The 2014 World Cup is being held in Brazil. Hundreds of Millions of dollars have gone into restoration of the city and a brand new stadium. The conventional wisdom was that the added business would benefit poor working citizens in Sao Paolo and elsewhere. But the Homeless Cup, as protestors are calling it, has actually made things worse. The movement, informally known as the People's Cup, has begun to organize and Occupy Brazil.
Rent gouging, displacement and construction worker deaths are just a few of the atrocities that planning for the World Cup has brought to the area (via LA Times):
"Meanwhile, more people are flocking here, taking refuge under black plastic tents held up by sticks they have pounded into the ground... [Protesters] say that the $445 million used to build the gleaming new Arena Corinthians stadium below them could have been spent fighting poverty, but instead has served to rapidly increase rental prices in the neighborhood.
"'My rent went from $135 to $360 in a matter of months. That's more than minimum wage, and my sons can't afford to support me anymore,' 64-year-old seamstress Pedrina Josefina Felix says."
Organized protests in at least a dozen Brazilian cities has brought international attention to a crisis that predates World Cup preparations. The entire country is dealing with an epidemic of poverty (via Latin Post):
"Teachers, public transport workers and museum employers marched alongside anti-World Cup protestors in many of these cities, revealing the deeper issue at hand: The money used in preparation for the World Cup could have been used to better Brazil. Protestors claim the money spent refurbishing Maracana stadium, for example, could pay for 200 schools. The Guardian reports protestors in Rio carried banners saying things like 'The Cup will have protests.'"
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