Tuesday, July 23, 2013

Under Union Flags


With the wave of public demonstrations in the city continuing, a normally grey concrete setting was thrown into colour recently when various worker's unions gathered under the Museum of Art Sao Paulo, on Avenida Paulista. MASP, as it's more commonly known, is one of relatively few easily recognisable landmarks in the city due it's unusual architectural design. It stands elevated on 4 structural columns, in this instance allowing various unions (sindicatos) to gather underneath in order to demand various "melhorias", a term for better working conditions. 

The final drop!


In English we say "the straw that broke the camel's back!" In Portuguese it's "a gota d'agua", or the final drop of water. An announced public transport fare increase from R$3 to R$3.20 may not have seemed particularly significant to those looking in from outside the country, but it was "the final drop of water" for the Brazilian public already indignant at a transport system that fails to cope with demand, the billions of public money spent on football stadiums for next year's World Cup in spite of poor public hospitals and schools, and the ever-continuing political corruption. From June 2013 onwards in major cities across the nation, demonstrations of the like not seen for 20 years led to the inevitable minority who left burning cars, buses etc. in their wake. After an initially defiant stance, the government were eventually forced to pour water on the flames, so to speak, by scraping the intended fare rise.