Taking matters into our own hands

An interesting piece was posted the other day by Daniel Grandesso at the Blog do Maluquinho (in Portuguese), showing how frustrated palmeirenses act and react to different obstacles. A few examples were given and they deserve some attention, as you will discover below.

Tired of the constant bashing in the press – which include the distortion of facts and even the publishing of outright lies in prominent news vehicles – Palmeiras supporters a few years back started to look for (unbiased) info elsewhere. This demand led to the rise of the so called mídia palestrina, a wide selection of independent websites, blogs, online radio stations and even streamed audiovisual content.  The “network” does not only provide news about Palmeiras but also brings supporters together, increases political awareness and internal mobilisation.

The second example relates to another prominent source of frustration: what is perceived as bad management by the club’s directors. When lack of planning and funds to bring that necessary player combines with no luck (or no competence) in articulating sponsors or other partnerships, at times a group of supporters have offered up their private investments (as a loan with low or no interest rate) in order to bring a player in. Imagine that.

A third example brought by Maluquinho concerns the recent legal action taken by a palmeirense (who also happens to be a lawyer) with the aim to shed some light over the absurdly mysterious “draw” – where the result was known and published in advance by an online news provider – to define the referee for the recent Palmeiras vs. Corinthians semi-final game in the Paulistão. No, you’re not dreaming: it’s not Palmeiras questioning the draw or dragging the Paulista Football Federation to court; it’s a common man like me and you, a Palmeiras supporter who just can’t take it anymore and decided to start a crusade on his own.

As of today, we can add a new example. And this one’s got a sad twitch to it. You see, there used to be a hugely popular Palmeiras fan page on facebook, with more than 200.000 members. In particular the last six months, the fan base had been growing exceptionally well and thousands of Palmeiras supporters tuned on a daily basis to read the latest news about Palmeiras, published by a group of seven moderators (including yours truly). So far so good, one would think. But no. Today, without any warning, the page was removed from facebook. Just like that. Gone. On the request of whom? Someone within Palmeiras. Someone who doesn’t give a rat’s ass about the dedication of a few supporters and the appreciation of over 200.000 fans, but simply feels that any large facebook page about Palmeiras should be run by Palmeiras. Well, we’ll see about that. This was just the first round. Stay tuned.