Meu dia comecou com um cafe em minha casa, depois fui ate o hospital para marcar hora para uma cirugia no meu nariz. Depois disto acompanhei minha esposa no medico e tudo esta muito bem com ela.
Depois fui almocar com minha esposa.
Comecei a trabalhar ja era meio dia onde fiquei ate a 18:30, ja que so tive que dar uma aula hoje. Montei a aula com speed agility, foot work and keep away.
Cheguei em casa ja era umas 19 horas para descansar um pouco.
Monday, November 8, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Haiti Earthquake Relief
Desperate Haitians clamor for aid days after quake
15 Jan 2010 20:31:20 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more on the earthquake, click on [nHAITI])
* Traumatized survivors begging for food and water
* U.S. president speaks of "extraordinary" devastation
* Washington says flow of aid should accelerate
* Troops, doctors, planes full of food head for Haiti
(Adds quotes from Obama, Gates, details)
By Catherine Bremer and Andrew Cawthorne
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Haitians ravaged by the earthquake that devastated their capital begged for food, water and medical assistance on Friday as the world raced to bring aid to survivors before their despair turned to anger.
Tens of thousands were feared dead from Tuesday's massive quake and time was running out for many victims still trapped in the rubble.
The Pan American Health Organization estimated the death toll could be 50,000 to 100,000, higher than previous figures from the Haitian Red Cross, which saw deaths at up to 50,000.
Citizens in the wrecked coastal capital Port-au-Prince spent a third night sleeping out in the open on sidewalks and streets strewn with rubble and scattered decomposing bodies, as aftershocks rippled through the hilly neighborhoods.
Governments across the world were pouring relief supplies and medical teams into the quake-hit Caribbean state -- already the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
But huge logistical hurdles, including a clogged airport and badly damaged port, and the sheer scale of the destruction meant aid was not yet reaching hundreds of thousands of victims.
"We have lost everything. We are waiting for death. We have nothing to eat, nowhere to live. We have had no help. No one has come to see us," said quake victim, Andres Rosario, speaking at an improvised camp set up by survivors at a rubbish dump in Port-au-Prince.
"No one is helping us. Please bring us water or people will die soon," said another resident Renelde Lamarque, who had opened his home yard to about 500 quake victims in the devastated Fort National neighborhood.
Raggedly-dressed survivors held out their arms to reporters touring the city, begging for food and water. [ID:nN15161398]
U.S. President Barack Obama, who has pledged an initial $100 million for Haiti quake relief, promised America would do what it takes to save lives and get the country back on its feet. "The scale of the devastation is extraordinary ... and the losses are heartbreaking," Obama said at the White House. [ID:nN15141749]
Amid fears that frustration over delays in receiving help could explode into violence, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that aside from some scavenging for food and water and minor looting the security situation on the ground in Haiti remained "pretty good."
SOME LOOTING, SHOTS FIRED
"The key is to get the food and the water in there as quickly as possible so that people don't in their desperation turn to violence or lead to the security situation deteriorating," Gates told reporters in Washington. The United States is leading the massive international relief effort. [ID:nN15155225]
The U.S. military aimed to have about 1,000 troops on the ground in Haiti on Friday, and thousands more in ships off shore. The total will reach 9,000-10,000 troops by Monday.
Police have all but vanished from the streets, and although some Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers were patrolling, there were reports of sporadic scavenging and some looting.
Some looting broke out in downtown Port-au-Prince on Friday and shots were fired, a witness said. "I heard the shots and got out of there. The police told us it was too dangerous to stay. People were looting and a body was being burned," said a foreign photographer, who asked not to be identified.
At one destroyed supermarket scores of people swarmed over the rubble to try to reach the food underneath. Just outside Cite Soleil slum, desperate people crowded around a burst water pipe jostling to drink from the pipe or fill up buckets.
Some survivors, angry over the delay in getting aid, built roadblocks with corpses on Thursday in one part of the city.
Relief workers said some aid was trickling down to the people. "Some aid is slowly getting through, but not to many people," said Margaret Aguirre, a senior official with International Medical Corps.
In streets strewn with rubble, garbage and rotting bodies, most Haitians said they had still received nothing.
The United States said the arrival of its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson with 19 helicopters on Friday would open a second significant channel to deliver help.
"Up until now we've been delivering assistance through a garden hose but now we are expanding that," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
At the airport, now under the control of the U.S. military, planes were arriving every 20 minutes, from small to large.
COLLAPSED HOSPITALS
The Pan American Health Organization said at least 8 hospitals and health centers in Port-au-Prince had collapsed or sustained damage and were unable to function. Local doctors asked reporters where they should go to get medical supplies.
"We have no supplies. We need surgical gloves, antibiotics, antiseptic, disinfectant. We have nothing. Not even water. We have children out here with dry mouths and no water to give them," said one doctor, Jean Dieudonne Occelien.
Health experts say that while dead bodies smell unpleasant, in cases where people have been killed in traumatic accidents and not by contagious diseases such as cholera there is little health risk from even large numbers of decomposing corpses.
Local radio stations broadcast messages for people to put their dead out in the street to be picked up by trucks and taken to a mass grave.
On a barren area in the hillsides outside the city, a Reuters reporter found nine recently dug mass graves. President Rene Preval has said at least 7,000 quake victims have already been buried.
Aguirre said aid agencies were discussing setting up a central refugee camp to try to group a multitude of victims' settlements springing up all over Port-au-Prince.
"The key is the coordination," she said.
In a sign that international relief efforts cut across ideological differences, communist-led Cuba agreed to let the U.S. military use restricted Cuban air space for medical evacuation flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims, sharply reducing the flight time to Miami, a U.S. official said.
United Nations disaster experts said at least 10 percent of housing in the Haitian capital was destroyed, making about 300,000 homeless, but in some areas 50 percent of buildings were destroyed or badly damaged. Information about conditions outside the capital was scarce.
U.N. aid agencies were to launch an emergency appeal for approximately $550 million on Friday to help survivors.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, which has lost at least 36 of its personnel in the quake, was trying to provide some basic coordination from an office near the airport.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he planned to go to Haiti "very soon". [ID:nN15154130]
In the capital overnight, an eerie chorus of hymns, prayers, groans and wails of mourning, mixed with the barking of terrified dogs, echoed over the hilly neighborhoods.
Bodies lay all around the hilly city, and people covered their noses with cloth to block the stench of death.
