FUCK FI FA

An anti -World
Cup Zi ne
In the mainstream news they call the protests in Brazil a sideshow. They show images
of a young man held by two cops and maced in the face and say, sideshow. They show
a brown woman who is being pulled away by cops and say sideshow. Another woman,
sideshow. They show the opening game and call it the real show. They say, sport at
its purest. No. Fuck you World Cup. The beautiful game is not what the media is
showing, not what the media is promoting. We are not watching. And we are watching.
They are screaming against water cannons and this world is watching. Shouting, The
world is watching.
- P
Total expenditure on the World Cup is estimated at 11 billion euros.
What is sold to us as the fght against organized crime is in reality a war
against the poor in Brazil. It is a direct consequence of the claims of FIFA
and its sponsors in their search for new markets.
Since 2008, about 2/3rds of the 300 favelas of Rio de Janeiro have been
occupied by the pacifcation police - the UPP. The occupations are
generally enforced with the help of the military. Troops invade with tanks
and assault rifes at the ready in the territories ... after the military storm,
the UPP arrives and the area is offcially pacifed.
Extremely violent evictions are also affecting entire neighborhoods just
to make way for the World Cup. An estimated 170,000 people have been
violently displaced and robbed of shelter for this purpose. Not only are they
are evicting the poor from their homes, they are persecuting and banning
their ways of making a living, such as street vendorship and scavenging.
Introduction to this guide:
There are lots of guides to the world cup with ridiculous information about different countries
in them. Some see it as a chance to learn about other cultures; sometimes this is true, but more
often than not everything is reduced to simplistic and unhelpful stereotypes, or glib imperial
jokes about African dictatorships or how all Australians are descended from British
criminals that simply reinforce nationalist discourse and erase cultural diversity, resistance and
Indigenous sovereignty.
We could have gone around the world to discuss the different struggles going on which connect
us all, but that would never have ftted into this zine. We also dont want to reproduce these
nationalist oversimplifcations. Instead, lets go around the world to talk about solidarity with
the resistance to the world cup in Brasil. But frst, we will look at what world cups are for, and
at the resistance in Brasil.
BIG SPORTS AS A WEAPON
The idea of using sporting events as a weapon against the opposition is not new. As Brazil hosts
the World Cup today in 2014, instead of looking at both the past and present and conmemorating
memories and wounds from the military coup in Brazil in 1964 exactly 50 years ago, and
recognising that injustices continue, the World Cup tries to blind us from it. This 1964 military
dictatorship came into being at the height of the global attack against social and revolutionary
movements, at a time when these movements in Brazil had the potential to abolish the capitalist
form of society. The rulers in Brazil needed planned action to stop the counter attack from below.
So, in addition to brute force, torture and murder, the Brazilian junta used the fever and distraction
of the Brazilian teams victory in the football World Cup 1970 in Mexico to promote itself to
people living in Mexico as well as internationally. Even Amnesty International exclaimed that no
football event had been so blatantly politically exploited like this. The World Cup anthem of Brazil
Pra Frente Brasil illustrates the framing they wanted to impose using the World Cup, it goes, 90
million in action, advance Brazil all united in the same emotion. This fascist spirit in Brazil was
born of economic expansion processes in Europe and North America. It was overtly celebrated by
German economists and businessmen: The Deputy Chairman of the Economic Committee of the
Bundestag, Gustav Stein expressed his happiness over the political stability and the absence of
labour disputes both results of the Brazilian regimes bloody politics of repression. Likewise,
Volkswagen (German company) CEO Rudolf Leidig became famous with a racist public comment
he made in cooperation with the Brazilian regime, Brazilians have a different mentality than
Germans and Europeans. He calls a happy mentality its own (...). He is not jealous, and is satisfed
with his lot. Even today, VW still profts from this phase of history and continues to be one of the
most important German companies in Brazil.
The DFB (German Football Team) was sent to the 1970 World Cup wearing white, just like
the team Argentinas military dictatorship sent in 1978 (Argentina hosted and won), on the
dictatorships staff many former Nazi party members
held senior positions. Even today this spirit lives
on in professional football, as the example of Jose
Maria Marin shows he is the President of the FIFA
Committee in 2014, and is considered one of the
intellectual authors of the murder of opposition TV
journalist Vladimir Herzog, who died in the military
torture prison in 1975.
So while this World Cup and past World Cups serve
to distract from and reinforce the stark violent reality,
the riots in Brazil have helped to draw attention
of the world back to the war that is currently being
conducted in the favelas against the people.
900 migrant workers from India and Nepal have
already died during the construction of infrastructure
for the 2022 world cup in Qatar.
Protest Poster against the World Cup in
South Africa, 2010
A CUP FOR WHOM? OR WHY ARE BRAZILIANS NOT EXCITED
ABOUT THE CUP?
Many people have been and still are dumbfounded by the dissatisfaction of a large part of the
Brazilian people with the 2014 World Cup: how come the country of soccer, where almost
anyone carries a story of passion for this sport, is protesting against its major event? Between
the devotion for the ball and the general discontentment, what has been lost?
The surprise and the presumed contradiction became even clearer when, in July 2013, during
the Confederations Cup, about one million people took part in manifestations during the games,
and the eyes and hearts of a large number of people were with the activists, and not with the
national teams. Several opinion polls, since the beginning of the 2013 massive protests until the
eve of the 2014 World Cup, reveal that few people agree about the mega event according to a
Datafolha study in May, 66 percent declared that the Cup will cause more loss than beneft.
Three years ago, when asked A Cup for whom? few people had a clear answer; today
everyone knows who the winners of this tournament will be, they knew before it even began.
The 110 billion real* increase in the national economy brought about by the Cup will go to the
hands of just a few. FIFA, a non-proft association that gains U.S. $100 million a year, has
announced that it will pocket the biggest proft in its history 10 billion reals. Its commercial
partners, such as Coca Cola, Adidas and McDonalds, will have the monopoly of sales in arenas,
festivals and their surroundings, as well as being able to sell exclusive 2014 Cup products.
A few Brazilian businessmen and companies, mainly the big contractors (Andrade Gutierrez,
Odebrecht, OAS and Camargo Correia) and other national sponsors of the event, will also
beneft from high proft levels.
