Monthly Archives: June 2014

FIFA 2014 World Cup Brazil: Who are the Real Winners?

29 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Brazil, Leisure & Entertainment

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A boy walks in front of graffiti painted against infrastructure work for the 2014 World Cup at the Metro Mangueira slum in Rio de Janeiro“Destroying my Community for the World Cup”
Favela Metrô Mangueira – Rio de Janeiro – June 2012
Source: Reuters/Sergio Moraes

 

When FIFA elected Brazil to host the 2014 FIFA World Cup, I shared the elation of the Brazilian people. I saw it not only as an opportunity to showcase Brazil’s economic growth, but also the warmth and hospitality of its people.

At the time, Brazil’s then Minister of Sports of President Lula’s government promised the people: “The stadiums for the World Cup will be constructed with money from the private sector. Not a cent of public money will be used for the stadiums.” (UOL Copa do Mundo)

Almost a year later, the global economic crisis changed our world. Even though Brazil recovered faster than many other economies, the world market for its products had changed. Private funding shriveled. Of the twelve host cities for the World Cup football (US soccer) games, only three cities – São Paulo, Curitiba, and Porto Alegre – raised private funds for their construction projects. Even then, those cities depended upon financing from state banks and government fiscal incentives.

According to figures released in May 2014, Brazil’s total investment in the World Cup amounted to US$11.6 billion (R$25.6 billion). More than 83 percent came from taxpayers’ money (see details).

Thanks to corruption at all levels of the government, construction costs overshot the goal. A study done by Brazilian sports business consultants, PluriConsultoria, revealed that the medium cost per seat of Brazil’s new stadiums is 15 percent higher than the 66 stadiums constructed worldwide since 2004. In figures, that’s equivalent to US$6,720 compared to US$5,841 per seat.

Government corruption and excessive spending for the World Cup infuriated the Brazilian people. They took to the streets. Their government was squandering money needed for more schools, hospitals, housing, and transportation.

Anger grew, too, with the displacement of residents from favelas (poor, working class communities) to make way for new sports facilities, parking lots, bus routes, and improvements in tourism infrastructure. Families living in those communities for decades were devastated (see video below).

On the Way to the World Cup 2014 – Demolitions & Displacement of Families
(with English subtitles)
12 June 2014

Since falling in love with Brazilian football, I have cheered and agonized while watching my favorite teams play in the last six World Cup games. This year, the great year for Brazil football, is different for me. Football has lost its enchantment.

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Guyana: Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry – Session Two

22 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Guyana

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Retired Major General Norman Mc LeanFormer Army Chief-of-Staff, Retired Major General Norman Mc Lean
Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry – Georgetown – Guyana – June 2014
Photo Credit: Carib News Desk

 

As we have seen in autocratic regimes, past and present, power corrupts. Good men and women become collaborators in and perpetrators of state violence. It takes courage and strength of character to publicly come forward and admit one’s guilt and to ask for forgiveness.

Joseph Hamilton – a former leader of the House of Israel and member of the People’s National Congress (PNC), the ruling political party at the time of Walter Rodney’s assassination – did just that.

During the second session of the Walter Rodney Commission of Inquiry, held in Georgetown, Guyana, the first week in June 2014, Joseph Hamilton turned whistleblower. Over the last thirty-four years, his burden of guilt had become unbearable. Continue reading →

“Under the Tamarind Tree” Shortlisted for the Dundee International Book Prize 2014

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in The Writer's Life

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Bestselling Author Neil GaimanBestselling author Neil Gaiman
Among judges of Dundee International Book Prize 2014
Photo Credit: BBC News

 

At last, a window has opened for my yet-to-be-published first novel, Under the Tamarind Tree. After receiving rejection letters from literary agents – of the kind that said, “While your project sounds interesting, I don’t think it is right for my list at this time” – a friend suggested that I should also consider participating in book contests.

In February 2014, I learned about the Dundee International Book Prize through Caribbean journalist and author, Tony Williams. Tony offers informative information for writers through his Caribbean Book Blog. I set to work.

