Real Change News | Torch the torch

September 9, 2009
Vol: 16 No: 40

Community & Editorial

Torch the torch

by: Alan Antliff and Kim Croswell , Contributing Writer

The Winter Olympics’ real legacy: oppression

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Anyone paying attention to the 2010 Olympics hoopla is well aware that the torch relay is scheduled to commence in Victoria on Oct. 30, the day before Halloween. Victoria’s Torch Welcoming Committee will be on hand to give the torch the ‘send off’ it deserves.

If you had attended the No2010 Victoria’s Teach-In last March, you would have heard about the Olympics’ forthcoming “legacy” to Victoria: displacement of the homeless; cuts in health and government programs; increased sex trafficking; and an expanded policing and surveillance apparatus.

In all, Olympics organizers have drummed up 3,500 B.C. residents to carry the torch through 266 locales, including 50 “First Nations Communities” (i.e., reserves). British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell has extolled the relay as “an incredible opportunity to showcase the unique character of our nation and our communities.”

Unique indeed. The systemic deprivation of indigenous peoples and the fact that “B.C.” itself is one big colonial land grab certainly speaks to the outstanding “character” of racism in this region. So does the symbolic inclusion of reserves in the torch route, as if the provincial and federal government’s neglect of basic living standards in these communities is something to be proud of.

On that score, the hollowness of Campbell’s bombast mirrors “bottom-line” financial priorities. The Canadian government has assumed over two-thirds of Olympics security costs to ensure a successful media extravaganza — so far that’s $598 million and counting. Compare that with the Fed’s “On-Reserve Infrastructure Investments” for 2009-2011. The budget allocates $475 million for 2009-2011 toward “critical community services,” “school construction” and “water and wastewater projects.” That’s $1.4 million less than the budget for Olympic security alone.

Policing costs aside, who is paying for the Fake-Populist, Hyper-Security torch relay? The 2010 Olympics website provides a terse one-liner: “The 2010 Olympic Torch Relay is self-funded and revenue comes from sponsorships and contributions.” Coca-Cola and the Royal Bank of Canada are the corporations underwriting the event for promotional purposes. As for “contributors,” look no further than the Canadian tax return. Why so expensive? Billed as “the longest domestic Olympic torch relay route in Games history” (nearly 25,000 miles) taxpayers, Coca-Cola and RBC are “carrying the flame in a plane” to the tip of Ellesmere Island in a bid to symbolically assert Canadian sovereignty over the farthest northern reaches. Which isn’t much different from parading it through unceded Indigenous territories — it just costs more.

Back home in Victoria, the torch relay is being coordinated by the Greater Victoria Spirit Committee, which is co-chaired by former Mayor Alan Lowe and Hugh MacDonald, executive director of SportHost Victoria. Details pertaining to community celebrations have been delegated to an “Olympic Torch Relay Task Force.” There are hints at economic downturns, recessions and the like. Originally, $1.3 million was budgeted for the celebration, but last October the Spirit Committee scaled the figure down to $707,000. As of March 2009, the torch relay budget was further reduced, to $527,000.

On the other hand, in the midst of the worldwide recession, the federal government has earmarked $24.5 million toward torch relay events alone. The B.C. government is also pitching in. After cutting provincial arts funding by 40 percent last February, the provincial arts ministry dedicated $3.5 million for local relay-related celebrations.

So what sort of “Arrival Ceremony Celebrations” can we expect for that sum? A fire blessing ceremony conducted by an indigenous elder with accompanying dances and drumming is most definitely in the works. A parade of Canadian “heroes,” sports and otherwise, is also scheduled. One provincial official’s fundraising letter lists off music, dancing, and a large-scale finale with fireworks, crowing “The regional economic spin-off for our local suppliers, media, tourism, retail and arts sector is expected to be in the millions.”

So what if artists and cultural workers presently suffering under the Liberals’ 40 percent cut to arts and culture boycotted the ceremony? Or better yet, how about joining the Victoria Torch Welcoming Committee, and infusing this event with a little artistic mayhem? If you are interested send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

Let the Games Begin!

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