Laws, Speculation, Eminent Domain, Stadia

The scenario – in Brazil it typically takes about 38 months for a government-funded project to go from approval to payment for services. The bureaucratic hurdles to implementing infrastructure projects and social programs are so formidable that even the gods of Olympus would have to take a few extra running steps to clear them. The three year delay between approval and implementation has the house of FIFA in a fine lather, so Dilma’s left-center government has come up with a solution to the bureaucratic bottleneck: RDC.

The RDC (Regime Diferenciado de Contratações Públicas / Differentiated Regime for Public Contracts) is a fundamental element of the Medida Provisória 527, a Provisional Measure that comes from the Executive branch and requires approval from both houses of the Legislature. The original purpose of MP 527 was to create the Ministry of Civil Aviation, but as it was moving through the halls of Brasilia it picked up the RDC.

The alteration of “normal operating procedures” is a hallmark of mega-events which install states of exception and emergency in the cities and countries where they pass. The time pressures of the event and the contracts signed with Swiss-based NGOs allow for the dribbling of democratic processes and the installation of extra-legal authorities that disappear after the events, leaving no one accountable for the wreckage and debt left behind. Greece is burning in large part because of the huge debt spending for the 2004 Olympics, but no one points the finger at the IOC, the government, or the sponsors of the event. No money left in the public coffers? Austerity for the people. 

There are conflicting needs expressed in the RDC and MP 527. Brazil is woefully late and staggeringly over budget in the production of facilities for the 2014 World Cup. There is a need to have a mechanism that lowers, or at least controls, the costs of stadium and infrastructure projects at the same time that the contracting and payment process can be accelerated. There is also a need for greater transparency in the bidding and contracting processes. The problem with "acceleration" or "differentiation" is that it opens the possibility for even more corruption than usual. The main concern of those opposed to the RDC is that it will make secret the price of the projects until after the projects are awarded. This information will be “secret and will only be available to internal and external organs of fiscal control”. Basically, this means that we will never be able to find out how much projects cost.

Worse, these budgets can be kept from public scrutiny forever if they are considered to be relevant for “state security”.

On the bright side, it appears that the “super-powers” of FIFA and the IOC which would have allowed them to demand significant modifications to projects after the contracting process, potentially increasing their cost. Also on the side of transparency and democracy was the inclusion of Federal financial control organs in the list of agencies that could have access to the budgets: Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU), Controladoria-Geral da União (CGU) and Ministério Público (MP).

The Senate should vote on MP 527 this week and there may be some alterations to the final version, so more on that soon. The extreme content of MP 527 has generated significant debate about the role of transparency for mega-event installation. This is a good and necessary debate, but again, one that should have begun back in 2007 when Brazil was first handed the task of preparing for the 2014 World Cup.

See, we're sending those poor people to the puta que pariu!

In Rio, the real-estate speculation boom continues apace. This week, the city announced the winner of the Porto Olímpico contest, a massive re-urbanization prject that will bring millions of square meters of office space and upper middle class residences to the Zona Portuaria. Of course there are the normal references to the “inspiration of Barcelona” and the role of the Olympics in revitalizing the port area. Left out of the celebrations are the reports that many of the Zona Portuaria's traditional tenants and residents are being forced out to make way for the “revitalization”.

One of the most egregious examples of the approach the city is taking in their maniacal desire to re-make space and culture is the expulsion of the Samba schools that have traditionally occupied the region. Twelve schools will have 30 days to leave the area which the Porto Olímpico project will occupy. Out with the old and traditional, in with the new and consumerist. In addition to the samba schools, families and small businesses that occupy the old Federal Railway Depository (RFF) will also have to find somewhere else to go. This is all directed by CDURP, the private enterprise that is responsible for the “re-urbanization” of the Zona Portuaria with R$ 7.6 billion in stimulus from the Caixa Econômica (in addition to several billion more from the FGST, a public workers pension fund). That is to say, uma porrada de dinheiro público para lucros privados.

