The Martlet

It was a five-ring circus on Friday, Oct. 30, as No-2010’s anti-Olympics festival filled Centennial Square, responding to the official opening events of the Olympic Torch Relay.

The celebration, aptly titled “Five Ring Circus: An Anti-Olympic Festival,” featured the Poverty Games, which included events such as Shopping Cart Races, Jump Through the Hoops of Poverty and Queer Wrestling. The wrestling event, which got the crowd cheering as organizers battled one another in the guise of pairs (like Olympic top-cop Bud Mercer and an anonymous protestor), was judged before the fake International Olympic Committee (IOC). No-2010 festival organizer Tamara Herman wore the IOC trenchcoat, and declared no medals could be given out since the athletes weren’t of an identifiable gender, and one was a goat.

About 400 people showed up to the festival, which saw notable concentrations of media, legal observers and police. Food Not Bombs provided munchies. Harm Reduction Victoria (HRV) also set up a table.

“We’re here not only to potentially provide supplies to people who need them, but to also be an official presence and just a reminder that we think that there are priorities that need to be addressed in the city and the province,” said HRV tabler Heather Hobbs. “Over six billion dollars are being spent on the Olympics.”

It’s important that events like the festival happen in response to the Olympic Torch, she said, adding that they show that there are lots of people who don’t support the Olympics. Hobbs offers insight into a distinction often made by those with anti-Olympic sentiments.

“I don’t support the Olympic industry. I don’t support the amount of cash and resources that are going into it,” she said.

But, she added, she has no problem with sports or sporting events.

“Frankly, the Olympics is not about sports,” she said. “It’s about corporate sponsorship and greed and profit and political gain and it’s so much beyond just sports. That’s what I oppose: the amount of cash and resources that’s going into something when there’s a significant portion of our population that’s not getting their basic needs met.”

Her sentiments were echoed throughout the numerous speeches made at the event. Speakers ranged from well-known Victoria activist Zoe Blunt to the brother of a Pickton victim who spoke about the Highway of Tears, a stretch of the Yellowhead Highway where many Aboriginal movement have disappeared.

“We’ve heard time and again ‘we can’t afford a solution to homelessness; education costs too much; healthcare is a drain on public resources and we can’t afford to save the planet from impending environmental disaster,’” said No-2010 member Danielle Hagel in one speech. “But we can pour six billion dollars into a one-week party that will benefit corporate sponsors and business owners at the expense of the rest of us.”

Hagel called for a refocusing of social priorities on the issues mentioned above.

“We’ve had enough of nationalist corporate sports services which put public money in private hands. We refuse to submit to VANOC. We have mobilized today for a day of resistance, and we are sending a clear message,” Hagel said. “The Olympics will face resistance here on Coast Salish territory and across the country. No Olympics on stolen native land!”

Political Science grad student Mark Willson brought his four-year-old son, Hector, to the festival. He remembers going to protests as a child in 1983.

“I think it does give you something to remember when you’re growing up about important events ... and sometimes, I think about police presence at these kinds of things and I think it’s good to have kids around, just for a more carnival-ey feeling,” he said.

At 5:20 p.m.- right before Queer Wrestling- the Martlet counted 50 police in and around Centennial Square, not including two who watched from an adjacent rooftop throughout the festival.

Herman said the police presence was much as expected.

“There’s no reason we should be under surveillance,” Herman said. “It’s a waste of money. We’re just organizing a festival and a rally.”

Despite police presence, she said the event went well.

“It’s just such an amazing feeling when you’ve put so much work into something and all of a sudden there’s so many people there,” Herman said. “It was well-attended, people’s spirits were really high, it was a lovely afternoon.”