wanderlust

Seven Goals For Brazil (Through Street Art)

goal |gōl|​

noun

  1. (in football, soccer, rugby, hockey, and some other games) a pair of posts linked by a crossbar and often with a net attached behind it, forming a space into or over which the ball has to be sent in order to score.
  2. the object of a person's ambition or effort; an aim or desired result.

Maybe you've already heard about the protests in Brazil leading to this year's World Cup & maybe you've also seen that viral video of John Oliver exposing the corrupt and "comically grotesque" organization that FIFA is. Or maybe you haven't, due to the overly-marketed excitement of an event that every four years creates massive numbers of new soccer fans (for only about a month). Brazil's national team did not need seven goals scored against it last night (two would've been enough), but maybe that's what the country really needed. Isaac Saul laid this logic down prior to the match: "If they win, the cries of the poor and desperate in Brazil will be drowned out by the cheers of the soccer-crazed fans who could actually afford to get inside the stadium. If they lose, the silence of defeat might give those cries a chance to be heard across the country and the world." Now we know the answer to the match, which came in the form of a (un)lucky number seven. But the goals that Brazil needs most desperately — the responsibility of its government — are the other kind; below are seven pieces of anti-FIFA street art in Brazil, one for every goal.

1. Reestablish housing to every single one of the dispossessed. 

An estimated 15,000 people, in Rio alone, were removed from their homes. ​Mural by B.Shanti & A.Signl, Organized by Colorrevolution e.V. and Amnesty International Brazil. It's in Rio de JaineroLapaRua da Relacao, in front of a police headquarter. 

2. Integrate the communities that FIFA's World Cup tore apart.

Here, Fuleco the Armadillo (official 2014 World Cup mascot) is symbolically taking care of the job. Mural by Paulo Ito.

3. Not have a single person go to sleep hungry and/or homeless.

Self-explanatory.

4. Spend money on social projects not multimillion-dollar facilities.

This was erected as an homage to the favela Metrô-Mangueira in Rio de Janeiro. It reads, "Destroying my community on behald of the cup." 

3. Get rid of the now infamous corruption within the country.

FIFA is walking away with an estimated $4 billion from this World Cup. Brazil will end up spending an estimated $14 billion, despite allegedly having enough of a budget when it made the hosting bid. Who in Brazil is really benefiting from all of this?

6. To, without a question, have "Ordem e Progresso" (Order and Progress). 

The jogo bonito (beautiful game) turns ugly when money & politics are involved.

7. #FuckFIFA, not the other way around.

Does this incommode you? How many removals are made by a Cup? #GoodQuestion

Bonus: In case you haven't already seen Oliver's FIFA takedown. John, take it away:

Article by Jovanny Varela-Ferreyra

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