| Raf 16.06.2013 11:30 |
Hey all. This is a very long post, and I understand many of you can't be bothered to read all of it. But if you could at least watch the video, I'd be very happy - it explains briefly most of what I'm saying here. I don't know if any of you has heard anything in your media about the recent riots in Brazil, but there's been some nasty stuff going on here. For many years Brazil's had some serious problems: - Poor education: public schools have very poor infrastructure, they lack books and equipment, teachers earn very little, and as a result of all that, most students finish school barely able to read/write well or do basic math - Poor health: pretty much the same as education, professionals being paid very little, lack of equipment etc. Add to that the fact that there are huge chances that if an emergency happens, they might make you wait in a huge queue, and you might even have to lay on the floor due to lack of beds - Poor transportation: in major cities like Sao Paulo, if you depend on public transportation, the odds are that you'll spend a few hours everyday stuck in traffic in a bus filled with many more people than it could actually take, and the price is rather abusive for those who actually need it - Lack of safety: many poor areas in Brazil are actually run by drug dealers who have imposed their own rules, and even children are taught to handle weapons, kill and steal. It's not uncommon to get robbed, usually by people who'll sell your stuff to make more cash for drugs - High taxes: brazilian taxes are very high. Many products double their price due to taxes. Economists say we work 1/3 of the year just to pay our taxes. And as you can read in the list above, they obviously aren't being good for much... - Expensive politicians: besides the widespread corruption (among ALL major political parties, no exception), politicians raise their own earnings (which are already high) many times, not to mention all the extra privileges, such as all their personal expenses paid by public money. On top of that, in the past few years they've been creating many new "jobs" up there. To add to all of that, we're just about to host a World Cup, and due to bad administration and corruption, all stadiums are late and are costing much more than they were expected to. Important things our government had promised, such as better public transportation, better airports etc were cancelled. It's terrible to hear about stadiums costing billions while they say there's "no money" to pay for our teachers and doctors. A small group of people finally couldn't take it anymore when they heard there would be a rise on bus ticket, so they made a peaceful walk through an important avenue in Sao Paulo against it. Although it was peaceful, they were brutally beaten by the police. Major media talked about a "violent group of vandals" and "no victims made by the police", but that's not what we see from amateur pics and videos: a large group of people peacefully chanting agasint violence when they saw the troops arriving, and then they got beaten, bombed, among other things. I actually know two people who were unfairly attacked by the police: my girlfriend was in a restaurant nearby which was assaulted by the troops with pepper spray and tear gas, and a friend of mine was inside a bus going to work and gas was thrown into it. Many blogs have been gathering pics and stories of innocent people who were beaten by the police, including people who were just unlucky to be around, journalists who were taking pictures of the police hurting other people etc. Although most of the media didn't show it, the few newspapers who showed what really happened (most of them were actually doing the same as the rest, until their own reporters were beaten by the police) and all the sharing of pics and videos on Facebook and Twitter were enough to make our population wake up. Now there are protests popping up in every major city, and in many minor cities they're already organizing themselves too. But since Confederations Cup is beginning right now, our government is scared and ashamed (has any of you watched Brazil vs Japan yesterday and heard the big BOO for our president?), so they're doing all they can to hide it - and they're still using brute force against protesters. The latest news I've heard about it was that the police was shooting rubber projectiles directly against the FACES of those who were taking pictures and/or filming a protest near the stadium where the first game for the Confederations Cup was being held yesterday. After all this, what I would like to ask you guys to do is watch this video, which pretty much summarizes what I wrote: link If you can, please show this video to your friends pr post it on Facebook and Twitter - especially if you or any of your friends is considering coming here next year for World Cup. If it depends only on our government and media, our civilian population will get beaten until they shut the fuck up, there'll be a huge, beautiful and expensive party for the World Cup and the following year we'll carry on with our boring lives paying taxes to keep our politicians rich. Thank you very much. |
| ParisNair 16.06.2013 15:04 |
Hello Raf Haven't heard about this at all in the media here in India. Usually we don't miss much, so I'm surprised. Having said that, even Google could not pull up too many details, except a BBC UK link. As per that link, most of the protesters were supposed to be students..so it wonlt be surprising if they turned violent first, and then the cops reacted. Ofcourse there could have been innocent bystanders who got affected like your girl friend and the other person. The BBC article does mention that shop windows were broken by the protestors. Can you point me to other reliable English articles please? |
