Anti-Olympic activism ramps up
By Stephanie Levitz, Canadian Press
Published: Saturday, May 26, 2007
Stolen flags, pending lawsuits, threats of violence, the symbolic eviction of Olympics organizers from their offices.
Though another day, another protest, has long been the mantra on Canada's left coast, opposition to the 2010 Winter Olympics is moving activism in Vancouver beyond the blissed-out sit-ins that have characterized it in the past.
Letter-writing just doesn't cut it for the people the Olympics is hurting, says David Cunningham of Vancouver's Anti-Poverty Committee, a group representing and agitating for Vancouver's poor.
"It doesn't work for poor people because we can't afford to lobby, we don't have anything to put forth, we can't barter anything," Cunningham said in an interview.
"We believe that power respects power and the only power that poor people have right now, in this context, is our ability to disrupt the politics of the elite."
Cunningham's committee has gained notoriety in recent months for intense, vocal protests at city council meetings and the launch of the Olympic countdown clock and for occupying single-resident-occupancy hotels slated for destruction or eviction on the Downtown East side.
But its biggest anti- Olympic action has just begun - the targeting of each member of the Vancouver Olympic organizing committee with the aim of evicting them from their homes and offices in retaliation for what the APEC is calling the eviction of the city's poor by the Olympics.
On Tuesday, the group trashed the premier's office in downtown Vancouver, where Ken Dobell, a member of the Olympic organizing committee also sits, although the three protesters didn't get to his office.
The militancy of the protests is born of desperation and the urgent need for something to be done for Vancouver's homeless and poor, Cunningham said.
"We're not really concerned about being a popular organization," he said. "We're not politicians, we're not out to get more funding. We just do what needs to be done."
The level of vitriol being spewed in VANOC's direction is out of sync with its ability to make any changes in the socioeconomic realities of Vancouver, said Frank King, chairman and CEO of the 1988 Calgary Olympics' organizing committee.
During those Games, the major protest voice came from the environmental movement concerned that Olympic development would ruin swaths of pristine alpine territory, King said - an issue that was directly linked to the approaching Olympics.
"Did somebody ever represent that the main advantage of (the Vancouver games) is that we get to build public houses?" King said.
"It's an unrelated thing. How about better automobiles that don't spew CO2 so much? Should VANOC be paying for that too? You can go down a ridiculous road of things that it would be nice to have."
Games organizers feel much the same. During a news conference after the Anti-Poverty Committee had levied its threats of eviction, board chairman Jack Poole said protesters weren't targeting the right people with their cries for change.
"Frankly, their quarrel is with someone else, it's not with us," he said. "I guess we are seen as a convenient target to get at others but it can't be a quarrel with us. We are here to put on the Games."
King said activists instead should be holding all levels of government to account on how they'll be spending the millions of dollars the Olympics will generate for Vancouver and British Columbia, pointing out that tax revenues from the Games flow directly to government coffers and could be spent on the very things protesters are after.
Protesters don't agree.
Chris Shaw of 2010 Olympic Games Watch says VANOC is precisely the group that needs to be lobbied as it controls and decides on planning and development required for the Games.
"They keep putting out these really pathetic business plans, they are not open, they are not accountable and they are spending money like drunken sailors," Shaw said.
His group also plans to step up its anti-Olympic activity.
Plans for lawsuits and civil actions are underway to make hosting the Games as difficult in Vancouver as possible and to show other cities the dangers of bringing the Games home, Shaw said.
`I don't know what will work, but I do know what has been done so far hasn't worked," he said. "For groups to try other things, we're not talking about killing people here, but for using other civil disobedience methods, that may be very much on the table and what can and should happen."
But another watch group, the Impact of the Olympics on Community Coalition, feels the focus should be on maximizing the benefits of the Games and mitigating their negative impact.
"We're not completely opposed to the Games and we're not completely in favour," said ICC's Rob VanWynsberghe.
"We feel like this is a catalyst or a lever that could be used for positive change in the region."
But VanWynsberghe says there are some areas of concern too.