Nations around the world pitched in to send rescue teams with search dogs and heavy equipment, helicopters, tents, water purification units, food, doctors and telecoms teams. (Additional reporting by Tom Brown, Kena Betancur and Carlos Barria in Port-au-Prince, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Steve Holland, Alister Bull and Phil Stewart in Washington; writing by Anthony Boadle and Pascal Fletcher; editing by David Storey)
15 Jan 2010 20:31:20 GMT
Source: Reuters
(For more on the earthquake, click on [nHAITI])
* Traumatized survivors begging for food and water
* U.S. president speaks of "extraordinary" devastation
* Washington says flow of aid should accelerate
* Troops, doctors, planes full of food head for Haiti
(Adds quotes from Obama, Gates, details)
By Catherine Bremer and Andrew Cawthorne
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Haitians ravaged by the earthquake that devastated their capital begged for food, water and medical assistance on Friday as the world raced to bring aid to survivors before their despair turned to anger.
Tens of thousands were feared dead from Tuesday's massive quake and time was running out for many victims still trapped in the rubble.
The Pan American Health Organization estimated the death toll could be 50,000 to 100,000, higher than previous figures from the Haitian Red Cross, which saw deaths at up to 50,000.
Citizens in the wrecked coastal capital Port-au-Prince spent a third night sleeping out in the open on sidewalks and streets strewn with rubble and scattered decomposing bodies, as aftershocks rippled through the hilly neighborhoods.
Governments across the world were pouring relief supplies and medical teams into the quake-hit Caribbean state -- already the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.
But huge logistical hurdles, including a clogged airport and badly damaged port, and the sheer scale of the destruction meant aid was not yet reaching hundreds of thousands of victims.
"We have lost everything. We are waiting for death. We have nothing to eat, nowhere to live. We have had no help. No one has come to see us," said quake victim, Andres Rosario, speaking at an improvised camp set up by survivors at a rubbish dump in Port-au-Prince.
"No one is helping us. Please bring us water or people will die soon," said another resident Renelde Lamarque, who had opened his home yard to about 500 quake victims in the devastated Fort National neighborhood.
Raggedly-dressed survivors held out their arms to reporters touring the city, begging for food and water. [ID:nN15161398]
U.S. President Barack Obama, who has pledged an initial $100 million for Haiti quake relief, promised America would do what it takes to save lives and get the country back on its feet. "The scale of the devastation is extraordinary ... and the losses are heartbreaking," Obama said at the White House. [ID:nN15141749]
Amid fears that frustration over delays in receiving help could explode into violence, U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates said that aside from some scavenging for food and water and minor looting the security situation on the ground in Haiti remained "pretty good."
SOME LOOTING, SHOTS FIRED
"The key is to get the food and the water in there as quickly as possible so that people don't in their desperation turn to violence or lead to the security situation deteriorating," Gates told reporters in Washington. The United States is leading the massive international relief effort. [ID:nN15155225]
The U.S. military aimed to have about 1,000 troops on the ground in Haiti on Friday, and thousands more in ships off shore. The total will reach 9,000-10,000 troops by Monday.
Police have all but vanished from the streets, and although some Brazilian U.N. peacekeepers were patrolling, there were reports of sporadic scavenging and some looting.
Some looting broke out in downtown Port-au-Prince on Friday and shots were fired, a witness said. "I heard the shots and got out of there. The police told us it was too dangerous to stay. People were looting and a body was being burned," said a foreign photographer, who asked not to be identified.
At one destroyed supermarket scores of people swarmed over the rubble to try to reach the food underneath. Just outside Cite Soleil slum, desperate people crowded around a burst water pipe jostling to drink from the pipe or fill up buckets.
Some survivors, angry over the delay in getting aid, built roadblocks with corpses on Thursday in one part of the city.
Relief workers said some aid was trickling down to the people. "Some aid is slowly getting through, but not to many people," said Margaret Aguirre, a senior official with International Medical Corps.
In streets strewn with rubble, garbage and rotting bodies, most Haitians said they had still received nothing.
The United States said the arrival of its nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson with 19 helicopters on Friday would open a second significant channel to deliver help.
"Up until now we've been delivering assistance through a garden hose but now we are expanding that," U.S. State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said.
At the airport, now under the control of the U.S. military, planes were arriving every 20 minutes, from small to large.
COLLAPSED HOSPITALS
The Pan American Health Organization said at least 8 hospitals and health centers in Port-au-Prince had collapsed or sustained damage and were unable to function. Local doctors asked reporters where they should go to get medical supplies.
"We have no supplies. We need surgical gloves, antibiotics, antiseptic, disinfectant. We have nothing. Not even water. We have children out here with dry mouths and no water to give them," said one doctor, Jean Dieudonne Occelien.
Health experts say that while dead bodies smell unpleasant, in cases where people have been killed in traumatic accidents and not by contagious diseases such as cholera there is little health risk from even large numbers of decomposing corpses.
Local radio stations broadcast messages for people to put their dead out in the street to be picked up by trucks and taken to a mass grave.
On a barren area in the hillsides outside the city, a Reuters reporter found nine recently dug mass graves. President Rene Preval has said at least 7,000 quake victims have already been buried.
Aguirre said aid agencies were discussing setting up a central refugee camp to try to group a multitude of victims' settlements springing up all over Port-au-Prince.
"The key is the coordination," she said.
In a sign that international relief efforts cut across ideological differences, communist-led Cuba agreed to let the U.S. military use restricted Cuban air space for medical evacuation flights carrying Haitian earthquake victims, sharply reducing the flight time to Miami, a U.S. official said.
United Nations disaster experts said at least 10 percent of housing in the Haitian capital was destroyed, making about 300,000 homeless, but in some areas 50 percent of buildings were destroyed or badly damaged. Information about conditions outside the capital was scarce.
U.N. aid agencies were to launch an emergency appeal for approximately $550 million on Friday to help survivors.
The U.N. peacekeeping mission in Haiti, which has lost at least 36 of its personnel in the quake, was trying to provide some basic coordination from an office near the airport.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he planned to go to Haiti "very soon". [ID:nN15154130]
In the capital overnight, an eerie chorus of hymns, prayers, groans and wails of mourning, mixed with the barking of terrified dogs, echoed over the hilly neighborhoods.
Bodies lay all around the hilly city, and people covered their noses with cloth to block the stench of death.
Nations around the world pitched in to send rescue teams with search dogs and heavy equipment, helicopters, tents, water purification units, food, doctors and telecoms teams. (Additional reporting by Tom Brown, Kena Betancur and Carlos Barria in Port-au-Prince, Stephanie Nebehay in Geneva, Steve Holland, Alister Bull and Phil Stewart in Washington; writing by Anthony Boadle and Pascal Fletcher; editing by David Storey)
Monday, December 21, 2009
SOUTH AFRICA: Poor squatters make way for 2010 World Cup
JOHANNESBURG, 13 April 2007 (IRIN) - JOHANNESBURG, 13 April 2007 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of South Africa's poorest people face eviction from inner-city suburbs across the country ahead of the 2010 World Cup football.
