Vol. 28 No. 306 (2023)
Paris 2024: a show of wealth and misery
Every time the International Olympic Committee (IOC) designates a city as its venue, it seeks to ensure that the event takes place in spectacular settings where the feats of contemporary Olympic heroes are celebrated, with the aim of attracting a global audience and thus companies that contribute huge sums of money in sponsorship. The construction of stadiums, accommodations and sports centers are handed over to contractors whose main objective is to obtain the greatest possible profits, and to do so, some use various strategies to further increase their profits, such as job insecurity, savings in security measures and the freezing of salaries in times of inflation.
A few days ago, the workers of one of the sports centers assigned for the next Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which was under construction, began a strike and occupation of facilities demanding decent working conditions, contracts and residence permits as promised by the organizers at the beginning of the works.
The IOC emissaries inspect the works, ensuring that the agreed project and the scheduled times are met, but evidently they act distracted when it comes to a toxic work environment, generating misery and exploitation for the workers, many of them immigrants. Far, very far from the objectives proclaimed by the Olympic Movement of mutual understanding, spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play, something else takes place: another example of the inequitable distribution of wealth on the planet.
Tulio Guterman, Director - November 2023
Published:
2023-11-08
