Olympics disruption masss
 

I live in Vancouver, BC and the Olympics are coming here in 2010...bad news. The Olympics bring with it many negative social, economic, and environmental repercussions.

I'd like to plan at least one mass that will disrupt the Olympic games. I'm thinking either something that will block the roads for a highly anticipated event or for the opening ceremonies.

The only problem is cops. Lots and lots of cops will probably be there. I hear in SF crit masses, the cops threaten to arrest the first 25 people to cross their line when the CM tries to take Golden Gate Bridge. That's only one issue. What about police violence and illegal seizure of bicycles?

So I guess I'm just asking for advice and insight on how to plan a successful disruption mass(es) for the dreaded Olympics.

I'm just curious, what are the negative repercussions?

But yeah, if you try to disrupt any ceremonies, expect to get arrested. I'd imagine that people stand to make alot of money off of the olympics, and wouldn't put up with some dirty bicyclists messing it up. I guess you could just scatter and regroup somewhere else, but expect the worst from the cops.

How about self-immolation? I recommend a couple practice sessions first.

Something like NOT broadcasting your intent on teh interwebs would be a good start.
As well your reasons(mission) needs to be worded so you can explain why your disrupting the Games in a single sentence/sound bite/tee shirt. Getting your message across quickly will be key as you will only have a couple seconds before they close the doors on the van that will cart you away for the duration of the Games.

Ummm... don't break the law, and if you do, keep bikes out of it.

You'd kill a lot of work a lot of people have done over a lot of years to get bikes accepted as a socially acceptable and are a good thing for everybody (even if they don't ride them) by the general public by associating bikes with rabble rousing law breakers.

People who don't like bikes on the road will point to something like that and link bicycles with hoodlums and give all those who ride bikes a hard time because of it and tell others it's people like that who ride bicycles.

You're asking on a bicycle advocacy forum and this could be the worst thing you can do for bicycle advocacy in Vancouver.

(Campbell and his gang love it when these disruption events happen. They show the general public just how ridiculous people who oppose his policies are. They make him look good and ensure his power will continue)

^^+1^^
Leave your bike at home, and storm the gates...if you must. Personally I'd rather leave the politics and protests out of The Games. Many of those athletes have trained long and hard for many many years to get there and it could all be disrupted by whatever. Leaves a black eye on the host as well. What is it you want to protest anyway?

... that's just it. It's just a disruption. It's not going to change any thing. Everybody knows there are those opposed to the games and that money should be spent elsewhere so what does this accomplish?

If you want to do something, get in before the event is accepted, get involved in the debate of acceptance, and if the outcome isn't what you want, at least you had the chance to get what you wanted, you can learn what you did wrong that led to the defeat and move on to the next thing to do it better next time.

All it is, is a big waste of time and limits the ability to make a change the next time because everyone will associate the opposition with the behavior of the people who oppose and disrupt and how they made thing lousy for all those people who are trying to do good and have nothing to do with the argument of acceptance of the games.

What negative repercussions? Other than the temporary crowds, which aren't really an issue because of the benefits they bring.

Is this going to be a legitimate protest, or is it going to be just another "Look at ME!! I'M cool because I'M protesting something!!" thing?

more like, "look at me, I'm an idiot and don't even know it" post

I'd say take your Hummer and drive erratically and irresponsibly and then the public will start to despise Hummer drivers even more.

I wonder: How many of you think it would be a good idea to permanently relocate the Olympics to Greece? Summer olympics in the souther part of the country; winter olympics in the mountains (up with the gods?) Would the climate and snow co-operate? What a great tribute it would be, to a nation that has done so much for world culture, literature, and war (against troy, anyway! :) ).

Not that I really mind the olympics moving from place to place, either. But think of the money that would be saved from having infrastructure built and in place for good.

The money saved could go to the athletes to buy steroids! ;)

roughstuff

And CMers say their intention is not to disrupt traffic. :lol:

They do and, they do!

I'd say it's a bad idea. Don't do it.
The Olympics does a lot of good by getting bicycle races on television.

Why don't you train on your bike, and hopefully maybe someday YOU could be in an Olympic track event on television?

No, we don't need anything to give bicycling a bad name, or a bad image.

I'm not looking to rabble-rouse. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the athletes who participate. I don't oppose the idea of the Olympics. However, do understand that the Olympics do bring negative consequences that almost no one is aware of. They're simply unsustainable environmentally and irresponsible socially. These are issues I was expecting at least a good deal of cyclists to be concerned about. Anyways, I'm just exploring ways of raising awareness, I recognise that there is no easy way out.

Insofar as the negative repercussions of the of the Olympics, I'll just paraphrase them briefly. Basically, the Olympics in Vancouver involve several things. I'll try to be concise.

