Benjamin Bradlow '08 Reports on
World Cup's Real Winners and Losers

by Alisa Giardinelli
7/01/10

Benjamin Bradlow '08 (left) with members of the Sierra Leone Federation of the Urban and Rural Poor and the Ghana Federation of the Urban Poor.

Benjamin Bradlow '08 reports on how the urban poor are faring in South Africa during the World Cup tournament. In a column for Shack Dwellers International (SDI), he says:

"So while there are plenty of both winners and losers on the field during this World Cup tournament, the poor are only ending up on one side of the divide. They have not benefited economically from the World Cup and few are able to afford to attend the games. Exclusion, illegality, and State-sponsored violence and dispossession, are still the hallmarks of urban poverty in South Africa."

Bradlow now lives in Johannesburg and works for SDI, an alliance of community-based slum dweller federations in 33 countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. At Swarthmore, Bradlow graduated with high honors in history and served as editor-in-chief of The Phoenix.