First of
all the world cup is being held in Brazil for the first time in 64 years. It is
obvious that a victory would boost the self-esteem of the Brazilians like it
would for any nation. The frames for the celebration would be perfect as Brazil
holds the image of being the true home of soccer. It would be electric and the
humiliation of 1950 when Brazil lost the finals against Uruguay would be made
up for. But it did not happen.
Secondly, looking
at the big protests in relation to the Confederation Cup in 2013 and the
following unrest related to overspending, police violence and lack of
investment in public welfare, it was speculated in whether a World Cup victory
could calm tensions and be a benefit for the president. But we will never know,
because Brazil did not win.
My point is
that any speculation about whether this will influence the presidential
election are based on guesses about what could happen if Brazil won the World
Cup, something they did not. It is basically speculating about what could
happen if something that did not happen did happen. In addition to this it is based on assumptions
about relationships between soccer and politics that has never been proved. If
we study the development of Brazil, it is true that soccer is often one of the references
for Brazilian identity. But few, if any, analyzes of Brazilian politics points
to defeats and success in the soccer field as relevant for the development in
politics.
The world
cup in Brazil is however of paramount interest as a social event where
conflicts and problems in Brazilian society are being accentuated and more
visible than usual. Abuse of public funding is nothing new and unfilled promises
from politicians is more the expectation than the exception. As such, it is
more the values and conflicts being visible as the World Cup is held in Brazil
that is interesting than the results on the soccer field. So, the result of the
7-1 defeat is probably not influencing the elections in October, as there will
be no victory that maybe could work as anesthetics. But I doubt that even a
victory could make Brazilians forget the problems and challenges in Brazil.
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar