A-Infos (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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