WORLD WORLDWIDE FRANCE News Journal Update - (en) France, OCL CA #337 - JOP and struggles against land planning (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

At the start of 2024, where are we with the anti-Olympic struggles in
France and elsewhere? This short summary will be biased and incomplete.
It was written by members of Saccage 2024, a collective which has been
fighting since 2020 against the preparation and holding of the Olympic
and Paralympic Games, whether for 2024 in Paris or elsewhere. ---- We
are six months before the start of the Olympic and Paralympic Games
(JOP) in Paris. A month ago, the International Olympic Committee (IOC)
announced that the candidacy of the French Alps (Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes
and PACA region) was the only serious one for hosting the 2030 Winter
Games - which does not leave no respite from the anti-Olympic fight in
France for the next few years. The hoarding of water for artificial snow
and the construction of several Olympic villages and infrastructures
favoring devastating tourism and gentrification of cities are already
hitting hard the regions of Milano and Cortina d'Ampezzo in Italy, which
are hosting the JOPs winter in 2026. In Los Angeles (United States),
"your face, your ticket" advertisements announce the deployment of
surveillance technologies for the 2028 Olympic Games.

Anti-JOP struggles

The Olympic and Paralympic Games seem to run like a steamroller. Every
two years, a host city or region becomes a giant playground for real
estate speculators, construction industries, security technology
companies, multinational sponsors and elected officials seeking
population control, of nationalist pride or just corrupt, all this under
the aegis of the IOC mafia and with the complicity of governments. But
the unstoppable appearance of the Olympic mega-machine is deceptive:
each edition of the JOP has provoked resistance and victorious
struggles. Some took place before the choice of the candidacy, such as
the large mobilizations in the Pyrenees-Catalonia mountains organized by
Stop JJOO (1) in 2021 which pushed Spain to withdraw the candidacy for
the 2030 winter JOPs, or the counter-propaganda work carried out in 2015
by Nolympia Hamburg (2) which led to a "no" in the municipal referendum
on hosting the 2024 Olympic Games. Other victories, often more bitter,
were carried out after the choice of the host city. This is the case for
the few families who managed to counter the expulsions in the favelas of
Rio de Janeiro in 2016, or, more distantly, the rebellion of the
population of Denver in 1976 which succeeded in removing the JOP from At
her place.

Today, several collectives are fighting in France against the JOP 2024
and the Alps' candidacy for the JOP 2030. Where the devastation of the
JOP 2024 is strongest, in Seine-Saint-Denis, Marseille and Tahiti,
mobilizations are underway. In Marseille, which hosts the sailing
events, the Marseille Counter Olympics Coordination is organizing in
particular against the gentrification of the city and the social
cleansing caused by Airbnb, when the Prado Swimmers defend the public
beaches of Marseille against their privatization. In Tahiti, it is
mainly the infrastructures under construction linked to surfing events
which are provoking resistance from local associations and
organizations, in particular the new judges' tower which risks
destroying the corals of Teahupo'o (3). In the Alps, NO JO (4) has
already been campaigning for several years against the candidacy,
through anti-Olympic sports weekends, roundabout blockages, public
presentations, skiing on asphalt, etc. Last December's decision
regarding this candidacy created a new wave of mobilizations in several
towns in the French Alps.

The collective, progress report
These different struggles feed off each other and are part of a broader
anti-Olympic story of which Saccage 2024 is also a part. A short
presentation of this collective and its history will allow both to
situate the subject and to begin to tell the story of existing struggles
against the JOP 2024. The collective was formed in November 2020 in
Seine-Saint-Denis, first in the form of a coalition of different local
struggles against JOP 2024 projects. Its first actions were toxic tour
organized regularly in the different places concerned and by the people
fighting on site: the inhabitants of the ADEF home in Saint-Ouen
threatened with expulsion, the parents of students at the Anatole France
School in Saint-Ouen Denis who fought against the construction of a
motorway interchange with five ramps just above their children's school,
the members of Notre Parc N'est Pas à Vente who defended the Parc de la
Courneuve against the construction of the village media, the gardeners
of the Collective for the Defense of the Jardins des Vertus
(Aubervilliers)... This coalition of collectives was able to rely on the
work that had already begun with No to the Olympic Games in Paris, which
was already fighting in 2015 against the candidacy, and the JO St Denis
Vigilance Committee which closely followed the urban transformations of
the city.

