Commentary:
By Berenice Taboada Díaz

Nelson Mandela made a claim that “the World Cup [would] help unify people and if there is one thing in this planet that has the power to bind people, it’s soccer”. It has happened in other countries. South Africa and Germany know about it. During the World Cup, hosts cities go into debt and start a “social clean up”, prostitution and inequality raise, and political harassments are hidden behind “the joy of the Cup.”

Brazilian cities are not an exception to the rule. In this country, those same roads that 10 years ago celebrated the Workers’ Party´s arrival to the government and shared their economic and political achievements, these days reflect rebellion, nonconformity and rage through several protests.

Brazilians know that the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil implies high social, economic, political and even housing effects to the cities that will host the games. Economically, according to O Estado de Sao Paulo journal, Brazil’s original 2014 World Cup soccer stadiums budget jumped 42.9% to 8.0bn reais (US$3.61bn) because of a lack of detailed engineering plans, building overvaluation, fraud and allegations of corruption that, as a consequence, the resignation of Ricardo Teixeira, the head of Brazil’s football federation, who led it for 23 years. This corruption scandal coupled to the one at Petrobas —in 2006 the state-controlled oil company paid a total $1.3bn for a Texas refinery that had been bought by its seller for only $42.5m a year before— are clearly crying out for a credibility shock.

But this kind of International games cost more than just money. According to the National Coordination of Popular Committees for the World Cup, the Brazilian movement protesting against the negative impact of the event in the economic and social context of the country, at least 250.000 people were evicted from their houses to ‘make space’ for new buildings. This mass relocation of Brazilian families out of slums, together with the lack of information and prior notification about it, forced demolitions and low compensations for the land, opens the unknown about if it was really necessary to relocate these people or if it was an explicit goal of expelling the lower classes outside the city centers.

On the other hand, living cost in the 12 host cities has changed in these last two years. Average prices of food, transportation, utilities, groceries and rents have increased, even though the minimum wage stays stuck in 700 reais (about 300 dollars). The current inflation rate is already at 6.19% but specialists think it will increase after the arrival of 600,000 foreign visitors for the international soccer tournament.

Possible reaction to this situation was noticed by the national government and they started acting accordingly. They have increased the police and army presence in the streets, especially into the slums, such as Complexo da Maré. In addition, there are some local governments, such as Rio de Janeiro, that are closing yearly festivals in order to prevent possible social reactions. And soccer celebrities such as Pele, have asked Brazilians “to put problems behind” and keep the protests for a later time.

Yet, street protests still continue and have taken different forms. In several cities, many young assumed a mode called “rolezinho” which is the massive occupation of luxury shoppings. Some, like the Brazil’s Landless Workers Movement and Homeless Workers Movement, camp around the stadiums to stop the deaths of workers in the construction of stadiums, which recently rose to 8 fatalities. And in other cases, people simply express their discontent in the streets, in attempt of demanding the increase of government effort and funds to improve other key services, in public transport and national housing investment and protesting government expenditures on the international soccer tournament. For them, is wasteful spending on stadiums as public services languish. “We want FIFA-standard hospitals too”, was a common protest slogan.

35 days before the tournament opens and facing a wave of protests, the Brazilian president visited the Corinthians Stadium Arena, which will host the opening match of the World Cup Brazil 2014 on 12 June, but did not comment on the death of two workers during the building and 2,000 families who where claiming access to housing outside the place.

Tag: soccer