Then
why are Brazilians feeling so unenthusiastic - and even resentful - toward the
2014 World Cup, to take place in less than a month in their own country ?
The
short answer is that in the last decade Brazil has spent 10 billion reais in
basic sanitation - this in a country where over a third of the homes do not
have sewage collection or clean water - while the planned expenses for the
World Cup are over 26 billion reais. The price tag for refurbishing or building
stadiums alone is 7 billion reais. And these are only estimates, sure to be
exceeded.
The
long answer is no less revealing. It involves a State that has lost touch with
its citizens and which is run, supported and milked by a ubiquitous group of
corrupt politicians, power-hungry bureaucrats and private-sector oligarchs who
live off government subsidies and rigged contracts.
This is
a State lacking basic management competencies at all levels. Its executive
branch can’t plan or execute properly, and cannot guarantee basic rights such
as life and property. The legislative branch is one of the less productive and
most costly in the world. The courts are self-centered, hampered by outdated
rituals and clogged with hundreds of thousands of lawsuits waiting forever for
resolution.
Exhibit
1: the initial budget for the City of Music, a modern-looking building in the
Barra neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, built to house the Symphonic Orchestra,
was R$ 80 million. It ended up costing R$400 million.
Exhibit
2: a group of judges from a state court was sent for a 15-day safety and
security training in Florida and paid a daily allowance of 3,300 dollars each.
Exhibit
3: while Brazil has one of highest homicide rates in the world (50,000 people
are murdered each year) the city councils of Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo have
been busy approving key legislation such as a prohibition to use hats in banks,
the mandatory use of flotation devices by beach fishermen or the adoption of
official-size snooker tables in bars.
Our
shops sell the most expensive iPhones and Play Stations in the world because we
rank last in openness to foreign trade. Our tax load - 42% of GDP - is similar
to that of developed countries, but we pay for private security, private
schools and private health care because the services provided by the State are
unacceptable. Our sidewalks and roads are traps. Our airports are chaotic. We
have never won a Nobel prize.
All our
political parties declare themselves on the left, and they all make the same
unlimited use of populist, paternalistic and short-sighted politics whose sole
aim is to win the next election and appoint supporters to government jobs.
Competency is never a requirement. The name of the game is contracts,
concessions, public works. Artists, intellectuals and media groups live off
incentives and subsidies provided by the State, effectively muting any
meaningful criticism, save for a few brave souls.
Brazilians
feel robbed, defrauded of their citizenship every time we open a newspaper. We
know we need deep, long-lasting change. Last year a wave of spontaneous
demonstrations swept the country, but they were taken over by organized leftist
labor and other political operatives, and died away.
We feel
trapped in a thick morass of soccer, carnival and samba. We fear for the future
of our children. Our leaders - with descriptive names like “little boy”, “big
foot”, “squid”” - won’t help. One of the best known political slogans, coined
to describe the paulista politician Adhemar de Barros, said: “he steals, but he
does stuff”. That sums it all up.
In the
last 20 years our GDP per person grew 38% in real terms. At this rate it will
take us 55 years to reach Spain and 90 years to reach the USA - if they stood
still.
So the
fact that many Brazilians are unaffected by the World Cup might be a good
thing. We may be finally waking up from the deep tropical slumber we fell into
while countries like South Korea and Chile speeded ahead.
We may
become a real nation, whose concern for its own children outweighs its passion
for a ball game. It will probably take decades, but the seed has been sown.
When
you hear Brazilians say they hate this Cup, that’s what’s going on. We are
growing up. We are learning, moving on to more important things. Perhaps we
will never again win a World Cup.
Then we
may even get a Nobel prize, finally. Who knows ?
(Here is the Portuguese version of this article)
