]Socialistisk
Information nr. 188 •
August 20
04 - [in dannish ]
It
is very common for Olympic Games to be presented as a global "celebration
of humanity and peace" which promotes co-operation between nations and
people beyond the lines of politics, classes and nations. This claim has nothing
to do with the reality. The notorious "Olympic ideals" is a myth. Even
in the antiquity, Olympic Games reflected the conflicts between the sate-towns
of ancient Greece and they were full of the bad symptoms of the modern
civilization: scandals, briberies, violence, discriminations etc. Ancient
Olympic Games took place in the frame of slavery and women-excluded societies
and these were their main features.
Even
worse the establishment of the modern Olympic Games by Baron Pierre de Coubertin
was a direct attempt to promote the racist ideology. On the contrary of their
declarations, the Games promote competition, nationalism, male domination,
spectatorship, gigantism etc. It is said that politics and sports should not be
mixed, but Olympics is political from their beginning. It has always been used
as a means of political pressure, cultivation of hostilities and restrictions of
civil rights and the historical examples are many.
Today,
Olympic Games consist of a major commercial event. They have been totally
integrated into the strategies and the plans of the multinational corporations
and big international institutions. They are run by International Olympic
Committee (IOC), an international organisation without any democratic
legalisation, a private club that recycles itself bringing important profits to
its members.
Sports
industry produces a new type of athletes that is based on the intense use of
anabolic drugs. Doping has been an overall phenomenon, causing serious problems
in the health of athletes and in the reliability of the Games.
All
these are not merely some negative aspects of the Games. Our critique should be
radical, extended to the very essence and structure of this institution. Sports
seem to be neutral, but actually they reflect the social and human relations in
a given historical era. Our opposition to Olympics is also a position for a new
type of sports; more human, collective and tolerant.
Next
Olympic Games will be held in Athens in a few days. Greece is the smallest
country that has ever been charged to organize Olympic Games and actually the
infrastructure was not appropriate for such a big event. Thus, last years we
witnessed a huge constructing project of new stadiums, hotels, and commercial
centres.
Initially
the return of Olympic Games to their birthplace was presented as a victory of
the Olympic spirit against commercialization. Very rapidly this speculation was
proven false. Athens makes no difference at all. All the big multinational
corporations like McDonald, Coca-Cola, Samsung e.t.c. are the main donators of
the Games and their intense presence through advertisement remind to us the real
objectives of Olympics.
A
few days before the beginning of the Games there is a strong criticism about
their consequences in a number of fields and levels. Prominent ministers of the
Greek government (as the ones of Finance and Public Works) have publicly
expressed their doubts whether Olympic Games will have a positive balance sheet.
The
Olympic Games in Athens have already beaten the first record in the number of
dead workers in the work camps. More than twenty (20) people have died in the
"Olympic works" due to the lack of any security measures and the
high-pressure. The real figure is even higher if we take into account the deaths
in some public works that are linked with Olympic Games (ie. roads, railways
etc.).
Labor
conditions have worsened in the name of the ""national aim".
Thousands of workers in public and private sector will work overtime without
being sure that they will be paid more for the extra hours. Mrs
Aggelopoulos-Daskalaki, head of Athens 2004, described this situation stating:
"Olympic Games will develop a new model of labor, more flexible and
intensive".
Immigrants
are the main victims of this politics. They have been used as a cheap
"labor force" without any social security and after the end of the
Games nobody can guarantee their stay in the country.
One
characteristic example of the new concept about labor conditions is the bi-state
agreements concerning the "import" of workers. These people work in
the "Olympic projects" with severe restrictions of their civil rights,
ie. they don't have the right to leave the area and they are isolated from any
social life! It seems unbelievable but a new form of slavery is alive for the
needs of this "celebration of humanity". Several international
neoliberal think-tanks present this practice as a model which should be extended
and Athens is the testing example.
In
general, the initial budget of the Olympic Games was about 2 billion euros and
now the cost has overcome 10 billion euros. All this money has been accounted to
the big constructing, consulting and arms companies. All these sports facilities
and supportive buildings will have no value and interest for the vast majority
of the population after the end of the Games. Billions of euros have been wasted
for a few dozens of companies.
The
critical question is about the post-Olympics period and what the response of the
workers movement would be. The debt from the Olympic Games will mean cuts to
social and welfare budgets, increase of taxes and intensification of the
neoliberal policy exercised by the government. It is estimated that after
Olympic Games there will be about 100.000 new unemployed people. Immigrants and
social rights will be at stake too.
Although
Olympic Games claim to bring peace and tolerance, we have seen a hard
competition between war industries, security companies, intelligence agencies
(like CIA, Mosand e.tc.) gaining more profit selling modern systems of security
and weapons. Simultaneously, NATO forces will play an advanced role in the
security of the Games. The Greek government, instead of the open and friendly
city model, chose to join the global "anti-terrorist" hysteria making
Athens a modern fortress.
During
the Games, the citizens of Athens will suffer very important restrictions of
their rights. Political manifestations and free circulation will be forbidden
around the Sport Campuses and in the center of the city. They will be watched
daily by 1250 (!) cameras, recording even their conversations. For the first
time after the collapse of dictatorship in 1974, military personnel will be
present to secure public order. All these "special laws" in the name
of Olympic Security create a very dangerous background for the democratic and
civil rights.
Furthermore,
Olympic Games will have negative effects in the environment of the city. Athens
is full of concrete. There are only 2.5 m2 of green spaces per citizen. This
number has been reduced since free spaces have been used for the construction of
Olympic buildings and sport campuses.
The
political importance of the Olympic Games is crucial because the consequences
are applied to almost every level of social life. At the beginning, Olympic
Games gained the acceptance of the vast majority of the society. Later on, an
increasing number of people became more skeptical towards them, as they saw the
huge waste of money on useless works and the exhibitionism of the Olympic
bureaucracy. But the organized opposition to the Olympic Games remains limited;
mainly among the organizations and individuals of the radical left and
antiauthoritarian movement. The parties of parliamentary Left as well as the big
Federations of the Trade Unions keep silence except for some exaggerated aspects
of the Games.
Under
these circumstances the anti-olympics movement organized some demonstrations and
happenings without any great massive response but with very important political
messages. We hope that the resistance to the consequences after the end of
Olympic Games will be more massive and will include social forces like the trade
unions.
Finally,
an important issue is the "internationalization" of the anti-olympics
movement as part of the radicalized movement against capitalist globalization.
In the last European Social Forum in Paris, anti-Olympics groups from several
countries met each other establishing links and channels of communication. The
discussions and the debates will continue in the next European Social Forum in
London . Fortunately, new radical and anticapitalist views on sports industry
and the model of athletics have emerged.
For the readers who want to learn more, they can visit the website of the campaign Anti2004 (www.anti2004.net) which is the unitary co-ordination front for actions against the consequences of Olympic Games in Greece.
Socialistisk
Information nr. 188
•
August 20
04
* Dimitris Chilaris is member of OKDE Spartakos (Greek section of the Fourth International) and the "Campaign Anti2004" [^^]