2000 SYDNEY SUMMER OLYMPICS

Note: See also, Case Study of Sydney 2000 in 2010 Indigenous section, also Police Repression Case Study: Sydney 2000 in 2010 Police State section.

“As the Olympics approached, the climate for protest in Sydney became more hostile. In May 2000, sixteen mounted police and dozens of officers on foot dispersed a May Day protest against global corporate power… “
(“International Olympic Resistance,” Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Global Nexus Engaged, p. 206)

“The World Economic Forum (WEF) held its Asia-Pacific Economic Summit at Melbourne’s Crown Casino on September 11-13, 2000. The timing was convenient for its 800 delegates, who were encouraged to attend the Olympic Games in Sydney the next week…
“The WEF event was targeted by the September 11 Alliance (S11), a network of groups & individuals concerned about corporate power and globalization. They organized a blockade of the Casino and daily protest rallies, as well as program of forums & workshops… Many of the groups involved in these actions, ranging from the Green Party to Greenpeace, were also active participants in anti-Olympic organizing in Sydney.”
(Global Nexus Engaged, p. 206)

During the S11 protests in Melbourne, Western Australian premier Richard Court’s car was surrounded and damaged. The next day, police stepped up their response and charged into a crowd of some 200 protesters, resulting in 30 requiring hospital treatment (a small number of police were also injured).
“Events in Melbourne had significant implications for subsequent protest in Sydney. Anti-globalization activists demonstrated the strength of their numbers and the effectiveness of their generally nonviolent protest, which received international media attention for several days… For their part, the Victorian police engaged in a show of force presumably intended to deter similar protests in Sydney during the Olympics, since there was some overlap in the groups and individuals involved in Melbourne and Sydney resistance movement. The S11 Alliance, while not without its internal rifts, had the advantage of a clear, single focus on global justice, a manageable three-day time frame [as compared to anti-Olympic organizing in Sydney].”
(The Best Olympics Ever? p. 205)

Australian police and corporate media used the S11 protests to hype up the possibility of violent anti-Olympic protests, both to justify police repression and to sell newspapers. In addition, there was new legislation severely threatening public assembly & protest, backed up by as many as 35,000 police, soldiers and security guards. Along with ongoing corporate media propaganda, the effects of this police state was to effectively limit the size of protests.

On September 15, the opening day ceremonies of the Olympics, several hundred people participated in anti-Olympics protests in Sydney. This was far less than organizers had anticipated. Although state repression & propaganda were certainly factors, the movements were themselves undermined by government-funded organizations & internal divisions (see Case Study: Sydney 2000 in section on Indigenous Peoples).
On September 17, the Anti-Olympic Alliance organized a protest at one of the Olympic Live Sites to challenge the Olympic Arrangements Act prohibiting handing out leaflets. The AOA distributed sarcastic leaflets highlighting the ridiculousness of the law, as well as the impacts of the Olympics on the poor, homelessness, Indigenous peoples and lands, etc. The action drew a large number of police & security guards, who harassed protesters and threatened them with arrest. On Sept. 22, AOA held another similar protest at another Olympic Live Site. This rally was also heavily policed.
“Some AOA members considered these actions more successful in raising public awareness and gaining media attention than the mass marches, most of which failed to draw large numbers.”
(Inside the Olympic Industry, p. 212)

At the closing ceremony, the Australian band Midnight Oil, longtime supporters of Aboriginal peoples, performed while wearing black shirts with the word ‘Sorry’ in white prominently displayed. This incident caused controversy and was a reported source of embarrassment for the government.

On September 27, members of the Tent Embassy and Walk for Peace marched to the Redfern district, then on to Hyde Park & Town Hall. On the same day, CACTUS and other protest groups assembled at the George Street Nike store. Staff inside quickly closed the store. The protesters then marched down George St. through rush hour to Wespac Bank, a major financier of the Jabiluka uranium mine. Another protest of some 120 gathered in solidarity with anti-IMF and World Bank demonstrations then occurring in Prague. This rally had a large police presence, and minor scuffles between protesters & police occurred.

Analysis of Anti-Olympic Groups in Sydney 2000
“Member groups of Sydney’s Olympic Impact Coalition, formed in Feb. 2000 and later renamed the Anti-Olympic Alliance, succeeded in raising public and media awareness about global as well as local issues through their independent media websites, protest marches, and direct actions.
“One such group, CACTUS (Campaign Against Corporate Tyranny with Unity and Solidarity), based at the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) was formed in early 2000 to organize May Day protests. It subsequently held protests against Olympic sponsors Shell, Nike, McDonalds, and Westpac, as well as the Sydney Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games (SOCOG) and the WEF. Meeting weekly, CACTUS sought to “support a cross-section of people, unions and issues in combating the common foe of corporate power,” as its brochure explained.
“Like CACTUS, most anti-Olympic groups had well-developed analyses of the links between Olympic sport and global capitalism, most notably the complicity of Olympic corporate sponsors in environmental destruction and human rights abuses, and the problem of the widening gap between rich and poor countries… SOCOG’s president, Michael Knight called member-groups of the Olympic Impact coalition “ratbags” when they first announced plans to protest during the Olympics… “
(“International Olympic Resistance,” Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, Global Nexus Engaged, p. 206)

“[T]he groups organizing protests in Sydney had (at least) two distinct agendas that often proved incompatible: first, to use the opportunity provided by the Olympics to draw world attention to the government’s history of oppression of Indigenous people, while not detracting from or criticizing the Olympics… and second, to mount a critique of the Olympic Games in terms of the government’s misguided spending priorities, the unfettered power of multinational corporations… With various protest actions taking place for at least six months before the Games, it was difficult to maintain momentum and energy. Finally, the diverse groups involved in the general Olympic-related protest efforts held markedly different positions, not only in their political analyses, but also in their preferred modes of protest.”
(Inside the Olympic Industry, p. 206)

