but changes around the migrant labor policy in qatar because of all the attention put on the country. and that is always the hope. sunlight is the best disinfectant. so, perhaps highlighting these issues can, in fact, provoke change. but another outcome that i think is important, and this relates to something that was said before the break, is, you know, if we speak about qatar and bribery and fifa, i mean, look. show me a fifa bid that did not involve bribery in the last 100 years. and i ll find you an honest man in casablanca, as they said in ghost. this is a dirty business, and every country has gotten its hands dirty in it, because the profits are so incredible. but what comes out of it, in addition to an amazing global event, is debt displacement and the militarization of public space. so, what we re seeing in qatar is not that different, for example, than what i saw on the ground in brazil in 2014.
appearance from rio is dave ziron. good evening to you. tell us how the protest and unrest have been going and what you re seeing on the ground there? it s a stunning story by the fact that it s happening at all. every mega event, whether we re talking about the olympics or the world cup, always contains some displacement, militarization of public space, and deaths. and in brazil, it s unprecedented. you have a mass movement in advance of one of these mega events. in this case, of course, in advance of the world cup. last year, the largest demonstration since the fall of the dictatorship almost 30 years ago. more than 2 million people in the streets of brazil. more recently, there have been strikes and land occasions.
you re seeing on the ground there? it s a stunning story by the fact that it s happening at all. every mega event, whether we re talking about the olympics or the world cup, always contains some displacement, militarization of public space, and deaths. and in brazil, it s unprecedented. you have a mass movement in advance of one of these mega events. in this case, of course, in advance of the world cup. last year, the largest demonstration since the fall of the dictatorship almost 30 years ago. more than 2 million people in the streets of brazil. more recently, there have been strikes and land occasions. the demonstrations have been smaller, but i ve reported on them and taken pictures of them. even though they number between 500 and the low 1,000s. what s news worthy is the
and it s debt that s going to see this world cup be the most expensive in history. more expensive than the last three world cups combined. what makes this different is you re also seeing the biggest demonstrations that brazil has seen in the last 30 years, since the fall of the dictatorship. also, if you look historically, as you mentioned, you see these issues. debt, displacement, the militarization of public space. you see this at mega events throughout the 20th century. yet, this is really the first time by my accounting since 1968 in mexico city where you see demonstrations in advance of the mega events. a lot of times you see demonstrations in the aftermath when the bill comes due and everyone has a hangover after the party. but in this case, people are raising the issues now. that s what makes this historic. dave, that s actually really useful for me. i was thinking about, for example, right here in the united states in atlanta in 1996, we saw the clearing of public housing pro
anti-government protests that are expected during the world cup tournament. we have seen that when the responsibility for these big events is made at the expense of the people, then there will be big and sometimes fatal consequences. joining me now from washington, d.c., david ziren, sports editor for the nation magazine and author of the new book brazil s dance with the devil. nice to see you this morning, dave. great to be here, melissa. let me just put it as clearly as i can. what is happening in brazil that is sufficiently severe to draw out even this tepid condemnation from pele? right. well, i just got an e-mail from a friend who s living in brazil. i think this says a lot. i think this will bring with you, melissa, particularly. he said, the phrase fifa in brazil is about as popular right now as the phrase fema in new orleans after hurricane katrina. it s very tense there right now. the issues are the ones that you mentioned. it s displacement. it s the militarization