The first year was therefore marked by investigative work on the various
construction projects, dissemination of this information via the media,
social networks, leaflets, collages, demonstrations and disruptions of
public events. Numerous legal appeals were launched, occupations took
place, notably for several months in the Aubervilliers gardens, and
construction site blockades were organized. Only two local struggles
were (partially) successful: the shooting event was moved to
Châteauroux, in an already existing structure, instead of concreting and
privatizing a new part of the Parc de la Courneuve; and the solarium
construction project, attached to the JOP training pool and going to
concrete part of the Aubervilliers allotment gardens, was abandoned
following a court decision. Of all the legal procedures, it is the only
one to have resulted favorably, undoubtedly thanks to the strong
mobilization created around the occupation of the gardens and other
forms of associated struggles. The other scandalous constructions were
only delayed by the struggles.

At the end of 2021, Saccage 2024 underwent two big changes, notably
becoming a collective in its own right and no longer just a coalition.
The beginnings were very focused on construction and the associated
ecological issues, and there was a movement towards other types of
destruction of the JOP 2024 which were beginning to be seen. Also,
Rampage 2024 has begun to assert a clearly anti-Olympic position. This
was not the case at the beginning, because certain collectives which
were part of it did not support this line (especially for strategic
reasons). By doing this, the collective became internationalized, in the
sense that it became an active member of the international anti-Olympic
movement. It hosted the second meeting of the international movement in
Seine-Saint-Denis during a weekend in May 2021 (5).

The investigative and counter-propaganda work is still continuing,
trying to disseminate the anti-Olympic arguments beyond Paris and 93.
This is undoubtedly what takes the members of the collective the most
time. We thought this work would be done by larger organizations -
associations or unions - but we realized quite quickly that this would
not be the case. Among them, only the Asso and 93 branch of Solidaires,
and the CNT are officially against the 2024 JOP. The associations, even
environmental ones, have not spoken out. For what? For some, it is the
"popular" side of the Games that is blocking them. For others, and
that's most of them, it's the fear of seeing public subsidies withdrawn.

Another line of struggle is to support as much as possible the actions
and mobilizations which arise around the JOPs, in a clearly anti-Olympic
line, or simply as a pretext to obtain something else. This was the case
during the movement against the pension reform in 2023, where the
collective supported several blockages and intrusions into JOP sites
with unions or mobilized collectives, in the wave of the slogan "no
withdrawal, no Olympic Games." This is also the case in the context of
the struggle of undocumented workers on JOP construction sites and
elsewhere. In October 2023, a one-day strike on the Aréna Porte de la
Chapelle construction site, supported by around a hundred people from
undocumented migrant collectives and supporters, gave rise to
significant concessions from Bouygues and subcontractors for the
regularization of undocumented immigrants on the construction site.
Pressure continues for regularization and against the Darmanin law, and
the JOP can form an important lever for these struggles. Inspired by
other anti-Olympic resistances before us, it seems important to us to
make links with broader struggles on the territory. Because it is not
the Olympic and Paralympic Games that invented gentrification, the rise
of security, transphobia or capitalism, but we are fighting against them
because it is a mega-event that gives a boost to all these developments:
because it plays on an image (sport-washing) but it is a pretext for
other political and economic agendas, because its international scope
unlocks public and private money for projects which were beginning to
waste their breath (like the Grand Paris Express), and because it
involves exceptions to common law, such as that of local democracy but
also labor law.

For six months there has also been an inter-organization against the
devastation of the Olympic and Paralympic Games. It brings together
collectives, associations and unions once a month with the aim of
creating a common anti-racist, feminist, anti-validist and
anti-capitalist front a few months before the JOP. The objective is to
coordinate on respective actions, and also to create joint
mobilizations, in connection with the collectives fighting in Marseille,
in the Alps and in Milan-Cortina. Two national days of decentralized
actions were organized on December 2, 2023 and January 6, 2024. The next
one will take place on February 6 to support the collectives in struggle
in Italy. At the same time, the Reverse of the Medal (6), bringing
together associations and NGOs, was formed and is lobbying institutions
to limit the social damage of the 2024 JOPs.

