Paris Olympics to exacerbate social tensions Article by British media

The British website Actual News Magazine published an article on the problems associated with holding the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024. Caliber.Az reprints the article.

From the Winter Olympics in Vancouver in 2010 to those in Paris this summer, one constant: the global event aggravates the “exclusion” of the most precarious under the guise of progressive “social marketing”, warn French activists and Canadians, five months before the Paris Games.

The forced expulsions of precarious populations (homeless people, migrants in camps, sex workers, etc.) as the high mass of sport approaches represent the real “social legacy” of the Vancouver Games and potentially that of the planned Paris Olympics. this summer, deplored the Revers de la Medal collective, which brings together 80 French associations and NGOs, as well as Canadian organizations defending social rights, at a joint press conference on Monday in Paris.

Between British Columbia and Île-de-France, “the street scene is different but the practices in terms of harassment and expulsions are very similar,” said Paul Alauzy, coordinator at Médecins du monde et porte -spokesperson for Revers de la Medal, which has been denouncing for several months the “social cleansing” of the Paris region.

In both cases, he stressed, “the vocabulary is the same”. “The ‘Most Inclusive Games in History’ also happened in Vancouver,” he said.

In Vancouver, 14 years after the Winter Games, “we are far from the mark in terms of social inclusion,” said urban planner Irwin Oostindie, a member of the Canadian associative delegation, recalling that the Canadian organization “had promised 27,000 new social housing units”.

“There was social marketing, but on the ground, we saw more of a cleansing, social oppression,” he said.

Fines

In the years that preceded, “there was a process of criminalization in disadvantaged neighbourhoods, with fines distributed to street vendors, to people crossing outside the confines of the city, to those who urinated in public spaces”, with aimed at making them leave the surrounding area, added Canadian historian Nathan Crompton.

A trend that “accelerated” as the event approached, continued Mr. Crompton, recalling a law introduced in British Columbia to “force the displacement of the homeless”.

A situation reminiscent of that of Ile-de-France, underlined the French actors, in reference to the regular evacuations of tents installed by migrants. For several months, the government has decided to transfer exiles evacuated from these makeshift camps to the provinces.

In 2010, Canadian authorities had “modified food distribution locations”, pushed back several kilometers. “Which meant that the most precarious no longer had the means to get there,” remembers Dave Hamm, formerly homeless during the Vancouver Games, who became an activist.

In short, if the curves continue to converge, the Paris Olympics could “worsen social exclusion in Île-de-France”, fear the French organizations.

“Finish like Vancouver”

This is why these associations intend to ask the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (COJO) to establish a “solidarity fund” to cover the needs in terms of food distribution or emergency accommodation, estimated at 7,000 places. additional in the Paris region, continued Paul Alauzy.

“You have to be naive to think that when we are going to double the population in Île-de-France in 170 days, everything will be fine. A first reception centre must be set up. Every day of the Olympics, people fleeing wars will continue to arrive in Paris and will need to be welcomed. We did it in three days for the Ukrainians, we can do it,” he added.

The COJO, contacted by AFP, confirmed that it would receive this collective on February 16, but did not follow up on the substance.

At the end of January, the Defender of Rights (DDD) Claire Hédon “self-addressed” the fate of the homeless who, as the Games approach, may present a “risk for respect for the rights and freedoms” of “undesirables”.

Five months before the Olympics, “we are already witnessing a criminalization of precarious workers”, with fines distributed to sex workers in the Bois de Vincennes, for example, to whom “we are issuing obligations to leave French territory en masse”, reported Aurélia Huot, from the Paris Solidarité Bar, which encourages volunteering by Parisian lawyers.

“It’s only going to increase,” she fears. “And we fear ending up like in Vancouver. »