The country's Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) recently allowed Johannesburg City, which has two world-cup stadiums, to evict 300 squatters from inner-city buildings classified as unsafe by the Johannesburg municipality.
Johannesburg has evicted thousands of the country's poorest people from 125 buildings since the 2001 launch of its urban renewal plan for 235 buildings on its list of 'bad buildings', mainly hotel and apartment block construction and refurbishment.
The eviction process was forced to cease after a High Court decision in favour of the squatters in March 2006, when their legal team successfully argued that eviction would make their clients homeless because there was no clear strategy to provide them with adequate alternate accommodation. However, the city council appealed the High Court decision.
Last month, Appeals Judge Louis Harms ruled that the city's notice for the squatters to vacate the derelict apartment block and residential buildings in the inner-city suburb of Berea, on the grounds of fire and health hazards, to be neither unconstitutional nor otherwise unlawful.
"Moreover, the obligation of the occupiers to comply with that order is not dependent upon their being provided with alternative accommodation, even if the effect of complying with the order will be that they are left without access to adequate housing," the judgment read. The SCA also ordered the city to offer those evicted relocation to a temporary settlement area.
Stuart Wilson of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Johannesburg's Witwatersrand University said there were concerns that the judgment did not go far enough in protecting the occupiers of so-called 'bad buildings' in inner-city Johannesburg from the arbitrary exercise of state power.
"The court record shows that the inner-city poor are routinely marginalised by the City of Johannesburg and denied an adequate hearing by the city's officials before decisions to evict are taken. The judgment appears to condone this practice, and effectively leaves it to the city to decide if and when the occupiers of bad buildings should be consulted prior to future eviction applications," he commented.
"I do not understand how the SCA can require alternative shelter to be provided to the most desperate, but not require that residents of all bad buildings be consulted in order to find out whether or not they are desperate," Wilson added.
Evictions have resumed since the ruling: more than 100 refugees and asylum seekers were evicted on 28 March from the Coronia Gardens building in Johannesburg's city centre, where they had lived for years, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.
Setting a precedent
Human rights activists have warned that the ruling, which may be appealed to the constitutional court, paves the way for similar evictions across the country's 10 world cup cities, where many central business districts have fallen into disrepair since the demise of apartheid.
Prior to 1994, South Africa's various population groups lived in segregated areas, with the country's then affluent inner-city suburbs mainly occupied by whites.
After racial segregation was done away with in post-apartheid South Africa, poor blacks migrated to the cities in search of employment, where inner-city landlords overcrowded their properties as white people vacated the inner city and moved to the suburbs. Buildings fell into disrepair and basic facilities like electricity and water were disconnected when the accounts were not paid.
A key component of Johannesburg's ambitious redevelopment programme is the clearance of these 'bad' buildings, which are often perceived to be hotbeds of crime.
According to the council's Inner City Regeneration Strategy, the elimination of such socioeconomic "sinkholes" will contribute to improved property values, raise private-sector investment and help to transform Johannesburg into an "African World Class City".
To kick-start inner-city regeneration, the council has introduced projects such as the Better Buildings Programme, which allows redevelopers to take over buildings that have run up huge utility bills, in exchange for a rates rebate. However, many of these programmes have stagnated since the legal battle began.
The council has argued that it has taken the city's poor into consideration with transitional housing initiatives in its inner-city regeneration strategy. With the help of Metro Evangelical Services and the Johannesburg Trust for the Homeless, the once dilapidated Europa Hotel in the city centre was recently refurbished and turned into a low-cost communal housing project.
Human rights violations
The efforts to transform Johannesburg have also caught the attention of the Geneva-based nongovernmental organisation, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE).
After a survey of the inner city, COHRE estimated that up to 26,000 squatters living in the inner city are suffering widespread human rights violations as a result of the city's redevelopment plan.
"Although some of the buildings in question are indeed 'unhealthy', and may serve as bases for criminals, our research clearly shows that the majority of those who live in such buildings are ordinary poor people, trying to earn a living on the streets of Johannesburg," said COHRE's Jean du Plessis.
"These poor people choose to live in urban centres because they are located close to formal job opportunities or points of entry into the informal economy. They are themselves very often the victims of crime, unprotected by an under-resourced police force, rather than the criminals they are often made out to be. In the name of clearing these depressed areas, they are being forcibly evicted without any credible alternative housing or tenure options."
Nelson Khethani, 55, is a sweet and fruit street vendor from the Eastern Cape, one of South Africa's poorest provinces. "The only way I can make a profit is if I live in the city. It costs R8.50 [US$1.18] for transport a day if I were to live outside the city, and I only make between R400 [about $56] and R600 [$83] per month," he said.
"To forcibly remove us from our homes and send us out of the city is like the racial segregation the apartheid regime used against us. We are not criminals - you can walk in here at 12 midnight and nothing will happen to you," he said emphatically. "We have a building committee that controls who moves in and out, and we clean the building from top to bottom very Sunday ourselves."
Khethani is one of 300 squatters facing eviction from the building since the SCA decision. "The reason this building fell into disrepair is the fault of the council, who have abandoned it. We don't want a free ride but the council won't even meet us halfway. They could give us an apartment ... and we would pay rent in return."
JOHANNESBURG, 13 April 2007 (IRIN) - JOHANNESBURG, 13 April 2007 (IRIN) - Tens of thousands of South Africa's poorest people face eviction from inner-city suburbs across the country ahead of the 2010 World Cup football.
The country's Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) recently allowed Johannesburg City, which has two world-cup stadiums, to evict 300 squatters from inner-city buildings classified as unsafe by the Johannesburg municipality.
Johannesburg has evicted thousands of the country's poorest people from 125 buildings since the 2001 launch of its urban renewal plan for 235 buildings on its list of 'bad buildings', mainly hotel and apartment block construction and refurbishment.
The eviction process was forced to cease after a High Court decision in favour of the squatters in March 2006, when their legal team successfully argued that eviction would make their clients homeless because there was no clear strategy to provide them with adequate alternate accommodation. However, the city council appealed the High Court decision.
Last month, Appeals Judge Louis Harms ruled that the city's notice for the squatters to vacate the derelict apartment block and residential buildings in the inner-city suburb of Berea, on the grounds of fire and health hazards, to be neither unconstitutional nor otherwise unlawful.
"Moreover, the obligation of the occupiers to comply with that order is not dependent upon their being provided with alternative accommodation, even if the effect of complying with the order will be that they are left without access to adequate housing," the judgment read. The SCA also ordered the city to offer those evicted relocation to a temporary settlement area.