The Cups promised social legacy will not bring benefts to the population as a whole less
than 20 percent of the urban mobility projects, which would have improved buses, trains,
subways and airports, were completed, and one third were cancelled. Those that were completed
were mostly part of airport expansion. The Cup will leave almost nothing new as a legacy to
public transportation.
#ThereWillBeViolation
Despite the big lie of a Private Cup announced since 2007, according to which the stadiums
would be paid by private capital, it has been exposed that less than 1 percent of the Cups costs
have come from businessmen pockets. However, the costs of the mega event to the public purse
is not the Cups most wicked dimension in Brazil. The most urgent question we must face is
the human rights violations, the social cost of the Cup. And in this aspect, unfortunately, it has
already began, and we are losing badly.
Ten workers have died in the construction of the arenas, 170,000 to 250,000 people were
removed from their homes with no right to compensation (besides the thousands expelled by
real-estate speculation); there has been reports of growing sexual exploitation, including of
children and teenagers, and of human traffc, the homeless population is being violently expelled
from urban centers, scores of protesters were hurt by law enforcement agents while many others
suffer political persecution, and small retailers, street artists and thousands of street peddlers
(138,000 just in So Paulo), besides recyclable material catchers, are prohibited from working in
the exclusion zones a radius of 2 kilometers (protected by military blockade) of exclusiveness
for FIFA around stadiums and Fan Fests, where only people with tickets can circulate.
Authorities and businessmen have relied precisely in the Brazilians passion for soccer to
legitimise their business and to justify violations. But not even soccer has survived to the Cup of
Cups: bleachers have disappeared and given way to the FIFA-standard arenas, tickets prices
have rocketed, some of them up to 2,000
reals (around three times the monthly
minimum wage). In the new stadiums of
exception, soccer is just for a few.
Violations have been going on with
the repressive apparatus expansion:
2 billion reals were spent on public
security, including 54 million just on
the purchase of guns. Police offcers
were trained by military groups from
Israel and France. New battalions and
control centers were created in the cities.
Exception courts around stadiums, with
expanded punishment and without a right
to ample defense - a basic principle in
any democracy, will be installed. New
legislation allows social movements to
be framed as terrorists. The preventive
detention of protesters has been announced
for the tournament period. And all of that
in a country known around the world
as supposedly inhabited by a hospitable
people. To whom are all of these measures
directed?
The poor, black and peripheral people
who lead the grim statistics of murders
committed by the police in outer
neighborhoods offer a clear and historic
answer to that question.
Soccer for whom?
Brazil became known globally as the
great soccer country, and its people as
the sports main lovers. Scholars such
as anthropologist Roberto da Matta
have pointed to the central place soccer
occupies in the Brazilian identity, and
the importance of the stadium as a social
space of creation and popular celebration,
fulflling a role between the carnival
spectacle and erudition. Several cultural,
social and political manifestations in Brazil
were born and built in stadiums among
fans. One must just remember that during
the military regime, the frst public banners
for amnesty were raised at the bleachers.
But from the 1990s onwards much has
changed in the Brazilian soccer scene,
which has only followed a global trend.
We have seen the fast development of new commercial strategies linked to the sport, with a
progressively growing infuence of large television corporations on the games and a growing
process of militarization of stadiums, which became less and less accessible to popular classes
traditional occupants of the benches.
That has been conspicuous in the appearance of pop-star players, true products of marketing and
of the big media, in the shift of the public stadiums, with a constant increase in tickets prices,
the opening of clubs to the sponsorship of big companies, and even to fnancial capital, and the
creation of a repressive and legal apparatus around the fans, increasingly censoring their practices
under a discourse of restraining violence something like the process unleashed by Margaret
Thatcher in Britain after the Hillsborough tragedy.
All of that was already in course, but the World Cup has accelerated, in great measure, this process
in Brazil: with the help of Fifa, soccer became a show, the stadium a shopping center and the fans,
mere consumers. The multiple feelings and passions were emptied out and popular participation
itself was put into doubt.
The stadiums in the 12 cities that will host the 2014 Cup were built or remodelled according
to Fifas demands: street workers lost their sales spaces, big companies gained the local trade
monopoly, stands were replaced by seats, and patrons and workers started being checked by a
complex private security system called big brother. Each step within the arenas will be
watched and a series of traditional behaviors in stadiums will no longer be allowed.
Signallers, batteries, fags, freworks, cut paper none of those will be permitted. One cannot
bring food and drinks, and there will be no more hot dog stands or any stands close to stadiums,
only within them, and for exorbitant prices. Clothes or banners showing political statements or
referring to commercial identifcations which are not those of the events sponsors will not be
allowed, among other FIFA provisions.
The Complexo Maracan SA, a company that became the owner of the traditional Rio stadium,
decided to extend the rules to their employees, with the requirements of a clean shave, the use of
deodorant and not having visible tattoos. The company also explains that its target audience are
individuals who own summer houses, horses, boats, drive imported cars and drink fne whiskies.
Is the Brazilians lack of excitement with the Cup of Cups still stunning?
As Juan Arias said: It is as if Brazil were saying that the way things go in that feld, the Cup
had no interest, either playing it or winning it. That the passion for the sport is being changed
for a capitalist operation whose maximum expression are FIFAs swindles, which are killing real
soccer.
Likewise, more than half of high school students in a public school have told us that they will
not cheer for Brazil.
But among the streams of money and violations by FIFA, CBF, companies and governments, the
popular passion endures: in bare feet, in streets, squares, parks and riverside felds. That is what
we have seen during two editions of the Rebel Cup, an event organized by the Popular Committee
of Copa SP and partner movements in a self-managed and horizontal way.
In the tournament, men, women and children have met Indians, immigrants and Palestinian
visitors, activists linked to the struggle for popular housing and for womens rights, collectives
that want the decriminalization of drugs and freedom to live, movements that demand free land
in cities and felds, and also the free pass in public transport, homeless people and several
others, threatened by removal, repressed, segregated and made invisible. An infnite number of
fags, many of which remain up around the felds, converge in the struggle for the right to the city
and against the FIFA Cup.
The Rebel Cup (report and photos later in this zine) experience showed that another World Cup,
popular and organized from the bottom up, is possible. And this is the message we want to send
to the whole world.