Speculation and "Re-vitalization", the winning project for the Porto Olimpico

To round off the post, there is a report in today’s Valor Econômico (1.7.11, A7) about the financing of São Paulo’s World Cup stadium, the Itaquerão. In addition to the low-interest R$400 million loan from BNDES, Corinthians (Lula’s team) will receive hundreds of millions from the city as well as a R$30 million exemption from ISS (Taxes for Services Provided). The cost of the stadium, which a few weeks ago was R$700 million, has jumped to R$ 1,07 billion. The city is only guaranteeing financing if the Itaquerão manages to attract the opening game of the cup, further politicizing the already highly charged relations between the CBF and the host cities.

A partial response to a question unanswered

Of the many elements of my question that Lula did not respond to, the notion of changing federal, state, and local laws in order to host mega-events is one of the most important and insidious. In Brazil, we are staring down the barrel of multiple mega-events, none of which will be produced and consumed using the slow and cumbersome tools available to fledging democracies.

One of the methods used by the Brazilian executive branch to dribble democratic processes is known as a MP (Medida Provisória), similar to the kind executive order used by George W. to invade Iraq. 

In July 2010, President Lula signed  MP  496/10  that allows cities that will host the World Cup to extend their debt levels above their level of revenue, violating a federal law that requires cities to maintain balanced budgets. This MP opens the path for excessive public spending. According to lawyers and economists, this will encourage reckless public spending under “emergency conditions”, creating a situation similar to the 2007 Pan American Games which was ten times over budget, was able to sidestep well-established contracting procedures, left behind useless and decaying structures,  and resulted in multiple lawsuits against the organizers.

Lula held the contrary view, saying that “this is important so that we don’t repeat the errors of the Pan. We tried to construct a pact to figure out who was responsible for what and it didn’t work”. “Acho que isso é muito importante para a gente não repetir os [erros dos] Jogos Pan-americanos. A gente tentou construiu um pacto para saber qual a responsabilidade do governo federal, estadual e municipal. Não deu certo”, lembrou.

Not satisfied with the indebtedness of cities, it is also necessary to open the nation’s frontiers to any and all materials imported to construct, amplify, or reform buidings for the World Cup and Olympics. MP 497/10 creates a free trade zone that is equivalent to a massive public subsidy for foreign firms to do business in Brazil, putting national firms at a competitive disadvantage. The elimination of trade barriers of this kind requires specific legislation that contravenes existing norms, using the excuse of the “emergency” of the mega-event to open the gates to Trojan horses disguised as white elephants.

Last week, the city government of Rio de Janeiro passed the Pacote Olímpico, a series of laws that opens up areas of the city and gives financial incentives for hotel construction, allows for reforms of specific buildings such as the Sambódromo and Gasómetro. The full details of the law are not yet available to the public.

We’ve seen over the last weeks the ways in which the state has been violently intervening in Rio de Janeiro in order to securitize urban space for these events. To be sure, the mega-events are not the only motivation for invading and occupying strategic parts of the city with state and federal troops, but the perpetual “state of emergency” that Rio and Brazil are now living under as we adequately prepare ourselves to receive the FIFA and IOC overlords is forcing some radical change in the city.

(I’m not sure if any one has undertaken a larger sociological examination of the role that “inviting the world to Rio” is going to have on Carioca society. Cariocas’ are generally reluctant to invite people into their homes, preferring to meet in public spaces, bars, street corners, etc. The airing of dirty laundry in the face of the world’s press, which will undoubtedly be going through the metaphorical closets, might be rather embarrassing and can be considered one of the risks of hosting mega-events).

Lula, of course, is in favor of the World Cup and Olympics as they represent significant gains in Brazil’s political-economic standing. For him, it is well worth spending as much as 100 billion public dollars, which in the larger scheme of the Brazilian economy is barely noticeable. The problem is not that the World Cup and Olympics are happening, but that they are being used to promote agendas that will weaken already fragile institutions, create non-democratic space and places, exclude the majority of the population from active participation, and subsidize record profits for national and trans-national corporations with public money. This is hardly the kind of platform that Lula would have promoted 8 years ago, but one that is painfully consistent with the political-economy of the PT over the past 5-6 years.

