5 reasons why the Raptors could be a socialist metaphor

A semi-parody by Peter Miller

The Toronto Raptors are, I think, an exciting team to watch, and with Kawhi Leonard, they could win the finals for the first time in franchise history. Any time I watch them play it can't help but remind me about the superiority of the socialist system over capitalism. Here are five reasons why watching basketball reminds me of socialism.

The Toronto Raptors and the Right to Sport

 Peter Miller

Raptors regular season tickets and playoff tickets are out of reach for the majority of people in Toronto, with the average resell cost for a single ticket at $258. At the same time, costs for cable, internet, and going out to a bar to watch the game pile up, making access to watching the playoff run in the comfort of one’s own home inaccessible to many.

Everyone deserves the right to democratic culture, sport, and leisure, and this includes the right to watch some of the best basketball players in the world. Under capitalism, short-term partial victories for these rights can be won, but these gains are constantly under attack.

Cheer for the Raptors but not for “Canada’s Team”

Peter Miller

It’s absurd that the Canadian anthem and American anthem is played before every Toronto Raptors game. It’s much like the start of every school day in Canada, with the national anthem being played to invoke patriotism for youth in a country that is playing an increasingly aggressive imperialist role on the world stage and continuing its genocide against indigenous people.

That’s why it didn’t bother me when NBA legend, Dwayne Wade continued to warm up during the Canadian anthem during a recent play-off game in Toronto. Hearing the anthem before every game is a waste of time, and players should warm up during it if they still need to get their body ready for some intense play. Predictably, however, Raptors fans booed Wade for the rest of the NBA playoff series for his action. Some Canadian politicians even chimed in to voice their disappointment with Dwayne Wade’s actions.

The Human Cost of FIFA

By TJ Petrowski - Manitoba

As the world watches the 2014 FIFA World Cup over one million people are protesting the cost and the human rights violations being committed by police and security forces to protect this corporate investment.

Working people in Brazil are understandably frustrated with the public cost of the World Cup, an estimated $14 billion. When compared to spending on social services, the cost of the World Cup is the equivalent of 61% of funding for education, or 30% of the funding for healthcare. Private companies, including those in the services and construction industries, will be the main beneficiaries of this public money. Adding to this cost is the forced evictions of the poor living in the favelas (slums) and the dispossession of indigenous people from their lands to build stadiums and parking lots.

"Sports Without War" Issues Fake Press Release, Imploring Toronto Maple Leafs to Reconsider their Approach to “Forces Appreciation Night”

Reposted from Sports Without War blog

On Friday, Jan 31, 2014, the independent social organization Sports Without War published a satirical press release designed to expose the hypocrisy inherent in the annual Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment (MLSE) “Forces Appreciation Night.”

In the fake press release, MLSE announced that they would honour not only Canadian soldiers in Afghanistan but also the thousands of Afghan civilians killed in the conflict.  The press release further acknowledged that while Canadian soldiers get much fanfare for fighting in Afghanistan, they are given very little material support upon their return, as they struggle with physical and emotional trauma from the violent occupation.  Finally, the press release suggested that both Canadians and Afghans deserve to enjoy sports and entertainment in peace.

Feature essay on youth culture and war

Peter Miller and Daniel Lyder

Tommy Smith and John Carlos

An oft-repeated opinion in the sports media is that sports and politics should absolutely never mix. If an athlete chooses to use his or her spotlight to voice or display a social or political opinion sports journalists, sports owners, and sports executives will often voice their disapproval.

One of the most famous examples of this is Tommy Smith and John Carlos. The two African American athletes at the 1968 Games were stripped of their medals for their famous Black Power raised fist salute, wearing black-gloves in civil rights solidarity.

More recently, at the summer Olympics in London, Damien Hooper, an aboriginal boxer from Australia, was threatened with expulsion by the Australian Olympic Committee for wearing a black T-shirt with a picture of an Aboriginal flag, while warming up in the ring before a fight. Hooper had broken the Olympic games policy preventing athletes from representing flags unapproved by corporate sponsors.

