NO GAMES TORONTO JOINS RALLY
AGAINST THE OLYMPIC TORCH IN TORONTO!

TORONTO DISRUPTS THE TORCH! THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES!

(report back)

Over 250 people took to the streets Thursday night to welcome the
Olympic Torch with a resounding: “No Olympics on Stolen Native Land”
Enthusiastic folks met up at 5:15 at College & University, gathering
around a 15 foot homemade torch of our own, banners reading “Resist
2010 for the land”, “No 2010 Torch” and sharing in some homemade food.
Organizers from Six Nations read the Declaration of the Onkwehonwe of
Grand River Territory on the 2010 Olympic Torch Relay, Doreen
Silversmith also from Six Nations spoke about how the attacks on women
are attacks on the land and Mark C. from ARA spoke of Indigenous Youth
rising up and taking power. Messages of Solidarity were delivered by
No One Is Illegal-Toronto, No Games Toronto and Kitchener-Waterloo’s
own Torch Welcoming Committee.

Grounding the crowd in the reasons we were here: to decry Canada’s
colonial violence and expose the lies of Olympics Circus, chants began
that would ring through Toronto all night. While the cold seeped, our
MC got the crowd jumping and amped to go meet the torch.

Anticipating the torch taking a lil’ streetcar ride, people took to
College Street. The first line of bike cops at College and Elizabeth
set up as we began a fluid game of cat and mouse. Our people took some
surprise routes towards Yonge and Gerrard where we regrouped and faced
a row of riots cops, holding the intersection. We gathered at the line
of cops and turned back suddenly, going North, walking up Yonge St. to
meet the Torch. At Yonge and College we ran into the crowds there to
cheer on the Torch some of whom started booing and hissing. We handed
out thousands of pieces of ORN and No2010 literature and some people
even joined our action. One onlooker pushed over our speaker. The
horses arrived and tried to split us in two but that failed. Then a
small group stayed back at Yonge and College, while the rest of the
street party walked North, slowing to regroup and coming closer to the
Torch. At Yonge and Maitland, we decided to stop and hold it, as
people from the back rushed to join us. With messages streaming in
that the media were reporting we had blocked the Torch and having
chased the torch around the city for nearly two hours (it was now
7:30), we euphorically declared victory! We had forced VANOC to split
the Torch in to two, and brought our message right to the centre of
the Olympic Circus.

While all of this was going on, the March in Honour of Harriet
Nahanee, led by indigenous women, had split off to follow the torch
into Nathan Phillips Square, where a climber free climbed an arch
directly opposite the stage and hung a banner reading “Gego Olympics
Da-Te-Snoon Nishnaabe-Giing Ga-Gmooding” (No Olympics on Stolen Native
Land in Anishinaabemowin). Our people had infiltrated the crowd,
holding up banners and handing out flyers, and booing the flame as it
left Nathan Phillips Square around 9:30pm. The banner stayed up till
the end of the festivities and the climber only got a $100 ticket.

Two arrests were made when two protesters ran alongside the Torch
following the disruption at Yonge and Maitland. They were released
later that night.

We stole the Torch’s thunder, with CTV, NDNTV, APTN, City, the Globe,
the Star, the Sun, Now Magazine and some Ryerson folks reporting on
the disruption and relaying the message that we took to the streets
demanding justice for indigenous peoples, an end to corporate
domination and the truth about “Canada’s” ongoing policies and
practices of colonialism. Though there has been a serious damper being
put on the size and effect of our actions, everyone on the streets of
Toronto heard us last night.

This protest was organized by an autonomous group of people coming
together for this occasion, and showcased a broad spectrum of
Toronto’s resistance. As we head into 2010, we urge folks to support
Six Nations as they stand up and block the Torch from entering their
territory on December 21st, to head to Kitchener-Waterloo on December
27th, to converge on Vancouver from February 10-15th, and to start
thinking about your plans for the G8/G20 meetings in June. Overheard
during the street party: “Man, the G20’s coming here, and we can’t
even handle this!”, cop.

‘See you in the streets.

Toronto Stuck with Pan Am Games – What’s In Store for Taxpayers?

