The British Blacklist July 2014 http://www.thebritishblacklist.com/shakara-speaks-the-world-cup-sport-art-politics-spelt-ans/
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I enjoy The World Cup. It is a thoroughly engaging sporting event that seemingly unites the world in appreciation of one unified spectacle centred around what many consider the world’s most popular sport – Football. While I don’t usually follow football, you would be forgiven for thinking I was somewhat a fanatic when the World Cup comes around. Admittedly, were there no Afrikan Nations featured in the tournament my interest would significantly diminish, but this indeed is far from the case and I like many, revel in the #TeamAfrika vibrations in support of however many Afrikan teams are represented – as well as a number of the Southern American teams, including Brazil, who are historical favourites with us mostly due to Brazil’s significant number of players darker than blue featured among their ranks.
The last two World Cups however have not been without controversy as the people of South Afrika in 2010 and now Brazil in 2014 have directly challenged this world event being held in their nations amidst the many social injustices they are facing on a daily basis. It may seem strange to many that in a nation such as Brazil – well known for its love of football that according to a Datafolha poll, less than half of the Brazilian people support the hosting of the games in their nation.
A closer look at Brazillian society may shed some light on why this is the case. According to the Gina Coeficient Index, up to a third of Brazil’s population is considered poor, largely due to the fact that a reported 10% of the rich receive 42.7% of the entire income of the nation, whilst the poorest 34% receive less than 1.2%. Such disparities manifest themselves in a myriad of social issues, the first being the well-known Favelas (slums), which house approximately 11.4 million of Brazil’s citizens, a lack of investment in public education and a rise in middle class investment in private schooling which means children in public schools are subjected to poor educational standards and serious concerns continue to plague the healthcare system as exemplified particularly by high infant mortality rates.
So, it is no surprise that the people of a nation who recently held the Confederations Cup, is currently hosting the World Cup and is set to host the Olympics in 2016, are wondering how its government is finding all the money and other resources to expend on these events. In truth, as in any country facing such challenges, social movements spring up from among the people in order to address these problems and part of the activity of these social movements becomes challenging to the government. The protests in Brazil therefore, are not to be seen as simply a response to the World Cup, but rather a continuation of a multi-faceted social movement. Hundreds of thousands of people have been protesting since the Confederation Cup in 2013 and have vowed to make their presence felt for the entire period of the World Cup.
The current wave of protests have been sparked by a number of issues, initially in 2012-13, over pricing on public transport gave rise to “Revolta do Busão” (Bus Rebellion). Then protests began to address other issues such as the extortionate tax rate (27%) for basic goods, including food as well the income tax, which reportedly eats up over 40% of the average Brazilian’s wage, while the infrastructural issue that the government are duty bound to address with said public funds remain in perpetually poor condition.
It is often said that politics and sport do not mix. This popular adage was seemingly supported by retired Brazillian football legend Juhnino during the BBC broadcast of the tournament when in response to a report on demonstrators outside the match of the day, he attempted to suggest that the people “Should protest the Government – not the football” – an incredibly short sighted statement as events like the World Cup are inextricably tied to governmental and economical institutions.
Under the leadership of President Dilma Rousseff, the Brazilian government is expected to spend $14 billion on the World Cup, more than any nation previous. Most of this money was supposed to be spent on urban development in areas such as transportation – roads as well as public, in host cities. However serious question marks have been raised at the extent of money spent on building stadiums, which has actually come from the public purse; a serious point of contention as the government previously promised that funds for all stadiums would come exclusively from private investment.
On top of this, although jobs for major international events are said to have a positive impact on job creation, as London learned during the 2012 Olympics, the number of jobs promised does not always come to fruition. Also, preparation for the World Cup was delayed by various strikes over workers’ conditions, issues which were more or less ignored due to FIFA deadlines for completion of work; some of which were enforced by some public threats of relocating the event by FIFA to Brazil’s local organizing committee. In a document entitled “Major Events and Human Rights Abuses in Brazil”the “National Coalition of Local Committees for a People’s World Cup and Olympics” report that in April 2012:
“There were 18 registered work stoppages in 8 of the 12 stadiums that will be used for the World Cup… In all of these protests, the list of demands included at least some of the following aspects: wage increases, improvement of working conditions (especially in areas of security and safety, health and food) increase in overtime pay, and end to over accumulation of tasks and inhumanely extended working shifts and the concession of benefits such as healthcare, meal provision, transportation and others”.
Then there is the issue of forced relocations and evictions. Estimates regarding the sheer number of people who have been forcibly removed from their abodes in response to development for the World Cup ranges from 170, 000 to 250, 000 people. This issues is compounded by the manner in which these evictions are carried out. Raquel Rolnik, United Nations special rapporteur on the right to adequate housing stated:
“We’ve received complaints about violent evictions in which families received notifications to leave their homes in a few hours carrying their belongings and then immediately had their homes demolished. There’s an absolute lack of transparency and public information.
Compensation measures, resettlement plans and assistance programmes are not presented in advance, nor disclosed in public.
The country is paying a very high price. Brazil has bowed to pressure to change federal laws, has passed over some citizens’ rights and has financed billions to rebuild stadiums at the expense of investment in important sectors—all in the name of the World Cup and the Olympics.”
Further concerns have been raised regarding the extent to which labour has been imported and the impact this is having on the nations citizens.
