Brazil is in the spot light for these coming years as it is going to host the FIFA’s world cup this year (2014) and the summer Olympic games in 2016.
Both FIFA and the Olympic games promise the flux of thousands of tourists to the events. Numbers that will be impossible to accommodate without opening new spaces, building more stadiums, hotels, transportation systems, etc…
News articles are estimating that Brazil is spending from $63 billion to a a trillion USD in “infrastructure upscaling”, a process that is better known as urban gentrification (refer to Solidere’s gentrification of Down Town Beirut for a closer to home example) . You kick out and evict local residents that are usually poor and acquire the land to invest in more lucrative investments. Gentrification is needed to build the hotels and the spaces that FIFA deems acceptable for the World Cup to happen.
This is being done by a process that has come to be known as “pacification” as explained in the video above. For a better idea, check the pictures below.
A mom washes the blood of her kid, executed during the military occupation. There will be no investigation. (Revolution-news.com)
In two communities, state forces have issued “collective” arrest warrants – that means any civilian could be arrested just because living there. (Revolution-news.com)
Street vendors protest as police expel them from the area around the FIFA Fan Fest during the inauguration in Fortaleza, June 8, 2014. Fortaleza will host six soccer matches of the 2014 World Cup. Picture taken June 8, 2014. REUTERS/Davi Pinheiro
I never really liked football but what is going on in Brazil should make any hardcore fan disgusted at the sheer horror and inhumanity that is going on there.
Boycott FIFA!
Disclosed Reflections 