Just because of 20 cents? For a genealogy of the Brazilian ‘demonstrations cup’

ABSTRACT

In June 2013, widespread popular unrest unexpectedly shook Brazil whilst the FIFA Football Confederations Cup was taking place. Nicknamed as the ‘demonstrations cup’ by protesters, this was one of the greatest uprisings in the history of the country, with its effects still being felt and discussed nationally and internationally. Despite the general consensus on the more immediate causes that sparked the movement – such as the protests by the Movimento Passe Livre against a 20-cent bus fare hike in São Paulo, heavy-handed police repression and the use of social media – there still lacks a holistic explanation about the historical processes that formed the inflammable scenario that triggered those demonstrations and their rapid dissemination. Using quantitative and qualitative data related to recent urban socio-economic changes and civil society mobilisation trends, the present paper constructs an original genealogy of the June 2013 ‘demonstrations cup’. As a result, it indicates a unique confluence of multiple causal factors, such as the rapid and generalised erosion of real income in the Brazilian metropolises, the degeneration of political representativeness and traditional movements, the emergence of new mobilisation tools and the dissemination of anti-mega-events critical subjectivities – hence providing a comprehensive and empirically informed account.

KEYWORDS:

• June 2013
• protests
• social movements
• public policies
• Brazil
• mega-events

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. For more information, see http://www.zap.com.br/imoveis/fipe-zap-b/.

2. Survey for the metropolitan regions of Belo Horizonte, Curitiba, São Paulo, Fortaleza, Rio de Janeiro, Recife, Porto Alegre, Belém and Salvador (FJP 2014), representing 31% of the Brazilian population.

3. The other criteria for the calculation of housing deficit are: precarious infrastructure, family cohabitation and the excess residents in rented homes.

4. This is equivalent to 40% of the population.

5. Information on the then still incipient new barriers created can be found at http://oglobo.globo.com/sociedade/tecnologia/facebook-reduz-alcance-organico-das-paginas-11968134.

6. Details of the distribution of investments can be accessed at http://www.portaltransparencia.gov.br/copa2014/empreendimentos/tema.seam?tema=8.

7. Data available at http://www.cidades.gov. br/5conferencia/conferencia/historico.htm.

8. Available at http://tarifazero.org/mpl/.

9. Available at http://www.midiaindependente.org/pt/blue/static/about.shtml.

10. See, for example, http://terraeliberdade.org/atividade-do-1o-de-maio/and http://ocupario.org/2012/11/10/urgente-apoio-aldeia-maracana/.

11. See, for example, http://www.pragmatismopolitico.com.br/2012/02/apos-9-dias-de-greve-de-fome-em-frente.html.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Erick Omena de Melo

Erick Omena de Melo is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the Observatory of Metropolises/Institute of Urban and Regional Planning and Research/Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, with a PhD in Planning and Urban Politics at Oxford Brookes University.