Fidel and Camilo Cienfuegos play baseball
as the team "Bearded ones"

Shut up and play

Yet there is an immense self-serving irony contained in the ‘shut up and play’ culture perpetuated by the media.  Sports are constantly used by right-wing corporate forces and the military to promote their own pro-war, aggressively nationalist and repressive agendas. Therefore, the truth is that sports journalists, owners, and sports executives actually believe that sports and progressive politics should absolutely never mix.

Iconic ESPN host “Big Game” Brent Musburger famously analyzed Smith and Carlos’ demonstration by saying at the time "Perhaps it's time twenty year-old athletes quit passing themselves off as social philosophers."

Musburger has never apologized for his remarks.  And the attitude hasn’t changed much since then.

Consider the incredible backlash against Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen last year for simply admitting that he ‘liked’ Fidel Castro. Guillen was forced to recant at length or lose his job and was suspended for five games.

NFL 'salute to serive'

Military cheerleading

Yet anyone who’s watched an NFL game or the recient Super Bowl could easily attest to the open and unquestioned platform for pro-military viewpoints: from troop displays during the national anthem, to fighter jets buzzing over the stadium, to the bizarre statements and subsequent “USA” chants throughout stadiums announcing the killing of Osama Bin Laden and his family.  Their official website proclaims that "supporting the military is part of the fabric of the NFL."

In fact, capitalist countries like Canada and the USA actively use the sports "business" to promote the military and imperialism.

Canadian professional sports franchises openly promote war in conjunction with the mass media and the government. While the old Winnipeg Jet's logos (from 1972–1996) featured a civilian airliner, the True North Inc. new design explicitly pays "homage" to the Air Force with a fighter jet.

The federal and Manitoba provincial governments contributed over 11 million dollars to the construction of a new arena for the Jets to play in, quite a unique form of advertising.

Cherry signing bombs

Don Cherry

Perhaps the most infamous hockey ‘analyst’ in Canada is Don Cherry who makes a $700 000 salary, paid from public money, and uses his airtime to promote xenophobia, anti-Quebec nationalism and war during Hockey Night in Canada on CBC. In 2010 Cherry signed bombs and went as far as actually firing a shell when he visited occupied Afghanistan.  He later received an honorary degree from the Royal Military college (although not without protest) for his work supporting the war.

Unlike what the Harper Conservative government and Don Cherry would have us believe, however, the war in Afghanistan is not about justice or women’s rights. As Yves Engler points out in his latest book, The Ugly Canadian, the president of Afghanistan, Hamid Karzai, has supported decrees from religious leaders in the country stating that women must be subordinate to men, and cannot be in public without their male partner or family member by their side.

This war, like all wars undertaken by the military industrial complex, has generated enormous profits for ‘defence’ corporations in Canada from the public purse.

The new Winnipeg Jets Logos

Case study: the war in Libya

Canada was ranked 6th in foreign military sales in 2009, according to the Federation of American Scientists Arms Sales Monitoring Project.

Perhaps then it is no surprise that the Winnipeg Jets’ new logo is a blue circle with a metallic grey silhouette of a McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet Fighter Jet above a red maple leaf.

This is the same plane used by the Canadian Forces to bomb Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Libya. In fact, the Winnipeg Jets military logo was revealed during Canada’s war in Libya.

Despite claims of humanitarian intervention or "Responsibility to Protect" (R2P) which is often heard during the military cheerleading at sports events, the Libyan War was pursued for the benefit of big corporations and oil wealth. NATO simply used the Arab Spring to intervene and interfere with another country’s sovereignty.

Libya had bigger than average royalties on oil corporations. Its nationalized oil company interfered with profits for companies like Suncor, Canada’s largest energy corporation.  And the Libyan regime was an inconsistent ally of imperialism.

The US-led NATO alliance thus saw an opportunity to influence Libya’s uprising and actively supported the "Transitional National Council" to further increase profits, secure a geo-strategic military foothold in Africa and the Mediterranean, and push-back against the inroads of Chinese capital into Africa.

Canadian Lieutenant General Charles Bouchard, officially commanded the NATO campaign signing off on every pre-selected bombing target.  15 Canadian Aircraft went on 15,000 missions and dropped at least 700 bombs.  On one occasion, a strike from NATO is alleged to have killed 47 civilians, and the total civilian death toll is estimated to be much higher.

