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Long before the 2020 Tokyo Olympics were plagued by cost overruns, sexism scandals, and fears that it would turn into a COVID-19 super-spreading incident, anti-Olympics activists had already called the whole thing a disaster.
This is why, a year before the Olympic Games affected by the pandemic were scheduled to open in late July 2020, anti-Olympics activists convened the first ever global summit of “NOlympians” in Japan, because those who opposed the Olympics were well known.
The NOlympians’ prisoners of war show that the temporary localized opposition to the Olympic Games has gone global.
“We should not see the anti[Olympics] action [as] Hiroki Ogasawara, a professor of sociology and cultural studies at Kobe University in Japan, said that being isolated and divided by countries and cities, “because protests are already worldwide, the Olympics will inevitably involve illegal acts on a global scale.”
Dozens of activists from the past (London, Rio de Janeiro and Pyeongchang, South Korea) and future (Paris and Los Angeles) host cities have joined the ranks of the Japanese capital. These activists are preparing to accept bids from their cities, including Kuala Lumpur and Jakarta .
“That was a critical moment,” Jules Boykov, a participant and professor of politics and government at Oregon Pacific University, told Al Jazeera. What Boykov previously called the “moment of movement” has developed into a transnational alliance with enduring power.
Boykov was an Olympian who later became a critic. He said that because the International Olympic Committee (IOC) is “a multi-billion-dollar behemoth”, those who oppose it have realized that “the only struggle The way is to make their objections more flexible.”
The Japanese are enthusiastic about the Tokyo Olympics affected by the pandemic, and they hold demonstrations during the event. The black-clad protesters’ placards read “Anti-Olympics” [Kantaro Komiya/AP Photo]
Japan has hosted four Olympic Games in 50 years. Although it has been strongly opposed due to the cost and its impact on society and the environment, it is still the most among Asian countries. [File: Robert F Butaky/AP Photo]Founded in 1894, the International Olympic Committee is a non-profit organization that serves as the governing body of the Olympic Committee of each of its member states. Its mission is to distribute billions of revenues from broadcasting and marketing to sports development. Its executive committee is composed of members from global business elites.
“Olympic disaster”
In Asia, Japan has hosted the most Olympic Games-the Olympic Games that opened on July 23 are the fourth in 50 years.
Although the 1964 Olympics were generally portrayed as positive — demonstrating Japan’s technical prowess and design talents after the war and debuting on the world stage for the first time — not everyone held such an optimistic view of the subsequent Olympics.
Two main Anti-gaming One of the groups created by Tokyo 2020 is called Okotowa Link, which means “Olympic disaster”.
From demolishing affordable housing to removing street sleepers, and transforming the world-famous Tsukiji Fish Market into a parking lot for the National Stadium, Japanese activists have been concerned about this incident.
In an era when activism is becoming increasingly globalized and looking for momentum online—from the #MeToo movement to the fate of the fate of the blacks in the future—it’s hard to recall the days when the drafting organization spread one flyer at a time.
This is how Helen Jefferson Lenskyj and her fellow activists at Bread Not Circuses started in the late 1980s, when Toronto first competed for the 1996 Olympics and then the 2008 events. Although her city has repeatedly bid to host a continuous campaign, Lenskyj pointed out how the anti-Olympic movement developed.
“This is definitely a gathering of strength,” said Lensky, now an emeritus professor of social justice education at the University of Toronto. “With the more effective use of social media and the Internet, the growing problem of huge debts and expensive venues, and an unrealized legacy, people’s illusions are shattered.”
The Canadian anti-sports activist was the first to initiate the impoverished Olympic torch relay, in which the torch was made of a toilet plunger. The annual NOlympics Day is celebrated in late June every year to arouse opposition from all over the world.
When the Summer Olympics were held in Greece in 2004, there were protests and demonstrators worried about safety measures. [File: Louisa Gouliamaki/EPA]The human costs of the Olympics, including large-scale disturbances in the lives of residents and increased police surveillance, are in sharp contrast to the corporate interests of the Olympic boosters. Typically, they are the business and political elites who benefit most from brand sponsorship, white elephant construction projects, and lucrative service contracts.
“I call it trickle-down economics,” Boykov said. “This is a huge economic giant; the movement is accidental.”
‘Soft power’
In the past few years, citizens have increasingly resisted hosting sports events, and some Western countries have handed over the decision to voters to a referendum.
From Boston in the United States to Krakow in Poland, potential bidding cities were eliminated by a veto.
In 2015, before the International Olympic Committee issued the 2022 Winter Olympics, there were only two candidate cities left: Almaty and Beijing.
Authoritarian countries have long regarded the Olympics as a kind of “soft power”, while the International Olympic Committee is trying to shape the Olympics into a beneficial force that transcends politics.
In 2001, despite concerns about China’s human rights record, Beijing was granted the right to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, and the International Olympic Committee claimed that hosting would help usher in an era of greater freedom.
Seven years later, the artist Ai WeiweiThe people who helped design the Bird’s Nest Stadium in the center were persecuted by the authorities for political activities, and Beijing won the bid. 2022 Winter Games Three weeks after a nationwide round up of human rights lawyers and their staff.
In less than seven months, Beijing’s mass imprisonment of Uighur Muslims and the suppression of Hong Kong are stimulating calls for boycotts in Europe and North America.
At the same time, the number of cities preparing to bid for the event has been declining, prompting the International Olympic Committee to take action. Its 2020 agenda calls for transparency, sustainability and flexibility. However, critics say that the organization is unable to carry out real reforms.
“The International Olympic Committee has a democracy deficit,” Boykov said, adding that it is “ruling with an iron fist.”
China celebrates winning the 2022 Winter Olympics, but some people call for a boycott of Xinjiang and Hong Kong’s repression [File: Ng Han Guan/AP Photo]In response to the backlash from NOlympics, the International Olympic Committee has accelerated the process of naming host cities.
In an unprecedented move in 2017, it awarded double awards to the remaining candidates: the 2024 Summer Olympics were awarded to Paris and the 2028 to Los Angeles.
Just before the start of the Tokyo Olympics, the International Olympic Committee announced the host for 2032- Brisbane, Australia, the only competitorPreviously, the host city was selected only seven years before the opening of the Olympic Games.
For now, the slogan of activists “Nowhere to host the Olympics” seems out of reach, but as the memory of the two-week sports event begins to fade and Tokyo assesses the long-term impact of the Olympics, the dissatisfaction seems likely to follow the International Olympics. The committee will only grow-so will the movement.
Lenskyj said: “The anti-Olympics movement has a major impact on raising local residents’ awareness of which human rights will be violated and that they will have to suffer the Olympics.”
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