Olympics .. again!! and it'll get worse! Observer article

[punkrockfaggot]

Come on, what's so special about the Olympics anyway?

It's just a load of people on drugs running around.

Not exactly a shortage of that in Hackney as it is.

Thank you, you have made me giggle.

 

[fela fan]

Really?

Yes.

Sportsmen and sportswomen (in the olympics) take front page news. Criminals, who dress themselves up as politicians, are relegated off the front pages.

 

[Donna Ferentes]

So who's them people at the front of the Royal Box then? Celebrity lookalikes?

 

[tbaldwin]

Not everyone in London wanted it. London Greens have certainly been pointing out the insanity of the bid for ages. My particular favourite was the grassroots football pitches that are going to be dug up and concreted over for Olympic parking...!!

Matt

The idiots at Hackney council...Keep on going about being an Olympic borough...When the truth is they are going to be an Olympic traffic jam and a car park.
Livingstone and Jowell want shooting for this...Its a disgrace..
East London needs new housing and better sports facilities but it doesnt need the poxy Olympic rip off.

 

[fela fan]

So who's them people at the front of the Royal Box then? Celebrity lookalikes?

What royal box? How old are you? What the fuck are you talking about? The last time we had the world cup was over 40 years ago. As for the olympics...

I don't personally give a fuck what royals do over sport. I do however find it pathetic when the polis do their best to barge in on these huge sporting celebrations pretending that they're some kind of normal people like the rest of us. It really shows them up for who they are. Phantom people.

 

[jiggajagga]

Come on, what's so special about the Olympics anyway?

It's just a load of people on drugs running around.

Not exactly a shortage of that in Hackney as it is.

Yes I agree!
Now if they had events like 'Catch the Javelin' and 'Head the shot' it might be worth seeing!

 

[JonnyT]

No jonnyT i will not fuck off now, there's a good lad. What kind of discussion is that eh?? Sport is for humans, politics is for fuckers and power-abusers.

However much politicians might want to get on the gravy train of sports, they'll never cut the mustard. It's the people's expression of life, and it's the only time that politicians have to take a back seat to what the rest of us are doing.

I think you must be a politician. Or an apologist for them.

Aight, here's some questions.

For starters, what benefits do the Olympics bring to the majority of people in this country? No vague ideas of "prestige" and suchlike, please.

Also, given how much the Olympic announcement was treated as a massive publicity coup by the current establishment, what makes you think they will "have to take a back seat" during the actual Games?

In what way are the massive costs - social and economic - brought with the games being made worthwhile?

In what way are those involved with the Olympics - the committee, the athletes, the corporate sponsors - part of "the rest of us"?

In what way is sport a distraction from/antidote to war?

In what way do the Olympics represent "us" doing things for ourselves?

Lastly, something of a repeat, but it bears it: what concrete benefits do the Olympic Games bring to the majority of people?

I liked the bit about my being an apologist for politicians, tho. Cute.

 

[J77]

At least they'll be able to ignore important issues for the next 5 and a half years.

 

[ATOMIC SUPLEX]

Grrrrr it makes me so mad, how could they get this so wrong.

 

[J77]

Anyone care about people running round a track?

Should've been a vote.

If the UK don't have a footie team, it'll be rubbish.

May as well ship all the medals out to China now.

Rubbish.

The best thing the UK's at is in the other one - the Scottish women with their brooms.

And, sailing and rowing - who gives a shit outside Henley.

Rubbish.