Doctors Without Borders ended up pulling out of Libya, refusing to be complicit in the NATO mission and noting that they were actually treating many captured pro-Gaddafi soldiers who were tortured by rebels. (Gaddafi repeatedly called for a ceasefire, yet the NATO-backed rebels refused.)

Meanwhile, Don Cherry was busy praising the new Winnipeg Jet's logo.  "How could you do better than to honour the people who lay their lives down for us?" he told Sun News.

Canadian Forces Appreciation Night

Raptors Canadian Forces Night

Military cheerleading in Canada reaches beyond hockey and into sports like basketball as well.  On Saturday January 26 the Toronto Raptors held their 6th Canadian Forces Night at the Air Canada Centre. The Team and cheerleaders wore camouflage jerseys while pro-military programming aired during breaks throughout the game.

After the game, Raptors players, the coaching staff, and cheerleaders posed for a group picture with Canadian soldiers. Raptors and Maple Leafs Sports and Entertainment described the camouflage jersey and Canadian Forces Night as a “natural extension of the Raptors and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment’s long-standing support of Canada’s military”.

The Canadian Forces Night was used by the Canadian Military to advertise it’s growing "brand." The Canadian Government spent 353.6 million dollars on public relations for the military in 2010-2011.

Advertising the military targets Canadian youth with commercials on television, ads on campuses across Canada, as well as recruitment displays at sports and public events. When sports franchises further help promote the Canadian Military with nights like the Canadian Forces night, Canadian youth are pushed to fall into a trap, join the military and become cannon-fodder for imperialist wars.

Positively, groups like "Hockey Fans For Peace" are taking on commentators like Don Cherry and calling on the anti-war movement to become more active and visible on sports issues, and in general.

Maybe it is time to flyer future Raptors games that have Canadian Force Programming and tell sports fans of the working class why it is wrong to support war and militarism.

Make hockey not war

Canadian Imperialism Flexing its Military Muscle

The Raptors game and the militarization of sports is taking place at a time when the Harper Conservative government seems to be constantly flexing Canada's military muscle. Canadian troops are still on the ground in Afghanistan. The Canadian government is also getting involved in the French-led and US-backed occupation of Mali.

Canadians are also faced with the threat of our country following NATO to go to war in Syria and Iran. While Canadian-based corporations do not officially have any direct investments in the country, Iran has a tremendous amount of oil wealth.

American and Canadian imperialist interests do not like that Iran provides oil for China. Canada’s government is basically lying about nuclear weapons in Iran to try to sway public opinion and start another war allied beside Israel, America, and NATO.

Despite claims of a 'peace dividend' after the overturn of the Soviet Union and socialist countries, military spending is 2.3 times higher in Canada now than during the peak of the Cold war. The Harper Conservatives ever-increasing military budget is being prioritized over public healthcare, public education, affordable housing, universal childcare, and other important social services like publicly funded recreation and, perhaps ironically, non-commercial sports, culture and physical activities.

Cuba's womens national volleyball team

Sports for a world at peace

While the Canadian Government is setting up military bases around the world, it’s the youth who are faced with a future that, for the first time in generations, is predicted to be worse materially than our parents.

Let us show fellow sports fans that the future does not have to be this way. Instead of joining the armed forces, let us convince the youth to join social movements. Together we can stop another greedy war by hitting the streets!

Progressive-minded and peace-loving people must not shy away from pushing back against the pro-military agenda on the sports field, arena, or court. Sports are part of popular culture and it is important to use this venue to get anti-war and socially positive messages across.

An important beginning is to recognize when anti-establishment political opinions are voiced by athletes, and to support those to the best of our ability. It doesn’t help that some of the most powerful examples of this is given no attention in the media or quickly drowned out..

Together, we can also promote a radically different sports culture.

Speaking at the United Nations on resolutions in support of sports for peace and development, socialist Cuba said that sports should "undoubtedly strengthen solidarity and friendship among peoples" and that for Cuba, after the Cuban Revolution, "sports ceased to be exclusive and became a right for all the people."

International Association of Red Sports
and Gymnastics Associations, c. 1928

Cuba has also condemned "athleticism that was purely motivated by financial gains," and "the theft of sport talent from developing countries."  "Let us invest in projects for the sake of education, sport and health”, instead of on weapons Cuba has said.

Officially, much of the past rhetoric of international sports and the Olympics also opposed war, like the "Olympic Truce."  The World Festival of Youth and Students traditionally holds an anti-imperialist soccer match at each gathering.

It is time that sports in Canada promote fair play and cooperation, as well as friendship, internationalism, and solidarity -- not militarism, elitism, or crude consumerism. Recreation, leisure time, and democratic culture like sports culture are rights and not privileges. Its time to stand up, together, for these rights and sports for peace!

Israel's war on footballers

Palestinians in Nablus play football handcuffed in solidarity
with Sarsak, whose picture is emblazoned on their t-shirts

On June 3 Palestinian national football team member Mahmoud Sarsak completed 80 days of a gruelling hunger strike.

He has sustained his protest even though nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails called off their 28-day hunger strike weeks ago.

Palestinian prisoners in Israel face a common reality of unlawful detention and widespread mistreatment.

But Sarsak's fate can be viewed within its own, unique context.

The football player, who once sought to take the name and flag of his nation to international arenas, was seized by Israeli soldiers in July 2009 while on his way to join the national team in the West Bank.

He was branded an "illegal combatant" by Israel's military-judicial system and was imprisoned without being tried or even charged.

New Jets logo: militarization of our hockey continues

J. Boyden

The Winnipeg Jets have crash landed.

The hockey team, supposed to bring good hockey back to a city with some of Canada's poorest neighbourhoods, has revealed its new design -- which features a killing machine.

The Jet's new logos were released Friday. The main design is a blue circle with the metallic grey silhouette of a McDonnell Douglas CF-18 Hornet fighter jet above a red maple leaf, mirroring the Canadian air force's roundel. The Hornet is the same jet the Canadian military has deployed to bomb Iraq, Yugoslavia and now the million-dollar-a-week "humanitarian" destruction of Libya.

The design was put together by True North Sports and Entertainment (the union-busting company who own the Jets), the NHL and the transnational corporation Reebok. A secondary logo features a fighter pilot's set of wings.

“We felt it was important to authenticate the name Jets and we believe the new logo does that through its connection to our country’s remarkable Air Force heritage, including the rich history and relationship that our city and province have enjoyed with the Canadian Forces,” Jets owner Mark Chipman told reporters at a news conference.

That history and relationship starts with the bloody military suppression of the Metis and Red River people's uprising, which lead to the hanging of leader Louis Riel and the founding of Manitoba. One of the latest chapters was written by Operation Charging Bison, when over 500 Canadian troops (backed by helicopters, armoured vehicles, and artillery) took-over downtown Winnipeg for urban-war games.

True North Corporate Welfare

Winnipeg’s poverty is most highly concentrated in the inner-city (a recent report on poverty in the city by feminist writer Erin Vosters notes that over half of all inner-city households are affected by poverty, and many are Aboriginal families). That is also exactly where the MTS centre, future home of the team, is located.

Last May, protesters gathered outside the P-3 privitized MTS centre to oppose the spending of public money on the hockey capitalists.

“This is being rammed down on the public without any idea of what we’re facing,” Darrell Rankin leader of the Communist Party of Canada (Manitoba Committee) and organizer of the demo told the Winnipeg Sun at the time. “We don’t think it’s right to support union-busting billionaires that are going to buy an NHL team and want even more public money.”

Despite urgent demands for affordable social housing in down-town core, the provincial NDP has instead agreed to refurbish the MTS Centre for the Jets. The MTS Centre and True North contracted out the work of the 220-member International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 63, which staffed events at the old Winnipeg Arena.

Growing militarism of economy, society

The design comes after major controversy surrounding the Harper Conservative government's purchase of replacements for the CF-18 from US munitions giant Lockheed Martin. The total cost of the new F-35 fighters quadrupled in just two years.

Pentagon figures now indicate that the total cost of this purchase over a thirty‑year period is expected to hit $29 billion, a staggering sum for a country with serious social and economic problems.

The new Joint Strike Fighter, which carries more bombs and weapons, is not designed for defence, but rather offensive bombing runs. As a single‑engine aircraft, it is reportedly unsuitable to patrol the Canadian Arctic. The F-35 is just another example of the Harper Conservative Government's massive increase military spending and the adoption of a much more bellicose, overtly imperialist foreign policy.

According to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, “the Canada First Defence Strategy, unveiled by the Harper government in 2008, promises that Canada’s military spending will continue to grow by an average of 0.6% in real terms (adjusted for inflation) and an average of 2.7% in nominal terms (not adjusted for inflation) per year from FY 2007‑08 to 2027‑28″. Total spending over the 20‑year life of this plan would likely be in the $415‑440 billion range (2009 dollars), or about $13,000 per Canadian.

On top of the massive increase in military spending there has been a renewed attempt towards the militarization of Canadian society. Recruiting booths, promoting the military's activity like the imperialist war in Afghanistan or the military "aid" to Haiti, are now common across Canada from Naniamo's Bath tub races on Vancouver Island to sports events in Halifax.

The Manitoba Moose, Winnipeg's previous AFL Hockey team before it re-acquired the Jets, held special "Manitoba Moose Military Appreciation Nights."

One of the most outspoken proponents of this pro-war jingoism has been controversial hockey commentator Don Cherry, already known for his sexist, homophobic, racist and anti-Quebec statements.

Cherry, who makes a special point of commemorating the occupation of Afghanistan in his commentaries and has started referring to hockey players as troops, went as far as visiting Afghanistan and signing bombs last December.

In response, a group called Hockey Fans for Peace formed, successfully staging several actions outside hockey games and engendering widespread interest and support.

Hockey Fans for Peace points to polls showing that the vast majority of Canadian's oppose the war in Afghanistan. Already, a significant number of the population are against the bombing of Libya (a majority in Québec).

Hockey Fans for Peace also encourages other sports to refrain from promoting support for the war in Afghanistan. The group calls for the NHL and the mass media to end the practice of using hockey games and broadcasts to promote the view that full support for the war is the only acceptable position for any genuine hockey fan -- or to give anti-war fans equal air-time.

Their message is a timely one for the owners of the Winnipeg Jet's.

Millions of Canadians enjoy hockey - and also oppose militarism and war.

Fans want Cherry to stick to hockey

Kimiya Shokoohi
Reprinted from Metro Vancouver

There’s no place for war in sports, said a group of hockey fans who plan to campaign outside of Rogers Arena Saturday.

The new Vancouver-based group, Hockey Fans For Peace, stemmed from the war talk of Don Cherry, a hockey-broadcasting icon known for his forthright style, during Hockey Night in Canada broadcasts.

“As a sports fan, I’m deeply offended,” said Kimball Cariou, the group’s spokesman, of Cherry using HNIC as a platform to express his support of the troops in Afghanistan.

And Cherry says he’s just that: Pro-troops. Not pro-war.

“You don’t see me saying war is good and people getting killed is good,” Cherry told Bill Good during his CKNW radio show on Thursday.

“But while the troops are there you have to support them — that’s the way I see it.”

The group, however, views it otherwise.

“The best way to support those troops is to bring them home,” Cariou said.

Sports culture doesn’t have to mean rough-and-tough and firing guns, he said.

Wearing T-shirts with crossed hockey sticks and a “peace puck” on the front, the group plans to gather outside of Rogers Arena Saturday during the Canucks game with the Detroit Red Wings.

The game will be broadcast on Hockey Night in Canada.

“Our intent,” Cariou said, “is to tell people it’s OK to be against the war if you like hockey.”

Hockey Fans for Peace

Kimball Cariou

Millions of Canadians enjoy hockey - and we also oppose the war in Afghanistan. A new Facebook group, "Hockey Fans For Peace", urges the NHL and the mass media to recognize this reality, by ending the practice of using hockey games and broadcasts to promote the view that full support for the war is the only acceptable position for any genuine hockey fan.

