Comments on: The neoliberal Games: who are the real winners from London 2012? http://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-neoliberal-games/ Red Pepper Sat, 16 Feb 2013 17:28:54 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: j_750 http://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-neoliberal-games/#comment-70555 j_750 Sat, 04 Aug 2012 03:46:56 +0000 http://www.redpepper.org.uk/?p=8078#comment-70555 Jules Boykoff has an interesting interview with Democracy Now! in which he talks about IOC requirements for staging the games in a given city. The enactment of new laws for example - in part as brand protection. He mentions a butcher who was asked to cease and desist for putting up a display of sausages in the form of the Olympic rings. The winners aren't the British people, especially with a price tag to the taxpayer likely to be in excess of $17 billion. Jules Boykoff has an interesting interview with Democracy Now! in which he talks about IOC requirements for staging the games in a given city. The enactment of new laws for example – in part as brand protection. He mentions a butcher who was asked to cease and desist for putting up a display of sausages in the form of the Olympic rings.

The winners aren’t the British people, especially with a price tag to the taxpayer likely to be in excess of $17 billion.

]]> By: Neil Williams http://www.redpepper.org.uk/the-neoliberal-games/#comment-70061 Neil Williams Mon, 30 Jul 2012 10:22:29 +0000 http://www.redpepper.org.uk/?p=8078#comment-70061 Did the Olympic games need to be so London centered and so dominated by corporate sponsorship? - ofcourse not. We could have had a peoples friendly Olympics spred throughout the UK often using existing facilites that have already been built. So many more people would have been able to see the games and yes ticket prices could have been so much lower due to the increased capacity available. Instead of this we see 100's of empty corporate seats at most events so far with few if any families on low incomes able to afford a seat at any event. It was never a games for the people it was always a games for the rich and corporate sponsors which reflects how our society is run today for and by the multi national corporations. Its a sad reflection on where we are today as a society and the huge task that lies before us to change it for better, caring world in which people come before profit. I would recommend Mark Perryman's book "Why The Olympics Aren’t Good For Us And How They Can Be" for look at how the Olympics could have been so different. Did the Olympic games need to be so London centered and so dominated by corporate sponsorship? – ofcourse not.

We could have had a peoples friendly Olympics spred throughout the UK often using existing facilites that have already been built. So many more people would have been able to see the games and yes ticket prices could have been so much lower due to the increased capacity available. Instead of this we see 100′s of empty corporate seats at most events so far with few if any families on low incomes able to afford a seat at any event. It was never a games for the people it was always a games for the rich and corporate sponsors which reflects how our society is run today for and by the multi national corporations. Its a sad reflection on where we are today as a society and the huge task that lies before us to change it for better, caring world in which people come before profit.

I would recommend Mark Perryman’s book “Why The Olympics Aren’t Good For Us And How They Can Be” for look at how the Olympics could have been so different.

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