Rio Games at the Cost of Social Cleansing?

The Olympic Flame, like the games themselves, has its origin in ancient Greece. It commemorates the theft of fire from the Greek god Zeus by Prometheus. Fast forward to the 2016 games and we have the not-so-mythological theft of homes, rights, and livelihoods by the Brazilian government from its native people.

How in keeping with the Olympic Spirit of all-inclusive welcoming and sportsmanship is that?

Rio not Alone

The displacement of the host city’s poor in preparation for the greatest show on earth, has become almost endemic to the modern games. Korean dictator General Chun Doo-Hwan pulled a similar stunt in the lead up to the Seoul Games in 1988. As did the Chinese leadership in brutal fashion in preparation for the 2008 Beijing Games.

Alongside forced evictions the other less overt tactic host cities have used to ‘socially cleanse’ their streets, is the process of gentrification. The poor are priced out of their neighborhoods when property values are hiked.  In Sydney, for example, rents rose by up to 40% as the city prepped for the Games in 2000, in Salt Lake City rents rose before and after the Winter Olympics in 2002, in Vancouver Olympic planning included redeveloping the Downtown Eastside area of the city and in London the Games intensified the city’s pre-existing housing crisis.

What’s the Deal?

The deal is that the Olympic Games are a sham when the host city stands accused of multiple human rights and civil liberties violations. And they’re a sham when host cities spend billions of dollars to put their city on the world tourism map, all at the expense of the poor and the forcibly displaced.

When I read about the NBA ‘Dream Team’ (worth billions in itself – and what was that about the Olympics being about amateur competition?) chilling out in their luxury cruise ship in the Port of Rio . . Isn’t there something obscenely wrong with this picture?

End of rant. What say you?

Cover Photo: rioheater.com

Image Insert 1: Jay Black, artthreat.net / Image 2: YouTube Still