Pages For Salvador Bahia Brasil Resources for Travel in Brazil

Saturday

Get It Together Brazil | World Cup Protests

Brazil appears to have hit a hiccup on the way to the World Cup taking place next year.  In all honesty the government and big investors should have seen this coming.

brazil protests world cup

They have been lucky all of these years to have a (for the most part) population pacified enough to put up with the over-the-top corruption and blatant misuse of public funds.  Now it appears that the relatively quick completion of shiny new multi million dollar soccer stadiums across the country has provided a collective focus for the frustrations of many.

Citizens in this country are accustomed to third-rate construction jobs that tend to go over schedule and budget however the sudden appearance of first-rate quality stadiums all over the country present a contrast that is difficult to ignore.  In Salvador da Bahia the metro rail system is still twenty years in the making.  The Metro has become a running joke for most Soteropolitanos (term referring to the inhabitants of Salvador, Bahia).  It has taken so long to complete that the situation is ridiculous.

It is completely understandable why people would be upset given the conditions of the school system, hospitals, amongst other things.  The corruption is nothing new.  Brazilians did not just find out about it and start to get upset.  Most people just complain about the condition of the country but feel powerless to do anything about it.

Maybe things will finally change.  That remains to be seen.

If they want to really push these issues to the forefront they are going to have to do something about the looting and other issues that are spiraling out of control.  The protest is going to have to be organized and focused on a collective goal.  Otherwise the government will wind up lowering the cost of public transportation for one year and build a few new schools and that will be it.

Here is a video that went viral where a Brazilian girl shares her take on the matter (in English):



Here is some more interesting quotes from various news sources about the protests.  It looks like the people want to stop the World Cup from coming.  They know it is not going to improve the country in the long term for most people.

When FIFA rolled into Brazil with the Confederations Cup earlier this month they thought the two-week tournament might be chaotic but they can’t have imagined the chaos would verge on revolution.

The anger that erupted across Brazil this week did not start because of the multi-billion dollar state investment in new football stadiums. But with hospitals, schools and public transport all woefully underfunded, the glitzy monoliths that were built so quickly at FIFA’s behest have become a convenient focal point for a new generation of protest. Their sustained public demonstration of anger is the largest display of dissent in the country for more than 20 years.

“Those responsible for the 2014 World Cup thought they could do what they wanted and that no one would do anything,” said Amir Somoggi, a finance and marketing consultant who works with some of Brazil’s biggest football clubs. “But this popular uprising shows that we are changing. Could it have come earlier? Yes. But it’s never too late to highlight the joke that is ridiculous public investment in stadium with little concern for public opinion.”

Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/06/21/brazils-world-cup-protests-intensify-as-countrys-politicians-and-fifa-squirm/#ixzz2WzeYGveG


In a speech broadcast nationally on Friday night the Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, said she accepted the need for change but warned that violence would not be tolerated and appealed to protesters not to endanger the World Cup.

More than a million people took to the streets on Thursday night in at least 80 cities in a rising wave of protest that has coincided with the Confederations Cup. This Fifa event was supposed to be a dry run for players and organisers before next year's finals, but it is police and protesters who are getting the most practice.

Longstanding problems such as corruption, dire public services, high prices and low levels of safety are also prominent among the range of grievances.

But the mega-event has been the lightning conductor. Many protesters are furious that the government is spending 31bn reals (£9bn) to set the stage for a one-time global tournament, while it has failed to address everyday problems closer to home.

1 comment:

  1. brazil world cup post is really good and I recently bought one from my huffpost.com/archive/ca/entry/to-pay-or-not-to-pay-someone-to-write-my-essay-for-me_b_14793970> articles earning. Your post is really informative and interesting at the same time.

    ReplyDelete

You Might Also Like:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...