Stuart Wilson of the Centre for Applied Legal Studies at Johannesburg's Witwatersrand University said there were concerns that the judgment did not go far enough in protecting the occupiers of so-called 'bad buildings' in inner-city Johannesburg from the arbitrary exercise of state power.
"The court record shows that the inner-city poor are routinely marginalised by the City of Johannesburg and denied an adequate hearing by the city's officials before decisions to evict are taken. The judgment appears to condone this practice, and effectively leaves it to the city to decide if and when the occupiers of bad buildings should be consulted prior to future eviction applications," he commented.
"I do not understand how the SCA can require alternative shelter to be provided to the most desperate, but not require that residents of all bad buildings be consulted in order to find out whether or not they are desperate," Wilson added.
Evictions have resumed since the ruling: more than 100 refugees and asylum seekers were evicted on 28 March from the Coronia Gardens building in Johannesburg's city centre, where they had lived for years, according to the United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR.
Setting a precedent
Human rights activists have warned that the ruling, which may be appealed to the constitutional court, paves the way for similar evictions across the country's 10 world cup cities, where many central business districts have fallen into disrepair since the demise of apartheid.
Prior to 1994, South Africa's various population groups lived in segregated areas, with the country's then affluent inner-city suburbs mainly occupied by whites.
After racial segregation was done away with in post-apartheid South Africa, poor blacks migrated to the cities in search of employment, where inner-city landlords overcrowded their properties as white people vacated the inner city and moved to the suburbs. Buildings fell into disrepair and basic facilities like electricity and water were disconnected when the accounts were not paid.
A key component of Johannesburg's ambitious redevelopment programme is the clearance of these 'bad' buildings, which are often perceived to be hotbeds of crime.
According to the council's Inner City Regeneration Strategy, the elimination of such socioeconomic "sinkholes" will contribute to improved property values, raise private-sector investment and help to transform Johannesburg into an "African World Class City".
To kick-start inner-city regeneration, the council has introduced projects such as the Better Buildings Programme, which allows redevelopers to take over buildings that have run up huge utility bills, in exchange for a rates rebate. However, many of these programmes have stagnated since the legal battle began.
The council has argued that it has taken the city's poor into consideration with transitional housing initiatives in its inner-city regeneration strategy. With the help of Metro Evangelical Services and the Johannesburg Trust for the Homeless, the once dilapidated Europa Hotel in the city centre was recently refurbished and turned into a low-cost communal housing project.
Human rights violations
The efforts to transform Johannesburg have also caught the attention of the Geneva-based nongovernmental organisation, the Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE).
After a survey of the inner city, COHRE estimated that up to 26,000 squatters living in the inner city are suffering widespread human rights violations as a result of the city's redevelopment plan.
"Although some of the buildings in question are indeed 'unhealthy', and may serve as bases for criminals, our research clearly shows that the majority of those who live in such buildings are ordinary poor people, trying to earn a living on the streets of Johannesburg," said COHRE's Jean du Plessis.
"These poor people choose to live in urban centres because they are located close to formal job opportunities or points of entry into the informal economy. They are themselves very often the victims of crime, unprotected by an under-resourced police force, rather than the criminals they are often made out to be. In the name of clearing these depressed areas, they are being forcibly evicted without any credible alternative housing or tenure options."
Nelson Khethani, 55, is a sweet and fruit street vendor from the Eastern Cape, one of South Africa's poorest provinces. "The only way I can make a profit is if I live in the city. It costs R8.50 [US$1.18] for transport a day if I were to live outside the city, and I only make between R400 [about $56] and R600 [$83] per month," he said.
"To forcibly remove us from our homes and send us out of the city is like the racial segregation the apartheid regime used against us. We are not criminals - you can walk in here at 12 midnight and nothing will happen to you," he said emphatically. "We have a building committee that controls who moves in and out, and we clean the building from top to bottom very Sunday ourselves."
Khethani is one of 300 squatters facing eviction from the building since the SCA decision. "The reason this building fell into disrepair is the fault of the council, who have abandoned it. We don't want a free ride but the council won't even meet us halfway. They could give us an apartment ... and we would pay rent in return."
Friday, December 18, 2009
Poor patronage for World Cup 2010 tickets - FA
Poor patronage for World Cup 2010 tickets - FA
Ghanaians could be denied a great opportunity of watching next year’s World Cup in South Africa after the FA records a poor patronage on application for tickets for the mundial.
The FA opened application for supporters who are resident in the country and people who will purchase tickets via bank transfer through the Hard Ticket Application Form some ten days ago.
Ghana, a participating member at the World Cup finals, has been allocated 12% of purchasable match tickets. Ticket prices range from $88 to $176 for Ghana’s three group matches.
The ticket price is however fixed at $22 for the disabled, specifically users of wheelchairs.
Meanwhile executive committee member of the FA in charge of ticketing, Fred Crenstil, is urging the public to expedite their patronage drive.
“There is a likelihood that if people do not apply for the tickets now, people may end up not buying the tickets and Ghanaians will be denied the opportunity of watching Ghana play at the World Cup,” he said.
He however indicated that the tickets would put into an international FIFA random draw poll which Ghanaians will have difficulty accessing. The tickets are currently being sold at the offices of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and online on the FIFA website.
Source: Joy Sports/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
Ghanaians could be denied a great opportunity of watching next year’s World Cup in South Africa after the FA records a poor patronage on application for tickets for the mundial.
The FA opened application for supporters who are resident in the country and people who will purchase tickets via bank transfer through the Hard Ticket Application Form some ten days ago.
Ghana, a participating member at the World Cup finals, has been allocated 12% of purchasable match tickets. Ticket prices range from $88 to $176 for Ghana’s three group matches.
The ticket price is however fixed at $22 for the disabled, specifically users of wheelchairs.
Meanwhile executive committee member of the FA in charge of ticketing, Fred Crenstil, is urging the public to expedite their patronage drive.
“There is a likelihood that if people do not apply for the tickets now, people may end up not buying the tickets and Ghanaians will be denied the opportunity of watching Ghana play at the World Cup,” he said.
He however indicated that the tickets would put into an international FIFA random draw poll which Ghanaians will have difficulty accessing. The tickets are currently being sold at the offices of the Ghana Football Association (GFA) and online on the FIFA website.
Source: Joy Sports/Myjoyonline.com/Ghana
Sunday, December 13, 2009
LOOKING TO TICKETS FOR A WORLD CUP MATCH? BE CAREFUL AND CAUTIONUS.
