Anti-Olympic Days of Action: Nov 18-21, 2008

VANCOUVER, BC - More than 200 representatives from international news wire services, photo agencies, newspapers, internet sites and non-rights holding broadcast organizations are expected to attend the Vancouver 2010 World Press Briefing scheduled for November 18 to 21, at the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre, Suite 200, 999 Canada Place.

*Dates are as follows:*

* Monday, November 17, 2008 - Registration Check-In
* Tuesday November 18, 2008 - Vancouver (city) venues tour, City of Richmond (site of the speed skating oval) reception
* Wednesday, November 19, 2008 - Whistler (mountain) venues tour
* Thursday, November 20, 2008 - Vancouver 2010 World Press Briefing presentations, evening reception presented by the Canadian Tourism Commission, Tourism British Columbia and Tourism Vancouver
* Friday, November 21 - One-on-one sessions, Photo Services briefing, optional venue tours

The Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) has planned this event to further propell its propanganda towards a global audience: masking the devestation and mass local resistance towards the 2010 Winter Olympics. The
Olympic Resistance Network (ORN) plans to counter this attempt by claiming November 18th - 21st as 'Days of Anti-Olympic Action'!

"The 2010 Games have already wreaked havoc on our communities and destroyed traditional unceded indigenous territories. The people feeling the negative effects of these actions are opposing this injustice and are
calling for mass anti-olympic resistance against all Olympic venues and sponsors!" -Mary Claremont, Vancouver resident

The ORN takes this opportunity to announce plans to
disrupt VANOC's February 2009 Olympiad celebrations. We are calling for a mass convergence to shutdown this event and further our resistance against the games.

We invite all community members to help send the message to the world that the people demand an end to the oppression and corporate greed that are the 2010 winter games. We are calling for a wide range of actions by as
many groups and individuals as possible to fuel upcoming convergence. If every group covers an Olympic issue in their own realm and or hits one out of a vast number of Olympic sites around the city this should take VANOC's glory away once again. We call for a wide range of
actions by different groups and individuals to demonstate to the world media that active opposition the 2010 circus exists and grows more powerful with each passing day.

So be creative! Let's turn this media circus away from the corporate circus!

**Background**

The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Winter Games are scheduled to take place on unceded indigenous land from February 12th to February 28th. The devastating effects of the upcoming Winter Games have already begun to manifest themselves in the following:

* tourism developments and resource extraction on indigenous lands
* homelessness and the gentrification of poor neighbourhoods
* privatisation of public services
* the exploitative use of migrant labour
* fortification of the national security and military apparatus

All of this is occurring at the public's expense and to the detriment of our local communities and environment.

The Olympics Resistance Network is a group based in Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories and that exists to coordinate Olympic resistance efforts.
In doing so, we act in solidarity with other communities across 'British Columbia' - particularly indigenous communities who have been defending their land against the onslaught of the Olympics and similar agents of
colonialism long before Vancouver won the bid to host the games.

While our organising is being done under the slogan of "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land", we are 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 event and the oppression it represents. The goal of resistance is to eliminate the impacts of the Olympics and to catalyse stronger social movements.

To get involved in the Network or for more information please contact: olympicresistance@riseup.net