The Halifax Media Coop will be hosting a launch event to celebrate the publication of the special issue on The Olympics. Join us in for panel discussion and hot of the press copies of the special issue. Panelists will include:
- Hillary Lindsay is an Editor with the Dominion Newspaper and Coordinator of the Halifax Media Co-op. Hillary will speak about grassroots media and its importance, specifically in regards to Olympics coverage.
- Jake Feldman is a hyperactive, trans jock with a love for feminist and gender theory and history. He will be going over the history of sex testing in the Olympics and illuminating various problems with the strict sex-binary system in competitive sport tournaments such as the Olympics.
- Billy Lewis is a member of the Indigenous Solidarity Movement and worked with the Lubicon to oppose the Calagary '88 Olympics. Billy will speak about the history of Indigenous resistance to the Olympics.
- Jill Ratcliffe is an anti-poverty activist and works to oppose capitalism and all forms of oppression. Jill will speak on gentrification in Vancouver and Halifax, and the impact the Games are having on those living in poverty.
The event is free and refreshments will be provided. Please come out!
For more information please email: hillary|a|mediacoop.ca or call: 444 4546
http://www.dominionpaper.ca/olympics
"In Canada, you will find a nation that works every day towards creating the conditions of the Olympic ideal." --Jean Chrétien
The "Olympic Ideal" is part of one of the world’s most successful marketing campaigns, built around concepts that almost everyone can agree upon: world-class amateur sport and peaceful competition.
But a rising chorus of critical voices say that the Olympics are deeply implicated in the expropriation of land, money and resources. From movements demanding "No Olympics on Stolen Native Land" to angry business owners, resistance to the Olympics economic and social agenda is growing.The Olympics budget includes a billion dollars for security. A billion dollars each will be spent on a new convention centre, a larger highway to Whistler, and SNC Lavalin's rail link from the Vancouver airport to downtown.In the political and economic manoeuvres leading up to the 2010 Olympics, a different "ideal" has been revealed – one of exclusive contracts, sponsorship deals, displacement, social cleansing, and corruption. At times, sport seems like an afterthought.
Many of the real stories behind the Olympics remain to be told.
The Special Issue:
Thousands of copies of the Olympic special issue will be printed and distributed through grassroots networks across Turtle Island in November 2009. As you might be aware, previous special issues of The Dominion have received critical acclaim for their coverage of Canadian foreign policy, the Athabasca tar sands, and the Canadian mining sector.
Please visit http://www.dominionpaper.ca
The site for the Halifax local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.