And it's all we're gonna hear, evry bloody night, for the next 5 years

 

[haggy]

i'd have no probs with the olympics if i thought it was just about sport for 17 days, but if you think that's what its about then you're v naive.

its a global merry-go-round encompassing nationalism, political prestige, and 'regeneration' (which is shorthand these days for the public subsidy of private profit).

that grant-funding for community sports projects has been cut to pour into the financial black-hole that the olympics is becoming, just tells you how much about sport it really is. if the govt came out and said it was going to find £10b (or whatever the cost might spiral to) to fund sporting initiatives then that would be one thing, but it's so clearly not just about sport. by their own admission it's seen as an opportunity to regenerate E London, and on that basis alone it becomes a massive political issue. the Q being, as always, who will benefit from this massive expenditure of public money?

my opposition to the olympics is not cos i'm cynical about british national pride, or anti-sport, but because i'm concerned about who will benefit from a decision to spend lots of money on one thing as opposed to another, ie its a Q of political-economy.

the issues are myriad, from land-rights, to ecology, to housing, employment and political and economic accountability. the track record of the political establishment in this country when it comes to spending our money on grand schemes like this is v poor. some people make shit loads of money and boost their careers, ordinary people - by and large - get walked over and fucked over. the olympics - by its sheer scale - means that the capacity for those who will pay the most (directly and indirectly) to end up losing the most is immense.

we can stand idly by and enjoy the circus for a few weeks and pay no mind to the wider issues, or we can try and engage with the process to ensure that the voices of the displaced, the low-paid, the poorly housed, etc etc are heard and taken seriously.

 

[Yossarian]

Every four years we get the olympics, and every other four years we get the world cup. And during those times the politicians are dumped out of the news, off the press's coverage. It is the only time they're relegated out of the news. THEY'RE OFF THE RADAR MATE.

The World Cup and Olympics don't put politicians out of the news for a minute - and if it did, they'd use the opportunity to bury as much bad news as possible.

Even if the Olympics is some kind of joyous occasion that brings the world together in harmony, that doesn't change the fact that the people in charge of organising the London ones are on course to fuck the whole project up badly.

 

[punkrockfaggot]

What is there in the way of direct action groups? Anyone got any clues?

 

[ViolentPanda]

I'm not speaking about what the powers that be think or believe.

I hadn't claimed that you were.

It don't matter a jot what they think about the massive sporting events that humans organise. I'm talking about what WE think, what WE do and what WE organise. The people.

"The people", eh?
"The people" have had bugger-all involvement in this "massive sporting event". That role has been taken by bureaucrats, placemen and moneylenders. "The people" have been kept firmly out f the loop.

Every four years we get the olympics, and every other four years we get the world cup. And during those times the politicians are dumped out of the news, off the press's coverage. It is the only time they're relegated out of the news. THEY'RE OFF THE RADAR MATE.

Yes fela, of course they are.
That's why you'll hear on the news, at the same time as you get results of events, about the "great and the good" who've attended, about the cosy little speeches the pols have made praising the so-called "Olympic ideals", and milking just about every drop of political capital they can squeeze out of the Olympic tit.

It matters nothing what they think about us during such sporting times. It is such times that the people get to run the world. Four weeks every two years. Not much, but something. It's our time.

And if the british public, as apparantly spoken for by those here on urban have a problem with that, then blinded they are mate. Because it's the only time the fuckers are removed from the front pages of our media. For that reason alone these sporting events are worth it.

Sporting events are what they are, sporting events.
However, for most sporting events "loyalties" (for want of a better word) come into play, whether they be local, regional or national. That is what the politicians latch onto, that is what makes sport important to them politically; the possibility of playing to a crowd and transferring some of that loyalty, by association, to themselves.

As for the other reasons, they should be most self-apparant.

In other words you either can't be bothered, or you aren't able, to articulate them.

Fair enough.

 

[haggy]

What is there in the way of direct action groups? Anyone got any clues?

refer you to my post above re open olympic forum. aside from that - which seeks to network with existing groups in the five olypmic boroughs (and that, at a v early stage) i don't really know...

 

[London_Calling]

I find the dichotomies in this argument amusing;

Those who love sport, and those who don’t
Those who gravitate towards the trendy ‘anti’, and those less fashionable
Those who spout the not-my-tax-money line, and those who don’t
Those who support a nationalistic angle, and those who don’t

Those who don’t respond at all either presumably don’t care or recognise there’s another five years of space between adverts to sell.

