You heard it here first – well, no, not quite first, but you are hearing it here from the horse’s mouth.
Even as the Olympic Torch was being flown in to Victoria for the 2010 Winter Games and protests were being prepared for that event, a leading critic of the government handling of the Games slated for the Lower Mainland in February was telling an audience in Comox that B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and his Liberal government have just about guaranteed themselves a wave of protests at Olympic events and areas in the coming months.
University of B.C. professor Chris Shaw told a public meeting of the Council of Canadians that the premier and his followers have done that in numerous ways in three main areas:
erosion of freedom of speech, social rights and liberties and social housing for the homeless or destitute, not to mention broken promises regarding social programs and the undermining of civil liberties supposed to have been entrenched through the Canadian Charter of Rights. All done through legislation and plans to draft in military and RCMP security personnel (and assistance from the United States if deemed necessary) to suppress protests and demonstrations and materials seen as not being conducive to the smooth operation of the Games;
adverse impact on the environment and addition to global warming through logging for roads and other construction (such as security camps), and other failure to do things in the most environmentally-friendly manner while supporting seriously-questionable industrial projects such as the Run-of-River independent-power-producer projects;
-- utter failure to hold even close to the cost estimates on which the $34-million Vancouver Olympic Committee (VANOC) bid was based or the initial post-bid estimates, such as the price of security – now admitted to be at $900 million-$1billion (and still rising) as compared to an initial estimate of $175 million.
Most of all, said Shaw following showing part of a documentary film by producer Conrad Schmidt outlining social and financial concerns, the government has taken increasingly draconian measures since 2006 to suppress criticism, discourage the reporting of negative aspects of the preparations for the Games, and if possible, intimidate opponents into silence.
Too often, Shaw said, the major media have simply gone along with that without expression of criticism or concern. That’s only now starting to emerge a little, he said, following the government having stepped up legislation to disenfranchise and gag its opponents and critics in numbers of areas.
Not only that, said Shaw, but in addition to the expected tax hikes we can all count on in the wake of the Games, Vancouver City taxpayers have also been left “on the hook” and holding the bucket for cleaning up a huge mortgage mess for the Olympic Village, which will add significantly for years to come to the burden of residential taxpayers already reeling from the impact of the current recession.
Shaw, who said he and some of his family and friends have already been approached quite aggressively for information about him and his plans regarding the Games, said he’s particularly worried about what he’s already seeing in the suppression of civil rights in Canada.
He made it clear that protests now being planned will unquestionably take place outside the so-called “designated areas”. One of the main breaches of civil liberties already being challenged is the increased right of security persons and the police to enter into homes in some municipalities, to seize signs and materials visible from outside which may lead to the Games being seen in a less-than-favorable light.
On that basis alone, said Shaw, he and others will be carrying out rallies, demonstrations and acts of civil disobedience before and during the Games.
Shaw said the authorities have also refused to even attempt to define what woulod constitute disturbance or disruptions of people’s “enjoyment” of the Games, an offence that can carry a $10,000 fine and/or time in jail.
Shaw, who stressed he’s not against the Games and the sports events as such but loathes the way the provincial government has sought to oppress freedom of speech and expression in the leadup to the Games, said he’s personally against personal violence – which he said means doing anything which causes physical hurt to anyone else.
He said though that just as security organizers have refused to rule out the possible use of agents provocateurs, he doesn’t rule out damage being done to Olympic machinery and other things connected to the Games. That, he reminded, has happened as a collateral result of human protests in other similar settings in the past.
Shaw said that, just like a door hinge, unless used, protected and exercised from time to time, human rights tend to become “rusty”, even in Canada.
He urged people begin taking action immediately - to protest the government’s actions, not the holding of the sporting events - starting with the journey of the Olympic torch in Canada.