“Brand protection teams of two or more members will conduct surveillance on foot, within and around each venue or cluster of venues, at neighbouring areas and in the city to ensure that venues are clean internally, to carry out surveillance for incidents of ambush marketing and to handle and report such activity in the appropriate manner with the goal of ceasing such activity.”
-From an IOC document obtained by CBC News
In a far reaching Orwellian gesture, VANOC will have monitors moving along sporting venues and Olympic Live Sites to ensure that members of the public are not distributing literature or protesting a message that is not the core Olympic message.
Venues are expected to be sanitized of political, religious or unapproved commercial messages.
All of Vancouver is supposed to be a free speech zone according to Vancouver City Council. Unfortunately, policies are being announced on the fly without democratic deliberation. There are more to come.
During the bid process, the City of Vancouver signed on to commitments to protect the Olympic brand. In July, they passed a 90 page omnibus bylaw that contained a series of odious measures that directly violate civil liberties. Among them, the City Manager has been given carte blanche special powers to make new bylaws without coming to Council.
Below is a press release from the Impact on Communities Coalition:
September 15th, 2009
VANOC’S ROVING OBSERVER TEAMS ARE A HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATION
Vancouver – VANOC’s intention to utilize roving observer teams with the power to confiscate non-Olympic materials of citizens during the 2010 Olympics is a violation of human rights and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and is a draconian measure that places the rights of corporate sponsors ahead of the free speech rights of citizens according to the Impact on Communities Coalition.
“When the Inner City Inclusive Commitment Statement was signed, it included civil liberties protections ‘for lawful, democratic protest that is protected by the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.’ The promises that were made during the bid process are not worth the paper they were written on,” said Am Johal, Chair of the Impact on Communities Coalition.
“Vancouver will not be a free speech zone during the Olympics due to these Orwellian laws being passed at the initiation of a franchising body based in Switzerland and no consultation from citizens,” said Johal.
The Impact on Communities Coalition also announced a public forum on civil liberties and the 2010 Olympics on Monday, September 28th from 7-9pm at SFU Harbour Centre. Media are welcome:
The Right to the City: Civil Liberties and the 2010 Olympics
David Eby, Executive Director, BCCLA
Matt Hern, Writer
Stefanie Ratjen, Board Member, IOCC
Harsha Walia, Social Activist
Alissa Westergard-Thorpe, Olympic Resistance Network
Jeff Derksen, SFU professor
David Dennis, President-Elect, United Native Nations
Moderated by Am Johal, Chair, Impact on Communities Coalition
Monday, September 28th, 7-9pm, Fletcher Challenge Theater, SFU Harbour Centre
As the 2010 Olympics approach, the possibility of civil liberties violations have been cited by a number of community organizations as a major concern despite assurances from VANOC, government partners and the Integrated Security Unit that rights would be protected.
With 16,500 security personnel scheduled to be part of the largest peacetime operation in Canadian history, impacts are already being felt.
Ticketing of residents in the inner-city, home and workplace visits of social activists by members of the Integrated Security Unit and a new bylaw passed by the City of Vancouver which places the rights of corporate sponsors ahead of the rights of citizens are only a few of the immediate impacts.
This discussion will take a critical view of the policies and framework which have been established and contextualize these processes as part of broader urban development processes in the inner-city and methods of criminalizing dissent.
Media – 778-895-5640