Sources

Inside the Olympic Industry; Power, Politics and Activism, by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, State University of New York Press, Albany NY 2000

The Global Nexus Engaged, Sixth International Symposium for Olympic Research, 2002

The Best Olympics Ever? Social Impacts of Sydney 2000, by Helen Jefferson Lenskyj, State University of New York Press, Albany NY 2002

ITALY, TURINO 2006 WINTER OLYMPICS

Turino, also spelled Torino, Turin, etc. in Italy, hosted the 2006 Winter Olympics. In the Susa Valley, site of a large rail & road expansion, including construction of a new hi-tech train (all linked to the Olympics), citizens organized a strong resistance. This involved thousands in land occupations, roadblocks, protests, and sabotage. The valley was also the site of massive police deployments, with thousands of riot police used to clear roads and construction sites. During the torch relay just prior to the opening of the Games, anti-Olympic protesters managed to disrupt it and at times take control of the torch.

Road to Turin: Torch Relay Hits Protest
The Associated Press, Sunday Feb. 5, 2006

TURIN, Italy—The Olympic torch relay was surrounded Sunday by the shouts of protesters,
prompting organizers to skip the valley stretch near the town of Susa and instead head straight to the next stop. A police car was kicked by demonstrators, who tried in vain to put out the flame by throwing a protester banner on it, Stefano Coscia, media director for the torch relay, told the Associated Press by phone.
“The police advised us not to go on” with the valley route, but instead head straight toward the stop scheduled for Sunday evening in the town of Bordonecchia, Coscia said. The relay arrived at Bordonecchia in time for a ceremony that was attracting thousands of peaceful people, Coscia said, shouting over the din of music from the festivities.
In Turin, IOC spokeswoman Giselle Davies said the decision to change the relay route was made “primarily due to security reasons.” “It’s always disappointing when a minority uses an issue in this way, but this is a democratic country,” she said. “From an IOC perspective, we don’t feel a minority is spoiling things for the majority. You have to keep this in proportion. The protests have been the smaller bits of the whole.”
For months, residents and environmentalists in Susa have been protesting plans to build a high-speed rail link between Turin and Lyon, France. The activists had said they planned to protest Sunday’s passage of the flame in the valley ahead of the Feb. 10-26 games.
According to media reports earlier Sunday, Coca-Cola and Samsung, two sponsors of the Turin Winter Games, decided that their vehicles would not accompany the Olympic flame through the Susa Valley.
“I feel great bitterness and uncomfortableness for what happened in Susa Valley during the travel of the flame,” Mario Pescante, the Italian government’s supervisor for the games, told the Italian news agency ANSA. “Tomorrow I’ll have to apologize to the IOC.”

The Other Side of the Torino Olympics
By Bob Mackin, Vancouver Courier, Feb. 22, 2006

TORINO, Italy—Stefano Bertone won’t be sad when the Olympic cauldron is snuffed out on Sunday. The Torino lawyer can look out his window on Via Roma and see the medals plaza at Piazza Castello, the center of the Olympic city. That’s where the nightly podium ceremonies and concerts are enjoyed by about 8,000 people behind heavy security.
“It is a public space, owned by the people of Turin, blocked and defined by huge barriers,” said Bertone, co-founder of the Turin Anti-Olympics Committee (TAC). TAC was formed nine years ago when Torino was bidding for the IOC’s nod to host the 2006 Games. Bertone worried about environmental damage and a massive debt for taxpayers to wrestle down over decades. TAC wanted politicians to let citizens decide whether Torino should bid. A referendum never happened and Torino won the IOC’s nod in 1999.
The predicted cost overruns happened. Venue construction was late. Four workers even died on the job. Torino’s Olympic Organizing Committee (TOROC) went back to the government with cap in hand more than once. Bertone argues TOROC is an agency using billions of Euros of public funds with little scrutiny. When the Games are over, there could be a flurry of lawsuits to get to the bottom of it all, he said.
“There is no intention from the promoters and the bidders and organizers to reduce the impact and dimensions of the Games, they want public funds handed them to build and build,” Bertone said. “It has nothing to do with sports and friendship or peace.”
Bertone said he finds it ironic that Finmeccanica SpA-- Italy’s biggest arms maker—is backing the Cultural Olympiad. No one was able to stop the Games, but likeminded protesters managed to block the cross-Italy Olympic torch relay dozens of times, forcing embarrassing route changes.
The Games were forecast in 1998 to cost $616 million US and have ballooned to more than $3 billion US. What the final bill is and how long it’ll take for taxpayers to erase the debt is anyone’s guess. There has been no cost-benefit analysis or audit.
TOROC originally forecast 1.5 million spectators, a figure downgraded last year to 1 million. Organizers are scrambling to reach the 900,000 mark as the Games approach Sunday’s conclusion.
Bertone said the Italian media largely ignored TAC. He thinks Fiat, parent of influential Torino newspaper La Stampa, might have been a reason. The automaker is one of the biggest domestic backers of the Games. So TAC published Il Libro neto delli Olimpiadi di Torino 2006 (The Black Book of the Torino 2006 Olympics) and has managed to attract some local attention. Bertone has forged alliances with anti-Olympics watchdogs in host and bid cities worldwide, including Vancouver’s No Games 2010 Coalition.
For Vancouverites, he has this message: “There is clear indication, clear evidence of negative impacts,” he said. “You are paying (for) with your taxes a monster which you don’t know who it is and who it’s working for.”

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