Statement from Network for No Olympics in Tokyo

Today in Shibuya, Tokyo, we had a gathering to consider problems inherent to the Olympics. There was a report on the invitation process for the Tokyo Olympics. Also we gave an account of the problems in Vancouver, Canada where the city is preparing for the winter 2010 Olympics. There was a report from a representative of “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land”, and which contributed to the participants understanding of the situation in Canada. There was also a report from a citizen of Nagano city where there was trouble with the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympic Games. 
 
Nagano which experienced the Olympic Games, Vancouver where the games will be arriving soon, Tokyo which has completed its bid for 2016 and is now part of the selection process. Citizens dealing with the problems of the Olympics from different cities reported on what they have experienced and we understood each other. 

Here we clearly recognized who profits most from the Olympics: those who are able to use the commercialism of the Olympics for their own ends, meaning, the developers, construction businesses, multi-national corporations, nationalists, the media, and the group which makes the most money, the IOC. 
Then who are the victims? They are the ones with small voices: the homeless or the elderly, small communities, minority, native people, the ones who cannot be heard, the natural environment, plants and animals part of a new ecology out of balance. 

We don’t even have an illusion of Olympics. There exist no wonderful Olympics or the proper Olympics. We understand that Olympics uses the two wheels of nationalism and commercialism while IOC to make the huge profit and the corporations to feed off this world scale event. “Festival of Peace” is only the slogan. Today we recognized beyond the country border “WE DON’T WANT THE OLYMPICS!” 

Also we recognized that the people’s resistance movement in any city on this Earth are not alone but can be united in solidarity.

CANCEL VANCOUVER 2010 WINTER OLYMPICS!       
STOP THE INVITATION IN TOKYO 2016 OLYMPICS!
INTERNATIONAL OLYMPIC COMITTIE (IOC) MUST RECONSIDER THE BUSINESS AND BREAKUP THE ORGANIZATION!

All participants of “No Olympics! Emergency International Solidarity Gathering”