The demonstrations in Brazil are not about a 20-cent rise in bus fares just as Turkey’s protests were not about some trees in Gezi Park.
An estimated $30 billion will be spent before next year’s World Cup in Brasil much of that disappearing straight into the pocket of corrupt businesses and suspicious cost overruns. People are realizing that the billions spent on the mega events is going into the pockets of FIFA and the corrupt construction firms.
In the last couple of years the Brasilian government have conducted near-military operations to “pacify the favelas” promising public security for the World Cup.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in dozens of cities to express anger at the rises in public transport costs but also their indignation at many other issues, from government corruption to the seemingly unlimited state spending on the World Cup. SOYMB previously blogged upon the Brazil’s world cup costs here. Brazilian news announcers are sounding like football commentators broadcasting a live match in their coverage of the protests. The media is reporting that demonstrators are holding up posters, which read, "We don't need the World Cup" and "We need money for hospitals and education". Actors and celebrities are making videos stating “Don’t Come to the World Cup.”
FIFA, Sepp Blatter, urged protesters not to "use football to make their demands heard". He does not reproach governments such as the South African in 2010 and the Brasilian government of hijacking the event as PR occasions for their regimes.
Brasilian striker Hulk was quoted as saying "After seeing the people on the streets claiming for improvements, it makes me feel like joining them. They are doing the right thing, what they are saying makes sense and we have to hear them.”
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, a leftist guerrilla in her youth, said she is proud of the tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to demand better education, schools and transport. "The size of yesterday's demonstrations shows the energy of our democracy, the strength of the voice of the streets...” Nevertheless, police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to suppress demonstrations and the government warned that it would deploy its para-military National Public Security Force.
In Brasil, sporting circuses are no longer suffice in placating the people.
An estimated $30 billion will be spent before next year’s World Cup in Brasil much of that disappearing straight into the pocket of corrupt businesses and suspicious cost overruns. People are realizing that the billions spent on the mega events is going into the pockets of FIFA and the corrupt construction firms.
In the last couple of years the Brasilian government have conducted near-military operations to “pacify the favelas” promising public security for the World Cup.
Hundreds of thousands of protesters have taken to the streets in dozens of cities to express anger at the rises in public transport costs but also their indignation at many other issues, from government corruption to the seemingly unlimited state spending on the World Cup. SOYMB previously blogged upon the Brazil’s world cup costs here. Brazilian news announcers are sounding like football commentators broadcasting a live match in their coverage of the protests. The media is reporting that demonstrators are holding up posters, which read, "We don't need the World Cup" and "We need money for hospitals and education". Actors and celebrities are making videos stating “Don’t Come to the World Cup.”
FIFA, Sepp Blatter, urged protesters not to "use football to make their demands heard". He does not reproach governments such as the South African in 2010 and the Brasilian government of hijacking the event as PR occasions for their regimes.
Brasilian striker Hulk was quoted as saying "After seeing the people on the streets claiming for improvements, it makes me feel like joining them. They are doing the right thing, what they are saying makes sense and we have to hear them.”
Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff, a leftist guerrilla in her youth, said she is proud of the tens of thousands of people taking to the streets to demand better education, schools and transport. "The size of yesterday's demonstrations shows the energy of our democracy, the strength of the voice of the streets...” Nevertheless, police have used tear gas and rubber bullets to suppress demonstrations and the government warned that it would deploy its para-military National Public Security Force.
In Brasil, sporting circuses are no longer suffice in placating the people.
No comments:
Post a Comment