For immediate release: November 6, 2009

Toronto – Despite articulate community opposition, and a recent City TV poll where viewers overwhelmingly voted down the idea, the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) made a decision today that Toronto will host the 2015 Pan American Games. No Games Toronto (NGT), a dedicated group of students and community members, has opposed the Games since May 2009 because the government’s $2.4 billion commitment to the Pan-Am bid, which comes with a blank cheque from the province for any cost overruns, does not consider the needs of Torontonians, especially during a recession. The money is going towards elaborate sport venues and other developments that ignore the immediate priorities of citizens including public swimming pools, community centres, day care facilities, affordable postsecondary education and better health care.

“How can our government spend an exorbitant amount of our money on a one-time sporting event and then blame their funding cuts for desperately needed public services on the economic downturn?” asked Joeita Gupta, NGT spokesperson.

NGT has been raising awareness about the impact of mega-sporting events such as the Pan American Games through a flying squad bus during PASO’s visit to Toronto and numerous pickets and rallies. The University of Toronto has plans to build three Olympic-sized sports facilities, costing over $220 million to taxpayers and students and has significantly increased tuition fees.

“Resistance to these Games will grow and continue over the time leading up to and during the event,” stated Murphy Browne, also a spokesperson for NGT.

The government is not spending taxpayers’ dollars wisely in the interests of its citizens. We need a stable economic plan and mega-sporting events result in debt, not profit. Both Montreal and Winnipeg were left with enormous debts since hosting the Olympics and Pan Am Games respectively. Promises of jobs, infrastructure, affordable housing and economic boosts are empty. The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Games have an estimated cost of $6 billion, up from an original estimate of $660 million and the commitment to build affordable housing is cancelled due to mismanagement of the athlete’s village construction.

No Games Toronto will continue its work. Toronto needs a deep investment in public services; not a gamble in a one-time mega sporting event.

The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students will be hosting a forum titled, "Why Toronto Should Not Host the 2015 Pan American Games" on Friday November 20, from 3-5pm in the Waters Lounge at Woodsworth College, U of T. The talk will be a part of APUS' Free Education Week.

No Games Toronto continues to resist Bid for 2015 Pan-Am Games

Picket outside the Royal York Hotel, Oct 16th at noon


For immediate release: October 14, 2009

TORONTO - As No Games Toronto (NGT) gains momentum, top officials of the Toronto 2015 Bid Committee are writing speeches for a luncheon on Oct 16th 12:00pm at the Fairmont Royal York. The question up for discussion is “why should Toronto host the 2015 Pan Am Games?” Certainly the Bid Committee’s remarks will ignore the $2.4 billion cost to the taxpayer, and the history of debt and social damage that mega-sporting events leave behind in their host cities. NGT also congratulates No Games Chicago for their very influential public awareness campaign against Chicago’s failed 2016 Olympic Bid. Many Chicago residents appreciate that the Olympics are a bad idea.

“While the Committee’s reality-defying rhetoric promises jobs, infrastructure, money, and prestige for Toronto, the truth has always meant exploitation of vulnerable workers, especially migrant labourers, enormous debt dumped on taxpayers, and targeted-policing of homeless, marginalized people and dissenters,” says NGT spokesperson Joeita Gupta. Less than five months away from the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, costs and security have both skyrocketed. Although Vancouver taxpayers were promised that the Games would only cost $660 million, the price has ballooned to over $6 billion. Meanwhile the RCMP, in disregard of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, continues to harass Anti-Olympic advocates and their friends, showing up at their work, school, and homes to have “informal” conversations. In fact, RCMP officials have travelled as far as Toronto to pursue anti-Olympic activists.

On Friday NGT will answer the question, “Why should Toronto host the Pan Am Games in 2015?” with a very firm, “Toronto should not,” for the very obvious reasons noted above. We will be outside of the Royal York Hotel with information for passers-by.

At the end of the summer, NGT’s flying squad tracked the Pan American Sports Organization’s tour of the city. As PASO evaluated how equipped Toronto would be to host the Games, NGT launched a campaign to demonstrate how unsuitable the Games would be for Toronto. Now we will take our message to the Bid Committee: rather than debt and police harassment, we want fully-funded public services, and our Charter rights to be respected.

As Toronto has stopped the Olympics from coming here twice before, and No Games Chicago stopped their city’s Olympic bid, we know this can happen, but it depends on you! Please join us at the Fairmont on Oct 16th at 11:30 a.m. and bring as many friends and allies with you as possible. Together we can stop the bid!

