Selling South Africa: Poverty, Politics and the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Why is it that governments can find billions of dollars for global sporting events and little to deal with the grinding poverty that affects impoverished populations? Canada applauded itself for the $135-million in aid and disaster relief it sent to an earthquake ravaged Haiti while spending nearly $6-billion on the two-week long Vancouver Olympics. A similar contradiction is revealing itself in South Africa, where massive amounts of public and private spending on the upcoming 2010 Soccer World Cup are expected to salve a faltering economy and crippling poverty. Most South Africans, however, will see little direct or sustained economic benefit from the games let alone muster the funds to even purchase a ticket.

What is trumpeted as a branding and investment remedy to South Africa’s economic woes may very well become another Greek tragedy – where the legacy of the 2004 Athens Olympics has contributed to an economic meltdown. These global games offer dual incentives to both local and foreign business elites and little to a frustrated local population. On the one hand, investment, sponsorship and tourism opens new markets to foreign capital while local business elites profit from a heightened global image. At least, this is the story sold by both the state and World Cup planners. Central to this strategy is selling South Africa as a marketable and consumable brand.

The transition from apartheid to democratic rule in South Africa has been well documented. During this period, the pressures of both domestic and foreign capital forced the emergent African National Congress (ANC) government to follow the economic paradigms of the past and encourage foreign investment. The sanctions that once crippled the economy gave way to a period of increasing investment and relatively stable economic growth. Promoting a comfortable and gentrified image of South Africa perfectly serves the ruling African National Congress’s redistribution through growth policy that is intended to drum up foreign investment while selling off government owned assets. The Soccer World Cup effectively opens these economic and political spaces necessary to further neoliberal policies and development.'

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The Peace Prize War

Military prowess seems to be the only power the United States has left. It apparently has no ability to help its own people. One in four homeowners are “underwater” on their mortgages, owing more to the bank than their homes are worth. The Obama administration has done nothing about this human and economic catastrophe. One in eight Americans receive food stamps, a staggering 49 million people in need of some assistance to keep food on the table. The record number of bank failures, the precarious state of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and the lack of health care for millions are likewise left unaddressed. War is always on the table and is never rejected.'

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Is It Now a Crime to Be Poor?

IT’S too bad so many people are falling into poverty at a time when it’s almost illegal to be poor. You won’t be arrested for shopping in a Dollar Store, but if you are truly, deeply, in-the-streets poor, you’re well advised not to engage in any of the biological necessities of life — like sitting, sleeping, lying down or loitering. City officials boast that there is nothing discriminatory about the ordinances that afflict the destitute, most of which go back to the dawn of gentrification in the ’80s and ’90s. “If you’re lying on a sidewalk, whether you’re homeless or a millionaire, you’re in violation of the ordinance,” a city attorney in St. Petersburg, Fla., said in June, echoing Anatole France’s immortal observation that “the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges.”

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Max Keiser: Poverty and Food Shortage is Caused by the Banking System

ACLU Says Judge Must Release Woman Sentenced to Jail For Being Poor

The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan asked for an emergency hearing today on behalf of an Escanaba woman sentenced to 30 days in jail because she is too poor to reimburse the court for her son’s stay in a juvenile detention facility.

“Like many people in these desperate economic times, Ms. Nowlin was laid off from work, lost her home and is destitute,” said Michael J. Steinberg, ACLU of Michigan Legal Director. “Jailing her because of her poverty is not only unconstitutional, it’s unconscionable and a shameful waste of resources. It is not a crime to be poor in this country and the government must stop resurrecting debtor’s prisons from the dustbin of history.”

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Pope Speaks Out Against Greedy Money-men Who Sparked Credit Crisis

The pontiff launched a fierce attack on the financial institutions responsible for the economic downturn, and said their actions were directly linked to world poverty and starvation.

"The unbridled pursuit of wealth for wealth's sake creates a risk that in the world the rich will live in an ivory tower surrounded by a desert of poverty and degradation," he wrote.

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I nearly pissed myself when i read that. Such hypocracy from the super rich moneygrabbing vatican!

EU "Plans to Dump" Milk, Butter In Africa

Fair trade organisations warn against newly increased European Union (EU) quotas for milk production and continued high export subsidies, which will lead to increased milk and butter dumping on world markets. EU dairy products already dominate the African market.

Especially when it comes to milk, EU policies are ruining local development. "Milk produced by local famers in Burkina Faso and sold on domestic markets is more expensive than imported milk powder from Europe," according to MISEROR. "These dumping prices of imported products ruin local farmers' only source of income. This process increases poverty, hunger and forces more people to migrate to cities in order to earn an income," the organisation adds.

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Palestine: From bad to wretched

The numbers are grim, whether in the West Bank or the Gaza Strip. The Palestinian economy is in one of its most wretched states, and the disaster is mostly, if not entirely, man-made, thus reversible.The World Bank made no secret of the fact that Israeli restrictions are largely to blame, as poverty rates in the Gaza Strip have soared to 79.4% and in the West Bank to 45.7%. It concluded that "with a growing population and a shrinking economy, real per capita GDP is now 30% below its height in 1999 ... With due regard to Israel's security concerns, there is consensus on the paralytic effect of the current physical obstacles placed on the Palestinian economy."With a declining economy, lack of developmental projects and Israeli restrictions, Palestinians are increasingly reliant on foreign aid, which is largely controlled by political interests. For example, the US proved more generous than ever in supporting the Ramallah-based government of Mahmoud Abbas as it led an international regime of sanctions and embargo against the Gaza-based Hamas government. Such funds are often conditioned on such murky concepts as "cracking down on the terrorist infrastructure", which is duly understood as fighting those who challenge Israel and Palestinian Authority rule in the West Bank.

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NWO Becoming Reality

Call me crazy, call me nuts. (You'll have to get in line.)
When I see what's going on in our country these days, I can't help but think that it's no accident. When you consider all the things that are going on now and have been going on for the last seven years, I think that it's no accident or an unforseen set of circumstances.
Jobs are hard to find, unemployment is high and food and fuel are becoming out of reach for many. The Fed just keeps pumping out worthless bank notes. Home prices are at historic lows and foreclosures at record highs. People in once affluent suburbs are losing their homes and sleeping in their cars. Quality medical care is a thing of the past for the masses.
The government has suspended habeus corpus and legalized torture. We are in a war that the economy cannot support. More than half of the GDP goes to the military, while veterans, women and children eat out of dumpsters.

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21 Dead In Indonesia Stampede

At least 21 people have been killed and many others injured in a stampede in Indonesia's East Java province, local media reported. They were waiting for a charity handout, a tradition during the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, when the crush happened in the town of Pasuruan. Most of the dead are women and children. According to local police officials, about 10,000 people were lined up in an alley to receive cash handouts, of $3.30 per person, from a wealthy family. Some people were trampled and some others collapsed because of a lack of oxygen. Some of the injured people are in critical condion

Press TV

21 Dead for $3.30 each. And the HSBC boss earned a £1.75 million bonus. Criminal!