In February, when Vancouver, British
Columbia, kicks off the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, 20 teams will begin
patrolling city streets and venues, scouring for anything—people,
protests, posters—deemed anti-Olympics. The squads are the
creation of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC), responsible for
planning, organizing, financing, and staging the Winter Games.
Bill Cooper, VANOC’s director of commercial rights management, told
newspapers in fall that VANOC’s intention is to protect the Olympic
message rather than censor other messages. A news release issued in
September said VANOC observers will simply monitor “commercial
infringement and ambush marketing” and have the power to seize
materials that violate the Olympic brand.
But civil-liberty advocates believe the group’s impact will be more
sweeping, even going as far as to quash free speech and the city’s
culture. Documents obtained by the BC Civil Liberties Association
(BCCLA) include the “Olympic Technical Manual on Media,” in which the
Swiss-based International Olympic Committee (IOC) attempts to limit
Games’ media coverage to that which “spreads and promotes the
principles of Olympism.” The IOC also issued the “Clean Venue
Agreement,” which states that private security guards will prevent
people from holding signs or wearing clothes with political messages in
Olympic venues. They outline, in the BCCLA’s opinion, VANOC and the
IOC’s plans to restrict free speech.
“Free speech is not a security risk,” says BCCLA executive director
David Eby. “The Olympic spirit will not be dampened by people standing
outside the venue handing out leaflets that say ‘Canada should end the
seal hunt.'”
But VANOC’s street teams won’t go unchallenged. Following closely
behind them will be 25 legal-observer teams assembled by the BCCLA and
the Pivot Legal Society, a legal-advocacy organization based in
Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, documenting their every action to ensure
free speech is protected during the Winter Games.
Legal observers will monitor the VANOC teams, armed with video
cameras, still cameras, and notebooks. They will wear orange T-shirts
marked “LEGAL OBSERVER” and “document police and other security force
activities in a thorough, neutral, and professional manner,” according
to the training manual, amassing evidence that can then be used in
court if legal issues arise.
“All of Vancouver is supposed to be a free-speech zone, according to
the Vancouver City Council,” says Am Johal, chair of the Impact on
Communities Coalition. But he fears the city will lose its liberties
“due to these Orwellian laws being passed at the initiation of a
franchising body based in Switzerland and [with] no consultation from
citizens.”
How far VANOC plans to take its monitoring is unclear—VANOC
spokespeople did not return calls by press time.
Meanwhile, legal-observer trainings, which began in September, will
continue once a month until the Games begin. 
Good story. Last month U.S. journalist Amy Goodman was harrassed at the B.C. border by nitwit guards demanding to know if she was coming to Canada to “talk about the Olympics”. Here’s a link:
http://www.cbc.ca/canada/british-columbi…
It’s a creepy, troubling situation.
Also, activists have got to learn to return journalists’ phone calls. Sheesh. Aside from that kudos to the legal observer teams. That’s some important work they’re taking on.
Those two are suspiciously good looking. She’s trying to sneak into the games as a shy bookworm, but we all know she’s going to remove her glasses and let down her hair, probably in slow motion, upsetting all things holy about our sacred games. Is that a risk we’re willing to take?
Everyone else’s posts are always better than mine. 🙁
I’m probably getting too old to comment on Slog, but my memory is that ex-Seattle Mayor Paul Shell invented the “Free Speech Zone” during the WTO riots. (Well, that’s probably giving that dufus too much credit. He enforced an idea that came from a much wilier legal mind.) At the time and in the years since, I’ve been amazed that courts haven’t struck these down out of hand. I really had thought the whole United States was a free speech zone. (Canada’s supposed to be one, too.) Schell started restricting free speech under the direction of Clinton and Albright, GW Bush perfected the art form, and now, sadly, Canada seems to be importing this terrible violation of civil liberties. Sigh.
That’s what a conservative federal government will do to you.
Luckily, Vancouver itself never pays attention to what those feds want.
Yes, but even the mighty environmentalist bloc that rules Vancouver will sometimes cave to Federal pressure under the heat lamp that is world’s collective attention. That is, if they don’t have their heads on straight. And as far as I can tell, the Canadian Feds had little to do with VANOC’s morally questionable stance here; but you can never know immediately what’s going on behind the scenes, I guess.
As 1999 is to Seattle, 2010 may be to Vancouver? Hmm?
I hope they wise up on this. Taking away people’s rights to speak out never ends the way they want it to…
“have the power to seize materials that violate the Olympic brand.”
Remember Canadians, the Olympics is more important that your safety, we could actually give a fuck about what happens to you, so long as this brand triumphs. Fascism, not just for America anymore.
Hey, we have a pretty conservative provincial government here in BC as well. (We have the same sort of blue urban/red rural split as you lot, so the province isn’t the oasis of liberal neopagan thought that you might think from observing Vancouver in isolation. More’s the pity.) And where the province has signed agreements, the city is under a fair amount of pressure to co-operate.
Hey, but they’re not in the U.S., so they can speak honestly about beef without the Texas cattlemen suing them?
Don’t be ridiculous CP. There’s no place on Earth you can go that Walker Texas Ranger won’t hunt you down. And don’t even think about tweeting cattle slander either.
Extreme liberal journalist Amy Goodman is a certified idiot. She went over to BC about the same time as my wife crossed the border to attend a funeral of her uncle. My wife had zero issues at the border. Goodman had problems. Hmmmm, of the tens of thousands of people that cross that border everyday, they stopped Amy Goodman for no apparent reason.
It is more reasonable to believe that Goodman gave the border guards exceptional contempt or was very disrespectful and they predictably and correctly responded in-kind. If you read Amy’s version of the story, she states she saw her laptop files had been searched. What fool does not password off their computers when they travel? As a person who uses a computer in her professional career, Goodman should completely know better or is otherwise an idiot.
Typical of a liberal journalist like Amy Goodman; attempting to precipitate a problem and make herself the hero. Unfortunately with her own words she demonstrated that she is either incompetent with the very tools of her trade or is little more than a yet another self-promoting journalist. Sorry Canada, Goodman is our problem…
Why stop the seal hunt? Seals are a renewable resource and their furs make a fine, warm, organic coat.
This is exactly why we didn’t want (another) Olympics, here in Tokyo. Happily, the city lost its bid despite millions thrown at the IOC by our asshole governor. Big part of the reason? The IOC decided that the citizens basically had no school spirit. Good riddance, and don’t let the competitive trampoline hit you on the way out.