I’ve never been to Cuba but all of those that have come back saying the same thing. You should go soon, before it is too late. By this the mean that either the wonderful and decaying colonial architecture will go soon; either regeneration will take place or the collapse will become critical. Or, they mean go now because after Fidel nothing will be the same again — and you can read that however you want.
I feel something of the same way about Rio. Rio is a city of the near future. In 2014 Brazil hosts the World Cup and in 2018 Rio is home to the Olympics. International sporting events like this means a lot to politicians. For Sydney the Olympics represented a national coming of age, a celebration of a country that can stand with the best of the world and move forward with pride. Beijing was about making the world stand up and take notice; you can’t ignore the rise of China. London’s Olympic bid is couched in the language of regeneration but the bid was conceived during Blair’s era of cool Britannica. Britain’s bid was meant to symbolise a new confidence and reflect a renaissance in the UK’s cultural life and creative economy.
Brazil is a country that is truly coming of age. It is a republic that is heading on now towards two hundred years of independence. The global politics of recent years has seen Brazil become a national that simply cannot be ignored. It has been admitted as a permanent member of the ‘G’ group of nations and, arguably, should be admitted as a permanent member of the UN Security Council. It is a power that is increasingly confident and which follows its own path. In the UN Brazil follows no particular camp or line, confidently developing its policies and alliances to support both its own national interest and the needs and concerns of the developing world.
Over the next couple of years we are likely to hear a lot more about Rio and Brazil in general. As the World Cup approaches I predict that the colour supplements will be full of pieces about the place. While Rio is a centre of tourism much of this at the moment seems to be Brazilian. I’ve no doubt this will change and so I thought I’d write a series of small pieces on the place; these might help people plan their visit. I’m in no way an expert on Brazil and have only visited a couple of times. However, my visits do tend to fit into the kind of two week time frame that many have for their holidays and many trips to Brazil are likely to include a few days in Rio.
Both FIFA and the International Olympic Committee are quite slick at selecting their venues. In selecting Brazil these august bodies (more powerful and wealthy than many nation states) are making it clear how they see the world going!
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