Spurred by a story in the March 18, 2015 issue of the Chicago Reader, “Chicago police are spying on citizens,” No Games Chicago organizers Bob Quellos and Tom Tresser submitted Freedom of Information Act requests to the Chicago Police Department. The response given to Tom was that there was that the request was too broad. He …
After terrific organizing by No Boston Olympics the pro-bid mayor of Boston announced today that he would NOT sign the Host City Contract required of all candidate cities by the IOC. We called it “The Blank Check” because that’s what it is. No sign. No bid. Way to go, NBO!
Holy cow! Where was Phil and the Chicago Tribune in 2009? You can read Phil’s amazing piece here.
You can download it as a PDF along with Tom’s somewhat aggravated reply here.
When the decision to award the 2016 Games to Rio was announced we said “Chicago didn’t just dodge a bullet – we dodged a cannonball.” We like Phil’s headline better.
Keep it up!
Prof. Zimbalist should know. His 2015 book, “Circus Maximus: The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and World Cup,” was just released by The Brookings Institute. Read his commentary…
Every time you hear the word World Cup think “Olympics” and every time you hear “FIFA” think International Olympic Committee!
Thanks to Prof. Lisa Dush at DePaul and her digital storytelling students for helping Tom Tresser to pull this video together.
From CBC News, a great article, “Winner’s Curse? The Economics of Hosting the Olympic Games” – we might’ve re-titled it, “Loser’s Blessing”! – includes this video of a news segment reporting how the major corporate sponsors of the games, who pay around $100 million each, make huge profits from their association with the games and by supplying the operators with goods and services.
An article from The Guardian on the 2012 London Olympics is titled “Will the Olympics get the economy growing again? Don’t bank on it.” It points out the academic research that shows (and showed back in 2008) that hosting mega-events is a stupid economic develpment plan. The article concludes “Professor Stefan Szymanski, a specialist in …
A packed meeting of Counter Olympics activists agreed last night to march through Bow on Saturday 28 July in protest at the corporate takeover of the London 2012 Games. The protestors will defy an attempt by Transport for London to ban the demo.
The meeting, representing an alliance of 43 campaign groups (see below), plans to assemble at Mile End Park at 12 noon, march down Bow Road, up Fairfield Road (past the planned site of a ground-to-air missile), and down Roman Road, ending with a ‘People’s Games for All’ rally and festival at Wennington Green.
When activists met representatives of the Metropolitan Police, Tower Hamlets Council, and Transport for London on 9 July, TfL said they would not sanction a march along Bow Road, claiming it is part of the ‘Alternative Olympic Route Network’ (AORN).
The AORN network is an alternative route for use during the London 2012 Games if the main Olympic Route Network (ORN) should for any reason be blocked.
The Counter Olympics Network “is a network of groups and individuals who have come together to organise around the London 2012 Olympic Games. The Counter Olympics Network links people and organisations critical of some or many aspects of the 2012 Games. We also want to hold the organisers of the Olympic Games to account, to …