The demands behind the protests - 03-02-2014
On Friday the Popular Committees of the World Cup published a list of their 8 demands for the federal and state governments in Brazil. This is attracting a good amount of interest in Brazil and has been shared on the blogs of some of the most popular sports journalists in Brazil. So far, I haven’t seen an English language version of these demands so I’ve translated them below.
As an introduction and caveat, the protests around the World Cup bring together a wide cross-section of people with a variety of concerns, motivations and demands – from doctors wishing their hospitals were getting the lavish upgrade afforded to football stadiums to Black Bloc anarchists who fear the government will use the World Cup to criminalise protest and evict vulnerable people from city streets.
The Popular Committees are amongst the best organised of these protest groups and are active in all 12 of the host cities. Therefore, the 8 demands listed below are amongst the most conherent of sources available at the moment for understanding the motivations behind the World Cup protests.
At the same time, these Popular Committees are at the more radical end of the spectrum and have a sharper political and ideological agenda than the majority of protestors. The movement began in response to the forced evictions in Rio in preparation for the Panamerican Games in 2007. As a result, their focus is on evictions and human rights violations associated with the preparations for the World Cup. However, my sense is that most Brazilians are more concerned about the waste of public money on sports facilities, corruption, and the fawning treatment given to FIFA by the government.
For these reasons the demands which I’ve translated below should be seen as an introduction to the concerns of a certain part of the World Cup protest movement and as an introduction to many of the controversial parts of the preparations for the World Cup. They are not, in my view, a definitive guide to the concerns, motivations and demands of the World Cup protest movement as a whole.
Over the next few weeks I'll be looking in more detail at the reality behind some of the issues - evictions, the General Law of the World Cup, FIFA's tax exemption status, the exclusive trade areas, special tribunals.
The 8 demands:
1) An end to the removals and evictions, along with the immediate opening of collective negotiations with the affected residents, with the aim of fairly relocating and compensating the families who have already been affected.
2) The end of state violence and the cleansing of the city centres of the host cities, along with the guarantee of policies of access to food, shelter, personal hygiene, social assistance and work to those living on the streets of these cities.
3) The immediate revoking of FIFA’s exclusive trade areas as set out in the The General Law of the World Cup (a Lei Geral da Copa) and the consequent end of the persecution of street vendors and street artists. It is necessary to guarantee the activities of these groups before, during and after the World Cup, on an equal footing to that given to the World Cup’s corporate sponsors. Author’s note: The General Law of the World Cup provides for the designation of “exclusive areas of trade...taking into account the requirements of FIFA or of authorized third parties.”
4) A campaign to combat sexual exploitation and the trafficking of people to be launched in public schools, hotels and hostels, around stadiums and in tourist areas, focused on training for hotel and tourism staff, the strengthening and widening of policies which promote the rights of women, children and adolescents, and the combat and prevention of grooming and sex tourism.
5) That there are no Special Tribunals (tribunais de exceção) and that the right to a defence and of due process is guaranteed to all before, during and after the World Cup. Author’s note: Article 37 of the General Law of the World Cup states “Special trials for the processing and judgment of cases related to the events may be formed.”
6) The revoking of the law which concedes tax exempt status to FIFA and its commercial partners, along with a reversal of the process of privatisation which has already taken place in the name of the World Cup. A transparent and open audit of the public debt at the three levels of government (federal, state and municipal) in order to investigate and publicise information on the public spending on mega-events and mega-projects with the aim of reversing the World Cup’s legacy of debt.
7) The immediate shelving of the proposed laws (projetos de lei) that are going through Congress, and of the attempts of state and federal governments to broaden the definition of terrorism and move against the right to protest by criminalizing social movements and increasing the violence against the young and poor of the country.
8) The demilitarisation of the police and the end of the repression of social movements, with the guarantee of the constitutional right to protest in the streets.
The full version of the Popular Committee's article and demands, published in Portuguese on 31st January can be found here: http://www.portalpopulardacopa.org.br/index.php?option=com_k2&view=itemlist&task=user&id=64:articulaçãonacional
