The Million Mask March, also known as "Operation Vendetta", is a worldwide, annual protest associated with the

hacktivist In Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism (a portmanteau of '' hack'' and '' activism''), is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in h ...

group

Anonymous Anonymous may refer to: * Anonymity, the state of an individual's identity, or personally identifiable information, being publicly unknown ** Anonymous work, a work of art or literature that has an unnamed or unknown creator or author * Anonym ...

occurring annually on

Guy Fawkes Day Guy Fawkes Night, also known as Guy Fawkes Day, Bonfire Night and Fireworks Night, is an annual commemoration observed on 5 November, primarily in Great Britain, involving bonfires and fireworks displays. Its history begins with the ev ...

, 5 November. The motive for the March varies, but includes some consistent themes prevalent in the Anonymous movement, including: corruption in politics,

demilitarization Demilitarisation or demilitarization may mean the reduction of state armed forces; it is the opposite of militarisation in many respects. For instance, the demilitarisation of Northern Ireland entailed the reduction of British security and military ...

, police violence, and

self-governance __NOTOC__ Self-governance, self-government, or self-rule is the ability of a person or group to exercise all necessary functions of regulation without intervention from an external authority. It may refer to personal conduct or to any form of ...

. The marches are set in motion to allow ordinary citizens to collaborate in order to create societal change through alterations to their governments. They are coordinated through a host of channels with most prevalent being word of mouth and

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

. Hundreds of

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

events and dedicated

Twitter Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...

accounts are used to advertise the protest around the world.

History

Anonymous, originally a group of

internet forum An Internet forum, or message board, is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are often longer than one line of text, and are at least temporar ...

users, first came into political activism from its battle against

Scientology Scientology is a set of beliefs and practices invented by American author L. Ron Hubbard, and an associated movement. It has been variously defined as a cult, a business, or a new religious movement. The most recent published census data indi ...

, referred to as

Project Chanology Project Chanology (also called Operation Chanology) was a protest movement against the practices of the Church of Scientology by members of Anonymous, a leaderless Internet-based group. "Chanology" is a combination of "4chan" and "Scientology" ...

. This culminated in a worldwide protest outside of Scientology churches across the globe. The first Million Mask March occurred in 2012; the largest events occurred in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, with smaller scale events across the globe, usually outside of

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive, and judiciary. Government is a ...

buildings.

Symbolism

Protesters at the Million Mask March frequently wear versions of the

Guy Fawkes mask The Guy Fawkes mask (also known as the ''V for Vendetta'' mask or Anonymous mask) is a stylised depiction of Guy Fawkes (the best-known member of the Gunpowder Plot, an attempt to blow up the House of Lords in London on 5November 1605) created by ...

in homage to the graphic novel ‘

V for Vendetta ''V for Vendetta'' is a British graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd (with additional art by Tony Weare). Initially published between 1982 and 1985 in black and white as an ongoing serial in the British antholog ...

’. The costume references the novel, where the

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

wages war against an authoritarian dystopia in the UK. In the film rendition, millions of masks are distributed to citizens who gather around the

parliament In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...

Events

* London, UK: The march has become an annual occurrence in London. Protesters marched through central London on 5 November 2015 in protest of the manner in which the British government conducts surveillance on the country, the suspected corruption that they believe has become ingrained in government, and their dissatisfaction with the State's socio-economic issues. During the 2016 protest, 53 protesters were arrested during the march through Central London which were related to drug use, destruction of property and other criminal activity. *

Manila Manila ( , ; fil, Maynila, ), officially the City of Manila ( fil, Lungsod ng Maynila, ), is the capital of the Philippines, and its second-most populous city. It is highly urbanized and, as of 2019, was the world's most densely populate ...

, Philippines: Activists linked to the hacktivism group

crashed 30 of the Filipino government's websites in response to the corruption felt toward politicians. The group released a video apologizing to the people of the Philippines for the disruption and courting them to protest in front of the parliament house on 6 November 2013.

References

{{Reflist Annual events Anonymous (hacker group) Protests against mass surveillance Recurring events established in 2013