The Olympics is about to start in Rio, if they get it finished in time, LOL.
It’s interesting though that apparently 11 bus lines from the poor North of the city have been cancelled so poor people don’t come into the richer south where the tourists and Olympics are. Also near the airport a wall to hide the poor favelas, and in Barra mass evictions have happened so that rich people don’t have to even look at poor people in adjacent
On a related note, I recently went to look at what I call Stalag E20, or locals call the Olympicopolis but officially ‘East Village’, in pseudo American style. This is the remnants of the last Olympic games in 2012, now turned into parks and expensive housing. I was struck not just how awful the buildings were, it reminded me of Russian architecture, and how soulless it was. The parks are great, but it’s mostly feels like a play pen for the rich. John asked me if I could see it being there in 40 years…I said no, the buildings are like office blocks, not made to last. It doesn’t feel permanent or on a human scale, feels more like some industrial estate rather than somewhere I’d want to live. Not that I could afford those flats. There must’ve been some social housing, since there was a mix of people, but the local signs crowed about over 2,000 flats with 38 affordable low rent ones. Yes 38/2000. WOW.
And the local pars were nice, but felt like a cut-price Parc Citroen in Paris, sort of that kind of ordered avant gardening but done with little care.
This is the legacy of the Olympics, expensive flats and parks that probably will be soon abandoned…the main stadium STILL isn’t open, and I struggle to think of many real changes that it brought. It did remove a lot of old factories and wharves, that landscaping is better, but outside of that a lasting change? And also a feeling that the locals were similarly not hidden away and included in this process? None at all. These are all outsiders, just like Rio, coming in and not wanting to see poor people on their doorstep.
Sadly before and since 2012 I’ve come to think that Olympics is mostly a party for rich people.
EDIT: In a newly posted video from Focus E15 Mothers also makes this link between the two Olympics. Horrifying what’s happened at Vila Autódromo, I think this is the community mentioned in the Vice video with only 20 families who resisted out of 600 and they weren’t even on Olympic land just next to it! They are allowed to stay if their homes were rebuilt and made ‘acceptable’ for rich people and tourists to look at.
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