(The following article is from the January 16-31, 2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 133 Herkimer St., Unit 502, Hamilton, ON, L8P 2H3.)

PV Vancouver Bureau

The Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler will be used to draw international attention to native poverty, according to Squamish Chief Bill Williams, chair of the Four Host First Nations, which has worked to promote the Olympics. The same message was given by Leonard Thomas, president of the BC First Nations Forestry Council, in letters to government officials.

     "The time for plain talking is now upon us. Our forest-dependent first nations communities are no longer willing to quietly sit back and wait for actions that never come," Thomas said in a recent letter to B.C. Forests Minister Pat Bell. "The fact that your government and its federal partner are spending $3 billion to stage the Winter Olympics is merely exacerbating the frustration and anger felt by our communities as they continue to be told that there is no money in the pot to address their situations, which, as you are fully aware, are of a most desperate nature."

     "There's going to be some 14,000 media people running around [at the Olympics]," Williams told the Globe and Mail. "Some of them are already contacting us. They want to know, `What's it like to be an Indian in today's world? How do you live?' We are going to start letting those reporters know the reality of the poverty we face."

     Since our previous issue, concerns over transportation and travel during the Winter Olympics have continued to increase. Signs have sprouted across the city warning of widespread street closures and parking bans, with the potential for chaos for hundreds of thousands of residents who need to get to work, school, and appointments. VANOC officials have done little to ease fears, despite their cheerful speeches urging everyone to take public transit. Even VANOC now admits that SkyTrain stations will be jammed, forcing commuters to wait two hours or more to get on a train during "peak periods" (we aren't making this up) such as morning, afternoon or evening. At other times, waiting periods will apparently be less than an hour. Nor are cyclists immune from the transportation nightmare. Several key cycling routes have already been blocked by Olympic venue restrictions.

     Even as Olympics officials target Vancouver schools with pro-Games propaganda, some students are paying an extra cost for hosting the event. Students at Elsie Roy elementary school in the Yaletown area, near the BC Place Stadium, have been deprived of their playground for most of the 2009-10 school year. The playground has been taken over by a security firm since last fall, and will remain occupied for months after the conclusion of the Games, forcing students to remain indoors during recess and lunch breaks. This agreement was concluded without the knowledge of Vancouver school trustees,

     Security and city officials promise that protests will be allowed during the Games, with one caveat: such actions must abide by the law. Given the record of reckless police disregard for legal restrictions on their authority, this leaves protest organizers and participants somewhat nervous. Will police use excuses such as "littering" (distribution of leaflets) or "disturbing the peace" (use of megaphones) to crack down on demonstrations? At this point, it's anybody's guess. We can only hope that the presence of some 14,000 Canadian and international media representatives will encourage the army of security personnel to show restraint.

     Unfortunately, such good sense has been lacking in certain quarters at City Hall. The obliteration of a well-loved mural on downtown Beatty Street, near several Olympic venues, has resulted from the ongoing campaign to "clean up" the city for our Olympic guests. Why an ugly blank wall is an improvement over a colourful scene of children playing remains a secret known only to Vancouver bureaucrats.

     Plans are well underway for a "global anti-capitalist and anti-colonial convergence against the 2010 Olympic Games." The Convergence organizers have called on "all anti-capitalist, Indigenous, housing rights, labour, migrant justice, environmental, anti-war, community-loving, anti-poverty, civil libertarian, and anti colonial activists to come together to confront this two-week circus and the oppression it represents."

     The event will include a Conference and People's Summit on Feb. 10-11. On Feb. 12 (the day of the opening ceremonies) a wide range of groups are holding special Welcome at the Vancouver Art Gallery. This family-friendly festival kicks off at 3 pm with "Free Games, Free Speech, and Free Food", followed by a parade and non-confrontational protest to BC Place Stadium.

     Various "autonomous days of action" are being planned for Feb. 13 and 15, including anti-corporate actions, rallies to oppose militarization, and more. For more details on these and other events, see www.olympicresistance.net.

     On Sunday, February 14, activists will take part in the 19th Annual Women's Memorial March to honour all the missing and murdered women in the Downtown East Side. This is not an anti-Olympic protest, and organizers are attempting to cooperate with security officials to establish a route which will allow participants to honour the missing and murdered women at various locations throughout the neighbourhood.