There is no evidence to support the notion that cities, states, or nations ever recuperate their investment in mega-events. The short and medium term consequences for what I would consider necessary social spending (housing, education, transportation, health) are dire. In the case of Rio de Janeiro, the investments in transportation infrastructure are not going to attend to the real needs of the city, but will rather further segment the city along class lines and contribute to the enrichment of areas that are already privileged in the urban context.

This is nothing new, but it is interesting to hear how the “leftist” president of Brazil justifies all of the public spending in the name of creating a consumer society predicated upon a “unsustainable” model of development. I use quotes there because the idea of “sustainability” has become a farcical and empty trope that makes people feel better (or ignore entirely) that their consumer choices are false ones (i.e. Prius or Lexus / Pepsi or Coke / Brahma ou Skol – the same decision processes that have the same result of perpetuating cycles of production and consumption).

Lula is justifiably proud of many of the accomplishments of his government, but the idea of eliminating or lowering tariffs on foreign companies and altering laws so that FIFA and the IOC can come in and contribute to the explosive growth of a consumer society (of which the recent invasions are meant to “secure”) is abusive, short-sighted, and un-democratic. The proof is in the alteration of laws which will stimulate short term gains for a few, which the cities and their residents will live with the debt and alterations to urban space for the next generations.

Lula’s closing comments at the collective interview provide deep insight into the way he (and the incoming president, Dilma) view the role of government.

“If you look at the world today, among the largest hydroelectric dams under construction, the three largest are being built in Brazil, Santo Antônio, Girão, Belo Monte. That’s 418 megawatts of energy being constructed simultaneously in Brazil. If you were to analyze the railways being constructed in the world, three of the largest are being built in Brazil: norte-sul, de 1.530 km, nordestino that will link Ceará and Pernambuco passing for Piauí, 1.900 km, and the East-West that will link Bahia with Belém. So we have three of the biggest rail lines in the world under construction. If you look at what we are doing, you will see that we are also building for of the biggest refineries in the world, Comperj in Rio de Janeiro (US$ 20 billion), Maranhão (US$9 billion), Ceará (US$12 billion), Pernambuco (US$12 billion). If you were to analyze the investments in petroleum exploration being undertaken around the world, you would find that the biggest investment being made in the world today is being done in Brazil and through 2014 will be invested US$224 billions in oil exploration. I am saying all of this to you to demonstrate the volume and solidity of investment being undertaken in Brazil.”

This is the new look of the Worker’s Party in Brazil. It is a very different one than took the stage 8 years ago. The discourses of social justice and democracy have flown out the window as quickly as the economy has grown. The environment is something to be exploited and sold, either as valuable commodity or as an “authentic” tourist experience. Economies and democratic institutions are not growing at equal rates.   The prevailing idea is that as long as everyone is getting at least a little bit more wealthy, and people can buy things and have their lights on, then bring on the mega-events to show the world that Brazil is capable of being just like Europe and North America, where financial and social troubles were left behind when Reagan, Thatcher, Kohl, and Chirac took office.

What Lula doesn’t say, and refused to answer, was that he has signed laws and is working to create cities that will encourage private urban governance and the spectacularization of consumption and leisure in the form of blinged-out stadiums, fancy waterfront restaurants, and exclusive shopping districts.

Get your authenticity packaged up by staying in a 2 star boutique hotel in the Complexo de Alemão, or Pavão-Pavãozinho, where just last year drug traffickers ruled! Don’t worry, it’s occupied by shock troops, nothing to fear (anymore). Come to Rio, your safe, yet legally justified, debt-laden haven for unlimited capital accumulation where things will look just like Barcelona by 2016, if everything goes according to plan.

Yeah, it's absurd. E dai?

Someone in the government finally noticed that stadiums in Brasilia, Manaus, Natal, and Cuiabahaha are going to have no post-World Cup uses and will be a perpetual drain on state coffers until they are demolished. It's only R$2 billion for construction and about R$24 million a year to keep them standing. No biggie. Oh, but then let's throw in Fortaleza and Recife, just because no one will be able to afford R$60 tickets and we have a half-dozen stadiums with no post-Cup usage. Sinto como um papagaio, sempre falando a mesma coisa.

