Let the Games Begin

As many know, and probably few care, today is the opening ceremony of the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games. I became involved with the anti-Olympic movement about 3 years ago while a resident of BC. I was around when 71 year old indigenous/aboriginal activist Harriet Nahanee was imprisoned for contempt of court related to her part in a protest. She was sent to jail where she developed pneumonia and passed away. I was around when the Native Warrior Society stole the Olympic flag from City Hall in response to Nahanee's death and when late at night local police broke into the community housing/anti-poverty organization I volunteered at and searched the basement for where they thought the flag was hidden. I was around when the same organization lost city funding for their program to Chinese Seniors as retaliation for political affiliations amongst organization workers. I was also around while SRO after SRO was sold off to developers and real estate speculators leaving low-income, vulnerable residents displaced and many illegally evicted. So today I sit around wishing I was in Vancouver to join the 2010 Convergence (the name given to the mobilization of protesters) but I could not afford the cost of getting there so instead I am staying at my parents house, jobless, and exhibiting the early symptoms of a cold. So I have decided to be a part of the movement in my own way by educating those around me starting with this caffeine-induced blog post.

Already I have heard reports of protesters disrupting the last leg of the torch run as well as getting in the way of the Governator's route. To that I give a booyah with hopes that these disruptions and protests will cause for future cities to avoid opening their arms to the games and all the heavy baggage it brings and unpacks in the cities it visits.

Let us go over some of the facts. The Olympics are not about sports, they are initiated by developers and not athletes, in Vancouver's case real estate baron Jack Poole. Cities do not benefit by the games, never have, never will and there are studies and statistic to show this. As I have already mentioned, on a local level the 2010 Games have displaced and made many individuals homeless through the loss of affordable housing mostly within Vancouver's Downtown Eastside (formerly Skid Row). Where in the past owners of low income hotels and SROs would do anything to keep their buildings open and vacancy low the years leading up to the games saw owners not complying with city codes in order to be shut down and having to evict tenants; a vacant building is easier to sell. Vancouver's Downtown Eastside is prime real estate given its close proximity to the Olympic village and its historical, ornate buildings. The 2010 Games Inner-City Inclusive Commitment Statement (http://www.vancouver2010.com/dl/00/12/30/commitmentstatement-en_56d-Zr.pdf), that was approved and signed by all three levels of Canadian government, falsely claimed that Vancouver would “protect rental housing stock...ensure people are not made homeless as a result of the Winter Games...Ensure residents are not involuntarily displaced, evicted or face unreasonable increases in rent due to the Winter Games...(and) Provide an affordable housing legacy and start planning now.” These commitments have been ignored and are contrary to reality. Thanks to anti-poverty groups protesting and petitioning the local government for bylaws making it harder to convert buildings to condos some housing was able to be saved.

Besides the poor being displaced they have also been harassed by former Mayor Sullivan's Project Civil City initiative. Disguised as a way to combat homelessness and crime it really does nothing to house people but is just a way to clean up the city for the Olympics using a law enforcement approach to poverty issues as opposed to a human service approach. Through this initiative poor people are criminalized and ticketed for things that are part of their survival such as pan-handling and sleeping in parks.

Those who have ever been to Vancouver or seen pictures will see that it exists in a beautiful, picturesque setting surrounded by water, mountains, trees, islands, etc... License plates boast “Beautiful British Columbia” and that is no lie. Vancouver Olympics have also boasted to be a “green” games, which is laughable at the least. Many sensitive ecosystems have been destroyed and developed on such highway construction over Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver and farther north the development of the Nordic Ski Center in Callaghan Valley. Not to mention this development was done despite much opposition, with a strong voice coming from the indigenous populations that have been existing in these areas for a long time. The land in British Columbia was never officially ceded over to Canadian government which is why you will hear people state “no Olympics on stolen native land.” It is a sad waste of resources and nature to build huge Olympic centers and unnecessary highways for a two week event at the convenience and enjoyment of non-residents and to the detriment of people who call these lands home.

Not only does the Olympics affect the poor, the land, and First Nations people but it affects every tax paying British Columbian. My research has not brought me exact or current statistics but if I remember correctly a source from three years ago conservatively estimated the costs at well over $500 dollars per BC resident, a number which by now is way higher. In sync with every other Olympics the spending has been well over budget and now they are even spending money to transport snow to the warm, rain-drenched city from the Canadian Rockies which I am sure is not a cheap date. The Olympic hot-shots have stolen huge amounts of public money while still requiring residents to pay to attend the Games. Hopefully it will not be a repeat of the 1976 Montreal games that took over 20 years for taxpayers to pay off. Developers initiate Olympic games as a way of making money off tax dollars. Even before Vancouver was selected as the 2010 host city thousands of public funds were used for the local bid committees and the bid process. The amount of public money used for a two week party that does nothing to boost the local economy after the games (even if money is made there is no profit when accounting for the debt) but just makes a few rich people richer could be used for so much more. For example it could be used to fulfill the former Vancouver mayor's promise to build affordable housing. It could be used to focus on residents of a city that has been said to contain the poorest zip code in Canada.

Civil liberties are currently under attack during the Olympics. Vancouver residents with anti-Olympic posters in their windows can be fined up to $10,000 a day and even jail time. The law also allows authorities to enter a person's home with short notice to obtain such anti-Olympic signs. Journalists covering anti-Olympic news have also been detained, questioned, and in one such recent case denied access to enter the country.

Such Olympic corruption is nothing new or simply characteristic of Vancouver. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has a terrible history of ignoring and promoting corruption. IOC Presidents have included Nazi supporter Avery Brundage as well a fascist, Franco sympathizer Juan Antonio Samaranch. During Berlin's 1936 Games hundreds of swastikas were on display alongside the Olympic rings. Almost 500 student protesters were massacred by the Mexican government in the days before the 1986 Mexico City games, but of course this was ignored by the IOC. The 1986 games also saw the suspension of Tommie Smith and John Carlos from the US Team for raising black power fists from the podium. The IOC also ignored the South African apartheid and the fact that they had an all white Olympic team despite the country being predominately black. More current is the Bejing Olympics that ignored the human rights record of China, as well as the bribery scandal of Salt Lake City.

Basically the Olympics are not about sports and not initiated by athletes, sports are just the product being sold. It is not just a few scandals and bad apples mixed into a good thing but the institution of the Olympics itself is crooked. The IOC is simply a corrupt organization of rich individuals that pretend to promote international brotherhood in the same way Coca Cola pretends to be health conscious with their Olympic cans stating “Proud sponsor of an Active Lifestyle.” The Olympics should be abolished and athletes should create their own organized Games. Vancouver does not deserve its resources used up for a two week event that does not benefit the local community.