Football Worldcup 2014

On the night of June 25, 2013, at least 1,000 residents of the Rocinha slum, south of Rio de Janeiro, gathered to protest. They demanded the completion of all the sanitation work in their neighbourhood, instead of an expensive transportation system for tourists.

The Brazilian Congress and the authorities approved numerous exceptions to important democratic rules in the last five years to favor private interests. It is good that the Brazilian people defend themselves against it. Even if it is to protect football.

According to the National Movement of the Popular Committees of the Cup 170,000 people are affected by evictions and lost their homes. Despite international standards for forced removals which are recognized in the Brazlian law, a majority of the affected will not be compensated adequately.

Brazilian athletes and activists choose sport trainings as a form of creative protest. They want to call attention to the dismal training conditions for the mega-event and they demonstrate: sport is more than a commercial spectacle.

The Four Sisters, Brazils largest construction companies, are the big donors to political campaigns. And also they are the big winners, as a study showed: for every dollar donated the companies recieved 6.5 half dollars back in public works contracts.

The Brazilian government has planned a "sustainable World Cup". Great distances for the visitors and participants, and the immense construction works make it difficult to comply with the green agenda. Moreover: civil society actors have been largely ignored by the government initiative.

The burden for Brazil's costly stadiums is mainly carried by the habitants of the poorest neighborhoods, the favelas. That the habitants generally had little or no formal education and were insufficiently informed of their rights was exploited by the authorities.

Analysts believe that the sex market will be very active during the World Cup. In Brazil, prostitution is not a crime, but it is not regulated as a profession either.