In Rio, OGlobo was kind enough to point out the other day that not only will the Maracanã be closed through the end of 2012, but will likely have highly restricted use until after the 2016 Olympics. Why? Because the state will have to give the stadium over to FIFA through the end of the World Cup and then to the IOC through the end of the Olympics. Last night Fluminense played in Volta Redonda, two and a half hours away. Flamengo is charging R$50 for bleacher seats in the Fechadão. In Minas Gerais, the closing of the Minerão is forcing Galo and cruzeiro to play 70-100 km from Belo Horizonte, with predicatable declines in attendance. Though the phrase doesn't really translate into Portuguese, Brazilians are going to find out what it's like to be someone's bitch (with apologies to the biatches out there).

Fortunately there's a small movement afoot to restore some pride. Marcos Alvito of the History Department at UFF is organizing a meeting to restore some respect. It will occur on October 10 at the Bar Dezoito, across from Gate 18 at the Maracanã. More information is available here: http://respeitamofutebol.wordpress.com

In my last post, I noted that the Medidas Provisorias that created the APO and BRASIL 2016 expired because the Senate did not vote on them in time. A new version of the MP rolled off the presses this week, #503. This MP creates anew the APO, which will be the umbrella organization for all Olympic projects. This parallel government will have tremendous power and around R$30 billion to play with. The head of the APO will be the current Secretary of Sport, Orlando Silva, who appointed the indicted head of the PAN 2007, Ricardo Lyser to had the private company BRASIL 2016. O papagaio falou de novo?

In other Olympic news, the Tribunal das Contas da União has fired some shots across Nuzman's bow, asking for an accounting of the approximately R$100 million of public funds that went into the Rio 2016 bidding process.

Two weeks away = massive update

Two weeks away from the daily tumult of Rio has left me with a pile of newspapers and magazines to read, some articles to write, and a need to catch the English-language world up on what has been happening in relation to the city, the World Cup and the Olympics.

To reiterate the general point of all of my commentary and critique of these events: there is no way to separate the production of mega-events and the production of urban space.

In Rio de Janeiro, the demands of the World Cup and Olympics have become the de-facto city plan. From transportation, to security, to stadiums, to hotels, to communications, airports, etc. the complex socio-spatial-economic-political exigencies of these events are pushing from the top down, restructuring space and society. The end goal is to accelerate flows of capital, information, people, goods, and more capital – imagining, imposing, and leaving behind a matrix of power relationships that articulate in urban space. These complex restructurings are happening in a compressed time frame – it’s as if no one in Rio de Janeiro government has thought of the year 2017, much less 2028, or 2042 when we will still be living with the impacts of the interventions that are taking place now.

In reading through the last two weeks of OGlobo to catch up on what I’ve missed, I understand that one of the critiques of this kind of analysis will be that I am reading too much into a single news source that is unabashed in its approval of all things mega-event. I also recognize that by focusing on these top down interventions that I am probably reinforcing their power by drawing attention to them in lieu of highlighting the bottom-up forces arrayed in opposition to the projects.Oh well, critique away. I'll get to the resistance soon enough. 

Olympic Update:

In my post entitled The Olympic Shell Game, I outlined the plans of the COB and Brazilian government to erect a parallel governmental structure to construct and conduct the Olympic Games. This parallel government was given life by President da Silva through two Medidas Provisórias (Provisional Measures) that if approved by the Brazilian Senate would have the force of law. In a tiny column on 23.9.10 (p.23), Luiz Magalhães reported that the senate failed to vote on the measures which cannot be taken up again in the same legislative year in which they were submitted.