| Raf 16.06.2013 16:34 |
In fact, in one of the days, Tuesday, there was some violence from a small group, but they were the exception in the crowd. Until then, most of our country's population thought this was just another small riot made by a few violent idiots. But on Thursday, the riot was completely peaceful and they were brutally attacked by the police - and that's why right now there are many people rioting in other cities (and as far as I've heard, now even in other countries) to show support. And that's also why there's been so many efforts from our government and from government-supporting press to keep a low profile about it. I don't know about reliable sources in English. I can show you a few from Folha de São Paulo/UOL in Portuguese, one of the most important local newspapers and one of the few to have written a lot about the riots since 7 of their journalists and photographers were hurt. link This article reports that a couple was assaulted by the police at a bar. The police arrived at the bar, assaulted them and ordered the rest of the customers to leave. They went to the bar after a group of journalists tried to hide there after being attacked by a gas bomb. link This article narrates how the battle started on Thursday: protesters marched through many important places in the city and there was absolutely no sign of violence throughout the day. The police was following them and they saw no reason to attack. By the end of the day, a group of special tactical forces arrived and threw gas bombs with no previous warning. link In this video, a cop is talking to some leaders of the riot, he actually compliments them for keeping things in order that day and asks to talk to another leader. As this happens, the tactical forces begin their bombing. link This amateur video shows the same moment the bombing began, but from the point of view of the riot itself. You can hear people chanting "sem violência" (no violence!), and you can actually see people are just standing there. There are no fights or anything. All of a sudden, the cops surround the avenue and start shooting and throwing bombs against the civilians. link Report about a journalist who was arrested for carrying vinegar, which is used in riots to heal the effects of tear gas. In this article you can see a picture of a professional cameraman getting sprayed in the face by a cop. link This article mentions that 15 journalists had been hurt and other 4 were arrested. It describes their wounds and explains that one of them has less than 5% of chances of recovering his eyesight after being shot with a rubber bullet in the face. The video is a voice recording (in portuguese), of a journalist explaining that she was standing in the avenue when a cop nearby aimed at her face. She didn't think someone from the police would actually shoot an innocent in the face, but he did. link This one is a little change from the previous articles: in Belo Horizonte, where there's a law forbidding riots (!!!), the police stopped the traffic to keep a new riot safe, since they believe they're actually fighting for our rights. link A riot started outside the stadium while Brazil was playing its first match on Confederations Cup. The police was aiming specifically at those who had cameras with them, and shot them in the face with rubber bullets. One of the victims say the police officer dared her to film it before shooting her. link Last but not least, I don't know if you can see it well, but this video became very popular on Facebook in Brazil. You can see a cop breaking his car's window, supposedly to blame it on the riot later on. |
| Raf 16.06.2013 16:37 |
Riots in Brazil usually don't get much positive feedback from the population. We are aware that in many cases they're either too few to make a difference or too violent to be heard. But in this particular case, perhaps for the first time since 1992, when a president had to be impeached, the whole country has been talking about it, has been shocked at the police for what they've done and most of them actually support it. In the beginning, all media was talking negatively about it. By now, part of the press has changed their views, especially due to police brutality against journalists, photographers and pretty much anyone who could record any kind of proof against the police. |
| thomasquinn 32989 17.06.2013 03:41 |
I'm afraid this is hardly unique to Brazil. This kind of thing is happening the world over, sadly, even here in Europe, albeit on a somewhat smaller scale. |
| YourValentine 18.06.2013 02:27 |
Hello Raf - yes we heard about the riots in connection with the Confed Cup. There have been stories about the problems with the stadiums, mainly the Maracana and much of it is the FiFa's fault but not everything. I understand that the World Cup is not the cause of the problem but rather a catalyst that leads to an explosion of all the accumulated injustice and social inequality. It is the same all over the planet and publicity is the most important factor. The more people see on YT and elsewhere the better. The government cannot afford all the bad publicity just one year before the World Cup. You can now use hash tags on facebook (perhaps to make searching easier for the NSA ;-)). I'll post a video with the hash tag #ChangeBrazil, as well. |
| ParisNair 19.06.2013 14:51 |
OK yesterday and today our press reported this in the papers in a big way on the front page. I just wish things had not become violent ... kinda takes the attention away from the real issue ie corruption. Now it feels like hooligans are enjoying happy hours. |
| Mr.Jingles 19.06.2013 17:34 |
