Olympic Spirit, Olympic Shame
Illustrations by Julie Snache
Hey there. My name’s Jordan. I just started highschool this year in my hometown, Fort McMurray. But I’m not there right now. My family and I—that’s me, my parents and my little brother Mikey—are off to the Vancouver Olympics! It’s really exciting. In school we’ve been talking about supporting our athletes and cheering for Canada—I get to do it all live! And my family’s even more connected to all of it than lots of people, because my dad works for Petro Canada, and my mom works for RBC. They’re both supporting the Olympics. Cool, eh? The drive only takes two days!
“So Jordan, what are you looking forward to the most?” my dad asked.
“Um, the hockey game—and the figure skating. Oh and seeing all the trees and the mountains!” It was all going to be exciting.
“Well, we’ll be at both of those events in just a few days! But you’ll be right in the heart of the mountains before you know it—we’re coming up on the Sea-to-Sky Highway now!”
Sea-to-sky. I love that name. And soon enough, we were driving along that very highway. The mountains were all around us. And trees too… just that more were cut down than I’d pictured. Some big areas were all gone… Hmm. Well, it was still pretty, for the most part. I could picture all kinds of cool animals living in the forest.
“What’s that?” asked Mikey, sounding kind of grossed out.
“Oh. Son. I, um, I think that was a grizzly bear. Must’ve wandered out into the highway. But you know what they say, natural selection, right?” Dad answered.
I didn’t think that a bear would want to be so close to the highway. It was really sad. But we kept driving, and my parents changed the conversation.
“Hey kids, do you remember what you’ve been learning in school about the Olympics? It’s important to know why they’re so great! Can you tell me what they do?” mom asked.
“Ooh, I know!” Mikey said. “Lots of athletes come from all over the world and all compete together. It makes more people want to be athletes, too.”
“Great!” Mom responded.
“We talked about about how they’re a part of world peace, too. They make all the countries sort of get along well, at least for a while,” I offered. “And we learned about how Canada’s such a great leader in this, because we do lots of, you know, peace stuff.”
“That’s right Jordan, Canada’s like peacekeeping central!” my dad responded. “And they’re even cancelling Parliament so we can all just pay attention to the Games!”
We were driving into the centre of Vancouver now. We went in to the exhibit, to see all the torches from Olympics before. It was neat—there were lots of different designs. But the oldest one seemed a bit strange to me…it said it was from the 1936 Olympics, when Hitler introduced the torch relay.
“Wasn’t Hitler a bad person?” I asked. “Isn’t this, like, Nazi propaganda?”
“Yes, Jordan, he was a very bad person,” my dad answered. “But that stuff’s all in history—Hitler’s not running the Games now, is he?”
“No,” I conceded. I guess he’s right—we have Harper, who’s a good leader, not Hitler.
After seeing all the torches, we decided to go check into our hotel. When we got there, I was impressed. It looked pretty fancy. I mean, we were paying a lot for it—I think it was $5000 for the week—but “for the chance to see the Games that’s what you pay”, my dad said! And all the streets were so clean—no garbage, and there weren’t even any homeless people.
On a telephone pole in front of the building as we were going in I saw a poster that read, “Homes not Games”. This wasn’t something we’d heard in school, so I asked my mom what it meant.
“Oh, that nonsense? It’s just a bunch of complainers. They don’t understand how good the Olympics are, and they want to spoil it for everyone else.”
Hmm. That’s not an answer, I thought. But now we’re just going to go get settled into our room.
After we got our stuff put away, my dad said he was going to check out the neighbourhood. My mom, Mikey and I decided to watch some of the pre-Games coverage on CTV. They were talking about all the different sports, and it made us all really excited to go to see them the next day!
Dad wasn’t back yet and we were hungry, so we went to McDonalds for a Quatchi Burger. After dinner we ran into dad! It was kind of weird, because he was coming out of a house where a bunch of women were dancing in a window. We don’t know anyone in Vancouver so I didn’t know what he was doing inside. But his clothes were all ruffled and my mom seemed pretty mad at him. They didn’t want to talk about it, though. We just went back to the hotel and went to bed so we’d be ready to see the Games.
It’s the first day of the Games now! We’re going to see the hockey game first, but we’re going to get there early and check out all the merchandise.
Our way there was a bit slow. There were lots of police and military vehicles—some of them from the U.S. This was a bit creepy, but my dad reminded me that they’re here to keep us safe. We did make it over to where they had all the crafts on sale though.
“Oh Jordan, come look at this, you’ll really like it!” my mom said.
