photo_amarcbrAMARC EU TEAM – FIFA’s Brazil World Cup is here now. What will it offer to the citizens? According to the organization AMARC Brazil, in s it will bring more repression towards community radio and citizens. The National Agency of Telecommunications (ANATEL, in Portuguese) have sent  an official press release to the organizations which work in community media prior to this sports event, informing them that it is going to reinforce ‘controls’ to “guarantee the viability of the communications for the FIFA World Cup 2014”.

For all Brazilians this came to confirm that ANATEL was going to silence the media which has not the suitable “right to broadcast” and that community and alternative media was going to be controlled in their access to the information about this world event. However, this World Cup it is not only been played in the FIFA´s stadium but in the streets and in the internet by a lot of social movements and not-for-profit organisations which are trying to increase visibility of the country situation that this kind of mega-event tends to obscure.

As an answer to this threat of censorship, AMARC Brazil launched a campaign called “Radio vs. futebol – Quem ganha a copa antidemocrática” (“Radio vs. football: who wins the undemocratic cup”). Each week during the World Cup two authors (activists, broadcasters, teachers, journalists…), chosen by the organization, publishrf texts about football and about radio shortcomings. Then, all people can vote in the website https://radiofutebol.amarcbrasil.org, whether football or mainstream media are the most undemocratic under the proposed categories (gender, anti-trust rules, audit findings, homosexuals…).