In Paris, the opening “evening” to protest the “broken promises” of the 2024 Olympics – Libération

2024-07-25 20:00:35

On the eve of the opening ceremony of the Olympic Games, a group of groups organized this Thursday, July 25, “evening night” in the Place de la République. The goal: to oppose the “social and ecological consequences” of the competition.

Place de la République, in Paris, old people dance to jungle rock music. All about their business, they did not look at what was happening a few meters from them this Thursday, July 25: many people were flagging the famous statue of the place, cleaned of anti-drug signs soak. National assembly dating from early legislative campaigns. “Exclusionary Olympics: 12,500 people expelled!” Can we read on this great poster created by the collection Le Revers de la Medal. With other associations and groups (Médecins du monde, Attac, Solidaires, etc.), it is at the origin of the opening night of the Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris, organized the day before the actual meeting along the Seine. In the République, there is no Céline Dion concert on the program but words to oppose “environmental pollution” caused by competition and its “Social and ecocide consequences”, as an activist.

“We want to make the voice of the social group heard to protest the failures, the broken promises but also the violence of the organization of the Olympics,” Paul Alauzy, organizer at Médecins du Monde and spokesman for the Revers de la Medal, who responded not far from the tent decorated with this message: “This is not a residence.” Displacement of homeless people, “attacks on public liberties”, Unlicensed workers employed on Games construction sites… “It has been a very difficult year in terms of social integration, with the authorities wanting to introduce a Potemkin village,” judge Paul Alauzy, who is shown in taking the environmental damage caused by the Olympics.

“At the heart of the event reactor”

“We can no longer hold big competitions like that while pretending that the regional and social crisis does not exist. We need to rethink them differently,” admits Nicolas, an activist with Greenpeace who came to support. And to stop “wash green” of the organizers of the Games, who chose as sponsors multinationals such as “Toyota or even Coca-Cola, which is the first plastic waste on the planet” all in “Building infrastructure for the Olympic Games in Seine-Saint-DenisWe are not good Department already very concreted and the residents do not have the means to go to the Olympic event.

In the square, a woman was selling keffiyehs, and there were many pro-Palestinian demonstrators. “Killer of Israel, Macron made a killer” they said, in reference to the presence of Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the opening ceremony on Friday July 26. On the other side of the street, activists from We will live, a Jewish collective born in the wake of October 7, responded: “The Olympics of anti-Semitism.”

It was around 7:15 pm when the speaking engagements began. “Shame, shame, shame”, cried Paul Alauzy who, just before, confirmed that his combination “have found a way to be in the heart of the reactor for the opening ceremony on July 26” : “This will not disrupt the evening or endanger people, but it will show that there are people who support us.” On stage, anti-Olympic activists are calling for it “light the fire of our freedoms and our efforts”. A few steps away, the wild dancers are still there.