She was pointing to a bunch of sweaters with a Native design on them, in the Aboriginal Crafts section. I looked at the tag to see if it came from right here in B.C.—that would be cool. It said “Made in China”. I guess they have to do that to make enough, right? I don’t know…in school we learned about how all the local businesses were going to benefit from all the tourists spending money, but this isn’t local, so I don’t really understand how that’s happening. My mom bought us all sweaters, though.
“Hey team! Let’s get going to the hockey game!” my dad called. “Ready to cheer on Team Canada?”
We started walking to the arena. I could hear cheering as soon as we got outside. But when we got to the main street I could see a crowd of people walking towards us. They were the ones chanting. Police were all coming towards them, too, with batons and plastic shields and scary masks. As they got closer I could hear what the protesters were saying—“No Olympics on Stolen Native Land”. I didn’t understand why they were saying that really—didn’t we trade them stuff for the land? Weren’t there treaties and stuff? I asked my mom.
“It’s Canada’s land, I mean, we’re in Canada right now, aren’t we?” my mom answered. “And really, it all happened before any of them were born—can’t they just get over it?”
One of the protestors came over and handed us a flyer. It said, “RBC, Environmental Criminal: Greenwashing the Olympics and the Tar Sands”. I thought RBC was a good company, too, I mean, my mom works for them!
Things got pretty scary then. The cops started pushing back the protesters. I saw a girl in the crowd that looked like one of my friends from home, and one of the cops shoved her to the ground and started punching her. I didn’t think she’d done anything wrong—weren’t they just saying what they thought? Isn’t that, like, a charter right or something? Free speech?
My dad pushed us away though, and we finally made it to the hockey game. The teams were ready to play, and everyone got ready to sing the anthem. The big screen was on, too, so we could see the singer up close. It was sort of weird to be singing something cheerful after it was so scary outside. The music started playing. And then all of a sudden a bunch of people stood up on their seats and held up a huge banner that also said “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land”. Then the big screen went different and a guy came on and said how many Indigenous Youth and their settler allies were resisting the Olympics, and then some other people stood up and held their own banners—they said things like “Smash the Police State”, “Homes not Games”, and “Resist the 2010 Corporate Circus”. The rest of the crowd all started singing the anthem anyway, and the louder they sang, the more the protesters yelled.
I was confused…
I thought Canada was a country that took care of its people, all of them, no matter how much money you had.
I thought people could speak their opinions here, and that that was protected.
I thought women had the same standing as men, and weren’t bought and sold.
I thought Canada was a peacekeeping nation, and a human rights champion.
I thought Canada was an environmental leader.
I thought Canada respected Indigenous people, and that we even helped them.
I thought Canada was a great country, something that we should celebrate.
“Why aren’t you singing the anthem, Jordan?” my mom asked.
“I don’t know,” I said.
But I knew exactly why.
Olympic Facts
- Homelessness has increased more than 300% in Vancouver since 2003 when the games were awarded. Homelessness has been criminalized.
- The 2010 Games will cost more than $6 billion dollars. $4 billion+ of that will be public funds.
- The final bill for policing will exceed $1 billion dollars. CSIS has harassed activists at work, at school, at home, in jail, and on public transportation.
- The Four Host First Nations Corporation was formed after the BC Union of Indian Chiefs refused to endorse the Olympics.
- The 125 000+ trees cut down will never be replaced. The fragmented wetlands have forever lost crucial ecological value. The environmental assessment process did little to protect the environment.
- Men’s sexual violence on women increases at all recent mega-sporting events.
- 10,000+ more armed policing agents will occupy the unceded indigenous land that is the Vancouver-Whistler corridor. 5000+ rent-a-cops will be invading privacy of tourists and locals.
- We do not have to do all of these things to see who can move the best over frozen surfaces… The Olympics are not about sport, they are transferring wealth, land, and power from the masses to the few.
The olympics are here…Like this little work of fiction states…”Just get over it!”I mean really…blaming sports and not the men for sexual violence on woman…you should be ashamed and Hitler??? Do you people sit around trying to come up with ways to make yourselves look important?
Yes the Olympics are here and now is the time to expose them as the sham they really are. It is now time to show the world what really goes on with the olympics. If we don’t stand up now then perhaps we never will, and the Olympic mahcine of injustice will continue.
With regards to sexual violence, there is no doubt a majority of blame to be placed on (some) men, but it is also the culture of sport with its associated machismo, uber compeitiveness and “fight thorugh the pain” mentality that adds to the culture of assault, rape and abuse that persists within society. The elitism and male centricity of sport plays into this very culture and as such warrants attention and critique.
And yes hitler is in their, becasue he started the torch relay as a symbol of aryan purity and white racial dominance. The fact that this tradition persists, unchallenged, under the glories of patriotism speaks to the injustices o the olympics and the blindness that the general publoic exibits with regards to these events.