This appears to be a big, big problem for the Rio 2016 OCOG, but a potential opportunity for civil society to stick their noses in where they belong. What this means is that there is currently no organizing structure to carry off the games beyond the cabal headed by Carlos Nuzman. The closed, opaque, and autocratic head of the Brazilian Olympic Committee (COB), is also the head of Rio 2016, the first time in Olympic history that the same person has occupied both positions. This absurd concentration of power in one person has already revealed its true nature and received a very public rebuke. Here’s what happened:

Rio 2016 sent out a call for proposals for architectural plans for the Autódromo Nelson Piquet, the epicenter of the 2016 Olympics (and site of the Vila Autodrómo, whose struggle against forcible removal by the city government I covered here). The problem was that they only gave an opening of 16 days for firms to submit proposals for a project with a budget of R$ 216.4 million. The Institute of Brazilian Architects (IAB) raised a stink, and after some major coverage in OGlobo and pressure from the city government (and probably the IOC), Rio 2016 cancelled the call for proposals.

In reaction to this absurd episode (which was not accidental, but likely an attempt to steer the contract to one of Nuzman’s “friends” who had no doubt been preparing a proposal behind the scenes for some time), the mayor of Rio, Eduardo Paes is preparing a document requiring all Olympic projects to be cleared through four separate organs of  city government (Urbanism, Environment, Transportation, and Architecture and Urbanism). Can you say engarrafamento burocrático? Rio 2016 did the right thing by canceling the call for proposals. This is the first instance of a major reaction by the press and the IAB and the democratically elected government against Rio 2016. Let’s hope there were some lessons learned. 

So even though the Senate did not vote on the MPs creating the APO and BRASIL 2016, we can see that the foxes are going to have the keys to the hen house. The minister of sport, Orlando Silva, who was going to assume the presidency of the APO named Ricardo Leyser as the president of BRASIL 2016. Leyser, for those unfamiliar with the scandals of the 2007 Pan American Games, is still under investigation for his role in diverting hundreds of millions of R$ and generally botching the financing.Silva was in charge of the games themselves and Nuzman was head of the Organizing Committee. Same people, same roles, more money, different result? I don't think so. 

To confirm the general sensation that there is a gross lack of communication, organization, and competency between the agencies responsible for pulling off Brazil’s mega-events, on 22.9.10, President da Silva launched a Medida Provisória para o Esporte de Alto Rendimento (MP for high performance sport), designed to push Brazil into the top ten in medal counts in 2016. This MP is going to direct 2% of the national lottery to the COB which will then direct it to the various federations (a distribution system that has come under scrutiny by the government on more than one occasion). Incredibly, neither the COB or the national sport federations had any idea what the legislation was or about or that it had even been put forward by the national government. One would think that the Ministry of Sport would have some knowledge of these things and that because all of these people are in bed together that the communication would be more fluid. Perhaps the plan for medals is that silence is golden and no plan is a good plan. 

Jogos Militares:

I haven’t covered the 2011 World Military Games much on this blog, but they’re happening in Rio next July. The Military Games will be concentrated in the western suburb of Deodoro, bringing together six thousand athletes from 110 countries in fifteen sports. The Brazilian delegation has a number of Olympic athletes who are “joining” the armed forces for a little while. Brazil is far form the only country to use this tactic. The Military Games are considered a test for Rio’s mega-event capacity.

On the 16^th and 17^th of September, OGlobo reported that the organizing committee of the Military Games is under investigation by the Ministério Publico Militar  as well as the Tribunal de Contas da União (TCU) for awarding contracts without competitive bidding, irregularities in the construction of Games housing, sidestepping laws requiring projects to be evaluated by IPHAN (Institution of National Historical  and Artistic Patrimony), and possible contractual fraud with military engineering institutions. It’s not so bad, the budget for the Military Games is only around R$1.2 billion. I’ll be heading out to Deodoro in the coming weeks to get a first hand look at the Military Games installations and will report back with more information.

World Cup 2014:

Finally, finally, someone released photos of the Novo Maracanã. The demolitions have begun, but the Prefeitura has not yet approved the project as a whole, due to a series of bureaucratic necessities. As with most mega-events, and as was the case with the 2005-2007 reforms, the Maracanã project has begun without a plan. It happens so frequently that it must be the plan. 

