Brazil Protests Against World Cup Orchestrated by Photojournalists
While finger pointing over World Cup spending and government corruption has sparked a host of protests in Brazil, a group of photojournalists known as Foto Protesto SP have composed a demonstration of their own -- all in the name of "public dialogue."
The group of 18 to 22 photojournalists decided to occupy the city's public space to "reach the people directly" -- a horizontal demonstration that "brought the people to the people" to establish contact and foster dialogue, bringing them closer to the country's issues and to each other, without any interference from political parties.
"Everything happened quite quickly, I think it was about two weeks from the time Mauricio Lima had the idea to having the pictures actually on the wall," said André Liohn, a Brazilian photojournalist who has been working in São Paulo covering the protests.
"It is a clean, social manifestation of the desire for change," Liohn said. A protest "against time," the exhibit aims to help Brazilians remember why they began demonstrating and what has happened along the way.
It is a visual act for the sake of remembrance and momentum."With our photography we can bring the idea back," Liohn said. "We can question what happened. We can contribute, for the population to reflect about what happened and what should happen in the future."
Foto Protesto has received a lot of attention since Saturday, he said, and is planning a meeting to decide on the group's second act of protest.
Back in June More than a million people took to the streets in at least 80 cities in a rising wave of protest that has coincided with the Confederations Cup. This Fifa event was supposed to be a dry run for players and organisers before next year's finals, but it is police and protesters who are getting the most practice.
The host cities have been the focus of furious demonstrations, prompting local authorities to request security reinforcements from the national government.
The rallies, and the violence that has often followed, were not solely prompted by the tournament. The spark last week was a rise in public transport fares. Anger has since been further stirred by police brutality.
Longstanding problems such as corruption, dire public services, high prices and low levels of safety are also prominent among the range of grievances.
But the mega-event has been the lightning conductor. Many protesters are furious that the government is spending 31bn reals (£9bn) to set the stage for a one-time global tournament, while it has failed to address everyday problems closer to home.
"I'm here to fight corruption and the expense of the World Cup," said Nelber Bonifcacio, an unemployed teacher who was among the vast crowds in Rio on Thursday.
"I like football, but Brazil has spent all that money on the event when we don't have good public education, healthcare or infrastructure."
The renovation and construction of most of the 12 World Cup stadiums has been late and over budget. Several have been pilloried as white elephants because they are being built in cities with minor teams. The new £325m Mané Garrincha stadium in Brasília - which hosted the opening game of the Confederations Cup - has a capacity of 70,000, but the capital's teams rarely attract more than a few hundred fans.
Similarly, the lower-division sides in Cuiabá and Manaus will struggle to fill a fraction of their 40,000 plus-seater stadiums.
The government downplays such concerns, saying the stadiums promote development and have been built for multi-purpose use so they do not have to rely on football for revenue.
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