If you have not yet had success in obtaining tickets via the FIFA website but are determined to get your hands on some tickets for a World Cup match in South Africa next year, our message to you, is be careful and keep trying at FIFA.
It was reported in September that up to 100 websites were selling tickets that don´t exist and as the event gets closer more and more of these websites are going to appear with the same promise of tickets for matches you thought impossible to get.
So, our message to be careful is an important one. Some of these websites will look very much like they have the tickets or that they are authorized to sell tickets and they might even advertise this fact - it doesn´t mean that they are or that they can.
Where to buy tickets?
Your first port of call should be the FIFA website. Phase three of the ticketing process has begun and it closes on January 22nd. After that, you only have two more phases to get tickets through FIFA and this will be the cheapest and most effective way for individual tickets.
Tour operators selling World Cup tickets
FIFA have also approved a large number of tour operators all over the world to sell tickets as part of a package. If you are looking for travel and accommodation with a ticket there are a number of companies that can arrange this for you.
Fortunately, FIFA have also created a list of approved tour operators and you can view that list here. If you want to be confident that you are buying a ticket from an approved supplier then you must check this list. If they are not listed they are not approved - check the list first!
Bling bling: Going corporate hospitality
There is one more option and this is the best way to attend a match, but at the same time, the most expensive. However, if you´ve got it and it´s spare, you just have to go this route.
MATCH Hospitality is FIFA's worldwide ´exclusive rights holder´ of the Official Hospitality Programe for the World Cup next year in South Africa and as such they have, as of today, tickets for every match and you get to go in style. The best seats, top of the line catering, bar service, dedicated parking, entertainment and gifts are all provided.
If you are interested in this package then the only place you can get this is here. Do not plan this type of package with any other company.
How much? I´ll give you £50: The black market
This will happen, nobody can stop it. From outside the stadium to online - there will be promises of a ticket at a really good price, but again, be very careful as chances are, they wont be real tickets.
First things first - nobody will get their tickets delivered to their door, they have to be picked up in South Africa, with the card used to purchase them. So even if you did find that elusive ticket for England v USA on eBay, you´d have to be in South Africa to stand any chance of getting your hands on it and then there is every likelihood it will be a fake.
Fake Tickets for World Cup matches?
Yes, there will be fake tickets and at the end of the day, that is why FIFA have put in place an authorized tour operator list and a number of phases for you to buy tickets online.
If you don´t manage to get your ticket through one of the above authorised methods then chances are you are not going to get one.
It was reported in September that up to 100 websites were selling tickets that don´t exist and as the event gets closer more and more of these websites are going to appear with the same promise of tickets for matches you thought impossible to get.
So, our message to be careful is an important one. Some of these websites will look very much like they have the tickets or that they are authorized to sell tickets and they might even advertise this fact - it doesn´t mean that they are or that they can.
Where to buy tickets?
Your first port of call should be the FIFA website. Phase three of the ticketing process has begun and it closes on January 22nd. After that, you only have two more phases to get tickets through FIFA and this will be the cheapest and most effective way for individual tickets.
Tour operators selling World Cup tickets
FIFA have also approved a large number of tour operators all over the world to sell tickets as part of a package. If you are looking for travel and accommodation with a ticket there are a number of companies that can arrange this for you.
Fortunately, FIFA have also created a list of approved tour operators and you can view that list here. If you want to be confident that you are buying a ticket from an approved supplier then you must check this list. If they are not listed they are not approved - check the list first!
Bling bling: Going corporate hospitality
There is one more option and this is the best way to attend a match, but at the same time, the most expensive. However, if you´ve got it and it´s spare, you just have to go this route.
MATCH Hospitality is FIFA's worldwide ´exclusive rights holder´ of the Official Hospitality Programe for the World Cup next year in South Africa and as such they have, as of today, tickets for every match and you get to go in style. The best seats, top of the line catering, bar service, dedicated parking, entertainment and gifts are all provided.
If you are interested in this package then the only place you can get this is here. Do not plan this type of package with any other company.
How much? I´ll give you £50: The black market
This will happen, nobody can stop it. From outside the stadium to online - there will be promises of a ticket at a really good price, but again, be very careful as chances are, they wont be real tickets.
First things first - nobody will get their tickets delivered to their door, they have to be picked up in South Africa, with the card used to purchase them. So even if you did find that elusive ticket for England v USA on eBay, you´d have to be in South Africa to stand any chance of getting your hands on it and then there is every likelihood it will be a fake.
Fake Tickets for World Cup matches?
Yes, there will be fake tickets and at the end of the day, that is why FIFA have put in place an authorized tour operator list and a number of phases for you to buy tickets online.
If you don´t manage to get your ticket through one of the above authorised methods then chances are you are not going to get one.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
Opportunities for the poor
Cape Town - The 2010 Soccer World Cup is throwing up
opportunities for poor communities to make a little money out of the event, despite the hard-nosed approach that Fifa and the local organizers take towards World Cup merchandising.
opportunities for poor communities to make a little money out of the event, despite the hard-nosed approach that Fifa and the local organizers take towards World Cup merchandising.
That approach is demonstrated by the fact that three companies are expected to face the wrath of Fifa in the new year over various 2010 trademark and copyright issues.
The governing body has targeted the Eastwood Tavern, a sports bar in Pretoria, Executive African Trading, which produces key rings and ornaments and World Cup Homes, which is offering accommodation for the tournament.
According to the Project 2010 website, the cases mark the first time that civil litigation, based on unlawful competition, has been brought against parties accused of transgressing the criminal provisions of the Merchandise Marks Act.
Enabling the informal sector
Project 2010 also reported that Global Brands, the master licensee for Fifa merchandise, is now working on a deal that could help local street traders cash in on the world cup.
The company said the plan would enable the informal sector to retail exclusive world cup goods in the build-up to 2010. It is reportedly developing a program where hawkers could buy the licensed products and sell them around the country.
Clothing represents the biggest percentage of the licensed merchandise, while soccer balls, toys, publishing and headgear make up the balance.
Local organizing committee CEO Danny Jordaan is reported as
having long supported a world cup tournament that aids the economically disadvantaged in South Africa and other countries around the continent. Jordaan said that 2010 organizers are operating with a World Cup budget of R3.2bn and the intention is to create jobs and encourage the formation of more
small, medium and micro enterprises.
Thousands of new jobs
And, according to a skills audit by the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism, the World Cup has opened up about 80 000 job opportunities in the local tourism and hospitality sector.
The audit indicated that over the next three years, the industry will require about 24 100 cooks and chefs, 23 500 waiters and waitresses, 15 000 cleaners, 7 800 cashiers and 8 000 managerial staff. The tourism industry is to make up about 12% of the country's GDP by the time the competition comes around.
