Brazil's military government and soccer
Brazil's dictatorial government ruled the country from March of 1964 to March of 1985, with a sequence of five military rulers. The military put itself in the government by managing to scare the Brazilian population with the fear of a communist regime taking control of the country. The truth was, however, that no threat existed and the military took advantage of the situation in communist countries such as Soviet Russia to scare many people in Brazil. These years were marked by economic recovery (at first), great censorship of the media and music, and the torture of thousands of innocent civilians.
When the military regime was at its height, the country's national soccer team performed spectacularly, winning the World Cup in 1970. In 1969, under the dictator Medici's rule, the military began to control the popular sport in Brazil in several ways. Politics and soccer had never been so intertwined as they were during this period. During the period before the World Cup in 1970, the national team's coaches and his assistants were part of the military, as established by the government. Furthermore, because of all the protests happening in the country due to dissatisfaction with the government's use of torture and kidnapping, the dictator decided to build thirteen new soccer stadiums, investing massively in the development of the sport. Unfortunately, however, he was investing for all the wrong reasons: to help manipulate the population and divert any attention from his violent and inhumane style of governing. Médici fired the team's current coach, João Saldanha, and replaced him with Mário Zagallo, a coach capable of training a team that would lead Brazil to win the World Cup, but at the same time one that could be controlled by the government if necessary. After Brazil won the tournament, the media, directed by the government, was responsible for connecting Brazilians with a strong sense of patriotism and nationalism. Brazil's ruler even declared a national holiday due to the great victory. Each player in the team received a large sum of money as a gift from the government. In addition, the government tried to promote and spread the song "Pra Frente Brasil", or "Forward Brazil", which became closely associated with the team's victory in the tournament. Even though the song only related to soccer, it helped unite Brazil with a strong sense of nationalism and pride. In addition, the government tried to connect the idea of Brazil "moving forward" on the field with the economic progress the regime was achieving. In that way, people would slowly begin to connect all the pride they were feeling for their soccer team with the actions of the repressive government, hopefully limiting political unrest. Brazil did not end up winning the World Cup in 1974 and 1978, however, and what had come to known as the "economic miracle", actually led to massive inflation and debt. Even so, for a certain period of time part of the Brazilian population was manipulated due to its strong passion for soccer. Due to the corruption scandals the government of Brazil has recently been involved in, some argue the government wanted to host the World Cup in 2014 for the same purpose, again using soccer as a weapon to manipulate the population. |
The song "Pra Frente Brasil", or "Forward Brazil" was an important tactic used by the government to try to manipulate the population and develop a strong sense of patriotism. This sense of nationalism is clear by the song's lyrics: "It seems like the entire country of holding hands / Everyone is united by the same emotion / Everyone shares a single heart! / We all move together / Forward, Brazil!"
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