*1 Brazilian real is about 50 cents in Australia
- D
March against the FIFA in Belo Horiozonte
MILITARIZATION: THE LEGACY OF THE WORLD CUP 2014
Temporary occupations of the public space and street manifestations have been violently
repressed. Militants have been chased, imprisoned, tortured and murdered by police offcers,
some of the them not even wearing uniforms. Rubber bullets, shock bombs, tear gas, pepper
spray, batons and frearms have been used to attack activists and to put an end to political
manifestations.
No, the above description is not about the corporate-military coup of 1964. The situation is from
this year, 2014, the year of the Cup of the Troops. Sadly, the story repeats itself.
Since Brazil was choosed as the host country of the FIFA World Cup for 2014, in 2007, the
situation went out of control and social movements have been increasingly closed in on. It is
self-evident, one just has to look at the rising elitization and militarization of the cities, especially
the 12 that are hosting the Cup soccer games, and taking the many manifestations that havent
been allowed to happen as an example. It was the case on the 15th May, the international day of
struggles against the World Cup, called by the The Popular Committee of So Paulo, where the
march was violently barred by the police after less than 20 minutes.
In order to repress homeless people, the organized occupations, the manifestations and social
movements in general, almost 2 billion reals* were invested in strengthening the repressive
forces of the State: the Civil Guard, the Military Police, the Civil and Federal Police and the
Army. Of that money, 58 million were spent in less lethal arms that were used against the
population during the manifestations of June 2013. It is important to highlight that many of the
weapons were acquired through contracts made with Israel, a country that at the same time tests
its arms repressing the Palestinian people.
And they not only imported weapons. The cops started using new repressive tactics already
known in other countries, like the case of the Troop Arm and the Cauldron of Hamburg. To give
an example of how they are using these tactics: on the 22nd February this year, 262 people were
surrounded and arrested for participating in a manifestation. The police claimed that they had
predicted actions of vandalism, when it is clear that what they wanted to do was map the social
movemnts. The mass arrest allowed the police to force activists en-mass to give up information
about where they live, which is then re-used in repression strategies.
Also remarkable are the increasing number of wiretaps and undercover cops infltrating social
movements to collect information about the organisations and the activists, and using this to
criminalize them. Just during the last three weeks, 22 members of the Movimento Passe Livre (a
Brazilian autonomous social movement that advocates the adoption of free fares in mass transit
and that organized the manifestations of June 2013) were intimidated and threatened by the Minister
of Public Security.
Frightened by the possibility that the manifestations could disturb the realization of the World Cups
games, and in this way affect the profts of FIFA and sponsoring coorporations, they passed laws
to legally criminalise social movements. Among them is the proyect PL 508-2013, that proposes
to punish with a fne and a 4 to 12 years prison term anyone who idealises or encourages the
participation of protests ending in vandalism. That includes everyone from the people who organize
a manifestation, to those who publicise it.
Another disturbing factor is the document Law and order warranty of 2013, signed by the Minister
of Defence and published to instruct the armed forces on how they have to act during the World Cup.
The text considers social movements as opponent forces and list as threats strikes, urban riots,
street blockades and occupations.
It is in that context that we see the need to stand in solidarity with all the people who have been
chased, attacked and wounded by the physical and psychological violence of the State, and
especially with our comp@s who have been imprisoned for participating and organising political
manifestations. However, it is important to make clear our understanding that every prisoner is a
political prisoner. Given that all the prisons are constructed from a punitivist logic, all the social
conficts considered as crimes are the consequence of a brutal political, social and economic system.
And because we know that the penitential system has the purpose of isolating and excluding the
black, poor and peripheral people from social life, along with those who dare to fght for the new
world which they hold in their hearts.
Fora para quem luta!
*1 Real is about 50 Australian cents
- D
POPULAR ALTERNATIVE: FOR A REBEL AND AUTONOMOUS SOCCER
The realization of the World Cup in Brazil has staged a series of events that go far beyond the
mere sporting feld. The violation of diverse rights and the intensifcation of the repressive
apparatus of the State are just some of the consequences of this collaboration starring FIFA,
large corporations, the State and its armed wing, all of whom are searching for the legitimacy of
their business inside the peoples passion for soccer.
But, another way to see and live soccer is possible, and thats what the Rebel Cup of the Social
Movements is about.
In this championship, the national teams, the pop star players, the big companies
sponsorships and the mainstream media coverage are left out to let another soccer emerge, a
soccer where common people create their own teams and organize their own tournament, thus
taking protagonism based on their own passion.
Teams comprise of men and women, children and adults take the soccer feld and show the
democratic spirit of the most popular sport in the world, built by the feet of slaves, caipiras,
indigenous, migrants, mestizos and pre-literate people.
Indigenous and Palestinians, activists linked to the struggle for housing and for women rights,
collectives that struggle for the decriminalization of drugs and for the right to have free
transport, rural fghters and homeless people all meet during the game. Countless fags joined
together to fght for their right to the city and against FIFA.
Between soccer balls, studs, and bare feet there is also space for other activities: the percussion
of the Fanfarra do M.A.L (the fanfare of the autonomous and libertarian movement), theatre
interventions, capoeira, activities for kids, and even a rap show with the Palestinian rapper
Mohammed Antar, who shared the microphone with some artists from cracolandia ( a region
in the center of So Paulo with a intense fow of drug traffcking).
The experience of the Rebel Cup showed that another World Cup, organized from below, is
possible, and also makes us wonder: The 2014 World Cup, in the way it was organized, is
benefcial for whom?
REBEL CUP: AN INTERVIEW
Q: Can you tell me how the idea of copa rebelde was born? And why?
Copa Rebelde was born inside Comite Popular da Copa de SP (World Cup Popular Group of So
Paulo, made up of people of different social movements and independents who are critical of the
World Cup in Brazil). We are protesting against the World Cup, but we arent against football, so
we had this idea to protest playing football and making a different kind of Cup to show that this is
possible; another football (a popular one) is possible. The idea came from a guy that went, years
ago, to the Mondiali Antirazzisti in Italy and the idea started to grow inspired by this. Also, some
of the people in the organization had already participated in alternative tournaments around the
world, in Italy, England, Argentina, and a lot of inspirations came from this.
