Call-out for Anti-2010 Media Press Conference Thurs Nov 20

Media reps from all over the world are coming to Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver) to report on the 2010 Olympics ALL THIS WEEK. This is an opportunity for us to voice our concerns.

Indigenous people are not only not benefiting from the 2010 Olympic preparations but suffering on Coast Salish Territory.

Many Indigenous groups from Coast Salish Territories have talked about how important it is to highlight the fact that
while Olympic organizers, investors, governments and corporations are here making money off our traditional lands,thousands of Indigenous people suffer from abject conditions, poverty, homelessness and displacement everyday.

Please come out, bring your drums and help get our concerns out to the world.

><><><><><><<><><><>
DRUMMING and SPEAKING - NOV 20th -THURSDAY 12NOON
at the Vancouver Convention Center (999 Canada Place -
from Waterfront station head northwest on Waterfront Rd W).
Bring your drums, songs and voices!

PRESS CONFERENCED- THURSDAY 3pm @ 524 MAIN ST.
<><><><><><><><><><>

Press Packages (below, and attached) are being given out to the INTERNATIONAL Media this week, so they are ready for us!

COME out and let our concerns be known!

TO ALL INTERNATIONAL NEWS EDITORS
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

OPPOSITION TO VANCOUVER OLYMPICS GAMES IS ALIVE!

What: Press Conference with of various organizations and communities opposed to the 2010 Olympic Games. Come hear about the negative impacts of the Games and, despite VANOC's propaganda, why there is growing opposition to the Games in Vancouver.

When: Thursday November 20 at 3 pm at 524 Main Street (corner Pender). Located in the Downtown Eastside, Canada's poorest postal code, this community has seen homelessness nearly triple since the Olympic bid.

Media interviews: Please email olympicresistance@riseup.net
Web: www.no2010.com, http://2010press.wordpress.com, http://www.flickr.com/photos/30781453@N08/

FAQ ABOUT THE 2010 OLYMPICS

Why are you opposed to the 2010 Winter Olympics?

According to the Olympics Resistance Network, "The 2010 Winter Olympics will take place on unceded Indigenous land. Far from being simply about 'sport', the history of the Olympics is one rooted in displacement, corporate greed, repression, and violence. The effects of the upcoming Winter Games are readily apparent to everyone – expansion of sport tourism on Indigenous lands; increasing
homelessness across the province and especially in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside; ballooning public spending; vulnerable working conditions especially for migrant labour; unprecedented destruction of the environment; and unparalleled police and security spending."

What is the Olympics Resistance Network?

The Olympics Resistance Network is coordinating many of the anti-Olympics activities. We represent a diverse network of groups and individuals which is continuously growing. Our organizing is being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land", while creating an opportunity for all anti capitalist, Indigenous, anti poverty, labour, migrant justice, environmental justice, anti war, and anti-colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents.
We are building towards an anti-2010 convergence based on the call for an international boycott by delegates at the Indigenous Peoples Gathering in Mexico in October 2007.

Doesn't the 2010 Olympics have the support of Natives through the Four Host Nations?

The Four Host Nations is a corporate body made up primarily of Indian Act band council chiefs, not
traditional hereditary chiefs. Indian Act band council chiefs and the Four Host Nations are not an autonomous body representing all Native peoples since they are government-funded and parrot the government line on the Olympics. While some Native businesses may profit from the Olympics, an overwhelming number of Indigenous people in these territories and in the interior are opposed to the
Olympics because of the long-term impact including destruction of the land, forfeiture of Aboriginal Title, commodification of Native art and culture, and the creation of poverty once the jobs are gone.

According to Angela Sterritt of Native 2010 Resistance "It is the reality of strong opposition to the Olympic Games by Native peoples that has forced VANOC to desperately try and create the perception of Native support for the Olympics by throwing a lot of money to a few select people."

Are you opposed to Olympic sport and the athletes?

According to Gord Hill of the Olympics Resistance Network "Sports and physical health are a positive aspect of any society. The Olympic industry, however, uses sports and athletes as commodities to market corporate products. Governments use Olympic Games to attract corporate investment. Despite claims that Olympics are not political, they are deeply political with devastating social and ecological impacts that cannot simply be ignored."

What are some of the facts to back up your claims about the impacts of the Games?

According to a report by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, the Olympic Games have displaced more than two million people around the world over the last 20 years. This figure does not include the estimated additional 1 million displaced due to the Beijing Games since the publication of the report.

