Nicole MacDowell
Staff Writer
With the 2014 FIFA World Cup soccer (or football if you’re not from America) tournament set to open up this Thursday, the Brazilian population, as well as people from around the world, are protesting Brazil’s government over the sport.
“#NotGoingToBrazil” and “#NoVoyABrasilPorque” were both trending on Twitter this past weekend. While the tweets may remind some people of the popular “#SochiProblems” tag from the Olympics, these have less to do with unfinished roadways and more with political injustice.
One tweet from @LiteCoinNews reads:
#NotGoingToBrazil wasting billions while your people are in poverty…. soccer isnt worth it
— LiteCoin News (@LiteCoinNews) June 8, 2014
Another tweet from @BenjaminLoison stated:
Names of children killed by stray bullets in pre-#WorldCup2014 police raids on favelas #Brazil #NotGoingToBrazil pic.twitter.com/6Ui9D0wYUk
— Benjamin Loison (@BenjaminLoison) June 9, 2014
Twitter user @LaurenAlder had plenty to say about the protests, especially about how the riot police were dispatched to deal with the poor and the homeless that fill the streets of Brasil:
The homeless face 'savage beatings' as #FIFA demands social cleansing for #WorldCup2014 I'm #NotGoingToBrazil it's a concentration camp.
— Lauren AlderⓋ (@LaurenAlder) June 10, 2014
Brazilian military gear up for violent repression of protest during #WorldCup2014 #NotGoingToBrazilhttp://t.co/mGGP9Ph8rA
— Lauren AlderⓋ (@LaurenAlder) June 10, 2014
#FIFA stands for Freelance International Fraud Association.#NotGoingToBrazil to make crooks richer.
— Lauren AlderⓋ (@LaurenAlder) June 10, 2014
Lauren’s tweets highlight that the Brazilian government cares more about their athletic image than about the lives of their people.
One of Brazil’s top soccer stars, Pelé, even voiced his concerns in Mexico City back in May. “It’s clear that politically speaking, the money spent to build the stadiums was a lot, and in some cases was more than it should have been. Some of this money could have been invested in schools, in hospitals … Brazil needs it. That’s clear.”
He’s not wrong. Brazil’s infrastructure is falling apart. The amount of people living in poverty is astonishing. People will live anywhere they can: parks, sewers, the middle of the sidewalk if they have to. There aren’t enough hospitals to treat the sick and the ones that do exist don’t have the quality of medicine that most people need. After all the money Brazil has put into the World Cup and into the 2016 summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, the country is on its last leg. The country really needs to focus more on it’s own people before it focuses on pleasing the world.
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