[Fwd: Olympic torch ignites passion - and protest]

Sat Jan 9 21:29:07 UTC 2010

Apologies for any double postings....

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Olympic torch ignites passion - and protest
Date: 	Sat, 09 Jan 2010 13:09:36 -0800
From: 	Larry Kibby <l.kibby at frontier.com>

News Article
January 9, 2010

The following news article has been posted or forwarded in full, no 
material or data has altered or changed, please leave intact as is.

This news article can be located at the following web site link:
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-01-09/olympic-torch-ignites-passion.html

*Olympic torch ignites passion ? and protest*

A wave of anti-Olympic sentiment and protests in Canada are threatening 
the international symbol of the Games as it makes its way across the 
vast Far North.

The world?s eyes are now on the North American state as it gears up to 
host the 2010 Winter Olympics, running from February 12 to 28. Although 
it is a widespread notion that the Olympic Games bring wealth, 
employment, international recognition and general prosperity to whatever 
country hosts the high profile event, the Games have historically been 
used to denounce a wide range of social injustices and human rights abuses.

This year?s edition of the Winter Olympics is no different. Extra 
attention has placed increased scrutiny on many of Canada?s actions, 
both past and present, which continue to tarnish the country, commonly 
referred to as the Great White North.

*Relay tainted by protests*
Episodes of growing anti-Olympic sentiment and protest have marred the 
Olympic torch relay, which set off from Canada?s east coast last October 30.

Covering approximately 35,000 kilometers of Canadian terrain, the 2010 
Olympic Torch Relay will run through every province and territory over a 
106-day period, involve 12,00 torchbearers and unite all Canadians in 
celebration, until reaching its final destination in the host city, 
Vancouver, British Columbia, on February 12, 2010.

Up until now, most protests along the relay route have remained 
peaceful, with demonstrators picketing and handing out pamphlets in 
specific communities along the route.

However, the torch relay and ensuing protest is heating up. 
Demonstrators have disrupted the flame procession or caused its route to 
be changed in Montreal, Toronto and other central Canadian cities. These 
interruptions all ended peacefully until anti-Olympic protests hit their 
peak on December 28 when a torchbearer was shoved and fell to the ground.

Cortney Hansen, 28, of the province of Ontario, almost unintentionally 
extinguished the flame on the wet pavement in her fall. According to 
eyewitnesses, she was accidentally pushed in an altercation between 
protesters and police; she then tripped and fell to the ground in front 
of shocked 1,000 onlookers.

/?I couldn?t believe my eyes,?/ Erica Goldman told RT as she recounted 
the incident. /?I think all people have the right to voice their 
opposition to any issue, but they should do so peacefully and without 
causing violence or upset. But there?s a proper time and a place. I saw 
the fall with my own eyes and it was horrifying. My son and daughter 
were pretty shaken up over it and wanted to know why anyone would 
protest the Olympics.?/
// 
Hansen continued the run, and was later treated for minor injuries. A 
19-year-old demonstrator was arrested for assaulting Hansen.

A few days later, further along the relay route in Ontario, another 
eight protesters were arrested for an attempt to disrupt the torch run.

/?We were out because the Olympics are taking place on indigenous 
territory out in British Columbia,?/ Mark Corbiere, a spokesperson for 
the protest group, called the Olympics Resistance Network, told the 
press. /?It?s a land grab from the colonial history of the Canadian 
government.?/
// 
*Alleged ?land grab?*
The greatest claim by anti-racism and anti-capitalism protesters, many 
of which are of Aboriginal origin, is that most of the Canadian province 
of British Columbia is still sovereign Native Aboriginal land, over 
which neither the Canadian or BC governments have the legal or moral 
authority to govern, let alone hold such a high-profile international 
event on the contested land.

Widely seen in protests across Canada in the lead up to the Vancouver 
Olympics, /?the slogan ?No Olympics on Stolen Native Land? is a way to 
raise anti-colonial consciousness in Canada and across the world about 
the true and unfettered history of colonial Canada,?/ says Eliza Dupre, 
an Aboriginal protester from an Olympics protest group based in central 
Canada.

/?Just because the Vancouver Olympics are being organized with a group 
of Aboriginals in Vancouver [called the Four Host First Nations, which 
comprises the Lil?wat, Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First 
Nations], doesn?t mean that all Aboriginals in Canada support it,? /she 
adds.

It is the first time ever that a local community of indigenous peoples 
has taken part in the planning and organization of an Olympic Games from 
the bidding phase, but this unprecedented partnership is seen by 
protesters as ?the result of literally buying people off to pacify and 
silence opposition,? says Dupre.

*The costs of raising the flame*
Another hot potato is the negative environmental impact the Olympics 
will have on the local and mountain ecosystem in and around the host 
cities of Vancouver and Whistler. Despite its claim of being the 
?greenest Olympics? ever, protestors believe that the 2010 Olympics will 
be among the most environmentally destructive in contemporary history.

Dupre notes that ?tens of thousands of trees [have been] cut down, 
mountainsides blasted and natural habitats destroyed for Olympic venues 
near Whistler, [as well as] the massive highway expansion that was 
recently completed.?

Protesters also claim that Vancouver?s poor, which includes many 
Natives, are the ones that will pay the highest price. ?The 2010 Games 
has already meant hundreds of evictions from low-income housing, more 
homelessness, criminalization, and increased police presence and 
repression toward the poor and marginal,? a member of the Anti-Poverty 
Committee in Vancouver told RT via telephone.

Even animal activists are the using the increased media attention of the 
Games to denounce Canada?s fur and seal trade. Lindsay Rajt, from the 
People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals, says the Vancouver 2010 
Games are being targeted because the ?world will soon be turning its 
attention to Canada? and ?Canada?s image is now equated with seal killing.?

Although global sports fans and most Canadians highly anticipate and 
support the Games, Vancouver residents also fear some reprisals, such as 
increased traffic and higher taxes to cover the $6 billion cost of the 
event.

/?I think it's awesome that the Olympics will be in Vancouver, but there 
are a lot of people who are very opposed to it because of all the money 
and all the headaches they cause. Vancouver is bad enough as it is with 
traffic and everything. It remains to be seen how it will really be like 
come February, but I am hoping for the best,? /says Julie Robins, a BC 
native, who lives and commutes between Vancouver and Whistler.

Although millions of viewers across the globe will no doubt follow the 
Olympic action with enthusiasm and sportsmanship, it appears that the 
Vancouver Olympics won't be fun and games for everyone.

Posted/Forward by: Larry Kibby - l.kibby at frontier.com 
<mailto:l.kibby at frontier.com>
Host of Reznews Video's
http://ubroadcast.com/channel/reznews

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wahjeh
rolland nadjiwon

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