Few places in the world have an overlap of complexities as intense as Brasília. Even so, its architecture symbolizes the Republic and democracy of Brazil, and any act of attack on these symbols carries meanings and consequences for Brazilian memory and cultural heritage. The terrorist acts of January 2023 destroyed part of the heritage and raised questions beyond objects and architecture, touching on education, culture, and national political capital.
Conceived in the mid-1890s with the first republican constitution, Brasília is a capital city designed and built from 1956 onwards under Juscelino Kubitschek's government and inaugurated in 1960 as part of JK's political plan of progress. A landmark of modern architecture, Brasilia's urban project was designed by Lucio Costa, and its buildings were signed by Oscar Niemeyer.
Since the project, Brasilia has lived in contradictions. As a space and object, it is a landmark of modernism and Brazilian architecture. However, it was built using exploited migrant, poor, and racialized workforce. Politically, it is a city that was built upon the discourse of democracy and transparency. Yet, it is strategically located far, almost isolated, from the country's largest urban centers. Even so, Brasilia is today the symbol of the Brazilian republic, and it is in its architecture that the three powers act to guarantee the democratic state of law.
The Brasília plan has the three powers’ edifices positioned around a large square at the end of its main axis. In it, the buildings of the executive power, which operates in the Planalto Palace, the judiciary, active in the Palace of Justice, and the legislative, which works within the National Congress, are placed facing each other from one corner to the other of the monumental Three Powers Plaza. In each building, the glass transparency is just one of the symbols used by Niemeyer to represent the strength and presence of these powers. Among its many contradictions, Brasilia has large civic spaces that are easy to access but difficult to occupy due to their size.
That was the stage chosen for the January 2023 actions by organized groups that revolted against the result of the 2022 election polls. One of the main characteristics of these actions was the occupation of this space and the depredation of the public heritage, including Niemeyer's modern architecture, which is considered World Heritage, as well as works of art and objects of Brazilian culture and history. The democratic game includes manifestations, marches, and acts that can be seen as instruments of protest and revolution, such as the depredation of objects and places. However, destroying public property is always symbolic and has repercussions.
Historically, we can recall episodes such as the Bastille Day in the French Revolution, which ended the privileges of the monarchy, or many other revolts against the dominant structures of their societies. Recently, we have seen popular acts against Brazilian symbols, such as the Statue of Borba Gato, which was set on fire in São Paulo because it represents the slavery and genocidal structure of Brazilian society. These cases have the popular struggle for rights, freedom, and historic repair alike. In Brasilia, terrorists used these tools to destroy heritage, however, without the popular struggle and with a dispersed and mistaken political proposal motivated by hate speech and misinformation.
It will take some time to understand the consequences of these acts, but there is an urgent need for physical and symbolic reconstruction of the damaged architecture and works of art. These acts reveal a fundamental need to rebuild basic education, ensuring everyone's access to knowledge, information and national culture in a diverse, broad and democratic way, based on public policies aimed at the population.