Failing this, we call upon the NHL and the mass media to provide equal access to hockey fans who oppose the war and want to bring the troops home immediately. We also encourage other sports to refrain from promoting support for the war in Afghanistan. Within a few days, Hockey Fans For Peace will have "Cherry" pink t-shirts on sale, featuring our logo (crossed hockey sticks with a "peace sign" puck). We invite you to join our Facebook group, to ask others to join, and to help spread the word: hockey, not war!

http://www.facebook.com/#!/home.php?sk=group_181250731886894&ap=1

The movement against the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver would be hard to label a success or a failure.

Comment by Rick Gunderman
A view from Hamilton, Ontario

The movement against the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver would be hard to label a success or a failure.

The movement was successful in the sense that they were not silenced – despite facing a most childish opposition. There were many reasons to oppose the 2010 Olympics: British Columbia is 100% unsurrendered Native land; public funds desperately needed for infrastructure and services were spent on Olympic venues and advertising; the security and police in Vancouver were witnessed behaving in disturbingly fascistic ways; environmental destruction; the corporate advertising frenzy that some might say degrades the quality of the sports, etc.

In response, colonialist-nationalists and narrow-minded sports enthusiasts alike whipped out the same old tired, meat-headed, and/or racist responses.

First was to attack the Native peoples resisting the Olympics. They were slandered as unpatriotic (in the sense that a Puerto Rican must be patriotic to the US), rabble-rousing (like the anti-slavery activists of the 1800s or the civil rights activists of the last century were dubbed), or taking action too late (despite decades of persistent court battles over land issues that the Canadian government saw as no high priority).

For some reason, the tax arrangements that the Canadian government made with the various Native nations seemed relevant vis á vis the Olympics to many of the colonialists. This in ignorance of the fact that many Natives live on either underdeveloped reserves or in poverty-stricken urban areas, making taxes simply a hassle they need not face but nothing that keeps them from struggling in their daily lives. Not to mention the tax arrangements were made hundreds of years ago, but that of course is of no consequence to the colonialist argument.

What seems to be at the root of the anti-Native sentiment is the irredentist, conquistador, assimilation mentality that permeates Canadian society regarding the original inhabitants of this land. It’s not as if they are all overtly racist, although a healthy heaping of them certainly are. Instead, the idea is simply that if Natives want to “succeed” (i.e. become good workers for the capitalists), they must give up their culture, land and identity and simply become Canadian like the rest of us. Some might notice how this ideology is also applied to Quebec and French-speaking Canadians in general.

The saddest part of this is that many holders of this viewpoint don’t realize the harm caused by their mentality – indeed, I believe many see themselves as peace-loving, equality-minded individuals. But they see “Canada” as a monolithic ideal, and the Canadian identity as something that must be held by all residents of this land. French-speaking or Native-descended citizens who resist having their cultural identity imperialistically replaced are seen as nothing more than shit-disturbers.

It’s a sad scar on the face of Canada that we love to hide. We broadcast and, in the case of these Olympics, advertise our identity to the world, telling them that we have no racism here, no violence, no social upheaval. We tell the world that Canada is the land of peace, and never is that more enthusiastically embraced than in the context of the “we are not America” aspect of our identity.

Against the ostensibly united Canada seen in our English-speaking settler-towns and countryside, the Quebec independence referendums and the Native-police confrontations of the past thirty or so years testify to the reality of our history and its consequences. Far from being simply “une épopée des plus brillants exploits”, our history is first conquest, then division, then assimilationism. Anybody who cares to read deeper into Canadian history than what’s offered by grade ten courses on the subject would be all too aware of that.

But this is not the Canada that we have been trying to build. Since the ascent of Pierre Elliot Trudeau to the prime ministry in the 1960s, our national project has been to make what it means to be “Canadian” multidimensional, unlike the melting-pot ideals that pervade south of the border. We are hyphenated in our unity - one can be an “Irish-Canadian”, “Serbian-Canadian”, “Chinese-Canadian” or “French-Canadian” at home but simply a “Canadian” when travelling abroad, proud to hold a Canadian passport.

Have we failed, then, to understand what this means regarding French and Native Canada? Have we, English Canada, monopolized what it means to be a Canadian?

This is the trouble with these Olympics, for as an English-speaking Canadian I cannot help but feel an overwhelming sense of pride at what was accomplished in Vancouver. Not only in the athletes whose prowess at their sports brought pride to the hearts of Canadians, but also in the working Canadians whose hands built these Olympics. They are a testament to what we are capable of as a nation.

As a socialist, and therefore as a person who trembles at injustice, I cannot in good conscience call these games a success. The poor of Vancouver, the working people who still struggle to stay afloat, the Natives who came looking for a better life and were met with poverty wages, these people were cheated out of a place in Canada’s Olympic sun. The behaviour of the RCMP and Vancouver Police in doing what they could to prevent criticism of the games from being too public runs counter to the Canadian-claimed spirit of freedom of expression.

Contrary to what many may believe, socialists are not anti-sport. Rather, every socialist country in modern history has put great emphasis on sports and physical activity as a way of bringing the people together in unity.

So why, then, are so many socialists opposed to our Olympics?

Because sports are for people, not for profit. Corporate profiteers engage in a virtual bidding orgy every time the Olympics come around, hoping to snap the best advertising timeslots and prices. It is disgusting that Canada’s 2010 Olympics were, behind the pride in our athletes, nothing but a cash-grab by the already over-fed rich men of our nation.

If in the future we have a socialist revolution, and it comes time for the People’s Republic of Canada to host the Olympic Games, it will be a grand celebration of our country and the nations that live within it. It will be a spectacular show of the skills of Canadian athletes and the might of the Canadian working class who, as mentioned, are the ones who build every venue, every highway, every podium and every apartment building that make the Olympics happen. Absurd commercials that sickening amounts of money paid for will not be featured in our People’s Olympics.

And in the meantime, it would be helpful for the Canadian government to sign at least one treaty regarding our governance of British Columbia. Do most Canadians know that unlike every other province, BC is in its entirety unsurrendered Native land? Settlement on unsurrendered lands was illegal back then even under our own laws. It’s high time something was done about that.

Remember, colonialists: every reaction is caused by an equal and opposite action. If the Natives are reacting to something, stop and ask yourself what action caused them to react instead of making mindless, racist conclusions. It’s time for Canada to step out of the 18th Century, we are not colonists anymore.


* FOR DEFINITION'S SAKE:
Colonialist - one who advocates a colonial system or the colonization of a country or people; an ideologue.

Colonist - one who participates in a colonial project as a pawn, and not a power-broker, of the colonial system
OR
one who lives on conquered land but does not necessarily support or even know the workings of the colonial system.

Statement of WFDY On the Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, Canada

The opening of the 2010 Winter Olympic Games has been met with a wide-range of protest in the streets of Vancouver, Canada. The World Federation of Democratic Youth expresses its solidarity with the popular opposition to this corporate circus.

The Olympic Games are supposed to be about peace and friendship. The Canadian government has no mandate to host the Games. It is implicated in operations to destabilize African countries like of the coast of Somalia. It has deployed thousands of police and troops into Haiti. It is providing vocal diplomatic support to the Apartheid regime of Israeli. It is engaged in an imperialist war in Afghanistan. In a reactionary affront to democracy, Canada’s Conservative government dissolved the current parliamentary session because of the Olympics - although in reality parliament was shut down to avoid a growing torture scandal involving Canadian troops in Afghanistan.

The 2010 Olympics are racist and dishonorable towards Aboriginal nations. For example, the symbol of the games is an Inuit sculpture, a people whose territory is thousands of kilometers away. But “branding” can not hide the long genocidal history of the Canadian state and ruling class towards the Aboriginal nations. Despite public pressure, the Canadian state refuses to sign the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The Games will be held on unsurrendered Aboriginal land where no treaties have been signed and resistance continues. Today, one-in-two Aboriginal children, including First Nations and Metis people, live in poverty. On many Indian Reserves there is no clean drinking water. The opening of the Games coincides with a Canada-wide day of action for the over 3000 Aboriginal women who have gone missing or been murdered since 1980. As aboriginal peoples and their allies have said, big business and the government have no respect for aboriginal sovereignty and self-determination, no money to ‘pay the rent.’ But there are billions of dollars to spend on Olympics.

