as “Stolen Election”, “SOS Armed Forces” and “Save Brazil,” reflecting the unified ideology of the self-called “patriots.” Social media—mainly through the (re)circulation of videos, posts, and dedicated content produced by and to demonstrators in Telegram and WhatsApp groups—proved essential in four stages: mobilizing, organizing, sustaining, and reorganizing. Introducing the concept of “boom-and-burst,” this study shows how the online-offline nexus both fostered collective identity and facilitated the logistical and ideological underpinnings of prolonged, site-specific demonstrations, actively encouraging violence. In Brazil, the overt support of many state actors, especially the army and police, also played a role. The cycle of intense digital enthusiasm translated into protest camps and, instead of the expected bust, ultimately escalated into acts of violence, with demonstrators planning bombings and vandalizing institutional sites in a disturbing sequel to the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol.