WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE PARIS News Journal Update - (en) France, Organisation Communiste Libertarie (OCL) - The 2024 JOPs: chronicle of an announced toughening (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 

See online: "Against the Paris Olympic Games" SACCAGE 2024 ---- Here we
take up a text from the SACCAGE 2024 collective which fights the Paris
Olympic Games and provides important work of analysis and deciphering of
the various issues at stake in the Games. Progress update on the budget
and security... ---- As the Olympic bid files are fictions good for
overselling the event, everything that was promised is betrayed and all
the betrayals come true. Update on a scam with a small update of the
most scandalous data available on the Olympics at the start of 2024 -
rest assured, the reality will be worse.

Progress update at the start of 2024

The budget

Sold and oversold as being sober, slim and on track, everything
indicates that it is about to explode, like every edition. Certainly, we
are not reaching the stratospheric figures of China, Russia or Japan,
but the government is taking France down a dangerous slope, without
admitting it.

Several data points to the point.

Initially, the public budget was supposed to be "limited" to just over
one billion euros. However, Parliament voted, during the 2022 finance
bill, a guarantee of 3 billion euros for Cojop. So, this means that this
sum is largely achievable, which was confirmed before the Senate by the
President of the Court of Auditors on 01/10/2023, after "taking into
account tax expenditures, security and health expenditures,
transport"... Currently this cost is "2.4 billion euros (1.3 billion EUR
for the State and 1.1 billion EUR for local authorities", according to him.

Furthermore, an article from Le Monde confirms the financial "slippage"
for the 2024 Olympic Games.

Thus, the Court of Auditors, which never fails to make known its
attachment to the "success of the Games", is impatient at still not
being "able to assess the overall cost" of the Olympic and Paralympic
Games (JOP). and the "final impact" that they will have on public
finances in general, State and local authorities combined. "The Court
reiterates its recommendation that, beyond the financial model of
Solideo [1]and the budget of Cojop [2], all investment and operating
costs incurred for the Games and the "the opportunity for the Games to
be consolidated", in his report.

The simple fact that security is not included in this official review
shows that the initial budget, already officially exceeded, will be even
more so since, at the very least, security will amount to at least one
billion euros. Indeed, the London Olympics have already practically
reached this figure. Given the current situation and France's desire to
organize a spectacular opening ceremony mobilizing considerable security
forces, there is no reason why it should be less.

Furthermore, we note a certain number of approximations and absences in
the official figures. Thus, "health" is not taken into account or simply
within the framework of the "Impact 2024" budget which includes projects
in favor of well-being and health, educational and civic success, as
well as inclusion, solidarity and equality through sport." Surprisingly,
the government forgets Olympic Law No. 2 which in its articles 1 to 5
creates a medical center with medical and nuclear imaging for the use of
participants (athletes and other members of delegations) completely
free, financed by social security, final charge for the State. Medicines
will also be provided. The medical and para-medical staff of the teams
are authorized to practice. All this will be done directly at the
expense of the state.

Nothing is said either about budget overruns concerning transport
infrastructure charged to the Greater Paris budget. These overruns are
explained by an acceleration of the work to be completed in 2024. There
is great uncertainty on this. We would be looking at an overall
additional cost of 7 billion in the Grand Paris budget for the moment
without at any time that resulting from projects directly linked to the
Olympics being officially specified by the Grand Paris company. Usually,
when it's blurry, there's a wolf. We must expect several billions which
are intended to be absorbed by public money, in one way or another.

Some approximations: the government gives state expenditure stricto
sensu (and therefore not all), not those of other public organizations
which contribute to financing the Olympics. So the Cultural Olympics
(for example), it's 31.9 million, not 20. It's true that we're not close
to 12 million when it comes to public money.

In short, bets are off regarding overtaking. More than a billion, that's
for sure, but doubling the budget is possible. Let us remember that the
recent law restricting the unemployed was made to save 2 billion on
their backs and that the country was mistreated for a pension reform
which scrapes 2 billion per year from those entitled to it.

The legend of socially inclusive JOPs has fizzled out.

The price of places has exploded: despite a rather complex system of
quotas for affordable places, you will have to pay 200 euros for the
best places in the rhythmic gymnastics qualifications and up to 690
euros during the athletics sessions. .

The best seats during the opening ceremony cost 2700 euros, the cheapest
250 euros (no point rushing for these, there are no more and in any
case, they are standing places). For the Paralympic Games, it is
cheaper: only 450 to 700 euros.

Concerning the cost of hotels, the UfC Que Choisir notes that it reaches
"1,033 euros, average price charged for the night of July 26 to 27, 2024"

Students who will see their Crous accommodation requisitioned during the
Paris Olympic Games will receive compensation of "100 euros" and "two
places" offered to attend "Olympic events", announced the Minister of
Higher Education, Sylvie Retailleau, Thursday October 26. On the
occasion of the Paris Olympic Games, more than 2,000 students will, in
fact, have to be rehoused, because their accommodation Crous, an
organization which notably manages student residences, will be
requisitioned to house firefighters, caregivers, security forces. order
and civil security.

Concerning the cost of passing the Olympic Flame, it is 180,000 euros
for the local authority concerned. This figure led to a certain number
of refusals: Vosges, Meurthe-et-Moselle, Indre-et-Loire, Lot-et-Garonne,
Creuse, Haute-Loire and Haute-Vienne, Loire -Atlantique, Côtes-d'Armor
and Orne do not want it because of the check requested by the organizers.

Finally, the metro ticket doubles (increasing to EUR4 per ticket during
the Games), and the PassNavigo at EUR70, the initial promise being that
of free public transport during the Olympics, essentially in the name of
ecology.