Q: Who are the main organizers?
The organization and initiative is from Comite Popular da Copa de SP. But within that, some had
more responsibility than others. During this process, we invited the teams to help with organizing
it, and some actually did. But our idea to the next round of Copa Rebelde is that the teams get even
more involved. Also, a very important participation was from the community that lives around the
place of Copa Rebelde.
Q: Apart from the sport, what are the main social and political contents of the Rebel Cup?
The political content was in every different aspect of Copa Rebelde. As I said in the frst question,
we were playing a political football, a rebel football. The matches (except in the fnal and semi
fnals) didnt have referees, we played with girls, boys, kids of different ages. Most of the teams
were social movements or groups of activists. In our Cup, there were independent and street
vendors (women/men) that arent allowed in the World Cup. We didnt have trademarks or
the support of big companies like FIFA, our support came from social movements and the
community that lives around that area. In our Cup, the people who are being displaced from
their homes (like the ones that live in Favela da Paz, they had a team) are playing football and
participating; not being excluded. In our Cup, there were no high prices tickets to get in, there
were no tickets at all, it was open to everyone. In our Cup, there was music from the streets
and people just kept playing songs all day long. In our Cup, a lot of people met.
Another important issue was the place we chose to make Copa Rebelde. It was held in a very
big block (you can look at the picture) in the middle of the centre of SP. Just to explain to you:
SP is a very big and expansive city; usually, poor people live in far away neighborhoods, but
the old centre of SP also became a popular place. The centre used to be, in the past, a place
of upper and middle class people but that began to change some decades ago. The centre is
inhabited, during the week and in the work hours, by thousands of people, but the ones who
live there are, usually, poor, and they, usually, live in occupations or cortios (old building
with lots of people living there, that pay a sort of a rent, but very cheap rent. Usually, these
places arent very good to live, they are old). The part of the centre that Copa Rebelde was
held is called Luz (that surrounds a very big train and subway station of SP). There are a
lot of crack users in this region, in fact, some streets are called cracolndia (place of crack).
And the place where we held Copa Rebelde was in the middle of cracolndia.
In recent years, I think something like in the past ten years, different governments started to
make changes in centre, and specially in the region of Luz, trying to gentrify it. Lots of
people were kicked out, lots of old buildings were crushed and they started a plan to build
cultural public buildings, but for the upper class. Its a process of changing the centre of the
town, trying to make it more suitable
for the market: including the real state
sector (that does a lot of lobbying), which
started to proft a lot in the region (prices
started to go up). The government says
they are revitalizing the centre.
The place where Copa Rebelde was
held was a bus station in the past; it
was demolished, and then, some people
occupied it to live, they kicked out these
people, it became a popular shopping
mall, and then they demolished this to
build a cultural place with theatre and
dancing rooms for the state company of
dance. Its a billionaire project, which
is being referred to amongst the most
important and famous architecture offces
around the world, that wont serve the
people who live there. On the contrary,
its an attempt to turn cracolndia and
this poor place in a cultural polo for the
elite and tourists. In the front of this area,
there is a very old and beautiful building,
called Estaao Julio Prestes, in which the
orchestra of SP plays, attracting loads of
rich and important people (you can see
this building in the pictures).
The construction hasnt started yet and
the place is abandoned by the state
government. People that live around
started to play football in there, cause we
dont have much (or any) public spaces to
use in SP, especially in the centre. So, we
had the idea of making it there because
we oppose that gentrifcation process.
The day before, we went there to clean
the place (it was a big mess with a lot
of shit real shit , clothes, different
types of trash) to make it a little bit more
confortable. It had a very bad smell
even though people (and kids) that live
around used to play over there with no
problems or worries about the trash.
One of the reason the place is like this
is that people who live around dont
have authorized homes, so the municipal
rubbish collector doesnt collect from
them. Another reason is that in one side
of the area there is a small favela
of families that dont have anywhere to live and we believe they use the area as a big open
bathroom and maybe as a rubbish dump. We cleaned it up, as much as we could, we got 50 big
sacks of rubbish.
On Sunday, lots of people from the area came. It was a really beautiful day, a very nice
atmosphere. A friend of mine wrote something really nice about it, Ive copied it below (he is a
photographer):
From a crack in the concrete, Copa Rebelde emerged. Surrounded by buildings, an oasis
of football turned an abandoned place in the centre, neighbour to the Luz station, the
happiest square meter in SP.
With their own hands, strong people revitalized downtown. In place of the rubble, rubbish
and helplessness, the ball rolled. Imagine if there were grass, shade trees and fresh air?
Imagine if instead of new buildings, in this enormous ground in front of the Sala So
Paulo, a beautiful (and necessary) park were constructed? Imagine?
Imagine if the Copa Rebelde is no longer rebel, to become a part of the calendar of a city
that includes spaces where you can play football? Is this asking a lot of the country of the
World Cup?
Q: How many teams have participated? Where were they from?
32 teams participated, including one of Comite Popular da Copa. There were social movement
teams with different social demands - some ask for homes (the homeless), one for indigenous
rights, another one for Palestinian rights, another one the legalization of drugs, another one
prohibiting the use of nonlethal weapons in demonstrations
Who won?
The home team won Amigos da Baro, the people that used to play every weekend in the
area, that live around, they won.
- D
There have been countless acts of resistance against the cup and the
state repression which accompanies it.
Itamaraty Palace attacked in Brasilia March to Man Garrincha National Stadium in
Brasilia May 2014
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Street party against police curfew
On Wednesday, December 5th, 2012 the residents of the Borel favela (Morro do Borel,
occupied since 1921 in Rio de Janeiro) went out in the streets in a collective effort to break
the curfew that the cops of the local UPP (Police Pacifcation Unit) have imposed in the
area since November 28th. This particular repressive unit, which was frst established in
November 2008, has as offcial target the recovery of state control over communities that used
to be under the control of druglords. Its obvious that this supposed war on drugs is nothing
but a pretext, while the aim is the permanent presence of heavily armed uniformed gangs that
plunder the favelas and push forward the urban gentrifcation and sanitation of the occupied
zones, all these for the beneft of the big construction companies, also in view of the 2014
FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil (see here).