In fact, just the ‘security’ bill for the Olympics - involving US and Canadian military, as well as thousands of para-military police - is $1 billion. This is an attempt to prevent people’s democratic right to protest, free speech and association. Striking workers have been legislated back to work for the Olympics. Thousands of poor people made homeless and criminalized. Environments and ecosystems have been destroyed. The recent border interrogation of progressive US radio host Amy Goodman has brought into the public spotlight the aggressive police harassment and repression of anti-Olympic activists.

The Olympic Games have transferred billions of dollars from the working people to corporate coffers. The immense public debt generated by the Olympics represents money that should have been spent on people’s needs, like job creation, more accessible education, housing, health care, libraries, child care, and affordable transit. The WFDY salutes those who opposed this injustice, particularly sister Harriet Nahannee who died from pneumonia afflicted while unjustly jailed for protesting. WFDY calls for sports to cherish fair-play and cooperation and promote peace, internationalism and solidarity - not militarism, elitism and consumerism.

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!
Sports for people, not profit!

Let history remember the real legacy of the 2010 Games! No Olympics on stolen native land! Resist the 2010 corporate circus!

Statement issued jointly by the YCL-LJC CEC and BC Provincial Committee

The YCL-LJC re-affirms its opposition to the 2010 Olympic Winter Games being held in Vancouver and Whistler starting this February, and expresses solidarity with the cross-Canada youth resistance to the Games. The Games are a massive party for the wealthy on the backs of the poor. They should be opposed by all progressive youth and students.

The 2010 Olympics are not just a bad decision by a bad government. They are part of the continued corporate offensive, led by the BC Gordon Campbell’s Liberal government on behalf of the capitalist class, against the working class, the youth, and the students. The Harper Conservatives use of the Olympics as an excuse to prorogue federal parliament further exposes this corporate circus.

These governments have no mandate to host a sports event claiming to be about peace and friendship. The Harper Conservatives are at war in Afghanistan. The preparations for the Games have left thousands of BC resident’s homeless and many criminalized by various bylaws and Olympic "security." The goal is to untruthful present Canada as a society without poverty. To the contrary, working class families, including unionized workers, are under attack.

Bill 21 forced striking Paramedics back to work without a negotiated collective agreement, attempting to legislate "labour peace" before the Olympics. Many Olympic projects are P3 privatization scandals. Workers must now pay billions of dollars for money wasted on the Games while public services suffer further cuts. The Games are too expensive for most workers to even attend.

The tokenism in Olympic advertising (such as the Inuit inuksuk mascot) fails to obscure the anti-First Nations nature of the Games. The Games will be held on unsurrendered Aboriginal land, where no Treaties have been signed. Olympic security costs are reportedly over $1 billion, while one in two off-reserve Aboriginal children live in poverty. Aboriginal nations, including First Nations and the Métis people, face a racist colonial legacy, including the highest rates of poverty and unemployment in British Columbia, not addressed by the Games.

While global warming is causing international alarm, the Olympics have destroyed forests, fish and wildlife habitats. The Eagle Ridge Bluffs was ruined for an unnecessary highway. We salute those who opposed this injustice, particularly sister Harriet Nahannee who died from pneumonia caught while unjustly jailed for protesting.

Any opposition to the Olympics is being met with harassment, intimidation, threats of violence and arrests. The Vancouver/Whistler area has been transformed into a militarized police zone, including 4,000 US and Canadian troops, to suspend the people’s democratic rights to protest, freedom of speech, expression, and association.

The Olympic Games have transferred billions of dollars from the working people of BC to corporate coffers. The immense public debt generated by the Olympics represents money that should have been spent on people’s needs, like job creation, more accessible education, housing, health care, libraries, child care, and affordable transit.

The YCL-LJC calls for participation in demonstrations being planned in the lead up to, and during the Olympic Games. Provincial infrastructure development must honour aboriginal nation’s right to sovereignty and self-determination. We demand that recreation, leisure time and a democratic culture including sports is a right – not a privilege. Women’s participation in sports should be encouraged, not excluded. Sports should cherish human qualities of fair-play and cooperation and promote peace, internationalism, solidarity – not militarism, elitism and consumerism. We fight for this better future and call for all like-minded youth to join the struggle!


Read more about the Olympics on the Rebel Youth Blog

Visit the Olympic Resistance Network online