I was shocked at the importance of a recent news item announcing the ‘kick off’ of demonstrations against the World Cup in Brazil, having undoubtedly the Western press as its source.

Readers were given to understand that the World Cup is not welcome in Brazil. The press should be more preoccupied with the economic failures of neo-liberalism planted by the powers-to-be in the 1990s on both sides of the Atlantic.

According to Agencia Globo, the principal Brazilian news agency, only five per cent of those who participated in the June demonstrations were against the World Cup. And for once, all the sports commentators on the various sports channels – and one can count as many as 10 of them in Brazil – are unanimously backing the selection of players made by Luiz Felipe Scolari.

I have written in this paper that contrary to the impression the Western press tried to give, the demonstrations in Brazil last June had nothing to do with any ‘Arab Spring’ in Latin America.

The new spring in Brazil, which is still going on, and hopefully will go on for more time, occurred in a democratic manner in 2003, heralding in a number of reforms and leaving the Latin American savage capitalism behind.

People like the late Bishop Hélder Pessoa Câmara should be smiling with immense satisfaction from above at what has been happening in Brazil and elsewhere in Latin America since then.

Let it be said clearly and loudly: in order for one to really know what is happening in any country in the world – not only in Brazil – one cannot rely any more solely on what we normally term the Western press. The Western press can feel assured that the kick-off of the World Cup will occur in a peaceful and joyful manner.