"We are concerned about housing because we recognize that there's going to be a massive need, in terms of the environment we don't know what's going on. What are we trying to do in terms of alternative energy, in terms of zero waste and we are worried about civil liberties because we see there are some signs out there that civil liberties will not be respected much."
Both the Vancouver police and the RCMP, which share policing duties for the Olympics because of the venues in different jurisdictions, are quick to point out that they support the idea of peaceful protest.
But Vancouver police spokesman Howard Chow says the Anti-Poverty Committee represent an escalation of violence not in line with activism in Vancouver.
"Protesters don't show up at demonstrations with bandannas and masks around their face. Protesters don't show up at demonstrations brandishing rocks or glass bottles filled with paint or urine. Protesters don't damage property, don't assault people and that's what we've been seeing the last number of events," Chow said.
"It's a huge concern for us."
The Olympics present a unique challenge to the protest movement, says Jason Gratl, president of the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.
"The presence of national security concerns bring an extraordinary level of policing that threatens civil liberties and freedoms," he said.
There's an ongoing trend, Gratl said, of police and organizations cordoning off or attempting to manage protests that effectively sweeps dissent under the rug.
At the recent VANOC meeting, Anti-Poverty Committee protesters left after levying their threats against the committee because they refused to be penned into the area designated by police.
"There might be a perception that protest, even lawful protest, is unattractive to an international audience and bad for the reputation of British Columbia but that's a bit of a shortsighted view," Gratl said.
"The manifestation of an obviously vibrant democracy is an impression that we want to convey to the world."
Gratl said it's obvious that vociferous debate on the impact Olympic development is having on marginalized communities in Vancouver is having an impact - the provincial government announced recently it is spending $80 million to buy 11 single room occupancy hotels in Vancouver and Victoria and to fund more supportive housing units in the Lower Mainland.
But he said he is concerned that no attention is being paid to how dissent will be managed in the context of security concerns for the Games.
He said his organization plans to keep an eye on how far police are willing to go to keep the peace among the protest movement.
Last weekend, they may have crossed a line.
A Vancouver police officer posing as a reporter set up a meeting with Cunningham under the pretence of seeking an interview, but arrested him instead.
The move sparked anger among the journalistic community and a police spokesman said he had never heard of the tactic being used before.
Then the Anti-Poverty Committee trashed the premier's office during a news conference at an alternate location - a move Cunningham said it made to fool the police and the media.
"Their moronic efforts to isolate me as the leader of the Anti-Poverty Committee works to our benefit," Cunningham said.
"We're an open democratic organization that takes its own initiative without any bureaucracies. Power-hungry freaks like the cops and the government will never be able to understand that. They are going to waste all their resources and time and surveillance on me while people are evicting the offices like the APEC promised to do."
© Vancouver Sun 2007
Not only is Cunningham an idiot, so is Chris Shaw (remember him during the bid phase?). In this article, he claims that VANOC is spending money like drunken sailors.....but the fact is, VANOC is only spending on what has to be spent. Nothing extravagant or overambitious is being planned for these Games....look at the venues. VANOC even cut the venue budget by $60 million, by downsizing venue plans, before asking governments for a further $110 million. Fiscally, we are doing much better than London (the budget went from $4 billion to $16 billion in just two years), Athens (billions and billions and billions more....), Torino ($600 million more and TOROC nearly went bankrupt), and Beijing (for the obvious reasons). Even SLC saw something like a $300 million in venue costs.
Right now, we are hosting one of the most modest modern Winter Games ever....in fact, maybe even too modest.
Hopefully, VANOC and the 2010 security team will make a plan to handle protests during the Games.
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Hilarious!! Pratt and Taylor just bitch slapped him. Good job. Beautiful sight. David Cunningham deserves it!! Finally someone has the bravery to do it in public in the radio station. It's time the gov't does the same thing too.
). Vancouver held a vote, the majority supported the Games, and now they are on their way. Despite their large costs, winning the Olympic bid is something we should take pride in, and show the world how great of a city, and country we are.
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