Construction of bed and breakfast facilities has already begun in some deep rural parts of Limpopo in preparation for expected visitors during the cup. A R15m rand EU-funded project has started in the areas of Muhlava, Sekgopo and Thabina villages outside Tzaneen in the Mopani district municipality. The
site where these accommodation establishments are being constructed is about a 30 minutes drive from Polokwane - which will host some of the matches.
Art gets boost
The website also reports that a young KwaZulu-Natal artist Sicelo Ziqubu is creating 2010-themed papier-maché decorated thrones which are being snapped up. Ziqubu, who is being noticed for his intricate themed chairs or thrones, has
sold a 2010 work to a major shoe retailer who is planning to display it in various outlets around the province in the run up to the world cup and is creating another 2010 art work for the eThekwini municipality.
Greg May, head of the Fresh Paint Gallery, said Ziqubu spent a good deal of time over the past two weeks working at the gallery on his latest creations. Currently the gallery has four of his themed chairs - two 2010 chairs, his Noah's Ark chair and a BEE chair.
Other artists are also working on 2010 themed projects. They include Tomas Majebe from Cameroon who is making a 'small fortune' selling his oil on canvas 2010 stadium paintings at flea markets. In Garankuwa, Peter Malherbe has spent thousands of hours building model 2010 stadiums out of matches.
In Cape Town, Michael Souter heads a team of workers from an informal settlement who make 2010-themed makarabas (safety helmets) out of plastic mining hats. And Katlehong resident Doris Shikwambane is already stockpiling hand-made world cup bead bracelets and necklaces.
Will the Workers and the Poor Benefit from the 2010 World Cup in South Africa?
South Africa’s success in winning the 2010 bid for the World Cup has been announced with great fanfare. The World Soccer Cup is the second biggest international sports events in the world, second only to the Olympics.
GOOD THINGS
Now, there are a number of positive things about this: * Soccer is basically a working-class sport, in South Africa as well as in the rest of the world, and, if the tickets are affordable, there will be some great matches for local fans
* The State has promised - and this is probably quite true - that some jobs will be created
* As part of the build-up to 2010, the State will be spending billions of rands on improving transport and health services. There will also be some improvements in housing, although mainly around the areas near the sports stadiums, and finally, of course, there will be new stadiums as well as significant amounts of money for improving some existing stadiums
* For the first time ever, the World Cup will be held in Africa
* We don't agree with that view of certain sectors of society that the State will not be able to get the country ready in time for the World Cup. It probably can get things ready in time. In fact, one of the noticeable trends of recent years is that semi-industrial countries can run major sports events (there have been, or are, major events in these countries: Malaysia 1998, China 2008, India 2010 etc.)
As part of the 2010 project, the State will be upgrading, or building, stadiums in the host cities: Bloemfontein, Cape Town, Durban, Johannesburg, Nelspruit, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth, Pretoria, Rustenburg. Linked to this, State will be spending money upgrading public transport - trains, airports, buses - and in making the areas around the main events attractive to foreign tourists. This will cost, the State says, around R16 billion - but the figure keeps rising, and we can expect it to rise quite dramatically.
ASKING THE BIG QUESTION
But, we need to ask an important question: why has the South African State been so keen to host the 2010 World Cup? Why has it chosen to spend money on an event like this, when there are so many other serious problems in South Africa?Unfortunately, the State reasons raise a lot of concerns about the whole project, and raise questions about who is really going to benefit from this process.
We live in a society dominated by class and capitalism. In this society, there is a ruling class, which controls the State and the economy, all the productive land, factories, buildings, shops, mines and so on. The State and the economy are used to promote the power and wealth of the ruling class. The working class and poor, in turn, provide the labour force to make this happen. The working class and poor are exploited by the ruling class, creating the wealth the ruling class enjoys, while its needs are ignored: wealth and power benefit the few; the great majority lives in conditions of poverty and misery, and when it challenges the situation, it is told to shut up.
Whether we are talking about a private company, like Anglo American, or a government company, like Eskom, the aim is basically to make a profit. This profit is squeezed out of the working class through low wages and high prices, and this profit goes into the hands of the directors, managers and owners, who can live the sweet life of private jets, mansions, holidays in Europe, and salaries of millions of rands per month. As you have heard, Whitey Basson, head of Shoprite, gets R67 million a year in income, while the workers in his shops get around R24,000 a year.
Basically, the resources of society are geared towards benefiting the ruling class; the workers and the poor are not really in control. The demands and needs of the working class do not play an important role in society: we have to fight for everything we want, because the whole way society is organized is to benefit the ruling class. We often speak of redistribution, but in our society, redistribution goes one way: from the working class to the ruling class, not the other way around.
Now, our multi-racial ruling class - the bosses (capitalists), the politicians, the Mbekis, the Sexwales and the Oppenheimers who rule the country - have their own agenda with regard to 2010, and it is important to look closely at that agenda.
MARKETING AND INVESTMENT
The ruling class believes that the 2010 project will attract investment by businesses - local and foreign - into South Africa. And how will it do so? By creating space for making lots of money for a few people. The use of global games to market and advertise a country for capitalist investment is absolutely central to the pursuit of global games by semi-industrial countries. For our ruling class, 2010 is about dressing South Africa up nicely and putting it on display. The country is to be showcased as a hot investment destination. The idea is that large foreign companies will invest in South Africa, and grow the economy. It will also open space for a whole lot of partnerships between the South African ruling class, and the ruling class in other countries. This will also, the idea goes, create some jobs for the working class and poor, who, after all, will provide the sweat that will help the local and the foreign companies to generate wealth for their owners.The view that 2010 will attract foreign investment is in line with the neoliberal, privatization, approach of the State. It is in line with the GEAR policy, and with its offspring, ASGISA. Both GEAR and ASGISA are based on the idea that the only way to deal with the country's crushing social ills and evils - poverty, crime, prostitution, unemployment, misery for the many millions in the working class - is to create a situation where the rich can get richer. The idea is this: if business, South African and foreign, finds it can make a lot of profits in South Africa, then it will open up factories and other workplaces. And this will create jobs. With jobs, the working class will benefit - even if those jobs are basically designed to enrich the rich.
According to GEAR, the only way to attract business investment is to ensure profits for business: in other words, to ensure that the rich can get richer. The wealthy and powerful should not, the government insists, be forced to create jobs nor should the wealth of society that they control be placed under the control of the masses. No! Rather, those who already control wealth and power will continue to decide where and when they want to invest, and whether the millions in the working class will get jobs, and, if they get jobs, how much they will be paid. Jobs are created to the extent they benefit the ruling class, and because the working class owns nothing, it has to be satisfied with this situation.