Contact: Joeita Gupta 416 918 1935
or
Murphy Browne 416 978 0832

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MEDIA COVERAGE

NO GAMES TORONTO received a great deal of media coverage during the flying squad bus tour and Rally over the past two days while the PASO committee was in town.

MEDIA COVERAGE FROM AUG 30-31 EVENTS

*NOW, Sept 2-9, Vol 29 No1, Paul Terefenko: Let the Pan Am games begin; Mayor Pump Pan Am Projects for Priority' Hoods, Critics Jeer

* The Toronto Sun - Mon Aug 31: Pan Am protesters fuming over bid. - Video.

* CTV – Aug 30: Pan Am evaluators in TO in bid to find host city
Video: CTV Toronto: Welcoming Pan Am Evaluators

* The Star, Dan Robson - Sept 1: Pam Am VIPs ride GO, while 1,600 fume.

* The Star, Royson James - Sept 1: Protesters can spoil more than a Games bid.

* SmugMug: No Pan Am Games in Toronto press conference. Photographs.

* CBC - Aug 31: Pan Am Games Chair lauds Toronto bid

* National Post, Allison Hanes - Aug 31: Anti-games rally as PanAm dignitaries visit.

* National Post, Allison Hanes - Aug 31: PanAm dignitaries get VIP tour.

* National Post, Allison Hanes - Aug 27: PanAm opposition emerges on eve of official site tour.

* The Hamilton Spectator, John Kernaghan - Aug 29: Hamilton on track for Games committee visit.

* The Star, Vanessa Lu - Aug 31: It’s our time for Pan Am.

* The Globe and Mail, Susan Krashinsky and Brodie Fenlon - Sept 1: Ottawa okays ID cards for Pan Am Games bid.

* The Globe and Mail, Jill Mahoney -Aug 30: City gets once-over for Pan Am Games.

* Globe and Mail, Josh Wingrove - Sept 1: Visiting Pan Am official touts Toronto for Olympics.

* Mountain News, Kevin Werner - Aug 28: Say no to Pan Am Games, political group says.

We will continue to oppose the games! If you want to get involved stay updated about upcoming meetings to be posted on our blog site.

PHOTOS: RALLY NO GAMES TORONTO -AUG 31

Rally UofT Varsity Stadium

Helen Lenskyj, Author of several books including: Olympic Industry Resistance: Challenging Olympic Power and Propoganda, 2008

John Clark, Ontario Coalition of Poverty (OCAP)

Rally 100 Devonshire Place, APUS Office

Ajamu Nangwaya (CUPE 3907)

Dear friends and allies,

Join us for one last chance to show opposition to the Pan Am Games, PASO Evaluation Committee today.

LOCATION: Rogers Centre, 4:45 pm, gate #8
1 Blue Jays Way

Thank you for your continued support! No Games Toronto hosted a very successful rally at 100 Devonshire Place. We had a number of very powerful speakers and performers and lots of media come out. More updates and photos will be available shortly at www.NoGamesToronto.blogspot.com.

Let’s show PASO’s Evaluation team that the Pan-Am Games are not a Toronto priority!

In solidarity,
No Games Toronto

NO GAMES TORONTO: STOP THE BID FOR THE 2015 PAN-AMERICAN GAMES

Rogers Centre & CN Tower

Pan-American Sports Organization (PASO) in town to Decide on Bid

RALLY to stop the Games! Monday, August 31, 11:00A.M.
LOCATION: 100 Devonshire Place, across from the UofT Varsity Stadium.

Call out to the community to join us at the APUS office, the site of the $50 million Pan Am venue that will displace the part-time union. We will have speakers, free food and information on why we need to resist the bid!

Speakers include Helen Lenskyj (OISE), John Clarke (OCAP), Ajamu Nangwaya (CUPE3907), Joeita Gupta (APUS), Murphy Browne (NGT), Shelley Melanson (CFS) and Vanessa Parlette (CUPE3902).

SUNDAY AUG 30th FLYING SQUAD BUS UPDATE- IT WAS A HUGE SUCCESS!
We visited five locations across the GTA, handing out flyers, postering and exposing the myths and realities of the Pan-Am Games;

*11:00 A.M.- Varsity Stadium and site of the proposed Centre for High-Performance Sports (planned to displace UofT's part-time student union).

