Brazil’s Dance With The Devil
Brazil’s Dance With The Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics, And The Fight For Democracy, By Dave Zirin
Haymarket Books, 248 pages, 2014, $16.00, ISBN 9781608463602
With the 2014 World Cup fast approaching, excitement for this sporting mega-event is reaching unprecedented levels. With over 700 million television viewers for the 2010 Final between Spain and the Netherlands, compared to only 110 million viewers for the 2012 Giants versus Patriots Super Bowl, the World Cup Final is indisputably the most watched sporting event in the world. Yet there is a unique atmosphere and anticipation for this particular World Cup as fútbol, or soccer, returns to its spiritual homeland in Brazil. In a country where the sport is nearly regarded as a religion, one might expect unanimous enthusiasm from the fans of the home country. With the approaching 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics, these upcoming mega-events were meant to represent Brazil’s arrival on the global stage as an economic power and world leader. As the decision was announced which country would be hosting the 2016 Olympics, Brazil’s former President Lula da Silva stated “Today is the day that Brazil gained its international citizenship . . . Brazil has left behind the level of second-class countries and entered the ranks of first-class countries. The world has finally recognized that this is Brazil’s time” (13). Despite the jubilation expressed by Brazilian politicians and the elite, the 1.5 million protestors that demonstrated throughout that two-week long 2013 Confederations Cup exposed the growing opposition of Brazilians throughout the country. Facing inadequate healthcare, a faltering education system, and displaced favela inhabitants; Nation sports editor, Dave Zirin, delves into the origins and ramifications of these conditions in Brazil’s Dance With The Devil: The World Cup, The Olympics, And The Fight For Democracy.
In the first chapter Zirin discusses some of the most problematic aspects of Brazil’s preparation for the World Cup, particularly in Rio de Janeiro. This includes Brazil’s prioritization of building ‘FIFA Quality Stadiums’ while raising public transportation fares to help fund these major architectural projects, sacrificing the public safety of construction workers that are working around the clock, and an increasing militarization of the country and stadiums, with one security initiative ironically called “Big Brother”. While the title of the book suggests a sole focus on Brazil’s presentation of the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics, Zirin’s book not only dissects these two mega-events, but also offers succinct synthesis’ on a variety of relevant themes that are necessary to contextualize Brazil’s current situation. The second chapter offers a very brief, yet concise, history of Brazil that has been marked by slavery, colonialism, and 20th century dictatorships. The following chapters discuss more contemporary Brazilian politics, Brazil’s illustrious soccer history and its use as a cultural vehicle, a documentation of the disastrous effects of recent World Cups and Olympics, and the methods in which sporting mega-events have been used as a vehicle to promote neoliberal political and economic agendas. While one of the aims for hosting the 2014 World Cup was to unite Brazilians, it has actually had the effect of generating much popular discontent over Brazil’s priorities. Zirin concludes this excellent book with first-hand accounts of Brazilians who have been combatting FIFA and the government’s neoliberal policies.
Zirin makes no attempt to conceal his assessment of the Brazilian Government, FIFA, and the International Olympic Committee (IOC). The author bluntly states the primary argument of Brazil’s Dance With The Devil when he asserts that the main goal of the Olympics, World Cup, and other mega sporting events is to allow for the consent of the masses to neoliberal policy goals. Zirin explains “The countries change, but the scenario stays the same: a profit orgy and a tax haven for corporate sponsors and private security firms, obscene public spending on new stadiums, and then brutal cuts that fall on the backs of the poor when the party’s over” (212). Zirin references Naomi Klein’s the Shock Doctrine to explain how catastrophes, whether, a deep economic crisis, a natural disaster, or a terrorist attack, become a juncture that allow the country’s power structure to authorize neoliberal policy changes that the people would have never accepted had they not been traumatized by the events of the disaster. When the ruling elite can’t find a convincing disaster to implement the neoliberal outcomes of “Shock Doctrine,” Zirin argues that “Celebration Capitalism” can be used to achieve many of the same goals. Jules Boykoff states “Celebration capitalism is disaster capitalism’s affable cousin. Both occur in states of exception that allow plucky politicos and their corporate pals to push policies they couldn’t dream of during normal times” (117). The product of “Celebration Capitalism” is a hyper-militarized country that forcibly removes poor inhabitants from prime realty locations, invests substantial amounts of capital into security, stadiums, and tourist attractions, and then ignores the educational, medical, and housing needs of the country. As many Brazilians have stated, the country needs ‘FIFA Quality Schools’, not ‘FIFA Quality Stadiums”.
Zirin begins nearly every chapter of Brazil’s Dance With The Devil with a quote from the novelist, poet, and writer Eduardo Galeano. Zirin incorporates an excerpt of Galeano’s The Nobodies, where the Galeano pens “The nobodies: nobody’s children, owners of nothing. The nobodies: the no ones, the nobodied, running like rabbits, dying through life, screwed every which way” (214). The Brazilian government, FIFA, and the IOC would like nothing more than to have the country’s ‘nobodies’ silenced, to have the 2014 World Cup proceed unhindered, and to showcase Brazil’s emergence as a “first-class” country. The strength of Zirin’s book is the voice and outlet that he offers Brazil’s disenfranchised, particularly the people forcibly removed from the favelas. The last chapter and conclusion include many first-hand accounts from people who have been affected by the destruction of the favelas to make way for tourist attractions, expensive housing, and parking lots. These authentic accounts reveal, at times, helplessness in the Brazilian people’s inability to stop many of the favela redevelopment projects. Although the favelas are somewhat romanticized by Zirin, what shines through is the passion and resilience that Brazil’s protestors and dissenters have for their country. The destruction of entire communities, police brutality, poverty, inadequate housing, sub-par healthcare facilities, and the people protesting these ailments will likely be hidden from the television cameras broadcasting the World Cup. While many of us will be swept up in the anticipation and excitement for the world’s largest sporting spectacle, Zirin reminds us not to forget about the Brazilians that will be forced to deal with the ramifications of this mega-event once the FIFA and the World Cup have left the country.
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Juan I. Mora is a first-year PhD student in the Department of History at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
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