First of all, economically, they're a disaster. The city government hasn't "had enough money" for years to spend on necessary projects like our roads, our homelessness situation, public programs, etc. Now all of a sudden, the government is going over budget and raising taxes to finance the Olympics and they still keep on increasing the budget and making cuts in other areas(including areas they promised not to cut spending on as a condition of the Olympics coming). And though I can't be absolutely sure about this, I have heard from certain sources that the business the Olympics bring is often not enough to make up for the expenses incurred.

Secondly, many old growth forests are being paved over to create roads up to Whister(where skiing and snowboarding events will be held). These are being constructed with little regard for the wildlife as well as the local communities. Furthermore, the sheer amount of resources necessary for the Olympics is simply extravagant.

Third, Vancouver's downtown eastside(the poorest neighborhood in N America) as well as the rest of the city in general is becoming increasingly gentrified and low income housing is being replaced with more expensive housing. The residents of the area are being pretty much evicted(illegally in some cases) and it looks like the homeless(of which there are many) are being kicked out of Vancouver. Do Vancouver residents really need an increase in housing prices when the cost of living is so high already?

In general, the current way the Olympics are being held is unsustainable and irresponsible. Preparation is essentially a drastic change in city format and a flurry of construction and development specifically to allow for a 2 week party. Sound shortsighted to anyone?

Anyways, after that long winded rant, I'd just like to say I'm not here to start an argument over the Olympics or whatnot. I just had an idea that would have involved two aspects of my life I'm politically involved in.

Having said that, I was not planning on breaking any laws during this planned event(why give police another excuse to arrest people?).

Closetbiker: I do understand the Olympics are coming and there's nothing to prevent this. Does this necessarily mean no action should be taken? Perhaps it would be more "productive" to leave bikes out of this but I also feel that there would be a lot of support within the cycling community.

PS Don't believe me about the negative consequences? Look at Salt Lake City, Atlanta, Beijing(the worst by far). People in those cities are still paying for the Games(well, not in Beijing), both with their money and in their everyday lives.

Protesting after it (the 2010 oly with all that damage) is done seems pointless.

Maybe instead you should CM on those dirt roads being converted to paved in the mountains. Block those bulldozers.

Al

If you have time, check out the movie "Five Ring Circus". Yes, it is a propaganda film. However, it also does raise legitimate points. Watch it, take it with a grain of salt, and formulate your own educated opinion before calling me an idiot.

Take your beef up with the politicians of Vancouver. You do know they ask to host the Olympics, right. They're not forced to. Bringing the bike community into it is a pretty bad idea. Good luck.

Just for reference, a quick rundown of the opposition to the 2010 Games as outlined by Wikipedia.

Opposition to the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver[22] has been expressed by hundreds of activists and politicians, including Lower Mainland Mayors Derek Corrigan and Richard Walton. Many of the public Olympic events held to date in Vancouver have been attended by protesters, and the attendance of protesters outnumbered supporters at the Flag Lighting Ceremony.[23] Non-violent environmental protests at Eagleridge Bluffs in West Vancouver resulted in the arrest of over 20 people and jail time for two local women, Betty Krawczyk and Harriet Nahanee.[24] Protesters have also vandalized branches of the Royal Bank of Canada, an Olympic sponsor, in Ottawa, Vancouver and Victoria.[25]
There are several reasons for the opposition, which are reflected in the documentary film Five Ring Circus.[26] These issues include:

• Large expense to taxpayers (estimated at CAN$1.63 billion[27])
• Destruction of the natural environment (such as Eagleridge Bluffs[28])
• Loss of affordable housing . The Anti-Poverty Committee has promised that they would target VANOC officials in their homes and businesses,[29] and on 22 May 2007, "evicted" the British Columbia Cabinet and VANOC officials by trashing their offices in downtown Vancouver.[30]

The time to protest the Games coming to town is long gone. Hastings HAS got to go....Canada's dredge has been collecting there for ages, something HAS to be done. I'm all for saving those forests. Build the highway up, over the coast? Whistler is such a weird venue, with Van having the main hub of venues. One good snow and it can be cut off.

Too little, too late. The time to protest was before the site was selected, while there were still other sites to choose from. It's a done deal this late in the game.

The only thing protesting from here on out will do is cast the protesters as societal misfits, and likely get them arrested. At least detained until the games are over.

Some experience from the '96 Atlanta Olympics-the police beat, spray, kick and then arrest. Then after the Olypmic park bombing, they got really tough. If you looked wierd, you got hauled away. For a couple of years before the Olympics the police roughed up and encouraged troublemakers to leave. None of this went on the books, because they wanted the crime numbers to look lower.
You can expect to be beaten, charges with false charges, and your bikes are toast.

I think the experiences NYC Critical Mass have had with protest should be instructive. Before the Republican Convention, relations with the cops were friendly. After the Republican Convention protests, which Critical Mass took part in, the police have had a running low-intensity war with Critical Mass, and by extension, other bikers throughout the city.

Why not practice at the Beijing Olympics? I'm sure you would learn a lot.

Paul