Same Old Olympics

So what else is new.

Chinese activists and intellectuals have published an open letter to "Chinese and World Leaders" on numerous dissident websites demanding that China honor its commitment to respect human rights at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing.

For this reason they cannot share in any “pride” in China’s glory as the Games’ host country; for them, “these glories are built on the ruins of the lives of ordinary people, on the forced removal of urban migrants, and on the sufferings of victims of brutal land grabbing, forced eviction, exploitation of labour, and arbitrary detention.”

Regardless of where they are held, urban poor are displaced, developers rule and it's all glossed over in the name of Sport.

The Olympics are the ultimate reflection of the Society of the Spectacle.



SEE:

Scabs Cause Olympic Cost Overruns

The Curse of Bruce McNall

Pro Sports and Criminal Capitalism

Criminal Capitalism-Sports-Soccer

SKYDOME: THE POLITICAL ECONOMY OF SPORTS

NFL IN TORONTO

As American As Apple Pie

The End Of The Leisure Society

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