“Against the World Cup FIFA 2014 Solidarity with the revolt in Brazil..” Squat Odzisk in central Poznan, Poland
It’s been a week into the start of the World Cup, and despite the international media being somewhat excited by the protests there really isn’t that much to say about what’s going on. The potential strikes were all undercut by hard pressure from the bureaucracy and government. While there have been street protests, they have been very small and are mostly composed of the same people that show up to every protest.
As someone actually involved in the ongoing movement here, what the media’s been covering here has been comparatively insignificant. Sao Paulo has had a stronger showing in street protest thanks to the homeless workers movement, however the strikes which could have threatened the game didn’t materialize. There was a real opportunity to leverage the World Cup into big gains in wages and working conditions in the same way the Gari’s of Rio were able to use Carnival, but the opportunity was missed. I’ll be able to say more on this after I know more about what happened within the Sao Paulo metro workers union.
I think the movement will return in force after the cup, though it will be complicated by the upcoming election. Although people have been very upset with FIFA and what the government has done, the overwhelming majority is still watching the World Cup.
It should be noted that the anti-government sentinment hasn’t been a monopoly of the far left. At the opening of the Cup the rich white Brazilians wealthy enough to attend chanted “Ei Dilma, vai tomar no Cu”. As well as showing some serious ingratitude for a regime that has served rich white brazilians faithfully, it was of course horribly sexist. “Vai tomar no Cu”, while used in Brazil basically like “fuck-you”, means literally “you’ll take it in the ass”. I find it unlikely they would have done the same if Lula were still in power. The International media of course decided to skip over reporting this, anything that makes rich white Brazilians look bad isn’t a very good story.
I’d also like to address a lot of my friends and many in the American and International left over the World Cup and solidarity. It really doesn’t matter if you watch the World Cup or not. The idea that making an individual choice to boycott FIFA is going to change things or show your solidarity is absurd. That’s exactly the logic of capitalism and neoliberalism anyways, voting with your dollars or in this case, the ad revenue from your viewership.
FIFA has done some terrible things here, however the most terrible thing is that they provide a convenient excuse for the Brazilian ruling class to do what they’ve wanted to do anyways. I read an account of the demolition of the favela of Metro near where I lived where the reporter naively reported that the area would be a parking lot in time for the Final match. That project, like most of the infrastructure projects pushed through with the World Cup, won’t actually be completed in time for any part of the Cup. But the elite in Rio have wanted to demolish that Favela for a long time, right by the metro station, near Maracana, across the street from the state university and near a wealthy upper middle class neighborhood.
This is something that most talk of the World Cup, most criticism of FIFA has completely missed. What’s happening isn’t just about FIFA, it’s been going on since long before the World Cup and it will continue after the international media is done shedding crocodile tears. It’s a process of removal, gentrification and the restructuring of the cities of Brazil to be more attractive to foreign and domestic capital
This is also precisely what annoys me about the “I’m boycotting FIFA” left, besides the individualist logic and the thinly veiled intellectual elitism that goes along with most anti-sports sentiment. You want to show solidarity with the people of the favelas evicted, teargassed, murdered in the street? You want to show solidarity with the workers who died building the stadiums or who’ve been fired for striking?
Then don’t sit around talking about how you wont watch FIFA. No one really gives a fuck if you’re watching the World Cup or not. If you want to show solidarity with the people here, with the movement here. Act. Fight.
You could make a demonstration in solidarity with those evicted from the favelas outside the local brazilian consulate. You could push unions to send solidarity statements supporting the metro workers of Sao Paulo who were fired for participating in the strike. Hell if you want to do internet activism send a picture of you and some friends with signs in support of the workers, most of them would be thrilled to know people across the world were in solidarity with their struggle. The best thing you could do of course, is dedicating yourself to tearing down the capitalist system.
I don’t mean to be overly harsh, but if the brutal, soul-crushing poverty and suffering that people face every day here in Brazil is just being used to make yourself feel good about not watching soccer, you sure as hell aren’t showing solidarity with the people here.
If you’re in the US, or Europe, or anywhere in the world, and you really want to actually show solidarity with the poor and oppressed here in Brazil, than it’s a hell of a lot more than the World Cup that you need to fight. Sure, FIFA’s fucked up, but FIFA’s an excuse. It’s Brazilian capitalism, world capitalism and world imperialism that’s destroyed people’s lives. That’s what has been destroying lives and murdering people for years and which will continue to do so long after the World Cup is over. When the World Cup finishes and everyone forgets about Brazil, the police and military will still be murdering people in the favelas and beating protesters in the street.
Solidarity with the oppressed here means dedicating yourself to tearing down this fucked up capitalist system. It means going to workplaces, organizing protests, building collective power that has the capacity to show meaningful solidariity. It means getting the fuck out of the narcisstic twitter campaigns that pass for activism in the hyper-individualistic US, and putting in real work.
We need solidarity here in Brazil, now as well as after the World Cup is over. If you want to really show it I have about a million suggestions, starting with showing your support in the campaign to re-admit the dismissed subway workers, and ending with the overthrow of the ruling class.