  • What is the Dundee International Book Prize? Check.
  • Who qualifies for entry? Check.
  • How do I submit my novel? Check.
  • When is the deadline for submission? Check.

Continue reading →

Father’s Day: Be the Wind of Change

15 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Family Life, Human Behavior, People, Relationships, United States

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Wind Moving Clothing by Bannon FuUntitled Painting of Wind Moving Clothing – Watercolor by Bannon Fu
California – USA
Photo Credit: Bannon Fu

Why is it that some paintings grab our attention more than others? This was just a painting of clothes blowing in the wind, similar to the one in the above photo by the same artist. The artist chose female dress wear, of colorful and diverse shapes, as his subject. In a world of washing machines and clothes dryers, it seems a lifetime ago since I hung laundry on a line to dry.

“It’s beautiful,” I told the woman seated at the table in the booth at the Affair of the Arts 2014 held in Culver City during the weekend of June 7 & 8.

She rose to join me, standing in front of the largest painting in the collection on display. “It’s my father’s work,” she said. “It’s all about the wind.” Continue reading →

Dengue Fever Threatened My Son’s Life

08 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Brazil, Family Life, Working Life

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Dengue Fever - Aedes Aegypti MosquitoDengue Fever – Aedes Aegypti Mosquito
Photo Credit: WHO/TDR/Stammers

 

When my older son, John, was eighteen years old, he took sick with what I thought was the flu. At the Italbras tannery, my Italian boss had arrived in Brazil for a five-day visit by our largest cut-and-sew client. The day our two visitors arrived, John was bedridden with high fever, headache, and muscle and joint pains. Our over-the-counter medicines for fever and colds only provided temporary relief.

Around ten o’clock, when John called me, I knew that something was wrong. His condition had worsened. After telling my boss that I had to take my son to the hospital, I returned to Fortaleza in a company vehicle. Continue reading →

“Iceberg Baby” – Poem by Sai Murray

04 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by in Nature and the Environment, Poetry

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Thwaites Glacier - West Antarctica - NASAThwaites Glacier – West Antarctica
Photo Credit: Climate Progress (NASA)

 

My Poetry Corner June 2014 features the poem “Iceberg Baby” from Sai Murray’s poetry collection Ad-Liberation. The Bajan/Afrikan/English poet, a former disillusioned writer in the advertising industry, defines ad-liberation as “the act or process of gaining freedom from the malignant influence of corporate advertising/marketing; any attempt to counter the madness of consumer society.”

Murray begins his collection with “Genesis” (Chapter 1, Verse 1):

In the beginning was the word.
The word sold flesh.
Good-looking, sweet-smelling,
smooth-sounding, fantastic feeling,
fresh, new, tasty-fresh flesh.

In the end there is only the word:
A. Alpha. Aaaah.     Advertising.

His cutting humor of the advertising world brought a smile to my lips. So true. So fresh. In “AA,” he declares that he’s an adman and brain damaged addict who has been clean for over thirteen years.

Sai Murray transforms his revulsion at his profit-making ad-words into poetry that calls attention to the diverse and interconnected issues that govern our daily lives. His biting wit never wavers.

Composed with a hip-hop beat, “Iceberg Baby” prods us to tackle climate change before it’s too late:

Turn it off, leave it off, better not wait
Better cut the bull, teach the kids to play
Yes, there’s a problem, yo we gotta solve it
Repair our planet before Big Oil destroys it

Iceberg melting melting
Iceberg melting

“@Modem_Lvng_” is a witty exposé of our emotional, rollercoaster lives on the Internet:

@ModernLiving is       1,423 new friends, 562 followers,
                               56 notifications, 49 comments, 16 requests,
                               12 pokes, 2,765 unanswered emails, 28 texts,
                               2 missed calls

In “A Bad Grain of Rice,” Murray admits his own racism as a schoolboy in a predominantly white school. Before connecting with his father’s roots in the Caribbean Island of Barbados, [he] hated [his] Dad because he was Black.