In the long list of everyday state violence and assassinations against people of rundown areas,
the cold blooded murder of 18-years-old Mrio Lucas Souza Vianna Pereira was recently
added. He was shot dead in his home by cops who barged in at dawn of November 26th. They
were identifed as members of the 4th military police company operating at the Fazendinha
neighbourhood, who invaded the Complexo do Alemo a group of favelas in northern Rio
de Janeiro where the UPPs are prevailing as well.
Under these highly militarized circumstances, where the total curfew after 21.00pm means
that no one is allowed to go out of their doorsteps, where street parties with funk music
have been prohibited since June 2010the same time when the local UPP was established
in the Borel favelathe residents decided to resist and openly defy the state of emergency.
Under the slogan Occupy Borel (inspired by the Occupy movement worldwide), people
gathered at frst on So Miguel street and then marched and danced through the favela. Their
fnal destination was the Terreiro, a location where traditionally the community meets and
celebrates its festivals.
The cops were clearly pissed off by this reappropriation of public space that the favela people
and solidarians from other parts of the city had organized, but they avoided any violent
confrontation. The tradition of mobilization prominent in the Morro do Borel community
goes back to 2003, when after the execution of four youths by the uniformed assassins of
the Brazilian military police a series of actions were held, the culmination being a big demo
through the main streets of Rios northern zone Tijuca.
This article is a summary from communiqus (1, 2) of the Network of Communities and
Movements against Violence via Indymedia Brazil.
Rio de Janeiro, 18th June 2013 Pampulha, Belo Horizonte, 17th June 2013
A few windows into the riots of Brazil and the repression
It started with fare hikes a while ago, and built up to the burning of buses...
The frst march of the month took place on the 6th of June in So Paulo, when thousands of
protesters blocked traffc on various major thoroughfares with burning barricades. They confronted
the cops, who used tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the crowds. Police fred live ammunition
on protesters. Marches on the 7th, 11th and 13th were also marked by police repression, mass
arrests, and hundreds of wounded protesters, as well as active resistance by those who directly
confronted the dogs of Power. Two journalists were shot in the face with rubber bullets on 13th
June. Protest was also repressed by the prohibition of demonstrations and informal trade within
3km of the stadiums. There is even the threat of banning the right to strike. Despite this repression,
demonstrations on June 17th in So Paulo as well as Rio de Janeiro and other cities, like Brasilia,
Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte, etc. were vast and combative.
On the 17th in Rio de Janeiro for example, the protests radicalised when a crowd attacked
the State Legislature, using sticks, stones, freworks, and Molotov cocktails to corner 70 policemen
inside the building. Cars were burned, 20 police offcers were injured, and the building was
destroyed with losses of more than a million dollars. The people of Rio de Janeiro showed that the
participation of the masses could be overwhelming for the authorities as well as for the original
protesters. Trapped, the police used live ammunition, shooting seven people.
The seventh day of action became a celebration day in Sao Paulo. Over 100 cities around the
country also hosted demonstrations and clashes. In Brasilia, the Palace of the Foreign Ministry, the
headquarters of international relations, was surrounded with the president and ministers trapped
inside. The entrance hall of the building was invaded and attacked as a crowd of over 10,000
protesters throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails took the unprepared building security by surprise.
It was estimated that nearly 2 million people took to the streets nationwide.
Porto Alegre, Brazil: Solidarity is a living force! Light it up!
On Monday, December 16th, 2013, as a hot sun of 34C was setting and the full moon was rising
against the sky that covers us, we paid a visit to a Santander bank branch located on Osvaldo
Aranha Avenue, right in front of a police station. We entered the banking establishment, leaving
them a Christmas incendiary gift next to the ATMs in clear intent to destroy the property. After that,
time and fre did their part. We did not go there to steal their flthy money; rather, to destroy it. We
fulflled our intentions:
We attacked, caused destruction, left unharmed and demonstrated with this action that solidarity is
not just an empty slogan, nor does it live only in word in all its greatness. This small gesture shows
us that the increased surveillance measures in the city cannot stop our desire to constantly defy
Power; we can always fnd a way to escape the great beast, deconstructing our own fears to begin
with.
Let this be a fre starter for all rebellious hearts to take action in the struggle against the growth
acceleration projects as well as the 2014 World Cup, which comes trampling at high speed. It
is obvious that the struggle is not just limited against this sporting event that has violated many
people. Furthermore, we signal with the heat of this fre our solidarity with Rafael Vieria and Jair
Seixas Rodrigues Baiano (imprisoned in Rio de Janeiro for riots over the past months), with
those who resist the Belo Monte hydroelectric dam, with all those who face trials or persecutions
as a result of the winters protests in Brazil (from June to September), and of course we dont feel
distant from all those who struggle against Power in every corner of the world and clash with the
weight of the penitentiary system in Argentina, Greece, Indonesia, Chile, Italy, the US, Bulgaria,
Mexico, Germany, Spain.
With this small attack on Spanish interests, we send our strength and solidarity to Mnica
Caballero and Francisco Solar, imprisoned behind the morbid bars of the Spanish State, isolated in
FIES maximum security regime.
In front of repression, active solidarity by all possible methods!
Strength and solidarity to Mnica and Francisco!
Freedom for Baiano and Rafael Vieira, prisoners in Rio de Janeiro!
Tatu-bola has never been seen without its coca-cola shirt.
On the 4th of October, Porto Alegre was the frst city in Brazil where the huge infatable Tatu-
Bola, mascot for the 2014 FIFA World Cup, was pierced by angry protesters that were gathered
to manifest their desire for free public spacesBetween the night of the 8th and 9th of October
another Tatu-Bola was taken down in Brasilia, the capital of the country. The action was carried
out quietly, and in the morning the infatable mascot was noted pierced and on the ground.
In So Paulo on the 13th of October the local Tatu-Bola was also pierced and defated to the
ground after a demonstration.
The Defations of Tatu-Bola
Police Repression in the lead up to
the World Cup in Brazil 2014
FIFA advertisement, representing the
World Cup in Brazil 2014
This animation subdues the city more than violence ever could.
