Police violently and brutally dispersed protesters outside the Castelo stadium Tuesday as Brazil played against Mexico.
Using tear gas and water cannons, police left dozens injured and over 30 arrested for daring to speak out against the government and its overspending on a World Cup that has so far brought nothing to the people of the land, save for further marginalization, further disregard and blatant violence.
This is nothing new to the scene. Over the year leading up to the World Cup, an estimated 250,000 people were
evicted according to the
Popular Committee for the World Cup and Olympics. Scores have been
killed, too many to document, they say. Protests have been ongoing, driven by feelings of disappointment shared by the people of a developing nation who have so far gained little from the massive projects its own government has launched under the pretext of “order and progress”.
But the people have yet to eat the fruit of this labor as resident journalist,
Raphael 'Tsavkko' Garcia told me.
“The people, the indigenous feel let down…they feel as though they are being trampled on by massive bulldozers (literally), killed and slaughtered for the world’s entertainment and no one seems to be blinking an eye,” he said.
Like many others of his generation, he feels as though he needs to leave the country in order to be able to survive. A feeling many of us Lebanese share and sometimes even crave. So why is it that we completely disregard the plight of others when it is so similar to ours, and only for a few measly hours of dare-I-say “entertainment”?
The alleged wasteful spending for the World Cup, estimated at a whopping 15 to 30 Billion dollars can be compared to the endless years of corruption that our country has succumbed to.
Today our own
Union Coordinating Committee once again decried our government’s failure to address mass corruption that has been the direct cause for the failure to fund a wage hike for public servants in the country, among many other things.
The UCC of Lebanon, like the
angry Brazilians are only calling for their rights, but blood on the other side of the world has been spilled. The Brazilian police force, known for its brutality has left dozens wounded, arrested and even killed, according to Garcia.
“The slums, also known as favelas, have been “cleansed” of several of their residents who have no other place to live, nowhere else to go,” he lamented.
“They now sleep on the side of the road, if the police don’t find them first.”
Football is viewed as some sort of religion to Brazilians, so why is it that something so dear to them has now become the cause of their demise and discontent?
HBO’s John Oliver nailed it in terms of what exactly is wrong with this year’s World Cup, dubbing it the “world’s most expensive bird toilet”. Please take the time the watch the video, which pinpoints the controversy surrounding the issue.
As the video clearly points out, the problem resides in the cost of the World Cup, mainly in the expense of the Manaus stadium, one of twelve others hosting the football games, and which will only be used four times throughout this tournament.
The controversial
Manaus stadium was demolished and reconstructed in a remote area that desperately could have used the money for other purposes that include providing homes to many of its poverty stricken inhabitants. Over twice the national average of Manaus residents live in slums and one in four houses doesn’t have access to running water, according to
The Guardian.
Manaus is situated in the middle of the Amazon rainforest and access to the city is limited to boat or plane, an attribute that has helped preserve both the nature of the land and culture of the indigenous who inhabit it.
Many others have even dubbed the building of the stadium the prelude to a disaster that would follow if more attention is brought to the town in the form of tourism and development.
Why? Here’s the catch. Brazil’s government has so far failed to complete the construction of a monumental hydroelectric dam across the
Xingu River, home to several indigenous tribes, some of whom have never even been contacted.
Brazil has a history of negligence and catastrophes when it comes to building dams. The Balbina dam near Manaus, built in the 1980’s, flooded 2,400 square km of rainforest for a piffling capacity of 250 MW. Its vast, stagnant reservoir makes it a “methane factory”, according to the National Institute for Amazonian Research.
“Proportionate to output, it emits far more greenhouse gases than even the most inefficient coal plant”.
Building a stadium of massive proportions, one situated in the Amazonian heartland, much to the disgruntlement of several foreign teams who have complained of the stifling heat, may be the cause (read: excuse) for further development down the line.
Chief Raoni, one of the most outspoken indigenous leaders who has tirelessly vocalized the plight of the natives and the effect “the ways of the white man” has had on their land even launched a world tour in hopes of raising awareness on the matter.
Chief Raoni who is speculated at being just above the age of 80 is still fighting for the protection and the respect of official demarcation lines of indigenous lands in the rainforest. He is strongly opposed to the construction of the Belo Monte dam currently underway in Para state.
For more information on the effects of the Belo Monte Dam, please watch this video produced by myself almost four years ago.
Gert-Peter Bruch, president of Planet Amazon and a man I proudly call a friend (although we have yet to meet) has said in an interview recently published in an
Australian daily, that Raoni’s visit aims at holding European and Brazilian leaders accountable during the World Cup season.
“European companies are involved in the Amazon and if enough awareness is raised, people may actually start to listen.”
The Amazon rainforest is home to thousands of tribal peoples and species of animals and plants that have yet to be discovered and documented.
In light of the
global environmental catastrophe currently befalling the Earth’s climate I say that it is high time we raise noise to a cause that affects us all.
Protests by Brazilians angry about alleged wasteful spending for the World Cup have only been miniscule in comparison to the popularity of the game. Yet, this should not act as discouragement to the many activists who realize the value of the Amazon rainforest, contrary to Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff.
Boycott the
World Cup for the triviality and corruption it stands for. It is in my opinion nothing but a charade actively covering up our failure as a species that has not evolved past the bloody games of the coliseum. Only this time, we are looking away from the blood and turning our attention to a rolling rubber ball when we should really be looking at the state of our spinning Earth.
Nadine Mazloum is currently the editor for LBCI Online English News. She received her Honors in Communication Arts (Media Production) from The University of Western Sydney in 2008.