“In Brasilia, more than 80 percent of public schools have inadequate facilities, lacking chairs, books and water-tight roofs, according to the Tribunal de Contas do Distrito Federal, a watchdog.” (Bloomberg)
The favelas – bricks and cement adorned with color trapping despair within its steep alleyways – are Brazil’s least well-kept secret. President Rousseff cannot hide them from the fans who have traveled to watch the FIFA World Cup, where two heroes of the favela children, Neymar and Messi, are weaving magic almost every match.
The children are not so much looking to Pele; he has forgotten where he came from unlike Adriano and Romario. For many of them, football is the only way out of a life littered with problems. Some of their fathers are drug dealers by trade; some of their mothers are addicts. (SMH)
They look up to the footballers who forged a path out of poverty through football. Yet, football has already and might continue to worsen their lives due to the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Thus, when Mario Ferri miraculously jumped out of his wheelchair on to the pitch, he wanted to ask the world to remember the thousands of children trapped out in the favelas, some of which are based close to Brazil’s football shrine, the Maracana.
The pitch invader at Belgium vs. USA was a protester with a political message - pic.twitter.com/oMmldK13ev
— World Cup 2014 (@WorldCupPosts) July 1, 2014
The Italian has pulled off such stunts before, sometimes in the name of activism. These children, all fervently watching the World Cup, do not have access to proper education. They have the bare minimum but not much more. Ferri might have just for a second hit some nerves in the crowd.
While the fans are supposed to enjoy the World Cup, in a completely unselfish world, the fans might have walked away in protest to ensure Brazil’s children are not forgotten. Brazil has forgotten them to an extent as has the fans.
Fans however have come to Brazil because FIFA, fully knowing the stadiums will be empty and unaffordable following a competition which has made the rich wealthier and the poor poorer, has handed Brazil the hosting rights.
FIFA, in light of their decision to hand the country the World Cup, could have deepened their efforts to help the poor of the country, those displaced from areas where stadiums were being built, those losing out basic rights such as an immediate emergency checkup for example.
While FIFA and the fans almost turned a blind eye on the issue of poverty, some players have not as mentioned before. However, footballers rise against racism in tandem and condemn the issue. When Dani Alves was hit by a banana in the past season in Spain, the #WeAreAllMonkeys campaign exploded on twitter and the entire Internet.
Such reactions to the issues in Brazil would have been positive on a moral basis but they have not happened. This might also be because FIFA would perhaps threaten the national side of any association (KNVB, DFB, English FA, etc) with expulsion from the tournament if they dared criticized FIFA’s decisions.
FIFA is a dictatorship to a certain extent because of Blatter; Ferri stood up to it blatantly. But will anyone else join him?