And then there’s those with kids aged between 5-12 who see the look of excitement and awe in their children’s faces, and understand the opportunities this represents for education in general but health, diet, exercise, social inclusion, and social enfranchisement, in particular.


So, fwiw, the Olympics is not about you people at all, though I have no doubt at all that, like so very much, you really believe it is.

 

[haggy]

And then there’s those with kids aged between 5-12 who see the look of excitement and awe in their children’s faces, and understand the opportunities this represents for education in general but health, diet, exercise, social inclusion, and social enfranchisement, in particular.

glad you've been paying attention ...

 

[Groucho]

Well, the whole thing is an exercise in spending public money for private profit.

That, I think, sums it up nicely.

All this crap about green games, sustainability, regeneration and benefiting ordinary people is bollocks. Luxury flats on Hackney Marshes I notice! I had the opportunity to ask at a public forum exactly how the games will benefit those most disrupted by them - those in the deprived boroughs of Hackney, Newham and Tower Hamlets. The speaker who was on the organising committee tried to dodge the question, but was directed back to it. He said he didn't know exactly as that wasn't his area of expertese, but as Newham Council were on board it must be good for the people of Newham! This was the NL Newham council that tried to sell of Green Steet market.

 

[scott_forester]

Of course if it was the world cup in football the reaction would be so so so different, coz football's sexy innit.

Maybe, but it also pays largely for itself. I'm not sure what honour there is pissing £10 billion down the drain.

 

[Balbi]

Invest 10 billion in grassroots athletics between now and 2012, and in 2016 we'd PWN the Olympics

 

[scott_forester]

Invest 10 billion in grassroots athletics between now and 2012, and in 2016 we'd PWN the Olympics

But they don't they invest in 'elite' athletes e.g. those they think can win a medal. Taking part that counts my arse.

 

[toggle]

And then there’s those with kids aged between 5-12 who see the look of excitement and awe in their children’s faces, and understand the opportunities this represents for education in general but health, diet, exercise, social inclusion, and social enfranchisement, in particular.

and their reactions to the junk food advertising, good for their health and diet

the social inclusion and enfranchisement of watching minority sports that you ahve to be rich to take part in and ads for trainers that most parents can't afford.

the olympics has really become the antithesis of everything it's supporters claim it represents.

 

[haggy]

And then there’s those with kids aged between 5-12 who see the look of excitement and awe in their children’s faces, and understand the opportunities this represents for education in general but health, diet, exercise, social inclusion, and social enfranchisement, in particular.

n then there's mcdonald's winning the catering contract! "health, diet, exercise" ... of course

 

[kyser_soze]

n then there's mcdonald's winning the catering contract! "health, diet, exercise" ... of course

McDs didn't 'win' the contract - they are an IOC global partner sponsor so the London 2012 team had no choice about them being there.

 

[liampreston]

I am another one firmly in the "anti" Olympics grouping - and I can see it's a growing number of many millions against it.

Previous posters are quite correct - the cost prior to building these showcases for minority sports far outweighs any national benefits. It's a money making exercise for the suits, and as Montreal shows, it can be a generation after the event before the costs are fully paid for. Look at Sydney and the "Where the bloody hell are you" campaign once the post-Olympic fervour died down.

The nation will not benefit from these shambles. It's bragging rights for those who can afford it. For once, i am in agreement with people here on the issue of costs against legacy. If the French want the Games, give it them!

 

[poster342002]

And then there’s those with kids aged between 5-12 who see the look of excitement and awe in their children’s faces

When all else fails, invoke the mawkish "awww, it's all for the kids. How can you be so heartless?" approach.


PPPFFFFF!!!

 

[Donna Ferentes]

Cheerful morning today, poster? Glad to be alive?

 

[haggy]

McDs didn't 'win' the contract - they are an IOC global partner sponsor so the London 2012 team had no choice about them being there.

that's alright then...

 

[kyser_soze]

Did I say it was ok? No, just pointed out that your comment was incorrect regarding the role London had in 'choosing' McDs to be the primary caterer.

 

[brasicritique]

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