INFRASTRUCTURE AND NEOLIBERALISM
So, one of the major aims of 2010 is to create opportunities for making profit, and this will have the effect of creating jobs. The spending for 2010 is mainly aimed at promoting opportunities for profit; it is not about benefiting the working class, although the working class will benefit to the extent that jobs will be created. The investment in transport, health and stadiums follows the same approach: creating the space for profit making. 2010 will show businesses that South Africa is a great place to make money.In both GEAR and ASGISA, the State is allocated a major role in providing infrastructure – but the aim of this State provision of infrastructure is to do something that the market can’t do (it isn’t very profitable, for example, to build a highway) but that capitalists need to turn a profit (a company can’t operate without roads). In short, it is not about infrastructure for the masses, but about infrastructure for the ruling class. From Adam Smith onwards, free market theory – economic liberalism, which we today usually call neoliberalism – has insisted that the State play the major role in providing goods that the market requires in order to make a profit, but can’t provide profitably (infrastructure, public goods, national defense) or provide fairly (law-and-order, currency).
The GEAR policy, as well as ASGISA, are based on exactly this line of thinking. You privatize to create new areas to generate profit; you cut government spending in order to reduce tax on the rich and the companies; as far as possible, you run the government and its industries to make a profit; you remove protection for local industries in order to make those industries competitive, and to reduce the costs of the items from abroad; you promote a situation where labour is cheap, so that workers can be fired or hired more easily; government takes no responsibility for job creation, but leaves this to private businesses; in the meantime, governments spending is focused on creating conditions for profit-making, such as investments in harbours (which promote trade), rather than on the social needs of the working class (for example, housing).
THE GRAVY TRAIN
Of course, there are many other benefits from the 2010 bid for the ruling class. It will give them a chance to show what a good job they do in running South Africa - despite the ongoing poverty and inequality! The politicians and the sports administrators will get a chance to make money, through various business partnerships and corrupt deals. This is already under way, and it won't be long before details of how so-called leaders are involved in getting contracts for construction work, and kickbacks for awarding tenders to friends. And you can be sure tenders will go to the rich and powerful: yes, we often dream of creating our own small companies and getting rich, but we forget, it’s only those who already have money that manage to make more money; the system is stacked against the person on the street, and not 1 out of 100 will ever escape the working class, through education or through business. Fourteen Cabinet Ministers and Deputy Ministers have been appointed to monitor the construction and upgrading of the 10 stadiums, and these politicians will be first in line to make sure they get a cut of the money that will be made.Now, there is a much bigger issue here. Around the world, as we have said, soccer is a working class sport. The big English teams, like Manchester United and Arsenal, came from the big industrial towns, and started as workers’ clubs. The same is true of South Africa: we only have to think of teams like Kaizer Chiefs and Orlando Pirates, which emerged in the townships of the black working class. But the ruling class everywhere has been taking it over, and using it as another way to make money. There is a fortune to be made from owning soccer stadiums, selling tickets, TV rights and also merchandise, like flags, shirts, and stickers. The symbols of the big teams are owned by capitalists, and they make a fortune selling official items of merchandise. And if you produce the logos of your own team, and sell them, without permission, they will say you are producing pirate goods, and arrest you and destroy the stuff you made, and they might say that if you buy these, you support your team
And of you buy the official goods, you are showing your support for the team, but the money you pay to do so goes into the pockets of people like Irvin Khoza (owner of Orlando Pirates), Kaizer Motaung and Primedia (owners of Kaizer Chiefs), and Patrice Motsepe (owner of Mamelodi Sundowns). Just like factories, teams are "owned" by bosses, and so we should not be surprised that some soccer players have even formed a trade union.
CLASS OR NATION
The other problem is this: in an event like the World Cup, the teams are organized by countries, and this provides a way for the ruling class to promote divisions between the working class around the world: a German worker is encouraged to support the German team, and think about being German, rather than about being a worker. In this way, sadly, a sport that brings the world's working class together is used to divide it.Make no mistake: a lot of money is going to be made. R16 billion at least, mainly paid by tax payers, is going to be handed out to local and foreign businesses to make sure the country is ready for 2010. That's a lot of money, that's 16 thousand million rands, that's equal to 8 million monthly wage packets of R2000 each. Where is the money going to be raised? From two main sources: money from central government (which is raised from tax on companies, salaries, VAT, "sin taxes" on cigarettes, alcohol and so on), and money from local governments, because municipalities are expected to pay in as well. Where does municipal money come from? It comes from partly from tax on businesses, but it also comes from charges for property, electricity, water, sewerage removal and other services.
NOW, THIS WILL HAVE SEVERAL IMPORTANT EFFECTS:
1. First, money spent on the 2010 project is money not spent on other areas. In 2005, the government allocated R48 billion to health. This has to pay for the whole government health system. This money has to cover 400 hospitals and 43 million people. Of this money, around 1,5 billion goes to upgrading and revitalizing hospitals every year, so government will spend around 6 billion on repairing the hospitals over by 2010. This is less than half of the money government plans to spend in the same period for building soccer stadiums for a one-time event! To put it another way: if the money for the 2010 World Cup was spent on hospitals instead, it could do four times more to fix the hospitals than it will do otherwise. Now, we know the state the public hospitals are in. The ruling class and the middle class are able to access a high tech high quality private hospital system. This serves only a few million people.The vast majority have to use overcrowded, inefficient, dirty, understaffed hospitals that regularly run out of medicines. For example, the George Hospital in the Western Cape only has 265 beds, and it serves 550,000 people in the region. If the money being spent on soccer stadiums was directed to a much more pressing need, hospitals, the benefits to the working class would be enormous. The money government allocates to fixing the hospitals is, I should add, only going to a few hospitals: most don't benefit, and are left to fall apart.
Linked to this: cut offs. The money for 2010 will be partly raised by the municipalities. As we said, the municipalities get money from services and taxes. This will place a great deal of pressure on the municipalities to increase charges for water and electricity, and, of course, to cut off people who don't pay.
2. Transport. One of the main points about 2010, the State says, is that the transport system will be improved. And that can't be a bad thing. The railway system caters for millions of working class people, and half of the people who use the trains earn under R1600 a month. The trains are cheaper than the taxis, and a bit safer, and if you lie far away from your work, you can save quite a lot of money by using the trains. But the railway system has never been properly developed. The trains cover only a small part of the towns and townships, and many areas are left off the railway gird. Also, not only has the railway system not been expanded over the last thirty years, despite the huge increase in the cities, but is actually been closed down quite a bit over the last ten years.
