In Pictures

Gallery|Poverty and Development

In Pictures: Brazil poverty vs super stadia

Some 4,800 homeless people set up a protest camp near a $350-million stadium in Sao Paulo to demand housing.

The "People(***)s Cup" squatter camp houses 4,800 homeless people, including an estimated 1,500 children, according to the social action Homeless Workers Group.  
By Elizabeth Gorman
Published On 16 Jun 2014

Sao Paulo, Brazil – Since Sao Paulo’s Itaquerão stadium was built, residents living in its vicinity, including retirees and families with children, told Al Jazeera their rent jumped between 20-35 percent, and new costs associated with living near the stadium were now too hard to manage.

On May 2, a group of the Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem-Teto (MTST, Homeless Workers Movement) took action on behalf of about 4,800 homeless people living near the $350-million stadium, where the first game of the World Cup will take place on Thursday, and set up camp. Residents call it the “People’s Cup” and they have flown the red MTST flag to protest billions of dollars spent on the stadiums, rather than housing.

Now, after living in the squatter’s camp for more than a month, they have a possible victory. The government reportedly has agreed to build new homes in the camp for “People’s Cup” residents, which the MTST said was a huge success.

The depth of the movement for the homeless has been “profound”, said Elena Santos da Silva from MTST, and government efforts to resolve the matter days before the World Cup have been widely interpreted as a move to stave off more MTST action before Brazil’s mega-event.

The Homeless Workers Group is one of the biggest social movements on Brazil’s front lines. It has fought to reduce the high deficit of housing through direction action, such as taking over abandoned buildings and land for Brazil’s homeless living in cities.

Within the camp, families are distributed among eight groups with assigned letters and numbers on every tent. Each community has a kitchen, and men(***)s and women(***)s toilets.  
The camp relies entirely on donated food and clothing. A group of women and children sort through discarded clothes and shoes for new items. 
Residents are angry that the government spent tens of billions of dollars on soccer stadiums, when homes could have been built instead.
Ze Moreira Gomes is one of the camp(***)s leaders. A retiree, he(***)s lived in the neighbourhood since 1975, but said he got pushed out by astronomical rent when the stadium was built.
Claudio Lessa Souza, 31, was eager to show journalists how little he had inside his tent: shoes, a mattress, and a blanket.
At the top of a hill above the "People(***)s Camp", a small boy reels in a plastic yellow kite before he gets bored and discards it.
The most solid structures in the camp are the kitchens. Cooks such as Claudia Rosane Garcez feed up to 1,000 people on two stove tops, a task that usually takes about six hours per meal. 
Sidneia Braz Ramilo lost her job and joined the social movement when she was without a place to live. She holds up a candle to show the necessary items of life inside the camp.
Residents wait in the common eating area outside the group kitchen.
Merizote Dantas, 62, leads a team of five cooks for about 900 people each day. Her bedroom adjoins the kitchen, where she also keeps the dried goods.
A small girl plays outside the door of her family(***)s tent near the kitchen and gathering area.
Women linger near the kitchen where a cook is cleaning up after lunch. 
Most residents are huge soccer fans, but some won(***)t be watching the World Cup because they say government money was wasted on stadiums. 
A red Homeless Workers Movement flag flies at the camp. The organisation is one of the most contentious groups the government has had to deal with ahead of the World Cup.