#ShoutYourAbortion Reveals the Stigma Enablers

Lindy West tells the story behind the hashtag, #ShoutYourAbortion.

But the deck sums it up nicely:

I set up #ShoutYourAbortion because I am not sorry, and I will not whisper

A recent study demonstrates what we intuitively knew: 95% of women who have abortions do NOT regret them.

But still we don't talk about it, because society has successfully stigmatized an ordinary, common, medical procedure.

I love #ShoutYourAbortion -- go have a look -- because it collects all the asinine anti-choice so-called arguments in one place; it encourages women to speak up, if they want to; and it's been driving antis insane for days now.

And there's a further reason. It is revealing people who call themselves pro-choice but who nonetheless are appalled, offended, or squeamish at the audacity of those using the hashtag.

I call them Stigma Enablers.

They are able to admit that abortion is sometimes necessary, but at the same time, want us still to whisper about it.

Yesterday I tweeted that observation and a very peculiar exchange began.

@fernhilldammit I'll keep my moral compass and conscience, thank you.

— Melyssa Hubbard (@SpankCityHall) September 27, 2015

This woman, Melyssa Hubbard, who claimed to be prochoice, describes herself thus on her profile.

Author & Advocate of Self Actualization | Indiana Tea Party Founder | Former Pro Dominatrix

Interesting combination of attributes, yes?

The exchange went on for a while. She was complaining that we were forcing our shamelessness (or something) on her. Which is amusing, considering her claim to be a pro dominatrix. Classic "likes to dish it out, but can't take it"?

Woman reads twitter hashtag. Is offended. Whines people are "involving" her. And antis call #prochoice self-centred. https://t.co/AhkpuRrq2S

— Fern Hill (@fernhilldammit) September 27, 2015

Other people got involved.

@fortyfs @fernhilldammit A puritanical celibate dominatrix spending her spare time policing & shaming women on twitter. Intriguing.

— Chris Caple (@chriscaple) September 27, 2015

Then Melyssa started scrubbing some of her more idiotic tweets and I hadn't taken screen caps.

Oh well.

No one is forcing anyone to talk about their abortion if they don't want to.

No one is forcing anyone to read the hashtag if they don't want to.

But if you're going to call yourself "pro-choice," you can't oppose the movement (if it is that) without participating in stigma enabling.

C'est tout.

Let's make ALL the girls and women wear niqab, RIGHT?!

Now that I have your attention, my point is that Harper and the CPC are cravenly using the niqab to push hot buttons during this election.

The political cartoon above suggests the niqab issue will provide Harper with a "wind at his back" which he needs desperately needs to win the election race.

There are dozens of institutions that oppress women.  The niqab is the least of them but Harper's Attack Dingo™ Lynton Crosby has found one with formidable scaremongering OPTICS, right?

Susan Delacourt unpacks CPC doublespeak with regard to the niqab.

Rational people and critics of Harper's regime nail what the CPC tactic obfuscates:

This happened north of Ottawa last week. Basil Borutski 'allegedly' executed three women. How can this still occur, in Ontario, in 2015?

“Our systems need to try to pick out these warning signs sooner and do everything we can to provide safety and security,” [Illingworth] said. “There are absolutely gaps.”

The province’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, which works with the coroner’s office to review every domestic homicide in Ontario over more than a decade, has compiled a list of risk factors that “indicate the potential for lethality” within relationships or, to put it another way, a check-list to figure out the likelihood that an abuser will kill his partner.

Most of the boxes would be ticked off when it came to Borutski: a history of violence, an escalation of violence, obsessive behaviour, unemployment, isolation of victims and victims having an “intuitive sense of fear.”

From here:

Leighann Burns, the executive director of Ottawa women's shelter Harmony House, said many women feel that abusive men are not monitored closely enough after being released from jail, and that conditions placed on those who are released can, in some cases, easily be ignored.

"We hear from women routinely that the offences that men commit against them are not treated seriously in the criminal justice system," Burns said.

"Somebody who is lethally violent, who has clearly got no respect for the system or any sanctions that are meted out — there's not much that can be done, other than to lock him up or keep her hidden," she said.

So, probation officer are overworked, likely because of a large client load which, at the risk of provoking shrieks from Babs Kay, I will guess is 90% male offenders.

Remember Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, along with Rona Mohammad Amir, 50? Their bodies were found in the family’s Nissan, submerged in the Rideau Canal on June 30, 2009. The family members who killed them were able to "justify" their murders using the same twisted patriarchal ideology that motivated Borutski.  

