The 2010 Soccer World Cup should be exposed as the complete farce it is. ZACF strongly condemns the audacity and hypocrisy of the government to present the event as an opportunity of a lifetime "for the development of those living in South Africa (and the rest of the continent). The blindingly clear is that the "opportunity" is and remains the frenzied thirst global capital and national and South African ruling elite. In fact, to say the least, the event will probably have more devastating consequences for the poor and working class South African , a process already running.
In preparing to receive the World, the government has spent about R800 billion euros -6000000000-(R757 billion in infrastructure development and R30 billion on stadiums that will never be filled), a gigantic slap in the face of those living in a country characterized by desperate poverty and an unemployment rate that borders 40%. In the past five years the working poor have expressed their indignation and disagreement about the failure of the government's attempt to repair the enormous social inequality in about 8,000 protests basic services and housing throughout the country. This pattern of expenditure is further evidence of the maintenance of the failed neoliberal capitalist model and its economy "drip", which has merely reinforced inequality and global poverty. Despite having denied earlier, the government has recently admitted that taking a turn, and now pretends that the project "never intended" to generate profits.
South Africa desperately needs large-scale public infrastructure , especially in the public transport sector, which in some cities - such as Johannesburg - is almost completely absent. The Gautrian [ TGV high speed ], which was released on Tuesday, June 8 (just in time for the big event) is probably the greatest irony : In a country where the vast majority have unsafe private mini-bus taxis to travel long distances daily The high-speed Gautrain offers, luxurious transportation for tourists and those traveling between Johannesburg and Pretoria ... at least for those who can afford, taking into account that a simple trip from the airport to Sandton cost the grand sum of R100. The same image is displayed on all sides: the Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) has spent about R16 billion to improve airports, the private National Roads Agency Limited (SANRAL) has spent nearly R23 billion on a new network of toll roads, which will mean strict cost-recovery measures to restore the billions invested, most of which will be only a negligible benefit to the poor people of South Africa. Throughout the country municipalities have undertaken urban regeneration schemes ... accompanied by plans of gentrification, as the government attempts to paper soon the harsh reality of South Africa.
About 15,000 people homeless and street children have been rounded up and dumped in shelters in Johannesburg, Cape Town the municipality has evicted thousands of people from areas poor and squatter camps as part of the project "beautification" of the World Cup. Cape Town (unsuccessfully) tried to evict 10,000 residents of Joe Slovo [one of the largest settlements in South Africa] from their homes to hide from tourists traveling on the N2 highway, and elsewhere have been removed for make room for stadiums, parking for fans or train stations [2]. In Soweto, the streets have been embellished along major tourist routes and FIFA, as the broken windows adjacent schools and buildings look virtually collapse.
While many South Africans remain without convincing, others are flooded and swept away by the flood of nationalist propaganda aimed at diverting attention from the circus that is the World Cup. Every Friday has been called "Football Friday" day that encourages the "nation" (and forces the kids at school) to wear T-shirts, Bafana Bafana [African national team]. The cars are equipped with flags, people learn to dance the "Diski" dance "that is danced in every tourist restaurant, and bought dolls of the mascot Zakumi. Any skeptic of this show is denigrated as unpatriotic, the prime example occurs when the strike of the Union of South African Transport and Allied Workers (SATAWU) is set aside "for interés nacional" [3]. En un contexto en el que cerca de un millón de trabajados han sido perdidos en el curso del año pasado, las celebraciones del gobierno de que la copa mundial ha creado cerca de 400.00 puestos son vacías e insultantes. Los trabajos que han sido creados a la carrera son en su mayoría casuales o con "Contratos a plazo fijo", tomados por los trabajadores que no están sindicalizados y que son pagados muy por debajo del salario mínimo.
