Picture this: you go to a protest these days, and you find a lot of people wearing white, bearded masks. Maybe the hacktivist group Anonymous comes to your mind. Maybe V for Vendetta. Maybe even the historical root, Guy Fawkes —a man who died over 400 years ago in old England. But do you know why are they all connected as a symbol of rebellion or even anarchism? Should you wear your own mask too?
Well. Let’s explore this story in chronological order, shall we? If you must know it now, it includes a murder attempt plot, explosives, a dystopian world, and somehow ends up with modern online anarchism and protests worldwide. Cryptos have been in the mix too since they appeared in 2009.
“Remember, remember, the 5th of November, Gunpowder, treason and plot.” This is an English
That was a complex historical event in which numerous realms and parties participated, so we’ll sum it up by saying that the English high powers preferred The Church of England (Anglicanism), a form of Christian Protestantism that was against the Church of Rome and the figure of the Pope. Instead, the English monarch became the Supreme Governor of the church instead of the Pope, and, eventually, they sought to erase Catholicism from England.
As a consequence, harsh religious persecution was put in place. Catholics faced heavy restrictions on practicing their faith, prohibitions against holding public office, fines for not attending Anglican services, and occasional imprisonment or execution for those deemed traitors due to their loyalty to the Pope over the English monarch.
In other words, that was the perfect recipe for a group of Catholic revolutionaries to design a plot to kill and replace the Protestant king and his court.
A group of conspirators, led by Robert Catesby, sought to assassinate King James I and his government officials in a dramatic explosion by November 5, 1605. They rented a cellar beneath the parliament building and stocked it with 36 barrels of gunpowder, enough to cause massive destruction. The plan unraveled, however, when an anonymous letter, sent days before the event, warned a Catholic member of parliament to stay away from the building.
This prompted a search, and just hours before the planned explosion, authorities found Guy Fawkes, one of Catesby’s associates, guarding the gunpowder and ready to light the wicks. Fawkes was arrested, tortured, and eventually executed, while most of the other conspirators were also caught and met similar fates. The event is known now as the Gunpowder Plot.
Today, November 5th is celebrated as Guy Fawkes Night or Bonfire Night in the UK. People light bonfires, set off fireworks, and sometimes burn effigies of Guy Fawkes or other hated characters to commemorate the failure of the plot and the survival of King James I —who most English people actually liked back then, despite his anti-Catholic posture.
So, a little bit disappointing up until now? Let’s fast forward to the 19th century when fiction starts to meddle with the facts. The writer William Harrison Ainsworth
It wouldn’t be the last time. That novel was popular in its time, but what would really hit our century would be the comic ‘
They tell us a dystopian story set in a future Britain under a totalitarian regime. The story follows V, a mysterious vigilante who wears a Guy Fawkes mask and uses his skills to fight against the oppressive government. V’s ultimate goal is to awaken the people to the regime’s injustices and inspire them to reclaim their freedom, using acts of rebellion and symbolism to make his point. He ends up fulfilling the original Fawkes’ goal and blows up the parliament.
The Guy Fawkes mask is central to V’s identity (always hidden otherwise) and symbolizes resistance against tyranny. Just as Fawkes once tried to overthrow a powerful government, V becomes a modern symbol of defiance, using the mask to rally people against oppression while protecting their identities. This symbolism has since been embraced worldwide by activists and movements advocating for freedom and justice.
The Guy Fawkes mask became a symbol of protest and defiance in the early 2000s, thanks largely to the online activist group Anonymous. Starting around 2008, members of Anonymous wore the mask during a series of global protests against the Church of Scientology, which they opposed due to its practices and aggressive control of information. The mask allowed activists to protect their identities while presenting a united front against what they saw as corruption and censorship.
In 2011, the mask gained even more visibility with the Occupy Wall Street movement, which protested economic inequality and corporate influence. The Occupy movement spread globally, with protesters in places like New York, London, and Tokyo donning the mask as a statement against social injustice.
Since then, the Guy Fawkes mask has appeared in a range of protests worldwide, from Hong Kong’s pro-democracy demonstrations to anti-austerity marches across Europe. In addition, we must say that a wide lot of these protesters have learned to use cryptocurrencies to protect their funds and data.
Today, the mask remains a powerful, recognizable symbol for those fighting for freedom and against government or corporate control, transcending borders and causes.
Since the early days of protests by Anonymous and movements like Occupy Wall Street, the Guy Fawkes mask has allowed people to show solidarity while protecting their identities. However, in the current era of advanced surveillance and censorship, simply wearing a mask is no longer enough. According to
This means they can be used as tools for those fighting against inequality or authoritarianism, helping people keep their assets secure and enabling transactions even in restricted environments.
Not all decentralized networks, however, are equally resistant to censorship.
Featured Image by Ahmed Zayan /