*12:00 P.M.- Union Station (close to the Fairmont Hotel where PASO members are staying and major thoroughfare for the GTA)

*1:00 P.M.- Roy Thomson Hall (proposed venue for weight-lifting events)

*1:30 P.M.- Rogers Centre and CN Tower (major city attractions and points on the PASO Evaluation teams itinerary)

*3:00 P.M.- York University, Rexall Stadium (PASO officials scheduled to evaluate the tennis courts)

*5:00 P.M. University of Toronto Scarborough (site of the proposed $170 million Aquatics and Track and Field Centre)

No Games Toronto Flying Squad attracted media at almost every stop we made. We postered the streets and held up "No GAMES TORONTO" banners. Join us tomorrow for the second day of the PASO visit, at 11:00 am across from the Varsity Stadium, 100 Devonshire Place.

Twice in the past, the people of Toronto have been successful in preventing the Games from coming to town (1996 and 2008 games). We did it twice, we can do it again! Come out to the rally and show PASO that the Pan-Am Games are neither welcome here, nor are they a relevant priority!

Union Station & the Fairmont Hotel

York University - Rexall Stadium

University of Toronto Scarborough Campus

No Games Toronto - Stop the bid for the 2015 Games!

Pan Am Sports Organization (PASO) coming to town to decide on bid

RALLY to stop the Games!
Monday August 31, 11:00 a.m.
100 Devonshire Place, across from the UofT Varsity Stadium

100 Devonshire Place, across from the UofT Varsity Stadium

Call out to the community to join us at the APUS office, the site of the $50 million Pan Am venue that will displace the part-time union. We will have speakers, free food and information on why we need to resist the bid!

Also on Sunday, August 30th, 11 a.m. to evening the No Games Flying Squad Bus will visit a few of the venues (Meet 11 a.m. @ APUS).

The estimated cost for the Pan-Am games in Toronto is already set at $2.4 billion. Yet, the most vulnerable and marginalized people are told that there isn’t enough money to assist them. All, three levels of government and the U of T have pledged either tens, or hundreds of millions into the Pan-Am Games. Meanwhile, there are more urgent priorities like public housing, keeping our schools and pools open and affordable post-secondary education.

This year, while planning for two Olympic Size sports facilities, costing upwards of $220 million for the Pan Am games, the University of Toronto raised tuition across the board. In addition, they introduced an unprecedented Flat Fee that will increase tuition for part-time students as much as 66%. One venue, the Centre for High Performance Sport, will displace the UofT part-time student union. If these plans go ahead, students will be expected to pay additional levies for both venues.

Twice in the past, the people of Toronto have been successful in preventing the Olympics from coming to town (i.e. 1996 and 2008 games). We stopped it then and we can do it again! Mega-Sporting events wreak havoc on their host cities, displacing marginalized people, shutting down sectors of the city, bankrupting small businesses, demanding a large police presence, and in the end leave the city billions in debt.

We only need to look to Vancouver, which is scheduled to host the 2010 Olympic Games. What was originally supposed to cost only $660 million is now projected at $6 billion. With six months before the games begin there are already massive violations of civil liberties and homelessness has substantially increased.
When the Pan American Sports Organization (PASO) comes to town there will be a two-day marathon of wining, dining, and showing off, where officials from all three levels of government will attempt to impress the five-member evaluation committee to secure Toronto’s 2015 Pan-Am bid. No Games Toronto, a coalition of community activists, plan to show our opposition on the 30th and 31st by letting PASO know their games are not welcome here.

Join our rally Monday 31st at 11 a.m. 100 Devonshire place and the flying squad No Pan Am Games Bus - Sunday Aug 30th, 11 a.m. to evening (the bus leaves from same location). Send PASO the message that Toronto has more relevant priorities than Mega-Sporting events.

More information: http://NoGamesToronto.blogspot.com or call Joeita Gupta 416 918-1935

No PAN AM GAMES - PICKET PHOTOS

PICKET: MAY 19th 9:00 am – 1:00 pm, University of Toronto, Clara Benson Building, 320 Huron Street, south of Harbord.