The railways are owned by a giant State company, Spoornet, and Spoornet has been reducing the number of trains that run during the day, and closed smaller railway lines. This is partly because the government has been planning to partially privatize the railways, which has involved closing down railways that aren't likely to be profitable. Spoornet also aims to make a profit in the meantime. It’s cheaper and more profitable to have a few overcrowded trains at peak hours, than a comprehensive railway network and regular trains. The other aim of Spoornet has been to focus railways on moving goods, rather than people, because this will cut the costs of doing business as companies can move goods quickly and cheaply. In practice, it’s done a terrible job of this, because even many bosses are complaining about the inefficiency, unreliability and high costs of the trains.
And, of course, the effects of all of this on the working class are bad: around 20,000 jobs have been lost, trains are late, and sometimes don't come at all: the system is badly managed, and there is a shortage of carriages and workers, so if a train driver is sick or a train engine is damaged, the train does not come. Now, add to this the situation in the State's electricity company, ESKOM, and you have a serious problem. Over the last fifteen years, ESKOM has been restructured. Although it is mainly government owned, ESKOM is run on a profit making basis, and has been making increasing profits for years. At the same time, ESKOM has let the electricity grid fall apart, and, since the trains use electricity, Eskom’s continual power cuts mean the trains also stop when ESKOM messes up.
One good thing about ASGISA, which as I said is GEAR's baby boy, and about the 2010 developments, is that government seems to waking up to the need to sort some of these problems out. Make no mistake: government is not planning to change its mind about running Spoornet and ESKOM for profit, and still has plans to partly privatize both. But it has, it seems, started to realize that there is something seriously wrong with transport and power in South Africa. So, one of the major promises of 2010 is that the transport grid will be improved, specifically with a) taxi recapitalization, meaning a move from the dangerous combines to buses, b) an upgrade and extension of the railways and c) new initiatives like the Gautrain.
But there are worrying signs. The Gautrain, in particular, raises some serious questions. In the first place, the Gautrain is basically directed at improving transport between the suburbs in Johannesburg and Pretoria, and at a cost of more billions, will essentially set up a middle class express for the suburbs. The ticket prices, as announced so far, are quite high, around R60 - but a more serious issue is that the money that is beings pent could have been used much more effectively to fix and expand the railway network that serves the townships and the south of Johannesburg. It will cost R20 billion so far. This is a perfectly good example of the biases in capitalism: while millions of people use the trains to put a bit of bread on the table, the Gautrain is about saving driving time for wealthier people who own cars anyway.
3. Jobs. Of course 2010 will create some jobs. The big construction contracts, in particular, will need large numbers of workers, and there is nothing this country needs more than jobs. But here, too, I think we need to be a bit careful before we get too excited. One of the serious problems to think about is: how long will the jobs last? Building a soccer stadium is not a lifetime job; at most, it’s work for a few years. What will happen after 2010? If the government's plans work, there is a chance that investment will increase, and a number of new jobs will be created after 2010 is over. Will this be enough for the six million unemployed?
We don’t know what will happen in future, but the terrible record of South African capitalism in creating jobs provides reasons to be concerned. The South African economy has started to grow at about 5 percent, which is the best performance since the early 1970s. But over the last ten years, as we know, at least a million jobs have been lost. Only recently has this started to change: there have been around 100,000 more jobs created than lost over the last two years. This is a drop in the ocean, and unless people mobilize to demand jobs, and if everything is left up to the ruling class, which can create jobs at its own sweet pace, well, the situation looks bad. The other thing, linked to this, is that many existing jobs are being casualized and subcontracted, with well over half the working class in various types of insecure employment. Will the jobs created to build 2010, and maybe the jobs that come after it, be secure jobs with a living wage? Or will they be short-term, low wage, dangerous work without benefits like medical aids?
SOME FINAL ISSUES:
The 2010 World Cup project is a ruling class project. We need to mobilize around it, and, where necessary, against it.On the one hand, this means fighting for a better deal from the World Cup. At a simple level, we can demand ticket prices are kept low enough to ensure ordinary people, not just the rich, and not just tourists, can watch. More importantly by far, we need to mobilize to make sure that transport is structured to benefit the working class. Gautrain provides an example of what can go wrong. Unions and community groups need to put pressure on the State to ensure that as many jobs are created as possible, and that these are quality jobs. Also, that they are safe jobs, and the workers organized into strong unions. We need too remember that soccer is our sport, and to start to resist the ways soccer is being privatized in the hands of a few capitalists.
On the other hand, we must fight every part of the 2010 World Cup that is anti-working class. There is a serious danger that the process will be associated with major evictions, In Cape Town, there are already moves to clear the squatter camps near the airports, so the city looks nicer. But this moves people away from their homes and jobs. The people are being promised housing: will they really get it? Struggles against cut-offs must continue, and we need to start challenging other taxes, like VAT. If the government wants to spend R16 billion, let them raise the money by taxing the ruling class, not the poor. And let us make sure that money is spent on basic needs, first and foremost, rather than on building stadiums that may not have a future after the 2010 cup. Life doesn’t end in 2010: what we need are sustainable jobs, pro-poor development and a powerful mass movement. This is not going to be provided by the 2010 World Cup.
In every struggle, we need to have a resolute way forward, and a clear perspective: WHAT DO WE WANT? AND HOW DO WE GET IT? What we want is a powerful and revolutionary working class movement, and we need to build this through struggles. 2010 is just one of the struggles we can use, and we need to use it carefully and strategically. In the first place, this means being independent of the 2010 project. COSATU has, tragically, asked its investment arm to become involved in building the stadiums. Now, this makes no sense: how will COSATU's investment arm act differently to any other investor? The job of a union is not to hire workers and make a profit, but to protect workers from the profiteers who run our society. So we should oppose this terrible idea. We should oppose this sort of corruption. We should use the build-up around 2010 to highlight our issues, and demand measures that improve the conditions of the workers and the poor. And we should also understand the opportunity that the global spotlight on South Africa will provide to the popular movements: that is something very important.
At the same time, we must also be aware of the threats that 2010 poses. We must not get caught up in this Proudly SA nonsense. South African workers and the poor have nothing in common with South African bosses and politicians. Let's not forget that, or get caught up in nationalist campaigns. Nationalism is poison to the workers and the poor. We are the working class, and we are part of the world's working class. That's what matters; we should not hold hands with the bosses and politicians, but keep resisting, keep fighting, until we can win and create a new society without bosses and politicians. We need to create a new society, and that is what anarchism is about: a society where we control our jobs, where everyone has work, where no one goes hungry, where crime ends as inequality ends, where the economy is directed to meeting human needs, not private greed.
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