World Cup riots in Brazil trigger riots and arrests
Damien McElroy. 26 Jan 2014
Issue Overview and Course Connection
The riots in Brazil are based around the spending of tax payers money on the World Cup. The country is hosting the 2014 world cup as well as the 2016 Summer Olympic games. This requires a lot of government funding to finance the building of new stadiums, complexes, and housing for all the athletes and tourists that will flock to Brazil. The citizens see these as poor for the country and only helping out the wealthy people of the country, while pushing the middle class and the poor class lower and lower into poverty. This theme of only helping the wealthy social class is not just isolated in Brazil, it is all over the globe, there is not a single country that is immune to the power that money beings with it. This is exactly what the people of Brazil are rioting against. They see the $11.5 billion dollar price tag that comes along with the building of all these stadiums, this includes 3.6 billion dollars that came directly from the tax payers of Brazil. All for what, unfinished stadiums, unfinished transportation, and plenty of money in the pockets of the people at the head of the operation. This is not just an issue facing the people of Brazil, but an example of the trouble that faces every person in the world. It is a true world issue when the rich use their money and power to get richer, all at the expense of the middle and lower class.
Key Stakeholders
FIFA is a major stakeholder in the 2014 world cup in Brazil, they do not for any reason want to cancel a World Cup, it doesn't matter to them what the economic outcomes for the country are. The only time a world cup has been cancelled has been due to WW2, the civil unrest in Brazil is no where close to a global issue (in there eyes) to cancel the World Cup. They want the World Cup to go on with any costs. seen evidently by the deaths of workers already.
The Brazilian government is a major stakeholder in this issue. it would look really bad on them if they were to call it quits and declare the World Cup over. It would be the first time it has happened in the history of the competition. It is no secret that Brazil is struggling for money at the moment. having to cancel the World Cup would be a major loss in tourism revenue, something that the country desperately needs
Then there are the citizens of Brazil, and their stance is split. There are some who cant wait for the World Cup to come to their home country. And then there are the people that are seeing how much money is being spent on the stadiums, on the housing that will accommodate all of the teams and tourists. How all of this spending is just increasing the poverty level and putting the country further into debit.
The Brazilian government is a major stakeholder in this issue. it would look really bad on them if they were to call it quits and declare the World Cup over. It would be the first time it has happened in the history of the competition. It is no secret that Brazil is struggling for money at the moment. having to cancel the World Cup would be a major loss in tourism revenue, something that the country desperately needs
Then there are the citizens of Brazil, and their stance is split. There are some who cant wait for the World Cup to come to their home country. And then there are the people that are seeing how much money is being spent on the stadiums, on the housing that will accommodate all of the teams and tourists. How all of this spending is just increasing the poverty level and putting the country further into debit.
Contributing Factors / Implications
The first factor that is contributing to the riots in Brazil are the economic outcomes of the World Cup, you can't spend 11.5 billion dollars and not see an economic backlash. The rioters in Brazil want to see economic expansion, with Teachers, hospitals, What this means for the country is that there be less public funding for projects that need to be completed. As the article highlights there are so many bad economic implications from having this much money poured into the World Cup and not into the public. As an example from the article "Demonstrators staged a sit-in along a line of lavatory bowls set along Copacabana beach in Rio to highlight that 70 per cent of the city's sewage was untreated before it was dumped in the bay". This directly shows that Brazil can spend money on stadiums and venues, but not on basic things like sewage; in a country that is hosting the Olympics in four years time. "Despite the popularity of the game, some demonstrators took aim at the earnings of players. “Wake up Brazil, a teacher is worth more than [the footballer] Neymar” was one slogan" (Site)
This dumping of sewage into the bay is not only showing how poor the money in Brazil is being handled, but also highlighting the environmental outcomes of what the poor spending. On the FIFA website it does state that the stadiums are upheld to a high standard, each having solar panels and each being upheld to a "comprehensive sustainability report" with things like waste management and power. It says nothing about the environmental factors that the lack of money put into the community have. Yes having stadiums that are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) approved is nice, but when the rest of the country is forced to pollute due to a lack of options, the environmental backlash from malformed spending is huge.
The Environment of Brazil will play a huge factor in the World Cup, and the spending of the World Cup. Brazil is a massive country with various different terrains and climates. One of them being the Amazon Rain Forest, which is the location for the Italy and England game. The funding to get transportation between this stadium and the airport -not only for this stadium but for the various ones spread about Brazil- is directly the reason why the costs of this World Cup is so high, with so little seemingly completed.
This dumping of sewage into the bay is not only showing how poor the money in Brazil is being handled, but also highlighting the environmental outcomes of what the poor spending. On the FIFA website it does state that the stadiums are upheld to a high standard, each having solar panels and each being upheld to a "comprehensive sustainability report" with things like waste management and power. It says nothing about the environmental factors that the lack of money put into the community have. Yes having stadiums that are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) approved is nice, but when the rest of the country is forced to pollute due to a lack of options, the environmental backlash from malformed spending is huge.
The Environment of Brazil will play a huge factor in the World Cup, and the spending of the World Cup. Brazil is a massive country with various different terrains and climates. One of them being the Amazon Rain Forest, which is the location for the Italy and England game. The funding to get transportation between this stadium and the airport -not only for this stadium but for the various ones spread about Brazil- is directly the reason why the costs of this World Cup is so high, with so little seemingly completed.
Bias
The article on the riots being triggered by the upcoming World Cup does very well to show the negative on how the World Cup will affect Brazil. But what it doesn't do is hint to any of the good that can come about hosting the World Cup. Take South Africa as an example; the country was at a huge social divide, between the whites and the blacks. During the World Cup this divide was broken through the support of their team. Then there was the money that they gained from having 60 million people watching the 45 games that took place. The world cup in South Africa is regarded as a success and there is no reason Brazil should be any different. "THE hosting of the football World Cup has been a triumph. Foreign fans, some of them sceptics when they arrived, have gone home as converts. Long after South Africans saw their own team eliminated from the tournament, they kept up their vuvuzela-blowing, flag-waving, patriotic exuberance across the racial divide. After the final whistle blew on July 11th, an emotional President Jacob Zuma thanked his compatriots for a “truly inspiring, moving and uplifting month”—which it was." (Site)