It sickens me how little concern these huge sport entities like FIFA and the IOC have towards the people of the host nation. Sure, you can blame for the most part the Brazilian politicians, but it seems like this whole World Cup is just a matter of sweeping the mess of the big problems under the rug, while millions of Brazilian tax payers take the toll, and a few people make a nice profit. I'm a huge football fan, and sure I'm looking forward to the World Cup. However, there's no doubt in my mind that FIFA is a corrupt organization that pretend to promote good causes, but in the end they don't care. They just want to fill in their pockets. |
| YourValentine 20.06.2013 03:57 |
Mr.Jingles wrote: It sickens me how little concern these huge sport entities like FIFA and the IOC have towards the people of the host nation. Sure, you can blame for the most part the Brazilian politicians, but it seems like this whole World Cup is just a matter of sweeping the mess of the big problems under the rug, while millions of Brazilian tax payers take the toll, and a few people make a nice profit. I'm a huge football fan, and sure I'm looking forward to the World Cup. However, there's no doubt in my mind that FIFA is a corrupt organization that pretend to promote good causes, but in the end they don't care. They just want to fill in their pockets.I could not agree more. The World Cup should be hosted by Brazil which is one of the biggest football nations in the world but all the FiFa requirements are ridiculous. The Maracana stadium was taken away from the people and from now on it will only serve the richer audience, a total disgrace. The FiFa is like a swarm of locusts destroying their host country. |
| The Real Wizard 01.07.2013 02:24 |
The same thing happened in Canada when Toronto hosted the g20 charade a few years back. The police started all the commotion, not the peaceful protestors. Thousands of innocent people were detained without a warrant and all were eventually released. The entire fiasco cost tax payers over a billion dollars. And the following federal election was rigged. ^ in Canada. Sorry to hear about your troubles in Brazil. Corporate greed seems to rule the day, and the disease is growing. I say we move to Antarctica. |
| thomasquinn 32989 01.07.2013 07:34 |
The Real Wizard wrote: I say we move to Antarctica.I say we don't. It's pretty much the last place on earth we haven't ruined...yet. Let's keep it that way for at least a few more decades. |
| ParisNair 03.07.2013 10:06 |
The situation where the govt / police instigate violence and later bla,me it on peaceful protestors seems to be happenign frquently nowadays, then. we had a situation in last year (or was it the year before) when the people (in India) came out to protest in large numbers - that means many millions - all over the country. This was triggered by disclosures of a series of corruption cases which lead to disappearnce of record amounts of public money. Difficult as it may be to fathom, the protests were totally peaceful, and went on for days. The govt thought, considering this was an indian crowd, that things would turn violent soon, but miraculously nothign of the sort happened (due to the very organized leadership provided by a group called "India Against Corruption"). When the movement became really big, the govt started harrasing the protestors..they attacked a group while they were sleeping during the night. they arrested the main leader of the movement. Understandably these moves boomeranged and the negative feeling that people now have for the govt then is still prevalent and its more or less accpted that the current rulig parties are sure to lose the next election in 2014. Then during a protest march in delhi, a policeman died and the police attacked the corwds and things got unruly. The cops/govt version was that people attacked the policeman leading to his death. However, CCTV footage later showed that the cop had suffered a heart attack, some protestors came to his aid when they realised what's happenign. And these guys got attacked by cops. The outrage that this revelation caused ...i think u can imagine. As a result of the protests and continued pressure, the govt did agree to bring in some legislations to check the extent of correuption. But being a democracy (and a solid one at that), only way to bring about a real change for us is to vote the giovt out in the next election in 2014. |
| thomasquinn 32989 03.07.2013 11:35 |
ParisNair wrote: The situation where the govt / police instigate violence and later bla,me it on peaceful protestors seems to be happenign frquently nowadays, then.It was never rare, sadly, but it was not something that was admitted or discussed much until the last few decades. I know of examples of this (and not unique occurrences isolated in place and time) since at least the 1850s. The police, throughout its history, has always been a very mixed bag. They do fight crime, but they also attract large numbers of people who use their position to do things that would otherwise be criminal (and still may be, but will get brushed under the carpet). |
| The Real Wizard 14.07.2013 17:50 |
thomasquinn 32989 wrote:Funny, but unfortunately it's not a joke.The Real Wizard wrote: I say we move to Antarctica.I say we don't. It's pretty much the last place on earth we haven't ruined...yet. Let's keep it that way for at least a few more decades. |
| The Real Wizard 14.07.2013 17:54 |
thomasquinn 32989 wrote: The police, throughout its history, has always been a very mixed bag. They do fight crime, but they also attract large numbers of people who use their position to do things that would otherwise be criminal (and still may be, but will get brushed under the carpet).^ truth. Regrettably. |