Protesting the Olympics?

So we should only demonstrate when it's not going to be in any way disruptive and we definitely shouldn't demonstrate when the government don't want us to and are likely to try and stop us?

Brilliant!

You can do what you like, as I keep saying I don't think it will be useful but I'm prepared to be convinced.

We'll have to wait & see.

How do you define 'useful'?

i think there is a time and a place.
like you could have attempted to demonstrate at wooton basset you'd have looked like a massive cunt though.

Where and when is the best time to protest against the Olympics?

I'd love to see a British Paralympian with an ATOS KIlls banner wrapped around them instead of a british flag (should they win anything).

Worth checking Counter Olympics Network.

i know Corax has already done this bit but FFS!

"Protest at the Olympics"; "Protest About the Olympics"; "Protest Against the Olympics"... all of these are acceptable. "Protest the Olympics" is grammatically incorrect and a mistake we've imported from the States (it's grammatically incorrect over there, too - they've just been doing it wrong for longer).

On the podium after you win obviously

I don't understand why I am being expected to defend and explain myself for asking a question anyway. I was just interested in peoples opinions and giving mine, which I qualified several times with statements like 'I'm not sure' and 'I haven't given it much thought' etc

I was more interested in a discussion than an argument

like, ask me if I care

I'd love to see protesters try - will be fun - and then watch them crying in court.

There must be shedloads of paralympians who would be up for that. Any politically sound able-bodied athletes around who might?

That's because you're a sad, pathetic little cunt though isn't it?

Your previous postings on the politics forums, together with some of your posts on this thread, suggest you were more interested in getting a reaction than anything else. So don't whine when that's what you get.

I'm not angry, just disappointed is all

Disappointed that people don't think your posts are full of fascinating insight?

Try harder?

I liked BigTom's idea of the Paralympians making a statement about ATOS, that would be a great campaign, is anyone doing that? Not sure how you'd go about contacting the competitors because the official body would probably run a mile. Or maybe not?

No, disappointed with your attitude

A number of activists I know have said they won't bother with doing stuff during the Olympics. Not only will you get arrested so fast you won't be able to do anything, but as the riot sentencing showed, the courts in this country are highly politicised and will happily impose greater punishments not on the basis you have committed greater crimes but on the basis you have upset the wrong people. The Fortnum and Mason arrests and trial have also shown the political leanings of the police and courts to a lot of people - and tied up a lot of activists in trial proceedings when they might have been doing other things.

I think there is also a strategic reason not to do it - it is not just the shrill right wingers who will see it as 'selfish' but a lot of people who don't really 'get' why people protest at all. You can't take this logic too far - you can't please all the people all the time and shouldn't try to - but the corporate-nationalist propaganda stream from all sides during the Olympics is going to make it very hard to engage people beyond the few activists involved in political debate or action.

Maybe that all seems like giving up but in the end you have to pick your battles. However tempting it is to target the biggest corporate orgy in the world it is like assaulting an enemy position when you know they are at their strongest. Best wait till we can kick them when they're down

I'd agree with that but I think there are things you can do that won't piss off ordinary people who just want to watch the Olympics - the kind of thing Big Tom was talking about for example. Don't see why a march in London would be problematic, not aimed at disrupting the Olympics but rather at taking advantage of the fact that the world is watching to get extra exposure for anti-cuts/austerity stuff. Cos it doesn't have to be a protest against the Olympics, even though I do think it's a pointless waste of money. More a case of using the Olympics as a platform.

When it was announced that ATOS would be doing the IT for the olympics & paralympics, I saw some discussion on twitter between Tanni Gray-Thompson (who is in the house of lords now) and some disability activists, but I don't remember that coming to anything, except I think Tanni was going to raise questions about it with Lord Coe or whoever in the HoL / LOCOG group.
I can't see the official body doing anything tbh, I don't remember the british athletic federation (or whatever they are called) making any kind of statement at the time when it was announced, and I can't see them doing anything now.

I'm not involved with any of the disability / atos campaigns at an organisational level though, so I don't know if any overtures have been made to the official groups. I'd be shocked if they took a stand, they won't want to rock the boat / cause controversy at the home games imo.

I think our best hope lies with the individual athletes taking action off their own back.

I see the argument for doing this, much as I dislike marches in general. But if the purpose is to get certain messages into the mainstream media then you can expect the usual studied bafflement from journos 'They're against something but what do they want?' etc etc, which you will then hear repeated by people ad infinitum. It's a dispiriting game to get into.

@ brainaddict : that is kind of what I was trying to say but I didn't put it as well as you

@BigTom : I also think that the role that the Paralympics plays in how people see disability is a positive one and despite everything about the Olympics that is wrong the Paralympics really is a positive thing in itself (even in the most enlightened societies we aren't used to seeing normal people in wheelchairs etc )

There was great performance piece done at the Vancouver winter 2010 olympics where a guy dressed up as one of the official city ambassadors and passed himself of as genuine. (He ordered the same outfit from the company supplying them) After befriending members of the public he quickly went 'off message' and started illuminating them about the less savoury and corrupt aspects of the city. He got away with it for quite some time before being arrested for impersonation I think. Was never charged though.

As Brainaddict says it would be futile to use normal protesting tactics. More subtle things like this would be welcome.

An aside, but talking of kicking people when they're down reminded me of HS Thompson's obituary of Nixon - one of the finest things ever written about a dead politician:

Just thought that would cheer you all up

ha ha - go on try it then big boy

Try what soft lad?

protesting, big boy