Bye Bye Brazil

Brazil’s only consolation that may have compensated for the price they paid for the World Cup was the possibility of holding that trophy aloft as proud winners. Alas, it is not to be and Brazil exited the tournament in a most humiliating manner.

The public cost of the World Cup, an estimated $14 billion and Fifa will make an estimated $2.5 billion (£1.5bn) profit. When compared to spending on social services, the cost of the World Cup is the equivalent of 61% of funding for education, or 30% of the funding for healthcare. Private companies, including those in the services and construction industries, will be the main beneficiaries of this public money. Adding to this cost is the forced evictions of the poor living in the favelas (slums) and the dispossession of indigenous people from their lands to build stadiums and parking lots.

The state security services have cracked down viciously on all anti-FIFA demonstrations across the country. At least a dozen or more people have been killed and hundreds have been arrested. On the first day of the World Cup, 47 people were arrested, and police shot rubber bullets at medics helping the wounded. The state security services have been accused of killing of the poor and homeless, including children, to “clean up” the favelas prior to the start of the World Cup.

In the words of ex-player Romario: “Fifa got what it came for: money. Things like transportation that affect the public after the tournament is over? They don’t care. You see hospitals with no beds, with people on the floor. You see schools that don’t have lunch for the kids. They found a way to get rich on the World Cup and they robbed the people instead. This is the real shame.”

In 2016 the Olympics are coming to Rio de Janeiro. If people were unhappy about the world cup, how will they feel about paying for Olympics? If people in Brazil found FIFA demanding and overbearing (and corrupt), wait until they meet the elite of the IOC.