Landlord Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 I admittedly don't follow soccer much but I've been keeping my eye on the World Cup in Brazil and everything surrounding it, and for lack of better phrasing the whole thing just stinks. People have started and been protesting Brazil's government's management of funds and resources to this venture, and it makes you wonder if, as a global society, we are just putting too much emphasis on these sorts of things, because Brazil is nothing new. Sochi had all kinds of problems and while most of them were pretty humorous in certain respects, things like slaughtering stray dogs aren't, and plenty of World Cup and Olympic host sites have thrown themselves into massive debt to host and never got the economic boost that they were looking for. Events like these are supposed to be about cooperation and unity and celebrating backgrounds on a global scale, right? Anyways here's a few articles, probably sensationalized a bit, but discouraging nonetheless. #NotGoingtoBrazil Is the Latest Rallying Cry of the World Cup The news: The upcoming FIFA World Cup in Brazil has been courting controversy for months. Now, merely days before kickoff, protesters are using a Twitter hashtag to voice their discontent. Over the weekend, #NotGoingtoBrazil and #NoVoyABrasilPorque became populist hotbeds of anger and frustration at the Brazilian government. While these hashtags are certainly reminiscent of #SochiProblems, the tweets are less focused on unfinished hotels and toilet troubles and more on the underlying political and infrastructural problems that have plagued this World Cup. http://www.policymic.com/articles/90829/notgoingtobrazil-is-the-latest-rallying-cry-of-the-world-cup?utm_source=policymicTBLR&utm_medium=main&utm_campaign=social This Horrific Video Will Completely Change Your View of the 2014 World Cup in Brazil There will be a raucous chorus of national anthems next summer. There will be a grandstand packed with screaming fans, a horde of flashing cameras, and plenty of soccer balls hitting nets. There will also be a thought in the back of your head. Just how much does this matter? Protests that originally stemmed from high public transportation fares morphed into calls for sweeping political reform last month. A soccer ref stabbed a player in an altercation mid-match, only to be beheaded by a storm of angry friends and family members this past weekend and have his head mounted on a spike. Rapper MC Daleste was shot and killed on stage Saturday night. Somewhere in between, Brazil hosted and won FIFA's Confederations Cup. The aftermath of the attack on the soccer referee. Warning: footage is extremely graphic. http://www.policymic.com/articles/53379/this-horrific-video-will-completely-change-your-view-of-the-2014-world-cup-in-brazil 13 Powerful Photos Show How Rio Has Become a War Zone Just Months Before the World Cup International sporting events are supposed to be about unity and sportsmanship, qualities that bring the global community together. But sometimes the human cost of staging these events is too much to ignore. While Qatar, host of the 2024 World Cup, has been accused of human rights abuses of its migrant workers, this year's host is dealing with some serious problems of its own. Brazil will host the FIFA World Cup this summer and the Summer Olympics in 2016. In preparation for two of the biggest sporting events in the world, authorities in Rio have been staging massive "clean-ups" that many believe amount to serious human rights abuses. Around 19,000 families near development sites have been forced to relocate with little notice or compensation. Violence has risen in the area, leading to deadly clashes between gangs and the police. As with Sochi and Qatar, neither FIFA nor the International Olympic Committee have chosen to address these events. Quite simply, the slums of Rio have turned into war zones, and innocent people are getting caught in the conflict. Here are 13 photos that show how Rio is transforming in the lead-up to the World Cup: http://www.policymic.com/articles/86507/13-powerful-photos-show-how-rio-has-become-a-war-zone-just-months-before-the-world-cup Link to comment
Creighton Duke Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 As with Sochi and Qatar, neither FIFA nor the International Olympic Committee have chosen to address these events. Quite simply, the slums of Rio have turned into war zones, and innocent people are getting caught in the conflict. Here are 13 photos that show how Rio is transforming in the lead-up to the World Cup: http://www.policymic.com/articles/86507/13-powerful-photos-show-how-rio-has-become-a-war-zone-just-months-before-the-world-cup Slums of Rio, Sao Paulo, Recife, Salvador, etc. have been war zones forever, hombre. Check out "City of God" or especially "Tropa de Elite" for a pretty realistic perspective on life in the favela and the relations between favela gangs and national police/military. What's really happening here is the protests from last June are being amped up leading up to the Cup and the police will be more swift to intervene which will lead to some violence and deaths. Shortly thereafter, there wil be a bunch of unnecessary articles from North American journalists on poverty, inequality, and corruption in Brazil, people calling to strip the Olympics from Brazil, the ouster of Rousseff in the upcoming election...and ultimately nothing will come of any of it. Don't get me wrong, countries are starting to wise up and realize that hosting these types of major sporting events is nowhere worth the cost and hassle and we'll soon see Olympics, etc. in undesireable locations and countries who will sharply inflate their currencies in order to finance such projects, crippling their futures in the process. ...all that being said, if I could, I'd be down there in a heartbeat. 2 Link to comment
StPaulHusker Posted June 11, 2014 Share Posted June 11, 2014 This is everything you need to know about FIFA and the World Cup by John Oliver. http://extramustard.si.com/2014/06/09/john-oliver-fifa/ Link to comment
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