So it is ludicrous when faced with all these negative social indicators that the people should be expected to adopt an A-political approach to the World Cup. It seems that we are expected to see the Games as yielding long term benefit for the nation, even when much of these so called benefits appear to revolve around the estimated 3.4. million tourists who will descend upon the nation for the World Cup and the extended vitality this will provide for the tourist industry in the foreseeable future. Tourism as a viable road map for sustained economic development is a strategy that only appears applicable to so called developing nations particularly in Afrika and through the Americas. It presupposes that so called “developed” nations will become so endeared to the spirit of a “developing” nation, as expressed in the wide smiles of its citizens, their songs, their exotic food and their dancing feat, enough to be inspired to “invest” millions over the coming years. The irony of this is that those same so called developed nations maintain their economic strength via the control of industries, goods, resources and services – not by enticing the world to come and visit them.
Take a look at the primary sponsorship for the World Cup for example, and you will find an extensive list of Euro-American Coorperate Capitalism including, McDonlads Adidas, Visa, Johnson & Johnson, Budweiser and the ever ubiquitous Coca-Cola to name but a few. Emirates and Hyundai represent the Arab and Asian economic bastions, while Brazil is represented by the Bank Banco Intau, Liberty Seguros the international subsidiary of an American based insurance company and Garotoa – a sweet company which is a subsidiary of Nestle. This is hardly surprising as FIFA itself is a body which has been historically dominated by European sensibilities. So whilst the world is sold the narrative of all the good that will befall Brazil as a result of hosting the World Cup, it is necessary to realize that what is really taking place is simply foreign companies are getting the chance to export their brands and expand their investment opportunities. It is hard to see how foreign companies with an ethos of mass capital, competition and monopoly are going to assist the development of independent structures in other nations in areas of similar industry. Is it an accident that the first World Cup on Afrikan soil was held in South Afrika who in spite of all proclamations of being a ‘rainbow nation’, contains arguably the longest standing and most deeply imbedded minority White population who still dominate some 80% of the SA economy? It would seem therefore that “developing” nations are being encouraged to sell themselves in form of National Prostitution, in which recognition on the world stage is a tool of seduction designed to facilitate a process of rape without resistance, where foreign co-operations can enter with frolic and plant the seeds of its own growth.
With Politics and Economics, the most lasting export is Culture and whilst such international tournaments are today sold on the basis of universal brotherhood and globalisation, the context in which they are executed remains exceedingly European. The negative response to these protests is indicative of the fact that even though it is now acceptable for the Culture of the Afrikan diaspora (remembering that Brazil is a majority black nation) to express itself in song, dance and maybe even style of football, the moment that Culture begins to inform Politics and Economics – things have gone too far. In his book Decolonising the Afrikan Mind, Nigerian political analyst Baba Chinweizu – using the Olympics as a case study, questions the validity of such international tournaments to the Afrikan world:
“Does the Black World need the Olympics? I think not. I say this in spite of the billing given the Olympics as the Worlds Most Important Amateur athletics competition; and in spite of our penchant for “putting Africa on the map”. It is my contention that the Olympic Games are neither in fact or name the World Games they pretend to be – that is they are not games organized by all nations, governed by all nations and free from political domination by a parochial minority of nations.”
‘Are you suggesting that I should not support my team?’ You ask. ‘But what of the players on the pitch? ‘ You ask. The answer is no – I am not attempting to deflate anyone’s sense of patriotism or desire to see their country do well. The players on the pitch much like the construction workers mentioned earlier are little more than employees – albeit very well paid employees. Many of them are children of the very same conditions that those in the Favelas continue to experience and are making a way for themselves in a corrupt world. If you look throughout Afrikan teams you will find many players who use their recent affluence to attempt to make significant positive changes in their home communities. Ghanaian mid-fielder Sulley Muntari’s recent act of generosity – handing out money to Brazilian locals, is but one example of this. It is noticeable that while Mutari’s actions have not be headline news, FIFA fails to address corruption within its own ranks as it instead focuses on allegations of corruption within the Ghanaian Football authority – allegations which have nothing to do with the World Cup.
So no, I am not telling anyone not to support their team, but I do believe it is important to see such events for the totality of what they are and not just the spectacle that is put before our eyes. Those who control these events know very well how to use World Euphoria as a sleeper pill. Until masses of people become intolerant to the way in which these international bodies are allowed to exploit people in the name of major sporting events, such exploitation will only continue. I believe there will come a time when an all-out boycott by spectators as well as players, will become necessary. This may involve establishing an entire new infrastructure that facilitates a World Cup without human rights abuses. Chinweizu in the aforementioned book addresses the possibility of Afrikans leading on such an endeavor:
“What is involved here is seizing the initiative. Those who persist in believing that global initiative in all matters must be left to the West might shrink from such a bold step….. such an in initiative would be vitalizing for the psyche of the Black World…. It would free from the thrall of Western definitions yet another corner of our sense of how things ought to be. Initiative exercised in defining significant parts of our relationships in the world, will, I submit do far more for our sense of dignity and self-respect than all the tantrums, protests and out pouring’s of moral outrage we now tend to resort to.”
ShakaRa Speaks On It by @ShakaRaBKS for the british blacklist
Excellent article. I enjoyed it a lot.