I did not go and see
the Olympic torch that was run through Machynlleth (where I live ) on it's way North. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of the Olympics, internationalism and coming together as a 'globe' to celebrate events. I wish I could have stood on the streets of Machynlleth with my friends, cheering the torch along and feeling part of a global
community. It's just that I feel totally conned by the whole Olympic
shambles.Despite promises of being the greenest Olympics ever, it is not. BP, Rio Tinto and Dow are sponsoring the 'sustainability' side of things. Greenwash Gold is a campaign that set up around the Olympics to highlight the hypocrisy of the 3 of the world's dirtiest companies sponsoring the Greenest Olympics. BP are “devastating the gulf of Mexico and digging up the dirty oil in the tar sands.” Rio Tinto are providing metal for the medals- from the Gobi desert, where the mines produce deadly air pollution and endanger scarce water sources. Dow merged with Union Carbide in 2001, a company that had been charged with culpable homicide due to the death of 25,000 people in the world's worst industrial disaster. There is a horrific irony in Dow sponsoring the para Olympics whilst families in Bhopal are still forced to drink poisoned water every day and children are still born with health problems.
It is not just those reasons that I could not go out and wave my flag, McDonald’s and Coca Cola are official food providers. This defies belief, how can an event which is a celebration of athletic prowess and the capabilities of the human body, that is the result of people who have undergone years of training and probably quite strict dietary regimes, be sponsored by the companies which thrive on doing the opposite.
I know, rather than
encouraging the British population to take up more sport and do
something to tackle the obesity crisis, lets build them the biggest
Mcdonald's in the world and fill the punters with fatty burgers and
milkshakes.
Not only are these
companies sponsoring the Olympics and quite frankly should not be but
they are protected by branding and trading rules that make me
shudder. A form of corporate authoritarianism has crept upon us . A shop in
Stoke on Trent was ordered to take their window display down after
the games organiser Locog carried out a check on the unauthorised use
of Olympic logo. The branding rules outlaw unauthorised "association," for example using pictures that could be assoicated with the Olympics or using any two words from the following list- "Games, Two Thousand and Twelve, 2012,
Twenty-Twelve".
I thought my paramedic
friend was joking when he told me that VIPs and sponsors can travel
uber quick to the Olympics in special 'games lanes', which ambulances
without blue lights flashing cannot use. Unfortunately he is not, its
true, the lives of people will be put at risk so corporate sponsors
can avoid getting held up in traffic.
On-top of all that is
the eviction of houses and flats, the bulldozing of allotments, the
enormous hike in rental prices that people are being forced to pay.
All in the name of the Olympics. Then there is the crack down on
dissent and intolerance of any thing that does show a beaming
Britain. It is hard to read an article now that does not distinguish
between an imminent terror attack and some greeny lefties waving a
banner. In 2012 Britain, they appear to be the same thing.
Lastly there is the
huge, bottomless pit of money that has been ploughed into the
Olympics in austerity Britain. As libraries shut down, council
services are cut and programmes to get young people into work shelved
it is hard to see how it is okay to spend £11 billion of public
money on the Olympics.
The answer is, that
none of it is okay. The British Olympic Association should ask the
sponsors to withdraw and encourage genuinely sustainable companies
the opportunity to sponsor this international event. Food should
showcase some of the amazing British delicacies we enjoy with an
emphasis on health and nutrition. Existing sports centres and venues
should have been used instead of ploughing millions into temporary
venues. The big brother branding rules should be removed so that a
genuine celebration across the country could take place. At least we
could replace the Union Jack flags, that makes towns look like bastions of the BNP, with the more colourful and international Olympic
rings.
The Olympics is something to celebrate, but it seems in our desperation as a nation to host them we have overlooked vital values of freedom and handed yet another piece of ourselves over to the forces of corporate authoritarianism.