Women "provoke" their murderers by defying the Gawd-given control entrusted to men to extract resources from women.  If women and girls refuse to provide men with what they want and demand, they're disposable.  They can be threatened, harmed, damaged, tortured and killed with impunity.  That chilling premise is the core of patriarchal extremism throughout the world.

So, the niqab? Just as oppressive as Harper's Hard-On Crime regime of venal liars who did NOTHING during their 9 years in government to make Canada safer for women and girls.


For a rueful chuckle to end my pessimistic rambling, check out my co-blogger's post about #CdnNiqab as well has the photos that folks posted on Twitter.

The Niqab Is as Canadian as Maple Syrup and Frostbite

The other day I started a Twitter hashtag #CdnNiqab. It got very little attention, but it amused me.

Leaving aside all the blatant, court-reinforced, Charter-busting wrongness of a ban on niqabs at citizenship ceremonies, I find it hilarious that citizens who for months cover most of their faces for sheer survival would get their knickers in knots about it.

(Also leaving aside the disgusting wedgie PMSHithead is perpetrating on the land.)

Here are some of the pictures I posted.

This is what Herr Harper said:

“Look, when someone joins the Canadian family, there are times in our open, tolerant, pluralistic society that as part of our interactions with each other we reveal our identity through revealing our face.”

Those look like members of my Canadian family.

As does this guy, whose face you can't see very well.

If you've got silly or fabulous pix of you and/or friends and family geared up for winter, post them on Twitter.

Let's mock this wedgie right out of our snowpants.


UPDATE: October 7, 2015. My timing sux, I guess. Niqabs of Canada.

Olympics: Dodged a Bullet, Set a Precedent?

Mayor Dad announced yesterday that Toronto is not going to bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics.

Good.

As observant readers have noted, this blog was opposed to the greed-corruption-anti-democracy festival that the Olympics bring to town.

What galled me the most was the total needlessness of this kabuki.

Some points:
• We had already decided against this idiocy until John Tory got a bee in his bonnet and decided to drag us all through his dithering for more than a month.

• An Olympic bid was not on anyone's agenda. No one campaigned on it. It had zero interest, let alone support. (See link above. Not one person appeared at the economic development committee meeting to speak in favour of a bid.)

• One man, John Tory, all jacked up on Pan Am juice -- a third-rate sports event, amounting to a "high school track meet" in comparison to the Olympics -- decided to revisit an issue that no one gave a shit about. Why? Who knows? Maybe because he's an elite former executive who wants to run a one-man show.

• Speaking of which, Tory completely ignored elected representatives on city council, while lying his ass off about consulting them.

• Speaking of which, look how many council members refused to disclose where they stood on the matter, despite being repeatedly asked by constituents and media. (And kudos to those who did.)

• And finally the total lack of transparency. Which, one gathers, is typical for this sort of elite takeover of civic processes, but which, none the less, is infuriating.

In short, I was deeply offended and mightily pissed off by the sheer gall of elites deciding that we peons were going to pay BILLIONS for a big-ass party, while having no bloody say in it at all.

Then, as the topper, Mayor Dad calls a press conference to gather on the roof of a snack shop -- and doesn't that just scream World Class City? -- to blather on and on about how carefully HE considered everything (someone really should count the number of first-person pronouns in that speech; it's embarrassing) only to decide HE couldn't look people in the eye …

The truth is, I can’t look people in the eye at this point in our city’s development and tell them that an Olympic bid is the best use of our time, our energy, or our investment.

John Tory, the very embodiment of the Olympic Spirit -- in all its entitlement and noblesse oblige.

Toronto is entering dangerous territory here that I and Cityslikr thought we had faced and (barely) survived in the Rob Ford era.

But even if the mayor declines to proceed, city council needs to make it clear, in the strongest way possible, that this was never a mayor’s decision to make alone, that all the behind-the-scenes, Freedom of Information access only deliberations were unacceptable and undemocratic. If Mayor Tory’s doing all that on an Olympic bid, what else is going on back there?

City council needs to nip this mayor’s imperious inclinations in the bud now. It needs to show the mayor exactly who the boss is here. Like Rob Ford before him, Mayor Tory seems to have claimed a mayoral mandate as some sort of executive fiat. He’ll keep thinking that until city council shows him otherwise.

Wakey, wakey, city council.

And citizens of Toronto.


UPDATE: Janice Forsyth, who was a strong voice for reason and facts, still has questions too.