In Metro Vancouver street homelessness has surged 373% since Vancouver won the bid. At present, over 1200 low income housing units have been lost in the Downtown Eastside alone since 2003. Meanwhile, real estate speculation and gentrification has led to a projected 1500 new market housing units, primarily condominiums, being built in the Downtown Eastside. VANOC has set aside $500,000 for an emergency homelessness shelter "warehouse" that will be open only for the Games.

The 2010 Olympics security and policing budget is still climbing and currently estimated at $500 million. Sociologist David Lyon of Queen's University has dubbed Vancouver 2010 "the Surveillance Games" since security operations will include over 13,000 RCMP, military and other personnel as well as joint US-Canada military and North American Aerospace Defence Command operations.

The overall costs of the 2010 Games are currently budgeted at $6 billion. This budget is likely a gross underestimate as all the costs from facilities to policing keep going "over-budget". Costs for the Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre alone have skyrocketed to almost $900 million.

There are an estimated 3,000-5,000 temporary migrant and undocumented workers in construction and related industries. These workers are extremely vulnerable to exploitation, often get paid less than minimum wage, and are always living under the threat of deportation.

The corporate sponsors of the Olympic Games have some of the worst environmental and social practices on record. For example: Petro-Canada is one of the most environmentally destructive oil and gas companies; Hudson Bay Company has been responsible for the colonization of Indigenous land, General Electric is one of the world's top three producers of military aircraft engines and of nuclear power plants, and Dow Chemical is the world's second largest chemical manufacturer and cause of the
Bhopal gas disaster in India.

There are over $5 billion worth of new resort and resort expansion plans around BC since the Olympic bid was granted. At Sun Peaks Resort alone, there have been over 50 arrests of Indigenous people who have been opposing the $295 million expansion of the resort on their traditional territories. Elders and single mothers have been arrested, while Sun Peaks continues its expansion, destroying vital mountain ecosystems, and over-consuming water to produce artificial snow.

FROM THE FRONT LINES – QUOTE SHEET

"By hosting the 2010 Winter Olympics, Canada has opened up their Human Rights record to international scrutiny. Canada is trying to buy their way around their poor Human Rights record by funding some Indigenous Peoples but the reality remains that Indigenous Peoples are the poorest and most marginalized peoples in Canada" says Arthur Manuel. Manuel is the coordinator of the Indigenous Network on Economies and Trade.

"It is the reality of strong opposition to the Olympic Games by Native peoples that has forced VANOC to desperately try and create the perception of Native support for the Olympics by throwing a lot of money to a few select people" says Angela Sterritt of Native 2010 Resistance.

"The Olympics are opening up our land, our sacred sites, and our medicine grounds for sale, but we want the world to know that our land is not for sale" says Kanahus Pellkey. Pelkey is a Secwepemc mother. She has been jailed for fighting Olympics-related expansion of Sun Peaks Resort.

"There is an infrastructure being created for 2010 that will result in the further destruction of mountains and valleys on traditional Indigenous territory. This infrastructure will only serve the interests of corporate businesses and large real estate operations," says Dustin Johnson. Johnson is a member of the Ts'mkiyen nation and is active in resistance to the 2010 Olympics.

"The Bid Committee promised that not a single person would be displaced due to the Games, but there are 3000 homeless people sleeping on Vancouver's streets, facing increased police harassment as they try to cleanse the streets in the lead up to the Games," says Carol Martin. Martin
is a victim services worker at the Downtown Eastside Women's Centre.

"The history of hallmark events or mega-events, whether they are Olympic Games or large conferences, has been very negative in terms of the legacy related to housing. There is a legacy of facilities that are built at great expense, then left unused; of athlete's villages being turned into
high-end housing" according to Miloon Kothari, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing quoted in an interview during his visit to Vancouver.

"Soldiers and tanks will not be far from the bobsleighing and speed skating. Camouflage will not hide the massive security apparatus of states that will occupy the Lower Mainland during the Olympics, elements of which are sure to remain long after, if previous Games are any indication"
according to Garth Mullins. Mullins is an activist with the Olympics Resistance Network.

"We are seeing increasing resistance to the 2010 Olympics across the country as it becomes more visible how these Games are without question perpetuating displacement, homelessness, destruction of the environment, migrant labour exploitation, and increasing theft of Indigenous
land. All of those things are going to be the legacy of the Olympic Games and from our perspective this legacy is something we can use in order to build resistance to the 2010 Games" says Harsha Walia of the Olympics Resistance Network.

"Sports and physical health are positive. The Olympic industry, however, uses sports and athletes as commodities to market corporate products. Governments use Olympic Games to attract corporate investment. Despite claims that Olympics are not political, they are deeply political with
devastating social and ecological impacts that cannot be ignored" says Gord Hill of no2010.