This isn't a novel idea. This isn't particularly convincing to those who don't want to hear it. This probably isn't very well written. But it must be written, re-written, again and again... The Olympics: Starting point: The Olympic Games, with their overpriced spectacles and boring ceremonies, will be descending on the cities of Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia (Coast Salish Territory) at the end of this week. Fact: Canada has spent multiple BILLIONS of dollars to host the 2010 winter olympics. Fact: A disgustingly large portion of the budget has been spent on security for the games (over 900 million).

 

Bracing for the Beatdown...

-anonymous

 

“Tell me, which spectacular creature has an instinct for self-harm? Answer, the social activist.” -Monsieur Dupont

 

This isn't a novel idea. This isn't particularly convincing to those who don't want to hear it. This probably isn't very well written. But it must be written, re-written, again and again...

The Olympics:

Starting point: The Olympic Games, with their overpriced spectacles and boring ceremonies, will be descending on the cities of Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia (Coast Salish Territory) at the end of this week.

Fact: Canada has spent multiple BILLIONS of dollars to host the 2010 winter olympics.

Fact: A disgustingly large portion of the budget has been spent on security for the games (over 900 million).

Fact: Most of that budget goes towards paying the salaries and expenses of security personnel. By the end of this week, there will be over 5,000 private security guards and tens of thousands of Vancouver Police, Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and Canadian Armed forces members enforcing the 'rule of (olympic) law'. (It is to be one of, if not the, largest 'peace-time' security operation on Canadian soil EVER)

Fact: A significant portion of this 900 million (around 35 million) has been spent on new gear to bolster the armory of those mentioned above...riot shields, pepper spray, tear gas, water cannons, a hypersonic sound system, thousands of security cameras, thousands of meters of security fencing, etc.

Conclusion: There are going to be a whole lot of really well funded, well trained, and well armed police and military all over Vancouver, Whistler, and all points in between.

 

Anti-Olympic Activism:

Starting Point: The Olympics are fucked up displays of nationalism and patriotism that serve to funnel billions of dollars into mega corporations that create and maintain this spectacle on a biennial basis.

Fact: This sucks for a large number of reasons. Accordingly, everyone, from anti-poverty activist to anti-war protesters, anarchists to rightwing government-haters, environmentalists to civil libertarians, is mad about the Olympics in Vancouver...(those that aren't are probably making money off of it).

Fact: Anti-Olympics activist have been organizing for years, drawing on a broad swath of support from local, regional, national, and international groups. The bulk of this organizing has been towards an 'anti-Olympics convergence' (set to start this Friday) called for by the Olympic Resistance Network and supported by a large number of other anti-olympics organizers and autonomous groups.

Fact: This callout seems to have been relatively well received, as out-of-town activists have been pouring into Vancouver recently, and hundreds of locals have taken up the 'call-to-arms' and started organizing, in haste, the logistics and support needed for 'whatever might happen'.

Fact: 'Whatever might happen' has generally been conceived as what has happened many times in the past (APEC, Quebec City, etc), meaning pitched street battles between police and protesters. This is noted in the context of two 'marches' being called for in the first two days of the Olympics: during the opening ceremonies (arguably the most obscene and 'important' event during all of the olympics) and the first day of competition.

Conclusion: There are going to be a large number of diverse activists taking to the streets in an effort to a) show the world why they're mad about the Olympics in Vancouver b) disrupt the beginning of the two weeks of spectacles.

 

….The past few weeks have been full of feverish organizing from both sides: 

-the police have been hurrying to finishing putting up fences and cameras, operating their roadblocks and checkpoints, organizing their riot gear, and preparing themselves for 'crowd control';

-the activist groups have been scrambling to find housing for out-of-towners, get one more group to 'commit to being there', hold a large number of legal observer and street medic trainings, and readying themselves and the communities they come from for the trauma that comes in the aftermath of the all-but-promised beatdown.

 

….Why is all of this happening?

-The intentions and motivations of the security personnel are obvious: to protect the four billion dollar party for the mega corporations because they're getting paid (very well) to do it.

-The intentions and motivations of the activists are as clear as the Vancouver skies. It's pretty obvious why one might choose to be 'against' the olympics; they're a pretty intense show of nationalism propped up by the bastions of capitalist enterprise. But what does it mean to 'show the world' that you're against the olympics? Does the world even care? Will you accomplish your goal by shouting 'fuck the olympics' amidst the tens of thousands of people screaming 'go canada!'? Can you reasonably expect to disrupt an event 7 years and 4 billion dollars in the making by chanting some slogans in the street or smashing up some bank windows? Is the feeling you get from proving to yourself that you 'did something' about the olympics worth the feeling you get from pepper spray in your eyes, tear gas in your throat, a hugh gash in your head the size of a police baton, the feeling of peeing blood for months because of the chemical weapons you were exposed to?

 

Ultimate conclusion:

All of this readily available information was outlined like this to show how supremely idiotic street combat and anti-olympic organizing is going to be. Different people are going to come to different conclusions. It seems that over the past 15 years or so, the 'in' or 'hip' conclusion to a mass gathering of the world's shitbags is to have a mass gathering of resistance. This has, almost without exception, been an utter waste of time, resources, and blood. The knee-jerk reaction that is 'convergence organizing' has to stop, lest we all find ourselves buried under a billion dollars worth of security personnel and equipment.

It is clear that the olympics suck. It is also clear that anyone who tries to 'meaningfully resist' the olympics in the streets is going to end up exhaling tear gas instead of carbon dioxide for the next number of weeks. Why does this keep happening? Why is it so cool to march in the streets and have play battles with the cops? Why the thousands of dollars in legal expenses, months of recovery from injuries, years of post-traumatic triggers and stress? Are the few minuets before the police charge spent chanting “fuck the olympics” really worth it?

The past number of years spent organizing and the number of years of recovery ahead could have been spent living...instead the mass mobilization activist is, once again, separating themselves from the world in order to fill self-assigned role of dissenter.

 

The answer to the olympics being a shit-fest is not to take a billy club to the face...