Aparte de la represión de los sindicatos, los movimientos sociales han recibido una hostilidad similar de parte del Estado, que ha puesto extraoficialmente una prohibición absoluta a toda protesta durante el curso del evento. De hecho, hay cierta evidence that this has been carried out since the first of March. According to Jane Duncan [the Freedom of Expression Institute]:
A shocking report issued late last week about the other municipalities that host World Cup matches has revealed that a total ban concentrations is operation. In the words of the municipality of Rustenberg, "meetings are closed for the World Cup." Mbombela Municipality received a report from the SAPS [South African Police Service] that would not allow concentrations during the World Cup. The City Council of Cape Town said it continues to accept applications for marches, but noted that "it would be a problem" during the World Cup. According to Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and Ethekwini, the police did not allow concentrations throughout the period of the World [4].
Although it is clear that the creation, often hailed for its "progressive" is far from being a guarantor of freedom and equality that the government says it is, this new form of repression is clearly in contradiction with the constitutional right freedom of expression and assembly. However, social movements in Johannesburg, including the Anti-Privatisation Forum and many others have not given up easily, having been approached to get permission for a protest march on the opening day with the help of Freedom of Expression Institute. However, progress is being forced to be contained to three kilometers from the stadium, where it will not attract the type of media attention that the government concerned.
was not only the state that has been severe in terms of repression with the poor and any activity or demonstration against the World painting within South Africa as a host inviting open arms to come en masse to their upscale hotels, inns and cocktails, but does so under the guidance of that legal rule Sepp Blatter and his friends called FIFA . Not only expect to benefit from an unexpected gain of about 1.2 billion euros, but have already gained about one million euros only with the rights of the media. stadiums and the surrounding areas, which have been transferred to FIFA for the duration of the tournament (literally " tax free, creating areas controlled and monitored by the FIFA exempt from normal taxes other state laws ), and all routes to and from the stadiums have been cleaned by force anyone to sell unauthorized products Cup and who survive in squatter camps along routes airport. The same happened to the people that had the World Cup sales to increase revenue to survive, they are left to "trickle down" economy.
FIFA, as the owner of the exclusive World Cup brand and its products, also has a team of approximately 100 lawyers reviewing the country by any unauthorized sale of these products or brand marketing. These products are confiscated and the sellers are arrested despite the fact that most people in South Africa and the continent buy their products sector illegal trade, while few have R400 to spend on shirts and other equipment. It also has effectively gagged journalists with a clause that prevents accredited media organizations discredit FIFA clearly compromising the freedom of the press [5].
The greatest irony is that football was ever really the game of the working class. Football matches live on stage was cheap and easily accessible to people who chose to use 90 minutes of his life to forget the drudgery of daily living under the boot of the employer and the state. Today, professional football and World Cup gives exorbitant profits to a small elite group global and national (with billions spent unnecessarily and in a time of global crisis of capitalism) they charge their customers thousands of rands, pounds, euros, etc. season to season to do with annoyance to players who charge excessive salaries drop and roll at the slightest push, and discussing, through parasitic agents, whether or not they deserve their huge salaries. A game that in many ways retains its aesthetic beauty, has lost its soul and working class has been reduced to another commodity to exploit.
Bakunin once said that "people go to church for the same reasons for going to the tavern: to lose consciousness, to forget their misery, to imagine, even for a few minutes free and happy. "Perhaps, among the blinding nationalist flags waving and the sound of vuvuzelas [horns], we can add the sport and add its equation may seem easier to forget to take an active part in the fight against injustice and inequality. There are many that do, however, and the poor and working class are less malleable to the illusion that the government would like to believe. Since the temporary encampments on the door of the stadium, to the protests and mass demonstrations , through strike action in the field, licensed or not, despite the taunts and jeers and the categories of "anti-patriotic" or bans on freedom of expression, we hear our voices defiantly to expose the terrible inequalities that characterize our society and the global games conducted at the expense of the lives of those on which empires have been built and will be, sooner or later destroyed.
This statement was issued by the Zabalaza Anarchist Communist Front [ Anarchist Communist Front Zalabaza ]
Extracted from: http://www.ainfos.ca/ca/ainfos10965.html
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