[R-G] Fwd: 10 Reasons to Resist 2010 Olympics

[Anthony Fenton]

Why We Resist the 2010 Winter Olympics
by Zig-Zag

The Olympics are not about the human spirit & have little to do with
athletic excellence; they are a multi-billion dollar industry backed by
powerful elites, real estate, construction, hotel, tourism and  
television
corporations, working hand in hand with their partners in crime:
government officials & members of the International Olympic Committee
(IOC).


10 Reasons to Resist 2010


1.  Colonialism & Fascism

The modern Olympics have a long history of racism, from its early  
founding
members (i.e., Pierre de Coubertin, a French Baron who advocated  
sports as
a means of strengthening colonialism) to recent IOC presidents.  The  
1936
Berlin Olympics empowered Hitler’s Nazi regime.  Both the 1988 Seoul and
2008 Beijing Summer Games helped legitimize authoritarian regimes in  
Asia.
  The 1968 Mexico City Olympics (where over 300 student protesters were
massacred by soldiers, days before the Olympics began) also helped
legitimize state terror.  IOC President Avery Brundage, an infamous US
racist and Nazi sympathizer, didn’t even acknowledge the massacre.  But
when two Black US athletes raised their fists in a Black power salute on
the medal podium, he had them immediately stripped of their medals and
ejected from the Games!  Another well-known fascist IOC president was  
Juan
Antonio Samaranch (IOC president from 1980-2001), a former government
official in Franco’s fascist regime in Spain.


2.  No Olympics on Stolen Land

BC remains largely unceded and non-surrendered Indigenous territories.
According to Canadian law, BC has neither the legal nor moral right to
exist, let alone claim land and govern over Native peoples.  Despite  
this,
and a fraudulent treaty process now underway, the government  
continues to
sell, lease and ‘develop’ Native land for the benefit of corporations,
including mining, logging, oil & gas, and ski resorts.  Meanwhile,
Indigenous peoples suffer the highest rates of poverty, unemployment,
imprisonment, police violence, disease, suicides, etc.


3.  Ecological Destruction

Despite claims to be the “greenest Olympics” ever, and PR statements  
about
‘sustainability’, the 2010 Olympics will be among the most  
environmentally
destructive in history, with tens of thousands of trees cut down &
mountainsides blasted for Olympic venues in the Callaghan Valley (near
Whistler) & the Sea-to-Sky Highway expansion.  In the summer of 2007, a
record number of black bears were hit on the Sea-to-Sky Highway, with at
least 11 dying (attributed to loss of habitat).  Massive amounts of
concrete used in construction have also caused millions of Salmon to die
in the Fraser River, where tons of gravel are being mined to make
concrete.


4.  Homelessness

Since winning the 2010 Winter Games in 2003, Vancouver has lost over 850
units of low-income housing; during the same period, homelessness has
increased from 1,000 to over 2,500.  It is estimated by 2010, the
number of homeless may be as high as 6,000. Since the 1980s, Olympic  
Games
have caused the displacement of over 2 million people (Fair Play for
Housing Rights report, 2007).  In Seoul 1988, some 750,000 poor were
displaced, in Atlanta 1996, over 30,000, and for Beijing in 2008, an
estimated 1.5 million have been displaced.  Yet still today Olympic
officials talk about ‘sustainability’ and ‘Olympic legacies’!


5.  Criminalization of the Poor

To ‘clean out’ the poor and undesirables, Olympic host cities routinely
begin a campaign to criminalize the poor.  In Vancouver, the city has
launched Project Civil City and new by-laws to criminalize begging for
money, sleeping outdoors, etc.  It has also included hundreds of  
thousands
of dollars for increased private security (i.e., the Downtown
Ambassadors).  New garbage canisters on streets make it more  
difficult for
the poor to gather recyclables, and new benches make it impossible to  
lay
down.  These measures fit with government plans to remove poor downtown
residents to mental institutions, “detox centers” on former military
bases, and the ‘fly-back’ scheme by police to return persons wanted on
warrants in other provinces.  This is nothing less than a process of
social cleansing!


6.  Impact on Women

Events such as the Olympics draw hundreds of thousands of spectators and
cause large increases in prostitution and trafficking of women.  In
Vancouver, over 68 women are missing and/or murdered.  Many were Native,
and many were reportedly involved in the sex trade.  In 2007, the
trial of William Pickton occurred for six of these murders, and he is  
to be
tried for an additional 20 more.  In northern BC, over 30 young women,
mostly Native, are missing and/or murdered along Highway 16.  The 2010
Olympics and its invasion of tourists and corporations will only  
increase
this violence against women.


7.  2010 Police State

Some 12,500 police, military and security personnel are to be  
deployed for
2010, including Emergency Response Teams, riot cops, helicopters,  
armoured
vehicles, etc.  The RCMP plan on erecting 40 km of crowd-control fencing
along with CCTV video surveillance cameras.  Special security zones will
be established to control entry near Olympic venues.  For 3 weeks,
Vancouver will be an occupied Police State!  And once the Olympics are
over, there is no guarantee many of these security measures will not
remain (i.e., CCTV). Repression also involves attacks on anti-Olympic
groups & individuals, including arrests of protesters, raids of offices,
surveillance, media smear campaigns, cuts to funding programs, etc., all
in an effort to undermine anti-2010 resistance.  This repression has
already been used against anti-poverty & housing groups,  
environmentalists
and Natives, in Vancouver.


8.  Public Debt

VANOC and government officials claim the 2010 Games will cost some $2
billion.  However, this amount doesn’t include the Sea-to-Sky Highway
expansion, the Canada Line Skytrain to the airport, the Vancouver
Convention Center, or the lower mainland Gateway Project.  Including  
these
costs, since they were necessary to win the bid and had to be  
completed by
2010, makes the true cost of the Games some $6 billion, which must be  
paid
for through public debt, money that could’ve been spent on social
services, housing, drug treatment, healthcare, etc.

9.  Olympic Corruption

The modern Olympics are well known for their corruption, including both
top IOC officials involved in bribery scandals (i.e. Salt Lake City  
2002)
or athletes found to be using performance-enhancing drugs (such as
steroids).  Yet the IOC still claims the youth need an inspiration and a
“model” of good sportsmanship!  Despite published reports of bribery
scandals involving IOC members and host cities (i.e., The New Lords  
of the
Rings, by Andrew Jennings), the Olympics continue to be seen as an
honorable & noble enterprise, thanks to the corporate media.

10.  Corporate Invasion

Government’s and business use the Olympics as a means to attract  
corporate
investment.  In BC, the Liberal government has ‘streamlined’ application
processes, cut taxes, and offered other incentives to increase certain
industries such as mining, oil & gas drilling, and ski resorts.  This
includes large increases in transport systems, including new ports,
bridges, expanded highways & rail-lines.  This is all part of their
Investment to 2010 Strategy.  The results have been dramatic,
record-breaking increases in these industries, resulting in greater
environmental destruction and more corporate power & influence over our
daily lives. Many of the main corporate sponsors of the Olympics
are themselves responsible for massive ecological destruction and human
rights violations, including McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Petro-Canada,
TransCanada, Dow, Teck Cominco, etc., while others are major arms
manufacturers (General Electric & General Motors).

For more Info:  www.No2010.com