Just because of 20 cents? For a genealogy of the Brazilian ‘demonstrations cup’

In June 2013, widespread popular unrest unexpectedly shook Brazil whilst the FIFA Football Confederations Cup was taking place. Nicknamed as the ‘demonstrations cup’ by protesters, this was one of the greatest uprisings in the history of the country, with its effects still being felt and discussed nationally and internationally. Despite the general consensus on the more immediate causes that sparked the movement – such as the protests by the Movimento Passe Livre against a 20-cent bus fare hike in São Paulo, heavy-handed police repression and the use of social media – there still lacks a holistic explanation about the historical processes that formed the inflammable scenario that triggered those demonstrations and their rapid dissemination. Using quantitative and qualitative data related to recent urban socio-economic changes and civil society mobilisation trends, the present paper constructs an original genealogy of the June 2013 ‘demonstrations cup’. As a result, it indicates a unique confluence of multiple causal factors, such as the rapid and generalised erosion of real income in the Brazilian metropolises, the degeneration of political representativeness and traditional movements, the emergence of new mobilisation tools and the dissemination of anti-mega-events critical subjectivities – hence providing a comprehensive and empirically informed account.