The FIFA advertisement
shows stadiums dominating
the landscape, they send lights
streaming up into the night
sky. The small boy who runs
through the streets to catch a
glimpse of the stadium is rapt,
his eyes refecting the golden
glow. Perhaps this shows how
Brazilians are supposed to feel,
eyes brightened with the light
of patriotism and wonder at the
power of the state.
The child represents the future, his
poverty is to be healed by bathing
in the light of the world cup.
The helicopter above the stadium
appears ominous, the military
apparatus of the state? Or simply
commentators whirring in the
night sky?
SOLIDARITY AROUND THE WORLD
GERMANY
Berlin Brazilian Embassy action
To draw attention to what the World Cup means and to dig the knife into FIFA, we have in Berlin
in a commando operation attacked the Brazilian embassy with the simplest weapons of the
people. With the same stones that are your defense against the shock troops, we have demolished
the democratic facade of the Brazilian government. The embassy now represents the mess that
the rulers left of all the places they haunt.
But people do not give up. We encourage the population of Brazil, to say NO to the lure
of tourism that comes with the World Cup. Tourism can not be sustainable. Tourism means
depending on the fnancial strength of foreign powers and the state.
We say NO to commercial sports. Football is also a lot of good, but FIFA, its sponsors ADIDAS,
Coca-Cola, Emirates, Hyundai-Kia, Sony, VISA, McDonald & Co. are pathetic. They destroy the
idea of communication and exchange. We give our solidarity and oppose their bloodbath.
We believe that we can prevent a victory celebration of the powerful. Which will be a disaster for
them, and will continue to bring our struggle.
As the stones left our hand and destroyed the facade of authority, we have created a relationship
with the battles in the favelas to the rebels and anarchists. We are not afraid of prison and
humiliation. We remember instead the 39 people who, after the military intervention in Salvador
de Bahia - the place where the German team will play in April - remained lying lifeless.
NAO VAI TER COPA!
There will be no World Cup!
There will be a revolt!
Adidas Store, Berlin
On the night of June 12th, in solidarity with
the protests in Brazil, we have attacked
Adidas, one of the main sponsors of the
World Cup/FIFA, and destroyed the glass
facade of their stores at Hackescher Markt.
Hamburg
Gerkan, Marg & Partner offce was attacked in
Hamburg in a planned action as this German
architectural company profts large sums from
profts from exploiting workers, both from this
2014 World Cup and from the 2010 in South
Africa, with Marg blatantly recognising, I am a
part of the system. Profts are privatized, losses
socialized.
Bosch Company car set on fre in Prenzlauer
Berg; June 2nd, 2014.
Incendiary device for Bosch Sicherheitssysteme
in Storkower Street (near a police station) in
solidarity with the revolt against the World Cup.
The Bosch Security Systems draws up security
plans for train stations and airports, for banks and
administrative authorities; security for persons
who turn our lives into hell from inside their
offces, security for banks that cause suffering
across the world (such as Santander and
Deutsche Bank), security for the fow of Capital,
so that no saboteur will even attempt to briefy
disrupt this deadly normalcy.
UNITED STATES
SF queer activists blockade the google/ffa pride
parade in solidarity with Brazilians
In solidarity with Brazilians protesting the FIFA Would
Cup, on Sunday June 29th, a group of 12 queer radicals
blockaded the Google FIFA Float at the San Francisco
Pride Parade. We couldnt pass up the opportunity to
connect issues of gentrifcation and evictions in the Bay
Area with the violent displacement of Brazilians who live
in the Favelas. The Google/FIFA foat was a perfect target
for direct action to raise awareness about these issues!
The World Cup has violently evicted and even killed
over 150,000 working class and poor people from their
communities. El Sindicato dos Metrovirios de So Paulo
or Subway Workers Union of Sao Paulo was violently
attacked by police when they went on strike against the
World Cup and for better wages and benefts.
Zurich, Switzerland:
Solidarity demo for the anti-FIFA rebellion in Brazil
20 June 2014 More than two hundred people
demonstrated outside of FIFAs global headquarters
in Zurich in solidarity with all struggles against and
around the World Cup in Brazil.
During the action FIFA property was damaged with
paint.
Alongside our comrades in Brazil, we fght against
the capitalistic exploitation of football through FIFA
and the other exponents of capital.
Our solidarity shall be a weapon in this struggle.
SOLIDARITY WITH INDIGENOUS LAND STRUGGLES
LONG LIVE THE Maracana Village
AUSTRALIA
On Friday the 22 of March, Brazilian riot police
evicted dozens of indigenous squatters from an
abandoned museum in the centre of Rio. For over a
decade indigenous people from across the territory
had occupied the large building and the surrounding
area, renaming it the Maracana Village as it sits
besides the large Maracana football stadium.
As a minimal token of our solidarity and complicity
with those who defended the village, some anarchists
in Sydney entered a large offce building on Clarence
St (which houses the Brazilian consulate) on Tuesday
March 26 and dropped a banner from a balcony on
the second level which read:
I have decided to send a letter to the regional labour inspector to tell them how labour unions are
treated in the company where I work. In consequence, I am going to burn myself at the Ministry of
Labour. Farewell, companions.
By Ratania
Far from my home country, the morning of July 28th I learn that Gary Medel, a Chilean football
player, wont be able to play the match against Brazil. Fuck, I think, and text a friend. Without
Gary, a.k.a Pitbull, the heroic feat will defnitely be impossible. (Yes, after leaving Spain out,
Chileans felt everything was possible, even Brazil in the round of sixteen). A few minutes later
I feel ashamed that this was my frst text as I learn that Marco Antonio Cuadra (48, married, two
children), a Chilean bus driver and trade union leader at RedBus company (Transantiago, public
transport system of the Chilean capital), had died the day before after 25 days in hospital with 85%
of his body burnt. He had set himself on fre the morning of July 2nd, not at the Ministry of Labour
but in one of the bus stations of the company. And although he had been fred a week ago, that day
he attended his own death wearing the uniform of his company. He set himself on fre as an act of
self-immolation, protest, and desperation. For himself and his companions, as he had said. He wore
the uniform because he was fred despite the trade union rights that protected him. He was known
for always fghting for the workers rights, had denounced persecution from his former employers,
and had already gone on a hunger strike about which the mainstream media never said a thing.