What are the prospects for the future?
the final decision of the IOC which would confirm the hosting of the JOP
2030 by the Auvergne Rhône Alpes and PACA regions will be taken during
the summer. Mobilization against this candidacy and any support for NO
JO Alpes is therefore a priority for the coming months, as we know that
it is difficult to fight after the signing of the host city contract.
Especially since succeeding in having this candidacy abandoned would
leave the IOC without another candidate, which would be a big shake-up
in the continuing history of the JOP...
several collectives organize sports events in opposition to the values
of Olympicism, such as in Marseille or Montreuil. Working on closer ties
with amateur sports collectives in different cities in France ahead of
the Olympic Games would be important to counter the ideology of
capitalist, competitive and non-inclusive sport.
strengthening the international movement is an important dimension of
the struggle. It is thanks to exchanges with past struggles that we were
able to deconstruct recurring Olympic propaganda speeches ("it will
create jobs", "these will be the greenest Games in history", "there will
have social housing", etc.), and have ideas for action and advice.
what will happen just before the JOP and during it will be even harder
to live with for many people, expulsions, arrests, police and military
violence are to be expected, and it is now that we should try to
organize specific support networks.
Collectif Saccage 2024, January 2024

News from Île-de-France
A sports festival?

The Olympics have lost much of their popularity because of the prices
which make them inaccessible to the majority of the population whom the
authorities had previously lured with false promises. In particular, the
draws left many disappointed. Add to this that, on the other hand, they
report a lot of hassle: endless work which greatly disrupts daily life,
particularly in 93, public transport already disrupted even though we
are far from being there, increase in prices in perspective... Absolute
paradox for a so-called sports festival: the activities of some of the
sports associations are hampered. For example, the Montreuil swimming
pool, selected to his great pride as a training pool, is 10 centimeters
short of being the Olympic regulation size. It is therefore closed for
work and the local swimming clubs no longer have a swimming pool... To
my knowledge, no compensation is planned. And there are many such examples.

What mobility?
I don't know if you followed, but the Canard chainé launched a bit of
humor that part of the Ile-de-France population was going to be confined
during the games (in fact, the prefecture has already asked not to move
around too much and not to take too much transport). This was
immediately taken up as serious information, including by major media,
and everyone believed it to the point that the prefecture had to publish
a denial. This says a lot about how games are perceived. And despite the
denial, we are not at peace.

Expulsion of the poor
In fact, the "Olympic Games, accelerators of the future" (official
slogan for me) are indeed an accelerator of gentrification and the works
that accompany Greater Paris. In 93, there is so much work that we have
to use the GPS to get to the neighboring town. It is a formidable tool
in the service of this project of expulsion of the poor. Until the
winter break, the rate of expulsion of squats was impressive. There was
at least one call for mobilization per day, and even then I only follow
local calls. The hunt for homeless people, particularly along highways,
has intensified. If the government had to back down on the expulsion of
students from CROUS accommodation, the hotels where social services put
the poorly housed are emptied in preparation for the games. In short, we
cannot say that the Olympics are responsible for gentrification, but
they rush us towards this hell very quickly, leaving no time for the
slightest attempt at resistance to organize.

Undocumented immigrants on construction sites
There also remains the question of undocumented immigrants. You don't
need to be a great cleric to guess that there are many of them toiling
on construction sites that must be completed on time. In fact, if an
undocumented migrant working for the Olympic Games individually requests
regularization through a union, they have it quite easily. The risk is
too great for the authorities to fall behind. The problem is that there
is a cascade of subcontractors, that undocumented immigrants are
scattered across numerous construction sites, which makes collective
struggle complicated to organize. Hence the importance of the action
which was carried out on October 17 to occupy the ARENA construction
site, Porte de la Chapelle, which is to host Olympic and Paraolympic
events this summer. It was not the work of the workers on this site. But
the occupation of an emblematic construction site made it possible to
create a balance of power, to attract media attention to the employment
of undocumented immigrants and to obtain progress in regularization. The
organizers of the Olympic Games visibly fear a spotlight on the
employment of undocumented immigrants. But in these times of ruthless
repression and fascistization of the political arena, the fight is
difficult.

Sylvie, 93, January 2024

Notes
(1) https://stopjjoo.cat/
(2) https://www.nolympia-hamburg.de/
(3) https://www.change.org/p/faatura-ia...
(4) ) https://no-jo.fr/ni-ici/
(5) Thanks to the work of Non aux JOs, we very quickly had links with
collectives who had fought against the JOPs in their region in past
years, London, in Rio, in Tokyo, in Hamburg, and who fought against the
JOP for the following years, notably in Los Angeles, and against the
candidacies of Sapporo and the Catalan Pyrenees. Several moved. The
recordings and reports from this weekend are available here:
https://saccage2024.noblogs.org/arc... .
(6) https://lereversdelamedaille.fr/

http://oclibertaire.lautre.net/spip.php?article4072
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