The World Cup and the Mass
Protests of the Social Movements
The expectation created by the leaders of the social
and political protest movements for the opening of the World Cup was that there
would be massive demonstrations. They hoped that there would be a replay of the
events of June 2013. However these hopes turned out to be illusions.
The multi-faceted and multi-class crowd who entered the
streets last June did not return. Many people became convinced by the
government and the media that it would not make sense to participate in the
movement called "There Will Be No
Cup" since the state had spent so much money in the event.
The centrist left has been politically divided in their
analysis of the situation. While the Morenoite PSTU (Brazil section of
the LIT-FI) has joined the movement against the World Cup, the Workers'
Cause Party (PCO) denounced that the slogan "There Will Be No Cup" would only serve to feed the demands of
right-wing parties.
From January until the eve of the opening of the games
there were many strikes, mainly workers of public transport and public services
in general. The strike of the street cleaners in Rio de Janeiro was an example
of a victorious struggle:
* It was a victory against the mayor who threatened to
fire 300 street sweepers;
* It was a victory against the judiciary that declared
the strike illegal;
* And it was a victory against their union leadership that
attempted to reach an agreement with the bosses by massively reducing the
striker’s demands
This successful strike were followed by several other strikes
in the whole country: by the public school
teachers, the drivers of public transport, judiciary workers, etc. It appeared
that the closer the date of opening of the World Cup was coming, the more the
number of strikes and protests increased.
The teachers of Rio de Janeiro – both state and county
– proceed on strike since May 12 demanding a 20% wage increase and better
working conditions. Recently, the teachers in São Paulo ended a strike that
lasted 43 days in a very confrontation against the administration of Mayor
Fernando Hadad (PT).
The workers of the São Paulo metro, whose union is
mostly led by the PSTU, went on strike for five days on the eve of the opening
of the World Cup. However, the accumulation of errors by the PSTU was crucial for
the defeat of the movement: They do not unify the metro workers strike with the
previous strike of bus drivers; after the refusal of the state government to
meet the 36% demand of wage increase they lowered their demand to 10%, which was only 1.5% higher than the government’s
offer; and in addition they were accused by the government and the press to
make an opportunistic and political strike. This strike did not find support
from the people, who did not understand why they were without transportation
because of a difference of only 1.5%. The result was, again, that the judiciary
outlawed the movement and fined the trade union with 100.000 reais (about 90.000 dollars) for each day of strike. The governor
of the State of São Paulo, Geraldo
Alckmin (PSDB), based on the alleged illegality of the strike, fired 42 strike workers
of the metro. The union leaders, instead of calling for an intensification of
the strike, canceled it and tried to negotiate the readmission of workers. But
the governor was intransigent and kept the layoffs. It was a historic defeat of
the subway workers.
The Homeless Workers Movement (MTST), which for months
was the leading sector in the campaign against the Cup with massive street
protests, was co-opted by the federal and municipal governments (PT) a few days
before the start of the Cup. The PT governments promised to fulfill three of
the MTST demands: 1) construction of 2000 houses on a plot near the stadium Itaquera;
2) creation of an inter-ministerial committee for the prevention of the forced
evictions in the country, aiming to avoid conflicts and police violence; 3)
realization of changes in the "Minha Casa, Minha Vida" (My
House, My Life) program, which is a program that supposedly should allow for
federal housing finance for the poorest people. Given these promises MTST
withdrew from the streets.
As a result only a few groups continued to participate
in the movement against the World Cup like some social groups independent of the
parties, the teachers that are still on strike in Rio de Janeiro, and the few
people of the so-called “Black Block”.
The tactic of the PSTU was a fiasco. They – and other
of the left – backed the slogan "There will be no World Cup"
and therefore prioritized to launch the metro strike on the eve of the event
instead of uniting their strike with the struggles of the workers of public
transport (buses) and the teachers. Worse, they helped the government to give
weight to their demagogic argument that they were doing an "opportunistic
strike which is harming the population."
It was also wrong of the PCO to claim that the movement
"There will be no World Cup" was led by the right wing
opposition. The truth is that the big sponsors and big corporations have
invested a lot of money in this project and would never encourage right wing sections
to boycott the event.
Moreover, the federal government used all the influence
they have within the bureaucracy of the unions and social movements such as the
MST (the powerful Movement of the
Landless Peasants) to neutralize any broad social movement that could
undermine the stability not only of governance but also the World Cup matches.
In this sense, the bourgeoisie and the PT government are together as ever to
ensure that they make profits together with FIFA.
The real battle between the government and the PT-PMDB
and their allies against their traditional opponents of the PSDB and their allies
will only start after the end of the World Cup, when the
media will put in the agenda the October election for president.
It is urgent to build an authentic revolutionary party
which can provide the working class with a leadership which unites the
struggles of the different sectors of the workers and combines it with a
socialist program to overthrow the capitalist ruling class. The CCR (RCIT in
Brazil) is working towards this goal and looks forward to discuss and
collaborate with like-minded militants.
