Anti-2010 Media Co-op to Launch this Summer

[Please forward to interested people or relevant lists]

SUMMARY: to add your ideas for critical Olympics coverage and read what others have written, visit: http://mediacoop.ca/olympics/coverage

"In Canada, you will find a nation that works every day towards creating the conditions of the Olympic ideal." --Jean Chrétien

The "Olympic Ideal" is part of one of the world’s most successful marketing campaigns, built around concepts that almost everyone can agree upon: world-class amateur sport and peaceful competition.

But a rising chorus of critical voices say that the Olympics are deeply implicated in the expropriation of land, money and resources. From movements demanding "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" to angry business owners, resistance to the Olympics economic and social agenda is growing.

The Olympics budget includes a billion dollars for security. A billion dollars each will be spent on a new convention centre, a larger highway to Whistler, and SNC Lavalin's rail link from the Vancouver airport to downtown.

In the political and economic maneuvres leading up to the 2010 Olympics, a different "ideal" has been revealed – one of exclusive contracts, sponsorship deals, displacement, social cleansing, and corruption. At times, sport seems like an afterthought.

Many of the real stories behind the Olympics remain to be told.

The Media Co-op and The Dominion want to know what kinds of critical coverage you want to see. Add your ideas as a researcher, a resident, or a reader, and check out what idea others are contributing by visiting our online discussion:

http://mediacoop.ca/olympics/coverage

The Vancouver Local of the Media Co-op is being launched this summer. By 2010, it will be a node for unembedded coverage of the Olympic Games. We encourage writers, researchers and journalists to create an account and share information and coverage about the 2010 Games.

The Dominion, the flagship publication of the Media Co-op, will publish a special issue about the Olympics in November 2009. The issue will draw upon your feedback and story ideas.

We want to hear from you! Join the Olympics working group at
http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/Olympics
or email olympics@mediacoop.ca with your story suggestions and ideas.

If you want to support independent coverage of the 2010 Games, please consider becoming a sustaining member of the Media Co-op by visiting http://www.mediacoop.ca/join. May is Membership Month; join now to win prizes! For more information on our membership drive, visit http://www.mediacoop.ca/membershipmonth.

Stay tuned for more from the Media Co-op and the Dominion:

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca
http://dominionpaper.ca

thanks for all your contributions,

--The Editors