Solidarity with the homeless in Cardiff

There were already signs a month before the start of the Olympics in Cardiff that the police presence in and around Central Square and the railway station had been stepped up. Soon it became clear that the intention was to crack down heavily on street drinkers, beggars and rough sleepers before the Games started, a campaign of social cleansing to improve the image of the city for Olympic visitors. This only seemed to be confirmed by the indecent haste, just days before the first event, that the homeless were moved from their temporary hostel accommodation at the edge of the city centre to a brand new, purpose-built - but still unfinished - hostel complex safely just out of sight. A number of homeless people were then subjected to CRASBOs and excluded from the city centre area, and several were taken into custody for breaking the terms of those orders.



The local press published a timely article just before the start of the Games. A local jeweller David Hughes-Lewis, on behalf of Cardiff Retail Partnership, argued for using the 1824 Vagrancy Act against beggars and homeless people so that tourists would not be put off.

“If this is a law which is still in existence and South Wales Police aren’t making use of it then the question is why? If it’s there to be used and the Met are using it then so should we.”



Flamin' madness

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.