I’m not much of a sports fan. So I found all that attention to the World
Cup annoying. I also found the constant references in the news to “team USA”
and all the "go USA" chanting annoying as well. Little did I realize there were
political reasons to not-like the World Cup. -សតិវ អតុ
From Revolutionary Communist Party—Canada:
Currently
and until mid-July, millions of people are watching the World Cup games in
Brazil. In one of the most enthusiastic countries for soccer, there have been
multiple protests, riots and strikes against the FIFA tournament.
FIFA
is officially non-profit, but is generally understood to be a great machine of
corruption that wastes public funds and gluts corporate partners, similar to
how the IOC functions for the Olympics (which will also be held in Brazil in
2016). Various levels of government have spent around 15 billion dollars to
build huge stadiums according to FIFA standards, but many of them will be
obsolete as soon as the tournament ends. The authorities are considering using
the Manaus stadium in the Amazon as a prison, while the historic Maracana
stadium has totally lost its charm according to many. Here we are not simply
talking of the systematic segregation created by the unaffordable ticket
prices; budgets for the construction and preparation of the World Cup have been
exceeded, as was the case in South Africa where the national debt doubled after
the 2010 World Cup.
What
is most shocking is the call for patriotism from the government and the
Brazilian elite, asking the masses not to denounce this charade and not to
demand any improvement of their conditions of life and work. According to them,
the whole country must unite behind the national team and shows pride in the
“development” driven by the World Cup. The bourgeois leaders from the so-called
Workers Party (that has been in power since 2002) only see the thin layer of
rich capitalists around them as they ignore the workers, peasants and the poor
from the favelas—cities in the hills surrounding the big cities like Sao Paulo
and Rio de Janeiro.
The
social cleansing of neighbourhoods around the stadiums have displaced nearly
250,000 people who have been expelled under the threat of police and officials,
who marked the houses of the to be expelled residents with paint like we do
with trees to be felled in a forest. Already, in June 2013, the largest
demonstrations in 20 years were held in Brazil against the increase of transit
rates, which added to the general increase in cost of living. These protests
were forcefully suppressed, as is the norm in Brazil. This year saw a similar
repression against public transport workers, who went on strike against the
advice of their union leaders and offered free transportation on certain days.
Teachers have also gone on strike to highlight the lack of resources for their
students, while the government released the check book for FIFA.
As
the Independent Popular Front of Rio de Janeiro—one of the many organizations
fighting for a revolutionary change in the country—says: “More worrisome than
the orchestrated campaign to discredit those who criticize the World Cup is the
movement orchestrated by the Brazilian State to expand the repressive apparatus
aiming to stifle the protests during the mega event—and most likely, after. This
movement has acted on two fronts: legislative and other overt (military and
police). The bills that aim to create the crime of terrorism in Brazil create
legal loopholes so that the judiciary can frame social movements and protesters
as terrorists.”
For
the rest of this story click
here.
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