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Preparations in Brazil for the 2014 Fifa World Cup continue to encounter problems and scandal. With six construction workers dying and stadiums still not completed, the immediate worry is that the infrastructure required won’t be ready for the June kick-off.
Beneath that, however, remains a less quantifiable source of stress for the Brazilian government and Fifa—the potential return of the mass public protests seen at last year’s Confederations Cup.
In the summer last year—during the two week Confederations Cup– millions took to the streets of Brazil in protest. The images of violent clashes between protestors and police led the world to ask what could drive Brazil—a country obsessed with soccer—to so vociferously oppose hosting the World Cup?
As we count down the final months to the main event, the question now becomes—will the World Cup also be played with the backdrop of rioting and violent clashes?
Riot police control PMERJ in Rio de Janeiro in June 2013. Photo: credit Wikipedia Commons
The protests began in June of last year over a fare increase on public transport in Sao Paulo. The increase was from R$3.00 to R$3.20, the equivalent of €0.06, but a step too far for workers already suffering under severe financial strain. What began as a small, localised protest was criticised in the press and then attacked by the police. The violent reaction from the police served to inspire support for the protests, with rapidly increasing numbers taking to the streets. By the time the Confederations Cup kicked off on June 15, there were protests of over a million people in cities across Brazil.
The issues at stake had broadened to take in a myriad of grievances—including corruption, poor public services, abortion, gay rights and voting laws. Years of discontent and a traditionally passive populace now pushed to its limit, had formed an angry mass with the World Cup, and huge public spending to accommodate it, as its target.
Over recent months, Off the Ball has been keeping a close eye on events in Brazil through South American football expert and regular contributor to the show, Tim Vickery.
“Really in Brazil it’s a case of the same old power in the same old hands,” Vickery explained to Off The Ball in January.
“The old oligarchy still in power—inept, flabby, whiskey-sodden—and the Brazilian way of the elite getting things done, have been shown up in the global spotlight with the ineptitude of the World Cup organisation.”
Itaipava Arena Pernambuco, the 2014 World Cup venue in the city of Recife, Brazil. Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Many Brazilians have enjoyed a rapid rise in living standards over the past decade. 40 million have joined the middle class and another 18 million have escaped poverty due to a consumer-led boom, driven by an end to hyperinflation and easier access to credit. These benefits appear superficial however, as the changes have not been matched with significant change in the traditions of Brazil’s leadership and infrastructure.
The country is ranked fourth worst in the world in education—with some 3-6 million children not attending school—while healthcare and other essential services suffer cutbacks. The long standing dissatisfaction within the Brazilian public for their ruling classes, and the failure to match improved public services and greater government transparency to their booming economy, has been amplified by the imminence of the World Cup.
This disconnect between the people and the leadership has not been limited to the party political arena. Some of Brazil’s soccer greats—a once infallible deity in Brazilian society—have made themselves targets for public anger by criticising protesters, and showing a severe disconnect with the people on the streets.
Former Brazilian President Lula and Pelé. Photo: Wikipedia Commons
Former Brazilian footballer Pelé criticised the protests, saying in a TV appearance: "Let's forget all this commotion happening in Brazil, all these protests, and let's remember how the Brazilian squad is our country and our blood.” His words were met with widespread derision.
Ronaldo—another who enjoys a spot in the pantheon of Brazilian football greats—earned a similar fate when he said: ““A World Cup isn’t made with hospitals, my friend. It’s made with stadiums."
In recent months there have been renewed protests across Brazil but none approaching the scale seen during the Confederations Cup, with just a few hundred people turning out to some protests. However if there was hope that the public anger had dissipated entirely that was dispelled when, on February 12, 16,000 people marched in the capital city Brasilia. The resulting storm of tear gas and rubber bullets saw 42 people injured—including 30 police officers—and reminded Brazil that any easing of tensions since last summer is not guaranteed to hold.
Brazilian society has undergone major fundamental changes over the past year. That sudden and drastic change still doesn’t look like it’s complete, and where it goes next could define this World Cup.
“One idea Brazilians had—and I stress the past tense—of themselves was of a nation that was passive, almost to the point of idiocy. And that’s gone now,” Vickery told Off the Ball.
“The Brazil of May 2013 ain’t coming back and the Brazil of July 2014 has still got to be made. It’s going to be fascinating to see what kind of direction it’s going to be made in.”
“There are so many things in the mix, it’s such a fascinating situation. But what happens if Brazil go out early? That will change the entire tone of the tournament. Usually in a World Cup held elsewhere, if Brazil go out early it’s almost as if the World Cup ceases to exist. Millions switch off and get on with their lives,” Vickery said.
“What happens then? Will that ignite popular dissatisfaction? There are so many scenarios, it’s a little like making a long range weather forecast.”
For regular updates on the situation in Brazil and the countdown to the World Cup keep tuned in to Off the Ball.
This article originally appeared in Newstalk Magazine for iPad in February, for more details go here.
