· December, 2011

Stories about Sport from December, 2011

Brazil: Titan Kids and Surfing as Hope

  22 December 2011

‘Titan Kids’ is a documentary about the kids of Titanzinho, a slum in the city of Fortaleza, Brazil. Birthplace of professional surfers, surfing is perceived as hope in face of “drugs, prostitution, and extreme violence”. Directors Lee-Ann Curren and André Silva (himself a surfer and former resident) released a teaser...

Kobe, Japan: Running Through a City Once Devastated

  18 December 2011

Kobe City was hit with a 7.3-magnitude earthquake on January 17, 1995. On November 20, 2011, the city held their first ever official marathon event, where more than 20,000 runners completed the 42.195km distance. Among them were 641 runners who came from the Tohoku region, which had been devastated by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake this March.

Brazil: Monitoring Human Rights During the World Cup and the Olympics

  15 December 2011

The People's Gateway for the World Cup and the Olympics [pt] has been launched to monitor forced evictions, government misconducts and violations of human rights due to the major urban changes planned for the mega-events of 2014 and 2016. The website was created by a national coalition of committees advocating...

Brazil: The Death of Socrates, A Brazilian Idol

  8 December 2011

Sócrates, one of the greatest Brazilian soccer players, died at the age of 57 on December 4, 2011, a result of septic shock caused by excessive consumption of alcohol over the years. The blogosphere pays a last tribute to this soccer idol whose rare "critical thinking" made him a political leader in and out of the field.