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Rio, come kick a ball around with us the 30th of July!

On the day of the World Cup draw, the Popular Committee of the World Cup and Olympics will have a public action in defense of “The People's Cup.” A march for the People's Cup will begin gathering at the Largo do Machado at 10am and will move towards the Marina da Goria where the draw is taking place.

While the 20 million dollar party for choosing the qualifying groups for the 2014 World Cup is happening on the 30th  of July in Rio de Janeiro, thousands of the city's residents are being removed from their homes in preparation for the tournament, street vendors are prevented from working and the vast majority of the population will not have enough money to pay for tickets to the World Cup. The Popular Committee of the World Cup and Olympics will detail these and other processes in a collective interview for the press on the 29th  of July

 

Press Conference - WORLD CUP AND OLYMPIC GAMES: impact and illegality in the process of constructions in Rio de Janeiro

Friday 29.07.2011 - 11 am (Brazil)

Adress: Sindicato dos Servidores do Poder Judiciário do Estado do RJ (SINDJUSTIÇA) Travessa do Paço, 23 - 13º Centro

The Popular Committee of the World Cup and Olympics brings together social movements, NGOs, academics, labor movements, and representatives from civil society, that for the first time in the history of the World Cup are organizing a united front with the objective to monitor the organization of mega-events and denounce human rights abuses.

The press conference will feature the rapporteur of the DhEsca Platform, Orlando Junior Santos, Inalva Mendes Brito a leader of the Vila Autôdromo Community that survived threats of forced removal in the months leading up to the 2007 Pan American Games, representatives of the informal workers' union, National Fans' Associations (ANT, FNT),  the principal social movements fighting for the right to adequate housing as well as those personally affected by the government programs of forced removal in preparation for Brazil's mega-events.

On the day of the World Cup draw, the Popular Committee of the World Cup and Olympics will have a public action in defense of “The People's Cup.” A march for the People's Cup will begin gathering at the Largo do Machado at 10am and will move towards the Marina da Goria where the draw is taking place.

The 2014 World Cup will impact 12 Brazilian cities. These are municipalities in which the majority of people do not have access to sewerage and in which a high percentage of people live in favelas. Even with these conditions, the construction costs for the World Cup are expected to rise to US$30 billion. The Popular Committee believes that the history of the 2010 South Africa World Cup will repeat itself and that the majority of the stadiums will become white elephants after the tournament.

According to authorities, forced removals are expected to affect around 12.5 thousand people in Rio de Janeiro but the evidence suggests that the number of removals undertaken for the mega-events will be around 30 thousand. In Fortaleza, the Committee anticipates around 20 thousand forced removals. The Committee has denounced the resistance of the government to release information regarding these actions.

Contacts:

For more information

Augusto Gazir -55 (21) 8105 4445

Gustavo Mehl - 55 (21) 8162 2181

Lívia Duarte - 55 ( 21 ) 8200 7989

Laura Burocco – 55 (21) 8199 6193

The Popular Committee of the World Cup and Olympics

http://comitepopulario.wordpress.com/

 

Do you think that the World Cup belongs to us?

Our government continually says that the World Cup and Olympics will bring benefits to Rio de Janeiro and Brazil. But who will benefit? The cost of living and rent are continually on the rise, families are forcibly removed from their homes and street vendors are prevented from working.

More: they are wasting public money on all of these projects and have put forward a law that will hide how much they have spent. To make things worse, the organizers of the World Cup, FIFA and Ricardo Teixeira (the president of the Brazilian Football Federation),  are being accused of corruption by multiple sources.

Everything indicates that the World Cup and Olympics are going to repeat, on a larger scale, the history of the 2007 Pan American Games: misappropriation of public funds, unnecessarily large construction projects that become useless after the competition, benefits only for large businesses whose owners are friends of those in power and the violation of the human rights of millions of Brazilians.

The forced removal of families affected by these projects is happening in an arbitrary and violent manner. This situation has already been denounced by the United Nations. Mega-events are being used to install a State of Exception, with the systematic violation of the rule of law.

In this vein, what will be the legacy of the mega-events? The privatization of the city, of health and education? The gentrification of football culture and its stadiums? That private companies will reap profit and benefits with exemptions from taxation and subsidized loans? The profits from the World Cup will be for entrepreneurs, and the debt will be ours. Are we going to allow the mega-event histories of Athens 2004 and South Africa 2010 to repeat themselves?

Join us! Together we will change this trajectory, come and fight!

Come kick a ball around with us at the Largo do Machado, the 30th  of July beginning at 10am.

Zero evictions!

The city is not merchandise to be bought and sold!

No to the privatization of land and public resources, airports, education and health care!

The Popular Committee of the World Cup and Olympics  http://comitepopulario.wordpress.com/

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