Here’s the origin of some of the confusion: The state Secretary of Sport and Leisure, Marcia Lins, is in charge of SUDERJ (Superintendecy of Sports),which is in charge of the Maracanã. EMOP (Empresa de Obras Públicas) is responsible for public works and for providing construction services, and the municipal Secretary of Urbanism has to authorize the project vis a vis their coordinator for the licensing of special projects. There is a private firm that won the construction bid (RIO 2014) that has to pass the architectural designs through IPHAN, the preifeitura’s agencies, and the state government. These agencies all have to answer to the CBF and the 2014 Organizing Committee, which are in turn answering to FIFA, who answers to no one but global circuits of capital. So who is in charge of the Novo Maracanã project? Who knows. How much will it cost? Is anyone paying attention?

Jerome Valcke, secretary-general of FIFA,  blessed the Cidade Maravilhosa with a visit. He was here to check out places to install FIFA’s 2014 headquarters. Starting in 2011, Valcke is going to be living in Rio. He’s one of the few that won’t have much trouble affording an apartment in a city that has seen real-estate prices double since the announcement of the Olympics. 

The World Cup is being used as the final date for investments, creating the sensation that the event is stimulating everything that has to do with Brazilian economic growth. Two article headlines from the past two weeks: “Cabral: R$137 billion for Rio until 2014” (17.9.10); “R$ 3 billion for innovations until the World Cup”(14.9.10). These kind of headlines are typically completely unrelated to the articles that follow and are part of OGlobo’s (and global media’s) larger project of attributing economic benefits to an event that is wholly funded by the public. The idea that these kinds of investments are going to benefit the public at large is the same empty promise as Regan’s trickle-down economics. This contradiction is evident within the paper itself, as to the side of the second headline is this: “Player arrested with false passport.” The continuing exploitation of young players by unscrupulous agents is the very base of the profits that drive the global political-economy of football.

What is happening economically is that mega-events are bringing sales events to Rio. Last year I reported on the Expo-estadio. This year, Rio is receiving Sports Events as well as SoccerEx. The goal of the events, as reported on 19.9.10, is to exploit glowing economic by institutions paid by the ministry of sport, that suggest that the 2016 Olympics are going to generate R$102 billion for Brazil. In my cautious estimation, I think the 2016 Olympics will cost at least R$60 billion. When we include the investments for the World Cup, Pan 2007, etc. the cost to the public will be around $100 billion. Granted much of this investment is necessary, and I am working on teasing out the various fonts, agencies, projects, that are combining to produce the spaces and places for maximum capital accumulation through mega-events.

Urban changes:

There are massive changes underway in Rio’s urban and social systems as preparations are made to host the coming mega-events. These interventions are not accidental or random in the way that the confusion surrounding the stadium projects is. Rather they are intended to discipline urban-social relations through increased policing, or to open up corridors to accelerate flows of people, goods, and information (which means money, money, money).

On 16.9 Oglobo reported on Operation Hooligan, which targeted members of the torcidas ogranizadas of Vasco and Flamengo, arresting nine for a laundry list of crimes. The three month investigation involved 160 police who monitored Orkut trying to find where the torcidas would stage their battles in public space. Several weeks ago, a Vasco fan was killed after the game against Fluminense by a tire iron. The head of the Vasco torcida Forca Jovem has suffered several attempts on his life. Threats of violence are so severe that the Fla-Flu clássico only had 15,000 spectators (which of course has to do with the problematic access to the Fechadão).

One of the responses to the problem of fan violence is on the same page. An article entitled “New Delegation Against Disorder” reports the creation of the Delegacy for Public Order. The chief of the civil police called it a “process of combat and cleaning to get rid of the bandits that infiltrate the torcidas organizadas. We are a city that is going to host the World Cup and Olympics and we can’t be like this. We are going to bring peace to the public.” Ok. No problem with bringing peace to the public, but how about addressing the cause and not the symptom?

