2014 World Cup - Brazil

                                            Group: André R, Felipe P, Felipe V e Gabriel S

After World Cup, Brazil Asks: Was It Worth It?

Despite the disappointment of the disastrous end to Brazil's World Cup campaign, the event has been seen as an unrivaled chance to bring the world to Brazil and Brazil to the world in a much-needed cultural Exchange. But the things didn't go bad with the team's campaign, we got another ''7x1'' outside of the field.

Thanks to the World Cup, more than 250,000 people were either directly or indirectly forcefully removed from their living spaces. The government compensated the evicted with only $22,000, not nearly enough to get by. The evictions mostly affect the poor because their property rights are not recognized by Brazil's legal system.

The total cost of the games was $12 billion, a price tag that many are convinced was not worth it, considering the social inequality plaguing the country. Brazil spent billions on twelve stadiums, even though FIFA only requires a minimum of eight built stadiums. Today, some of those stadiums, like the Arena Pantanal, which never hosted anything after the World Cup, are abandoned.

 Arena Pantanal, R$ 676 millions in the trash. 

Brazilian politicians only finished 10 out of 56 of their promised infrastructure projects in preparation for the games, and now, 2 years later, the projects are still unfinished. Also, during the execution of those projects, some people died. In São Paulo, an unfinished overpass collapsed in early July, and before that, in the Arena Corinthians, a part of the structure collapsed, killing 8 workers.

  Arena Corinthians after the accident.

Mariana's Mudslide. A Tragedy Caused by Humans. - Giovanna Tres, Marina Sanhudo e Rafaela Ramires 3C

The tragedy in the mineral-rich south-eastern state of Minas Gerais (Bento Rodrigues district) has displaced hundreds of residents, triggered investigations by prosecutors and spurred calls for stricter oversight of the mining industry, a huge provider of jobs and government tax receipts. No cause has been identified for the dams' failure, which left about 750 people homeless.

The biologist Francisco Mourão, of the Mineira Association of Environment's Defense (AMDA) explains that the consequences of this tragedy will still be marked for decades. He highlights the fish mortality, the vegetation damage, the soil sterilization and the water burial, with accumulated sediments in the rear of rivers and streams.

Samarco, the mining company responsible for the disaster, secured that there was no toxic contents on the 62 million cubic meters of iron ore tailings released during the accident. But there were found heavy metal sediments on the mud. Some experts believe some of the damaged areas will never be the same, and it will take a lot of time for the environment to start recovering.

The fire department is monitoring a third dam to check the possibilities of having a new accident, because it's not the first time there was a dam disruption in Minas Gerais state. Samarco company registered two small tremors on the area two hours before the disruption, but no one knows if it was earthquakes or the own force of the disruption. There's no confirmation on the disaster's cause.

The disruption of the Samarco's dam is considered the biggest environmental tragedy in Brazil's history. Besides destroying the native vegetation and polluting Rio Doce's basin, the episode left 19 deaths. For the annalist Alfredo Ricardo, author of researches about memories of environment's disasters by UFMS, Mariana's tragedy mustn't be considered as exceptional and impossible to happen again. "If not consciously remember, we'll remember as a fright, the next time greed dictate the rules of environmental exploration", he alerts.

Photographic Memory

The tragedy's memorial will be exhibited this month in a photography exposure organized by the Minas Gerais' fire department. The sample Paisagens que Transformam will occur in the Military Museum (Museu dos Militares) between May 16th and June 17th. It will portray the perception of firefighters and policeman that worked there after the disaster.

It will also show images focusing on the before and after, allowing the observation of the landscape's transformation. The exhibition room will be scenographically acclimated with objects that refer to Mariana's tragedy.

Bibliography

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/nov/10/brazil-dam-burst-mining-rules

http://exame.abril.com.br/brasil/noticias/catastrofe-em-mariana-devera-afetar-ecossistema-por-anos

http://www.revistaforum.com.br/semanal/catastrofe-em-mariana-culpa-e-de-quem/



Get to work!

• Get in groups of 3.
• Think and research about a news topic of the 21st century.
• Read about it, select the best sources and plan your news article.
• Write your article, select links, images, cartoons, videos on the topic.
• Post everything on our blog up to May 5th. (1,0)
• Develop a well-planned presentation to give a lecture to the class on May 6th. (1,0)