NOlympics LA has helped produced many public teach-ins and other educational events throughout our years of organizing. This summer we launched STOP PLAYING GAMES, an ongoing series of transnational teach-ins, focusing on the communities and issues our allies around the world are fighting for.
If you missed a teach-in or just want to revisit them, check out our new archive of video/audio recordings and the accompanying recap articles below.
Stay connected with our amazing guest teach-in leaders by following their work, which we’ve linked below. If you’d like to receive information about future teach-ins, make sure to sign up for our newsletter here.
*****
LA’s 1984 Olympics (May 2020)
Teach-in video | Recap article
“Let the rallying cries in LA history serve as a harbinger for today. Our city officials – once again – are using the 2028 Olympics as a beacon of pride for Los Angeles and are recycling the same vaporous promises used to sell the 1984 Games to the people: a “no build” Games, robust “community programs” to reinvigorate the city, and an increase in jobs. To make sense of these dubious pledges, it’s imperative to look at how the alleged successes of the ’84 Olympics created the pretext for the LA 2024/2028 bid.”
Criminalization of houselessness in Tokyo and LA (June 2020)
Teach-in video | Recap article
““The communities unhoused residents have built over a long time are being destroyed for the Olympic and Paralympic Games.” This was the main message of Misako Ichimura, an unhoused community organizer in Tokyo and member of the anti-Olympic group, Hangorin no Kai, as she spoke to a Zoom audience of around 60.”
Environmental destruction in Pyeongchang (June 2020)
“River discussed the environmental devastation of the Pyeongchang Olympics. She specifically focused on the devastation to Mount Gariwang. In 2008, Mount Gariwang was declared a protected reserve area by the government. Then in 2011 South Korea got the bid for the 2018 Games. That same year the Senate passed the “Olympics Special Bill” which gave a pass to developers to skip the economic feasibility evaluation and the environmental impact assessment for their projects. To build the alpine ski slopes, the government lifted the protection of the forest reserve. The result was that 58,000 trees were cut down. The Olympics Special Bill is valid until 2032 and, River explained, will likely lead to accelerated real estate speculation and gentrification.”
NO to the Olympics! Organizing to abolish the Olympics in Paris (June 2020)
Teach-in video | Recap article
“The shifting context of Covid-19 motivated Non aux JO2024 à Paris to launch a petition to cancel the 2024 Games. Eighteen other organizations have joined as cosponsors of the petition, including 16 groups from France and two transnational allies (Hangorin no Kai and NOlympics LA). Several of the French cosponsors are groups fighting against Grands Projets Inutiles et Imposés (GPIIs) — a useful French term for unnecessary top-down mega development projects. The petition cosponsors understand that the Olympics and other GPIIs are driven by many of the same forces and produce similar inequalities and exclusions.”
Homes not Games! Stadium-driven development and displacement in LA (July 2020)
Teach-in video | Recap article
“We discussed the myth of development as investment in the community — the deceptive lie that these stadiums are in any way made or meant for enjoyment by the current residents of the neighborhood. And while these projects are sold on the claim that they bring jobs to the area, the quiet part is that those jobs will be mostly part-time or temporary, and with the rent hikes that inevitably come, paychecks from those jobs won’t be enough to pay rent.”
Fukushima and the myth of the ‘Recovery Games’ (July 2020)
The hardest hit areas of Fukushima remain ghost towns with dangerously high levels of radiation. Many evacuees don’t want to move back, but the government is cutting their relocation subsidies. The recovery narrative is a myth, obscuring the ways the Olympics have actually hindered Fukushima evacuees from rebuilding their lives.
*****
Here are links to partners and participants from our Teach-In series:
Hangorin no Kai (Tokyo): Website | Facebook | Twitter
Okotowalink (Tokyo): Website | Facebook | Twitter
Theo Henderson, host of We the Unhoused podcast (LA): SoundCloud | Facebook | Twitter
Anti Pyeongchang Olympics Alliance (Pyeongchang/Seoul): Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
NON aux JO2024 à Paris (Paris): Petition to cancel Olympics | Facebook | Twitter
Buried Under the Blue (LA): Website | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter
Lennox-Inglewood Tenants Union (LA): Website | Instagram | Facebook
Fukushima Women against Nukes (Tokyo/Fukushima): Website
Hiroko Aihara, journalist (Tokyo/Fukushima): Twitter