When he was in hospital, still alive, Minister of Labour Javiera Blanco visited him and told the
media: I think the most important thing we can do is sit down, dialogue, and identify the problems
we have now so as to avoid this type of situation. Really? Is that all you have to say after a man
burns himself and is surely going to die, all out of powerlessness?
That is all his life deserved. Not according to his wife, though, who said: He was very anguished
due to injustice. He felt rage at how the elderly and in general all the workers had to work until
very late, they were not respected, they had to wear diapers because they have no toilets and
have long routes. He felt really bad about that. They were not paid as they had to be paid, every
month it was a fght with the company about what each worker deserved (...) From what I have
seen and what his workmates have told me, this was the result of utter frustration, the biggest
frustration a human being can feel, the mockery, he was humiliated. Ive heard he was fred through
loudspeakers, humiliated in front of all the workers. No one in this world would like to be fred like
CHILE
that, but in an offce, face to face. That is my saddest grief, his humiliation, the fact that he was
treated in a way he did not deserve.
So on July 28th in Australia, 02:00, the match starts and Gary Medel is playing. What? Did I read
the wrong news this morning? No, he is actually injured, but playing anyway. He does his best,
but the 8-milimiter strain in his left leg makes him leave on minute 107. He leaves the feld on a
stretcher, crying but with his head held high. And Chile, the soccer team, plays like never before
and loses as usual. But they are received as heroes, the president receives them in La Moneda (she
delays her fight to the United States to be there when the sportsmen arrive), everyone is there
celebrating the teams performance.
A few days later, July 4th, I read another piece of news. The soccer mourning has been long and
the military have decided to decorate Gary Medel because, they say, he embodies the spirit of
the soldier. Values such as patriotism, development of discipline, courage and dedication are
transmitted to younger generations that come into the institution; such qualities were shown
by the Pitbull, the institution said. And yes, we love Gary Medel, he comes from a poor
background (he is the kind of players you could easily imagine his father being a bus driver and his
mother a housekeeper), he is brave, he has grown as a person and as a player, he gave all he had in
spite of the injury.
I do not agree with this decoration, but if they want to do it, let them do it. If Medel wants to
receive it, let him do so. I just hope he does not buy all the bullshit. But what really worries me is if
someone is going to decorate Marco Antonio Cuadra, if someone else apart from his family and co-
workers are going to recognise the values he lived and died for. If one day these news are going to
come up in my news feeds before the player who is missing out, if everyone is going to be speaking
about the worker who immolated himself. But no, we do not need more Cuadras. Can you imagine
setting him as a model and then having a country full of workers who fght for their rights?
Uruguay
Brindis de fn de ao
Feliz ao nuevo para todos! Brindo con 2 copas por los que no pueden
brindar. Por todos los que en este momento, en este mundo, estn siendo
torturados, con los ojos vendados y las manos atadas atrs, brindo tambin
por aquellos que estuvieron as, no hace mucho, aca en el uruguay, como
mi padre y mi ta que con 18 aos y poco mas, hici...eron su primer vuelo
en avin, con capucha y esposados con alambre, a sabiendas de q el fondo
del ro de la plata, poda ser su destino fnal. Me hago cargo de su legado
y brindo hoy, por seguir caminando a paso humano, de la mano de la
naturaleza, hacia la libertad. Sepan los dueos del mundo y sus cipayos de
ac, que aqui estamos y estaremos y que la vida puede mas!!!

Patricia Kennedy
A toast to this new years eve
Happy New Year to all! I toast with 2 glasses for those who cannot toast.
For all who in this moment, in this world, are being tortured, with their eyes
bandaged over and their hands tied behind, I toast also for those who were
tortured, with eyes covered and hands tied like this, no long ago, here in
Uruguay, like my father and my aunt, who at just 18 and a little more, went
on their frst fight in a plane, with face hooded, and handcuffed with wire,
well knowing, that the bottom of the Ro de la Plata, could be their fnal
destination. I bear their legacy, and I toast today, towards keeping walking
the steps of humanity, taking the hand of mother earth, towards our liberty.
Let it be known to the owners of the world and their cipayos (politicians
representing foreign commerce interests), that we are here, we will always
be here, and life can be more than this!!!
Uruguay: Incendiary attack against Brazil 2014 World Cup
Montevideo, June 2014 - In the early hours of Monday, June 9th, we attacked the
headquarters of the AUF (Uruguayan Football Association) located in the corner
of Guayabo and Vzquez streets, destroying and burning part of the building with
three Molotov cocktails.
This action is in response to all the shit that the feast of the World Cup involves.
We send affection and strength to comrades who fight throughout the world and a
big hug to the prosecuted compas in Buenos Aires.*
THERE WILL BE NO WORLD CUP!
* In late May, comrades were detained and brought to court for painting slogans
against World Cup, and in solidarity with imprisoned anarchist Tamara Sol Faras
Vergara, in the city centre of Buenos Aires (also on the facade of the Argentine
Football Association).
HONDURAS
two and eight dont make twenty-eight of Melissa Cardoza
Memory, is maybe a setting, a smell that brings up fondness, aversion, and pain. They can be
made up of faces that smile, or that attack us, that ignore us. Memory is a place without place that
survives inside of each of us, however it manages to. Memory is personal and also tremendously
collective. It is in the colours of things, in words that slice the days into pieces, in kisses that keep
flling us with sweetness whenever we just remember them. It is in when you pass a corner of a
street and you want to throw up or fee. It is blood on the asphalt and in the mountains.
If we say June and we add 28, a pile of images, smells, feelings.. thousands of people who we
share this country with pour onto us. Words get trampled on, the words that try to recover names
and faces that year after year are getting rubbed out: the assassinations, their assassins. We build a
mountain of anecdotes spilling with strength, because we felt that, transformation were inevitable,
with the accumulated and historical injustice so extreme that even the littlest of children dont want
to live here. We know this because we were here and we live it today, we have it in our skin, in the
collective word of memory that is as scattered as days are.
The coup mongers grow old and slim over our ghosts. We see them with glowing bills of health
and unbearably wealthy with what they pocketed in the last fve years: businesses, taxes, deals,
traffcking, stealings from the public purse; smiling because they know how much fortune they will
keep having thanks to their slaves - women and men - who receive only a pat on the shoulder from
a favorite mediocre Guatemalan singer. These coup mongers are spoken of as respectable persons,
who continue to be state offcials, representatives of the state, they pay homage to the markets, and
they are seen in the media with their latest surgeries and elegant fashion.
