ยป Torch Relay
The torch relay starts tomorrow down by the legislature at some undivulged time. Or at least that’s when it officially starts — maybe. Whether it’s already started is unknowable. Somehow the CBC has footage of the relay already in progress, but the kickoff is tomorrow. Who can tell?
Anyway, I’ll head down with the camera to take snaps of the protest — see if I can get something good. Actually, tonight at 4am is probably the key moment: People kinda ruin the Olympics. I’ll see if I can get a picture of something empty. Then again the best light occurs at dawn and dusk, so maybe some snaps at 7:57 would be appropriate (fun fact: we’re losing about 20 minutes of daylight per week at the moment).
Ahh, the protest: The designated free speech zone is Centennial Square, far from the media and surrounded by cops and buildings. There’re no plans to intercept the torch, etc. One of my friends was actually shushed by a fellow protester for making too much noise earlier in the month. “Excessive volume doesn’t help our cause.” Yes, because authority unperturbed totally cares about your opinion.
So what are the anti-Olympics protests about? The slogans I’ve heard involve the Olympics being held on “stolen land” and that the money for the Olympics should instead be given to poor people, and that the Olympics have a negative environmental impact.
Unless the land of the Olympic sites in Vancouver and Whistler was more stolen from the First Nations than usual, then why have the professional protesters singled out the Olympics? Those statements are about equally true of any event. Why don’t they protest everything? Oh wait, they do.
Don
29 Oct 09 at 6:34 pm
I don’t understand anything about the Olympics, including what good people think protesting will do.
British Columbia is more stolen than the rest of Canada because it was the only region that we didn’t sign any treaties for, just straight-up took. That’s the logic there.
There’re lots of arguments that the money would have been better spent elsewhere, but that’s one of those “just because you could have done A instead of B doesn’t mean you should have done A instead of B” fallacies. Still, as I write I’m watching an underground documentary on Vancouver homelessness and I can’t help thinking that the billions could — and should — have been better spent. Not giving it away to the poor, that doesn’t work, but maybe subsidizing renos for the slums near Main and Hastings; give the money to different rich people?
One of the funnier, or more cynical, protests was the posh citizens of West Van who didn’t want the road to Whistler widened through their bougie parklands. They came off as saying, “Hey! We thought the Olympics were only supposed to hurt the poor!”
I have it on reasonable authority from a highly-placed source at a couple of removes that the reason the government is cutting arts funding is so that if Whistler suffers a global warming attack during the Olympics they’ll have enough cash on-hand to rent facilities in Calgary, fly out all the athletes, and house them there to complete the events.
Then there’s the straight-up cash grab aspect of the Olympics: It’s a massive transfer of public funds to private hands, which is fine as long as you’re a business or property owner — you know, all the people who have time to run in elections, volunteer, and vote (Poli Sci 101).
And, yes, on top of that there’re all the propros — professional protesters looking to vent their pet claims. PETA, for example, is going to be a large participant tomorrow. I think they’re one of the big enviro-beefers. I’d like to see some anarchists out too, I support them: Our society is ridiculous.
Hmm, apparently I do know stuff about the Olympics. Osmosis is a beautiful thing. I still don’t know what good protesting does though, aside from a long-shot at international shame.
Jack
29 Oct 09 at 7:08 pm
I haven’t really been following the native protest of the Olympics, but as I understand it’s a bit more complicated than the slogan.
Part of it is protesting the appropriation of their culture. Namely: the Olympics organizers will steal their cultural icons while taking money from the programs helping urban poor (many of whom are native) nor addressing anything deeper than making anime-inspired totem poles their mascot.
It’s also, as far as I understand, ignited some of the conflict within the native community. Mainly, between the traditional-minded members, led by the elders, who disapprove of skiing in general for its heavy environmental impacts and feel the Olympic organizers are trying to buy their silence, and the more ‘western-minded’, led by the band chiefs, who welcome the Olympics as a source of jobs and money.
And yes, as Jack pointed out, BC is more “stolen” than the rest of Canada, as we didn’t even bother pretending to give them something in return.
Kyla
29 Oct 09 at 10:00 pm
I cut this stat for space, but here goes. From that same underground documentary:
2% of Vancouver’s population is native, but they make up 32% of the homeless.
Jack
30 Oct 09 at 12:38 am
I’m glad we can all agree to hate the mascots.
Don
30 Oct 09 at 7:42 am
Those mascots are so fucking weak. That’s not a lay opinion either. I sent them around to the artists at Backbone — people who design characters for a living — and the response was universally negative.
That said, public art is never good, it’s intentionally, blandly pleasant in order to cut down on political blowback. That’s why people tend to say things like “all good art is political”.
Jack
30 Oct 09 at 11:53 am
I hope someone dresses up like a giant poo again to protest us dumping raw sewage in the ocean.
Fred
30 Oct 09 at 10:53 pm