The announcement of the “Pentagon Carioca” confirms the idea that certain areas of the city are being transformed into defensible fortresses while others are being left to fend for themselves. This building will be the control center for all of Rio’s emergency services and will concentrate eight organs from three spheres of government: Policia Militar, Corpo do Bombeiros, Guarda Municipal, Defesa Civil, CET-Rio, Polícia Rodoviária Federal, and the Rio version of 911. The concentration of information and firepower as well as emergency services is one of the guarantees made by the organizing committees of the World Cup and Olympics to FIFA and the IOC. The article points out that the group that put the design together traveled the world in search of models. This included a stop in New York, where they hopefully learned at least one lesson from that city. Don’t put the coordinating agency of your city’s emergency services in a place that is likely to be attacked!

In the Olympic zone in the south-west of the city, the implementation of staggeringly ambitious transportation projects that continue to depend on the internal combustion engine, petroleum, and wheels is underway (17.9.10, p.22). The widening of the Avenida das Americas is going to cause the destruction of 30% of the buildings along its path and 70% are going to lose their frontage. People are complaining. No one was consulted. The bulldozers are there, doing their thing. Customers will be lost, home owners are not being justly compensated. There is something very familiar about all of this.

Today, there was an article that lamented the 40% increase in the number of cars on the roads in Rio in the last five years. When I compared the number of pages of actual news with the number of pages and classifieds for auto sales, guess which was bigger? I suppose it’s one way to keep the inexorable march to a doomed consumer society marching forward, which will eventually sell more newspapers, but does no one see the direct relationship between rezoning urban space to produce massive Miami style condominium complexes, an advertising section for cars that is bigger than the rest of the paper combined, and Rio’s chronic traffic problems? At least there was an article on the 21^st that prophesied 10% fewer buses on the roads by 2012 (p.16). Gee, that will really help once the fleet of cars increases by another 20%, especially as the “special bus lanes” will mean fewer lanes for all those cars.

And last but not least, the march of the UPPs continues with “Next stop: Mangueira and Macacos” (18.9.10, p.25). Mangueira is significant because it sits directly across from the Maracanã. Macacos is more problematic as it is larger and is where the now infamous helicopter was shot down last October. On the same page, the inaguratoin of the UPP in the Morro de Salgueiro did not have the customary festive atmosphere because three MPs assigned to that UPP have been killed in the last week.

Two weeks away and I only covered a fraction of what’s been going on, from one news source. It's a complicated mess and if you've read this far you'll be interested in the upcoming International Conferrence Mega-Events and the City, 3-5 November at UFF in Niteroi. 

The Olympic Shell Game (O jogo do bicho olímpico)

As I have mentioned in numerous posts and interviews, part of the process of hosting a mega-event is the restructuring of space and re-presenting culture in order to accelerate flows of capital, goods, information, and people. “Inefficiencies” are structured out of the city, “strategic areas” are “regenerated”, and “urban legacies” left behind. City, state, and national governments promise massive urban and social interventions, signing contracts with international sporting federations that take precedence over social contracts with the local population, even though it is the latter group that is footing the bill. The current model of mega-event production is broken. The World Cup and Olympics are guaranteed to leave behind sporting, tourist, and urban infrastructures that have little or no post-event utility, do not attend to the basic needs and priorities of locals, and waste a singular opportunity to shape urban space and culture in a way that will create a more just and livable society. We are in need of Olympic-lessness, not events that are ever bigger and more transformative.

Brazil 2014 and Brazil 2016 will be corrupt, non-transparent mega-events that will cost hundreds of billions of dollars, exacerbate existing socio-economic divides, and leave behind acontextual, redundant, and under-used sporting, tourist, and urban infrastructures. Among the many reasons for this chronicle of a failure foretold is the fact that Brazil receives only 5 million tourist visits a year. Poland receives 15 million. Bulgaria receives 5.2 million. Bulgaria! The obvious solution is to move Brazil closer to North America and Europe, eliminate the tourist visa, or not spend one billion reales in stimulus to construct hotels for which there will be no post-event demand. With that kind of money you could fly in another million tourists. The results from Athens 2004 and South Africa 2010 should be warning enough. Alas, in Brazil the federal government has made it ever easier to build on a massive scale while creating complex legal structures to ensure the total opacity of the process.