Standing out amongst all the other normal faces.
A bad grain of rice in the dish.
Spoiling everything.

Murray’s poem “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarghhhh!” – see link to his performance on my Poetry Corner June 2014 – decries the abomination of corporation/ruling over di nation. Corporate power is pervasive: consumerism, incarceration, Big Brother, media monopoly, drone wars, and more.

Aaaaaaaaaaaa-bolish
digital control
over mind, body, soul,
empty email
turn Facebook face to a book,
reclaim time and space
that MySpace took,
look up from the gutter,
dim stars of celebrity,
di owner of di plantation
media monopoly…

Ending his collection with “Revelations,” Murray concludes that the word that will triumph will be the word of the inner God beyond flesh.

Shared power, all glory.
Forever and ever,
Amen-ra.

Read “Iceberg Baby,” learn more about Sai Murray, and listen to him perform at my Poetry Corner June 2014.

Will Guyana Survive the Great Flood?

01 Sunday Jun 2014

Posted by in Guyana, Nature and the Environment

≈ 12 Comments

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High Tide at the Seawall - East Coast Demerara - GuyanaHigh Tide at the Seawall – East Coast Demerara – Guyana
Photo Credit: Caribbean Development Bank

 

When I was a kid in Georgetown, capital of Guyana, flooding meant a day or more off from school. During the rainy season, it was quite normal for drainage canals to overflow into streets and neighboring yards. To drain the flood water, kokers or sluice-gates could not be opened until low tide.

Koker or Sluice Gate - Georgetown - GuyanaKoker or Sluice-Gate – Georgetown – Guyana

Over the years, flooding along Guyana’s 264-mile-long, low-lying coastal plain has intensified. This is due partly to failure in upgrading the sea defense system built in the 1740s under Dutch colonization. But the main culprit has been the rise in sea levels. In a country where over eighty percent of the population lives along the coast, ranging from 20 to 40 inches below sea level, this is cause for concern and an action plan.

Evidence on the ground and from outer space indicates that Earth’s polar ice caps, Greenland, and mountain glaciers worldwide are melting. According to research done by Evan Persaud of the University of Guyana, the mean sea level rise for Georgetown is 9.25 inches over the past fifty years; greater than the global mean sea level rise of 7.9 inches for a hundred-year period.

In a stunning chart, National Geographic depicts rising sea levels from AD 1 to 2013, plus four scenarios for the period 2013 to 2100. Their aerial global map, If All the Ice Melted, shows the world’s new coastlines. Georgetown and most of Guyana’s coastal plain would be inundated.

To prevent this scenario, Guyana’s capital should be relocated to higher ground inland. The nation’s lead climate change negotiator disagrees. As quoted in a Reuter’s article, he “believes it would be difficult to move the capital inland.”

Remaining on the coastal plain will be costly.

Quoted in the same article, Guyana’s agriculture minister said: “I cannot give an estimate but it will be massive…millions of US dollars that we have to invest in order to ensure that our housing schemes are properly drained and that our agricultural lands are properly drained and irrigated… It is not something that could be done in one year or five or ten years.”

As one of the founding members of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), Guyana is not alone in facing the threat of rising sea levels. Seven small island member states already face critical economic losses from climate-related disasters to their tourist industry, agricultural lands, and infrastructure.

In his message for World Environment Day, 5 June 2014, the United Nations Secretary-General noted:

Small Island Developing States [and Guyana] have contributed little to climate change.  Their combined annual output of greenhouse gases is less than one per cent of total global emissions, but their position on the front lines has projected many to the fore in negotiations for a universal new legal climate agreement in 2015… 

Raise your voice, not the sea level.  Planet Earth is our shared island.  Let us join forces to protect it.

Can Guyana’s racially divisive leadership join forces to protect the nation? Based on their record to date, I think not.

 

UPDATE: News from Guyana on U.N. World Environment Day, 6 June 2014

“Guyana pays US$3,500 to build one meter (3.28 feet) of sea defense,” Kaieteur News, Guyana, June 6, 2014.