Sportswriter and analyst Dave Zirin returns to the Bay Area for two special evenings – one in Oakland, one in San Francisco. He’ll be talking World Cup, the Olympics and popular dissent in Brazil.

Join the CPE, SoleSpace and LeftRoots to celebrate Dave’s return from the opening of futbol’s most storied tournament and the release of his newest book “Brazil’s Dance with the Devil: the World Cup, the Olympics and the Fight for Democracy.”

Two nights:
Tuesday June 24, 7:00 pm
The Eric Quezada Center for Culture and Politics
518 Valencia St. (at 16th) San Francisco
– Hosted by Rose Aguilar of KALW’s “Your Call”

Wednesday June 25, 7:00 pm
Solespace – 1714 Telegraph Ave. Oakland
– Hosted by Harjit Singh Gill of the Picked Last Sports Blog

Additional Co-Sponsors:
– Futbolistas 4 Life, Athletes United for Peace

As the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games approach, ordinary Brazilians are holding the country’s biggest protest marches in decades. Sports journalist Dave Zirin traveled to Brazil to find out why. In a rollicking read that travels from the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the fabled Maracanã Stadium to Zirin examines how athletic mega-events turn into neoliberal Trojan horses.

About the Author:
DAVE ZIRIN is the sports editor for the Nation and the author of Game Over: How Politics Has Turned the Sports World Upside Down. Named one of UTNE Reader’s “Fifty Visionaries Who Are Changing Our World,” Zirin is a frequent guest on MSNBC, ESPN, and Democracy Now! He also hosts the weekly Sirius XM show Edge of Sports Radio and has been called “the best sportswriter in the United States,” by Robert Lipsyte.

Praise for Dave Zirin:
“People think speaking truth to power is easy, but if it was easy everyone would do it. This book does it… It speaks truth to the powers that be, from Brazil to the US to FIFA to the IOC. It hits you like an uppercut that rattles your brain and sets it straight. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.”
John Carlos, 1968 Olympic medalist