Still to illustrate the socially inclusive nature of the Olympics, some
do not hesitate to talk about social cleansing as the Olympics approach:
intensification of police harassment against the homeless and migrants
between the La Chapelle and République metro stations with brutal
practices of destruction of precarious habitats or gassing to render
them unusable. Furthermore, the Paris prefecture announced that certain
"red zones" around the Olympic sites would not be accessible to the
movement of homeless people during the Olympics - La Villette park is
one of them where homeless people take refuge. .

More than 3,000 social hotel spaces closed during the year in
anticipation of welcoming tourists during the Olympics. Last April, the
Unibéton squat, where 500 people lived on Île-Saint-Denis, was destroyed
to become a construction site for the Olympic village. Two other
undocumented migrant squats were evicted this summer.

To accommodate those who are expelled from camps or squats, around ten
temporary reception centers have been opened in several French regions
since April 2023. Migrants are sent to the region for three weeks so
that their situation is resolved. evaluated. If they do not meet the
criteria for asylum applications, they return to the streets. So far,
1,600 migrants have been evacuated from Paris to other regions,
according to the housing ministry, through the "regional reception
centers". In the provinces, the migrants, too poor, too colorful, will
be less visible and will less annoy the eye of the tourist enamored of
Olympic exploits.

Security

Concerning security, we have already given the elements of Olympic Law
No. 2 which is a global security law providing for the development of
algorithmic video surveillance (VSA) by the installation of this
hardware in numerous locations as well as their possible boarding. on
drones, themselves moreover recently widespread for the surveillance of
public events. We have already indicated how VSA is a further step in
the surveillance of public space, individual and collective behavior and
that it prefigures facial recognition. The "experimental" deployment of
this technology only deceives those who want to be deceived. See our
comrades from La Quadrature du Net

Furthermore, AFP confirmed from October 23, 2023 the militarization of
public space, the prerogative of all Olympic editions, by the
announcement by the military governor of Paris of 15,000 soldiers for
the event.

Some 5,000 of them will be housed in tents in the heart of Paris, on the
Reuilly lawn, for the duration of the Olympic Games.

These announced numbers do not take into account a possible failure on
the side of private security, a sector of activity whose difficulties
make the Organizing Committee (Cojo) and the State fear not being able
to bring together enough private agents. For the sole security of
competition sites, which is the responsibility of Cojo, between 17,000
and 22,000 security agents are needed.

In a letter written by the prefect of Île-de-France to the Minister of
Transport in December 2023, he wrote: "In certain places, the transport
plan only allows spectators to be transported if all other travelers or
almost were dissuaded from taking the metro, the RER or the bus."

Already, some companies are considering closure and technical
unemployment for the Olympic period, because it will be almost
impossible to access certain areas of the capital. As for the
Government, it encourages all Ile-de-France residents to return to
teleworking or vacations.

At each edition of the Olympic Games we see a waste of public money
accompanied by lies aimed at hiding the politics of fait accompli, a
shameless social contempt going hand in hand with a decline in public
freedoms and serious attacks on fundamental rights, a social cleansing
marking another step in the long-term war waged by public authorities
against migrants and the poorest. The edition of the 2024 Olympic Games
in Paris confirms that, no more than in any other area, there is no
French exception.

Presentation of the SACCAGE 2024 collective
We have entered into resistance in the face of the ecological and social
destruction caused by the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. We, residents of
Seine-Saint-Denis and its surroundings, associations and collectives,
have come together to defend the spaces where we live, where we live,
where we meet, where we build relationships and where we have fun,
threatened by the preparation and holding of these games.

Saccage 2024 is a collective for raising awareness, organizing and
supporting anti-JOP mobilizations

The Olympics projects began despite the health crisis and local
resistance, and the accumulated delays are accelerating their pace and
degrading working conditions. The consequences are numerous:
unbreathable neighborhoods (acceleration of concrete construction and
pollution), unaffordable ( real estate speculation, leading to the
expulsion of the poor and modest), policed (imposition of investor and
tourism standards, surveillance and repression), establishment of large
brands, reduction of public spaces and parks, disappearance of protected
species, etc. And the list is still long. The various devastations
caused by the Olympic Games only accelerate the ecological problems and
social injustices in our cities, and deprive us of the means to decide
collectively about what surrounds us.

Since October 2020, we, collectives, associations and residents, have
mixed our voices and our desires to act within the Saccage 2024
coalition, by dealing with the different positions and strategies of
each one, so that this disastrous legacy is not imposed on the
territories concerned. This coalition aims to strengthen our force of
action in the face of urban transformations. It also symbolizes that
these projects, as scattered as they appear, are all part of a vision
that we reject - that of the transformation of our living spaces into an
ever more globalized, unequal and devastating metropolis for our
environments.

It is in resistance that other futures are built! and we wish to
contribute to their emergence, starting from the people most affected by
these changes, in conjunction with those who are already organizing to
resist metropolisation and who are developing mutual aid, in solidarity
with all residents' struggles against deadly metropolitan projects.

On Saturday October 16, we spent a day discussing what pushed us to
fight against the destruction of the Olympics; find our quick report:

An update on the objectives of Saccage 2024 (look back at October 16)

on February 6, 2021, in front of Paris City Hall; that was our call. A
call to resist the destruction imposed by a major event like the 2024
Olympics.

Find it here:

The call of the Saccage 2024 collective

Notes
[1] Olympic works delivery company, the company responsible for the
construction of the Olympic sites

[2] the Organizing Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4038
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