In May, President Lula signed into law Provisional Measure 488/2010, giving birth to Empresa Brasileira de Legado Esportivo S.A. - BRASIL 2016 (The Brazilian Sport Legacy Company Ltd. – BRASIL 2016). On the same day, he signed Provisional Measure 489/2010, creating the Autoridade Pública Olímpica – APO (Public Olympic Authority). These two institutions will be directed by the Conselho Público Olímpico (Public Olympic Council -CPO). These new institutions will use the legal measures outlined in the Olympic Act (Lei nº 12.035/2009) along with their exceptional powers to “transform” Rio de Janeiro into an Olympic City. How will this work?

The federal government will pass R$29 billion to the CPO, comprised of the president of the republic, the governor and mayor of Rio de Janeiro “or their representatives”. The CPO can decide whether or not to extend the life spans of the APO and BRASIL 2016 past their 12/31/18 death date (kind of like the mutants in Bladerunner). The CPO will pass the money along to BRASIL 2016, which will then pass it along to the APO, which will then pass it along to contractors that do not have to go through a public bidding process in order to receive contracts with public money. Neither BRASIL 2016 or the APO will be required to hire their employees through the normal legal channels. All goods imported for the Olympic and World Cup projects are exempt from tariff duties (especially aggravating when it will cost me R$275 to liberate my birthday package from the mail room). By the time a contractor starts to work on a project, the money will have passed through three inter-connected yet independent organizations, none of which will have non-governmental auditors. Just to get the APO up and running will cost R$94,8 million. In Brazil, money does actually grow on trees but you have to cut them down to get it.

The APO is responsible for the creation and delivery of the Caderno de Encargos Olímpicos (CAPO – Olympic Projects) which the agency alone defines. These projects are highly varied, and in many cases assume the responsibilities normally undertaken by state agencies. The APO is not required to have liaisons with any state agencies, becoming a form of urban governance unto itself. This ensures that the APO will become the agency that is planning the city for the next generations. Will they hire urban planners? Will the total autonomy from democratic process facilitate the development of strong community relations? Will the lack of accountability in awarding contracts ensure a more transparent expenditure of public funds? Once BRASIL 2016 and the APO expire, to what government agency will citizens be able to turn to register complaints or search for answers? How many of the people who were in charge of the massively over budget, non-transparent 2007 Pan American Games will be directing these agencies? How will these extraordinary powers be used as we get ever closer to opening ceremonies? Will Ricardo Teixeira, president of both the CBF (Brazilian Football Federation) and the LOC (Local Organizing Committee) ensure that public money does not go into his private organization? Will Carlos Nuzman, president of the COB (Brasilian Olympic Committee) and Rio 2016 (which has an uncertain yet continuing role in all this) ensure that his business relationships are not going to benefit from the opacity of the Olympic Structure? Will the government site dedicated to monitoring Olympic Projects (http://www.transparenciaolimpica.com.br/ ) ever have information that is worth looking at?

Perhaps in anticipation of the answers to these questions, the Ministry of Sport is planning on spending between R$15-R$22 million per year to improve its image.

The deployment of provisional measures in addition to the alteration (or suspension) of national, state, and city laws in order to “prepare” Brazil to host sports mega-events highlights the radical nature of these events.

The IOC and FIFA make demands, Brazil bends over backwards to meet them. The clock is running and badly needed investments in health, education, and public transportation get bypassed for new priorities.  The government, in fealty to slick criminals, makes new laws, grants exemptions, and creates a parallel government that will take public money, have little or no accountability (either financial or democratic), and then once the games have passed, will simply disappear. As I mention in my article in the Journal of Latin American Geography, this is similar to what happened during the USAmerican invasion of Iraq with the establishment of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA). The CPA went in after a total “restructuring” (Shock and Awe), changed all of the laws and then evaporated. Here, the Shock and Awe comes in a different, somewhat less violent form, but the idea is the same: restructure space and culture for the maximization of profit.