Hours before the tourney kicked off, the country had been subjected to civil unrest with people going on strikes and engaging in street demonstrations in major Brazilian cities (including the capital Brasilia, Sao Paulo and Rio de Janeiro), voicing their concern that the government had spent too much money on hosting the World Cup while the country is on the brink of poverty. Protests aside, the death toll in building or renovating the stadia rose to eight last month when a construction worker at the stadium in Cuiaba was electrocuted.
On the average, one worker has been killed per month on the site’s construction since November, The Guardian reported. To better put this into perspective, in preparations for the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, only two workers died in the construction efforts. Other deaths attributed to the 2014 World Cup constructions in Brazil include an injury sustained at a site in the capital Brasilia, three workers dying in Sao Paulo, and three in the jungle city of Manaus, including a man whose head was crushed by a machine part.
Unions across Brazil are using the leverage of the World Cup in an effort to get concessions from authorities, as has happened before in other big sporting events. Ahead of South Africa’s World Cup in 2010, bus drivers went on strike. So far, it’s often worked, as in the case of federal police officers and garbage collectors in Rio de Janeiro who have won better wages recently.
Protests, which arose last year before the Confederations Cup in Brazil, have become only more vociferous. As many citizens are angry that the government has spent an estimated $14 billion for the tournament in a nation where the International Labor Organization says the average worker’s salary is $778 a month. Late last month, about 1,500 protesters clashed with police in the capital, Brasilia.
Stadium construction delays have also raised concerns that all the promised seats won’t be ready on time. Just two weeks ahead, of the FIFA General Secretary, Jerome Valcke, gave warnings to organizers in Natal, Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo, where the site of the opener was unable to host a full test.
Sao Paolo, known for its miles-long traffic jams, is hosting six matches of the World Cup, including the championship’s inauguration game on June 12 between the teams of Brazil and Croatia at the 70,000-seat Itakeran stadium. With the subway workers in Sao Paolo joining the train of protesters with an open-ended strike to demand hike in salaries and better package of social benefits, raises the most concern. The subway system of the city with a population of some 10 million serves an approximate 4.5 million daily volume of passengers and is likely to cause chaos in Brazil’s largest city ahead of the global football event. This is worrying because most fans heading to Thursday’s opening Cup match in Sao Paolo will need to use the subway.
Let’s Face Facts
Are the people over-reacting or plainly anti-football?
On the contrary, Brazil is known as the Samba country for their love and style of football. Known as one of the powerhouses of football with the likes of Pele, Cafu and Ronaldo Delima writing their name on the world map with their mesmerizing performances in the past three decades.
We certainly can’t fault them for their desire to have better wages, healthcare, education and fight for their civil rights. As an expert rightly said, sports tournaments have contributed to the decline of their economy, “Brazil was first awarded for World Cup and when they were awarded for the Olympics back in 2009, the country was experiencing a period of huge economic crisis. But since then, there’s been the downturn and, at the same time, the costs of the World Cup have soared. And that hass made people particularly angry, as we saw last year and the World Cup has become a real vehicle so to say, for these socio-economic grievances to be raised. At the same time, the World Cup directly has contributed, due to the spending, as also a way to get attention.”
If these issues are not resolved and protests continue even during the World Cup itself, it can ultimately become something which could overshadow the tournament. For the love of football, the issues should be addressed now and our dear Brazilian leader Dilma Rousseff should end the use of the riot police, army and tear gas on his people.
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