‘OLYMPIC REFORM’ OR OLYMPIC WHITEWASH?

For Immediate Release May 19, 2009

No PAN-AMERICAN GAMES - PICKET: MAY 19th 9:00 am – 1:00 pm
University of Toronto, Clara Benson Building, 320 Huron Street, south of Harbord.

Toronto- According to Toronto activists, the forum entitled “Olympic reform, a ten year review” hosted by the University of Toronto this week, is nothing but a whitewash designed more to gloss over the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) failings than to provide insight into how the organization actually operates.

Joeita Gupta, Vice-President External of The Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students (APUS), calls the forum “a slick piece of pro-IOC propaganda dressed up as an academic exercise. Five of the forum’s nine key note speakers have direct ties to the IOC and most are white males.”

The University of Toronto is sporting its own hopes in preparation of the Pan American Games for a $170 million Olympic-sized Aquatics facility (at Scarborough campus) and a $50 million Centre for High Performance Sport (at the St. George campus). At the same time U of T is looking to increase tuition fees by over 60% for some students with the introduction of Flat Fees at the May 20 Governing Council meeting (4 pm. at UTM, Mississauga Campus). Rather than investing in education during the current economic downturn, all levels of government will invest monies towards the Pan American Games which will cost upwards of 1.77 billion.

Gupta notes, “Mega-sporting events around the world have shown that they come at great expense to the community while limiting human rights, and gentrifying whole neighborhoods in which marginalized peoples reside. At the University of Toronto, the elite sports facility is proposed to displace the Part-time Student Union’s (APUS) current office location. Our members are largely parents, workers, mature, racialized students and students with disabilities who have more pressing needs that are currently not being addressed. This eviction is being anticipated by the same people putting on this conference.”

Despite a resounding ‘no’ vote to the Varsity Stadium in 2002 by the part-time, full-time and graduate constituencies, both the new facilities, will entail additional student levies. According to the University of Toronto’s Executive Committee, students may be asked to pay an additional $50-60 dollars each for the St. George facility. Additionally, discussions are already underway to move ahead with a referendum in 2009 for a levy for the facility in Scarborough.

APUS’ Executive Director, Oriel Varga states, “This is totally unacceptable! These are truly skewed priorities. The University is willing to spend millions for the Pan American Games Bid while they at the same time are proposing a 66% fee hike for our members. Part-time students taking 3 and 3.5 credits will be forced to pay for 5 courses under the Program Fee (Flat Fee) proposal. Additionally the University is expecting our members to finance the operating costs of these facilities while evicting their student union.”

Reached by phone from Vancouver, anti-Olympic activist, Chris Shaw echoed the concerns that the conference was less about academics than promoting the IOC and the Olympics.

“The line up certainly suggests that Dean Kidd has an agenda. It’s great that one critic of the IOC, Andrew Jennings, will be there, but the rest, with very few exceptions can be expected to toe the party line. No one from the Olympic Resistance Network in Vancouver was invited. I see they also made sure to exclude Dr. Helen Lenskyj who is from the University of Toronto and has been a consistently outspoken critic of the IOC’s so-called reforms”.

Media Contacts: Joeita Gupta, 416 918-1935 and Chris Shaw, cashawlab@gmail.com, 604-875-4111 (68373)

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INFORMATION FORUM:

DON’T PLAY GAMES WITH OUR PRIORITIES: No Pan-American Games in Toronto!
Thurs 28th: 6:00 - 8:00 p.m., OISE, Rm 2212

*Anti-poverty activist Josephine Grey (LIFT) and Vancouver Anti-Olympic activist Chris Shaw, (author of Five Ring Circuses: Myths and Realities of the Olympic Games), and others will lead the discussion.

Mega sporting events, such as the Olympics and the Pan-American games are a tremendous financial drain on the cities that host them, always engender environmental degradation, contribute to the attrition of valuable social infrastructure, and launch full-fledged attacks on the most vulnerable communities and peoples. Is it the business of a public university to prioritize mega-sporting events over the academic and financial concerns of the students and broader community?

*Refreshments will be provided*
Brought to you by the Association of Part-time Undergraduate Students (APUS)

THE FREE EDUCATION WEEK MAY 25-30th 2009
www.FreeEducationWeek.blogspot.com