On our side, the defeat remained, complete like one of those soccer balls so famous in these days,
only, it is old, defated, broken, made shitty, its even too heavy to kick. From this side, we see
the exodus of infants, without fute players nor Hamelins, we go with relatives to the welfare
and social health fund offces, but that has and offers nothing. We cook African beans. We know
that dengue fever is worse now than the year before, that suicide increased, as had mental illness.
We are present, everyday, seeing hunger and its relatives, and we accuse one another out of pure
rage. We then go back to buy in the shops of the bosses, to eat their rubbish, gulp down on their
poisonous tv shows and print news, to celebrate their soccer mafas and their religious cults, to ask
them for new justice in their polished institutions, that seem to fll up more with scenes where we
are the ones who stage the spectacles, and we dont even take payments for it.
We give in like a mob of people, we get tired, we get disenchanted with the announced
disenchantment. Some women and some men fght, sure, with authentic hope, and they fght with
their lives, theres no other way, they dont choose to put their lives on the line, but in comparison
to the better days, they are very few people; we, the majority, return to the corner of whats
possible, of crumbs, of that worse is nothing, of crappy work, of rubbish consultation, of rage
over the stolen vote, of harmful love that is better than emptiness, of the laughable retirement
pension, the drink to forget, the maybe scholarship, of fear of abundance, shared out in the nights
like a pill against going crazy. How sorry I feel writing about the defeat of this moment, about my
defeat.
When the few leaders of the recent times insisted that we kept impeccably our prestige of a
peaceful people and even chant certain things that werent right; when they made speeches about
the goodness of their proposals of order and democratic peace, with all that we were going to
gain once this power were to become ours and those of ours come to represent us, when they told
us that if we made even some show of anger against those that sent us to kill everyday, that they
would murder us on the streets, they also told us that we could not defend ourselves. We gave in
our power out of fear and out of the lack of trust in ourselves, we let go of our capacity to think
without them, of taking action without their commands, we parted from our daringness and courage
for autonomous processes that were already happening, we pacifcally gave up deciding with
clarity, we gave up including the act of failing.
It must have been from so many years of schools and of priests, of pastors and bossy mothers, of
bosses and salaries, of bad literature, of electoral processes, of bad sex, of husbands or of loves
that blackmail. All the systematic practices that eat at our capacity to try, to try out other ways,
out of fear of making mistakes and of being of some other way, they took from us our capacity to
see clearly how through a repeat formula that is neither effective nor pertinent, they left us this
despairing habit of repeating ourselves. They had achieved it, perfectly.
Its true what the leaders told us, that they would have killed tonnes of us, here, on the street. But,
Im sure that we would have defended ourselves because creativity, energy and strength were with
us. The way how strangers opened their doors to us, how hands in solidarity gave us water, how
we shared amongst us the few snacks we had, and the bus fares which we had even less for, they
gave us company to our homes; this was how we walked for days, how we gathered without offce
hours, how the mothers organised to care for the daughters and sons between all of them, the youth,
to move about, put together their minds collectively, the artists and their proposals without funds,
we were able to carry them out in ways that we didnt even imagine. We would have been able to
do them because it were life and not death that was on our ethical side. We didnt go out to kill or
to be killed, we never did that, we were saved by the hairs of emotion amongst so many people,
fuelled by feeling alive and the building of a dignifed life for this beautiful and hurt earth.
What the grey leaders didnt advise us, and what we didnt see as a mob of people is that between
life and death, there is something else, this way of walking around and being is how people walk
around here everyday: a way that we are in the process of perfecting because it is homeMade and
yes it is made well, and this is called desvivir (to go out of our way, do our utmost). And in truth, it
is despicable, shameful and shockingly sad.
Original article in Spanish: http://insaut.blogspot.it/2014/07/un-dos-y-un-ocho-no-es-un-28-de-
melissa.html
(The cups gonna have struggles. In support of the struggles
of the workers! Against excessive spending of the cup!)
Honduras - gatherings in two different cities
MEXICO
Anti-FIFA anarchists attack press, burn World
Cup trophy in Mexico, in solidarity with
protesters in Brazil
video at http://ow.ly/xSwPh
TORONTO
ARGENTINA
In the night of 29-30 May, a series of grafftis were painted in the city centre of
Buenos Aires, with messages against eh world cup No habr copa (there will
be no cup), Contra la miseria del mundial (against world cup misery), fuego
al mundial (fre to the world cup), etc and in solidarity with Sol Vergara -
imprisoned in Chile charged with shooting against a bank guard.
As they painted over the front of the Argentinian Football Association building, the
compas were intercepted by federal and city police and kept for 14 hours before
being taken to court and released - this was shared not in the spirit of calling for
arrestees solidarity but to let known that there are compas agitating against the
cup, and invite people to join this struggle, and of course, to end our strength to
those on the streets of Brazil who resist and organise against this state attack, that
after organising this millionaire event, evicts, humiliates, imprisoners, tortures and
assassinates people of the marginalised neighbourhoods No habr copa!
NO HABR COPA!
GREECE
Solidarity banners from Athens
Landenfeld, Germany
Rio
Paris, France
Milano, Italy
Serbia
Leipzig, Germany
Marburg, Germany
Bilbao, Spain
Hamburg, Germany
Wuppertal, Germany
Solidarity from refugees on the roof of a school in Ohlauer
Street, Berlin, where more than 200 people were living
until they were violently evicted by over 900 police in
June 2014. Forty people remained on the roof, demanding
the right to residency, the right to stay.
sure, i can watch people i will never meet
kick a ball with golden feet
and golden cheques in bloody hands
from masses roaring in the stands
as tear gas rains on those whose lands
was taken from them street by street
this circus brought to you by those
wholl sell you burgers, beer and clothes
and buy your local politician
banking on your nationalism
in this most globalised of sports
as nations, states, and other sorts
their culture history and corruption
boil down to eleven men in shorts
or i can fnd some friends and fnd a ball
turning of our goddamn televisions
and we can play by rules, or none at all
and no stadiums will be turned to prisons
- J