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June 20, 2013

Brazilians in the streets and it has nothing to do with 'futbol' victory!

By Silvio Canto, Jr.

Everybody is focused on Turkey and the riots there.   However, Brazil is burning too and it started with an increase in bus fares:

"Political leaders here in Brazil's largest city braced for yet another round of demonstrations on Tuesday night by an increasingly powerful movement that has grown from complaints about bus fares to a broad challenge to political corruption, lavish stadium projects, the cost of living and substandard public services. "

Add a little police brutality and you have a first class protest.

Brazil will be hosting the next World Cup and Olympics.  It has been building new facilities and hotels to impress the visitors.  There are also significant delays and cost overruns.
 
These "riots" matter for several reasons:
 
1) There will be thousands of visitors in the country next year.   All of these protests could make crowd control very complicated.
 
2) Brazil confirms that "all politics is local".  It's great to build impressive facilities but don't forget that people also need schools and better transportation. 
 
This is what one Brazilian told Sky News:
"We're massacred by the government's taxes, yet when we leave home in the morning to go to work, we don't know if we'll make it home alive because of the violence.

"We don't have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact that we're not taking it anymore."

So here we are.  Soccer-crazy Brazilians are screaming that there are limits to their love for "futbol"!

Another person in the street said: "We need better education, hospitals and security - not billions spent on the World Cup.""

(P.S. We discussed the Brazil protests with Fausta Wertz on Wednesday's show.)
 
 

Everybody is focused on Turkey and the riots there.   However, Brazil is burning too and it started with an increase in bus fares:

"Political leaders here in Brazil's largest city braced for yet another round of demonstrations on Tuesday night by an increasingly powerful movement that has grown from complaints about bus fares to a broad challenge to political corruption, lavish stadium projects, the cost of living and substandard public services. "

Add a little police brutality and you have a first class protest.

Brazil will be hosting the next World Cup and Olympics.  It has been building new facilities and hotels to impress the visitors.  There are also significant delays and cost overruns.
 
These "riots" matter for several reasons:
 
1) There will be thousands of visitors in the country next year.   All of these protests could make crowd control very complicated.
 
2) Brazil confirms that "all politics is local".  It's great to build impressive facilities but don't forget that people also need schools and better transportation. 
 
This is what one Brazilian told Sky News:
"We're massacred by the government's taxes, yet when we leave home in the morning to go to work, we don't know if we'll make it home alive because of the violence.

"We don't have good schools for our kids. Our hospitals are in awful shape. Corruption is rife. These protests will make history and wake our politicians up to the fact that we're not taking it anymore."

So here we are.  Soccer-crazy Brazilians are screaming that there are limits to their love for "futbol"!

Another person in the street said: "We need better education, hospitals and security - not billions spent on the World Cup.""

(P.S. We discussed the Brazil protests with Fausta Wertz on Wednesday's show.)