Brazil’s poor evicted to make way for Olympics

The October 2009 announcement that Rio de Janeiro, Brazil’s “marvelous city”, would host the 2016 Olympic Games was met with enthusiastic celebrations on the streets of Rio and the beaches of Copacabana. Then-President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva broke down in tears over the victory, insisting that it was another sign that “Brazil is no longer a second-class country; it’s a first-class country.”

A year and a half later, it has become clear that winning the Olympic bid has unleashed a process that is only widening the immense class-divide that has grown in tandem with the Brazilian economy.

According to some estimates, as many as 1.5 million families could be forced from their homes as part of the urban renewal and infrastructure projects that are taking place not only in Rio, but also in other major Brazilian cities, in preparation for both the Olympics and the World Cup, which is to be played in Brazil in 2014.

The immediate targets of this campaign are the favelas, the self-constructed shantytowns that are home to approximately one in four Brazilians.

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2011/may2011/braz-m04.shtml


seems like every one of the recent olympics has been used to move the poor out of their homes.

favelas. Remembering China evicting people too. Cannot let the world see the truth.

and the same thing has and is happening in the usa.

olympics is a good excuse for class cleansing but there are other ruses.

but yeah, the phrase "urban renewal" always comes to mind when the Olympics are involved.

They did mention that it took Athens 30 years to pay off their stadium.

I'm so glad DC lost the bid, we've already got a $650 million stadium to pay off, and my property taxes are going up fast.

the demolition of the Clays Lane Council Housing and the forced purchases of local businesses to make room for the Olympic vilage and stadium

does the same thing, they 'remove' those people and areas that might not fit the cosmopolitan image they want to project

PBS did a special on the China Olympics' removals & said they actually did more harm than good, because the small communities there (some thousands of years old) were tourist DRAWS, and once lost, could never be replicated:(

The 'Progress' that comes from Olympics, world fairs, whatever, has a large cost. The loss of history, homes and neighborhoods. Unfortunately, call the area a 'slum' and you can sell 'Urban Renewal' to anyone, except the residents of that area who are simply kicked to another area

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