No one said to not enjoy sports, but if you are going to at least do so with your eyes open and with recognition of the impacts that such events may have.
I thought social justice was important enough in itself without bringing self interest into it….
While I agree that the Olympics are a fantastic waste of money in a city rife with homelessness and social issues, the approach of protesters has alienated people from their cause. Yes, we should indeed have the right to free speech. But it’s hard to take the No Olympics on Stolen Native Land group seriously when their “free speech” consists of stunts from smashing windows in downtown Vancouver today to knocking over a woman carrying the Olympic torch in downtown Guelph. Immature antics more akin to football hooligans than activists.
Indeed, the Olympics are a waste of time and money which has not brought out the best in the province. The attempt to disguise Vancouver’s homelessness problem is particularly troubling. China was guilty of much of the same during the 2008 Olympics: covering up social and human rights issues to bring a slice of glory to the country.
Do you know what the difference between these two Olympics are, though? You can freely criticize them, as you have just done above. Try that in China, perhaps? Perhaps think about that before you go as far as to refuse the national anthem?
actually Ryan, people cannot freely voice their opinions regarding the olympics, regardless of what you may believe. The City of Vancouver has instated laws that ban public display of dissent towards the olympics, even allowing police access to peoples homes in order to confiscate anti-Olympics signs, with files up to 10,000 dollars. Does this surprise you? Well it should, because the mass majority of Canadians have had the wool pulled over their eyes. And before people are so quick to judge the “protestors” it is important to keep in mind that those who smashed windows only represent a small minute fraction of those taking to the streets. But of course the media wont talk about those people. More then anything this country needs just a drop more of critical insight.
Coca-Cola once contained 9 milligrams of cocaine, and was removed in 1903. We should really stop drinking it and start protesting, right along with the olympic torch relay, I mean, lets not get over the ghosts of our past, but keep the fires burning.
I have nothing against protesters. I greatly admire anyone willing to demonstrate for their personal beliefs and convictions. But there’s a line between peaceful demonstration and the stunts being pulled by many of the No Olympics on Stolen Native Land group. Media nothing, walking back to my girlfriend’s apartment near Yonge & College on the night of the Olymic Torch Relay protest had a group of mostly masked protesters crowding myself and other passerby, yelling in our faces. I don’t need the CBC to tell me that one. Like I said, I absolutely agree with the sentiments against Vancouver hosting the Olympics, but the actions of this “minute fraction” is overtaking the message. The demonstration that took place Uptown Waterloo on the weekend? Good stuff, right there. Having to feel threatened while walking home from the grocery store in Toronto on the other hand, somewhat drains my sympathies.
fact – the torch bearer in guelph was knocked over by the rcmp – we know that because the reckless assault charge was dropped on the original person arrested.
fact – the HBC is responsible for a genocide.
fact – why would i protest coca-cola for having coke? natural drugs should not be demonized.
fact – the resistance to the 2010 olympics is 7 years old, plenty of targeted property destruction and peaceful rallies took place in that time. the corporate media does not report things until they really challenge the dominant narrative, then they only show the sensational money making stuff.
time for some critical insight – we should condemn the 2010 games as much as the 2008 games, but since these ones are happening in the country i was born into, and they are destroying the original cultures of this land, there is a responsibility to act. the freedoms of this state include the freedom to refuse a song that promotes nationalistic defence and refuses to acknowledge that our home is ON NATIVE LAND,a few hundred years of white folks here does not make this land ours.
here are some good articles on smashing the HBC windows and effectively clogging the arteries of capitalism:
http://alexhundert.wordpress.com/2010/02/13/2010-riot/
http://peaceculture.org/drupal/node/485
http://beingthechange.ca/node/15
and a good discussion on it:
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/audio/2850
I have ideological problems with the Olympics myself, but this article is pretty outrageous and sensationalist. The narrator is too naive to realize his dad went into a brothel, but has the clarity of thought to boycott the Olympics?
Like some commenters above have stated already, the whole Hitler thing seems a bit petty. (In fact, there’s a philosophical fallacy used to describe arguments that use Nazis/Hitler as a last resort in argumentation.)
As far as the Native Land thing goes, (and, I must say, there are unarguably many problems regarding how Natives have been treated)when does land stop becoming stolen native land? The Normans stole England from the Angles, right? Should I not be pretty hacked off about that?
Fact – Security costs sky-rocketed because of protestors.
Fact – Everyone who drives a VW beetle also supports Hitler.
Fact – The members of your group live off of OSAP which is funded by the government.
Fact – You are no better than common criminals.
This is why we have police to arrest people like you.