Toronto Mayor Aubut: "Just Trust Me"

John Barber wrote a couple of weeks ago:

Suddenly there's a new mayor in town. You don't know him and you didn't vote for him. But if his threatened coup comes off, he will be the one giving orders in Toronto for the next decade.

And after handing this new civic potentate supreme power, no pipsqueak council or elected mayor will dare complain as he burdens local taxpayers with grandiose monuments of crippling expense and little use.

All hail Marcel Aubut, chairman of the Canadian Olympic Committee! Desperately seeking attention in a perpetual fit of adolescent insecurity, we salute you. Make us do something other people will notice! Lay on the magic hands.

Today, we hear from Mayor Aubut in in his own words.

“There are lots of people...who are there ready to commit to go one step further,” says Marcel Aubut. “But I won’t give you the list.”

Well, why the heck would he? He's not answerable to anybody.

It’s “difficult” for Olympic backers to be transparent at such an early stage, Aubut said, but he promised the public would learn more soon.

Pressed for details, Aubut would only say there will be "momentum" leading up to Sept. 15, the deadline for cities to tell the International Olympic Committee they’re interested in bidding for the 2024 Games.

Torontonians may not remember or care about Marcel Aubut, but the people of Quebec City sure do.

Aubut was President of the Nordiques when the team was sold to an American communications company and moved to Denver in 1995, becoming the Colorado Avalanche. Maclean's Magazine reported that Aubut personally made $15 million from the sale and that t-shirts reading "Marcel Aubut: Wanted Dead or Alive" were not an uncommon sight in Quebec City at the time.

To add insult to the proverbial injury, the team won the Stanley Cup the next year.

And now the "big man -- with the equally large personality" is president of the Canadian Olympic Committee and is pushing to have Toronto sign a blank cheque to host the 2024 Summer Games.

But is that his ultimate goal?

Who knows?

But it would irresponsible not to speculate in light of this (from January 2012).

But where his pro-hockey and Olympic interests happily intersect are in the efforts to finally build Quebec City a new arena. The vision is that the $400-million, 18,000-seat facility would also serve as the centrepiece of a Winter Games bid. But funding for the project—a pastiche of provincial, city, Quebecor and fan money—remains sketchy. And the “target” Olympics is now 2026, which won’t be awarded until 2019.

Aubut, who splits his time between Quebec, Montreal and Toronto, remains an enthusiastic proponent. Quebec, like Winnipeg, is a different city these days, with a more vibrant economy. And it has the capacity to host not just NHL hockey, but the world.

Would there be an element of personal redemption? “You appreciate what you don’t have,” he says.“I really want a team back.”

Got that? The man who profited by $15 million on the sale of the old Nordiques wants another team in Quebec City and he's prepared to plunge Toronto and Quebec City too, presumably, into MASSIVE debt to get it.

No matter that every media pundit in Toronto is against it, joined yesterday by noted urbanologist -- and Toronto resident -- Richard Florida.

Mr. Tory posed the issue correctly when he said: “The most important question I have is, ‘Do you think this would be to the benefit of the people of the city of Toronto?’” Based on every shred of evidence, the answer is No.

Pundits, urbanologists, academics -- all think it's a very bad deal.

Even City Councillors are getting twitchy.

BREAKING Anthony Perruzza calling on Mayor John Tory to have a special council meeting on an Olympic bid #TOpoli pic.twitter.com/iexJRWp5Ne

— Don Peat (@reporterdonpeat) September 9, 2015

And then there's us peons who have little recourse but a petition.

But what Big (Unelected) Mayor Aubut wants, he wants.

And we should just trust him?

Yeah, right.


ADDED: Freedom of Information requests to John Tory's office raise lots more questions.

INCOMING! (And I totally missed it)

It's hot and I'm having a shitty day. So out of boredom and in need of distraction, I googled "fern hill dammit janet" and look what I found from Canadian (formerly "Christian") Association of Pregnancy Support Services, aka fake clinics/crisis pregnancy centres.

We are excited to be holding the first annual CAPSS National day of Prayer on Thursday, April 2, 2015

There's a lot a jeezuzy stuff, then things get specific. Joyce Arthur of Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and I are targeted for prayer assaults.

Joyce's many crimes against truth, science, and good care for women are listed -- of course with an emphasis on how successful she'd been lately at fucking up fake clinics' work -- are listed.

Then there's me.

In November 2014, the Ontario Trillium Foundation rescinded the second half ($41,500) of a $83,000 donation to the Lambton, Ontario Crisis Pregnancy Centre due to complaints by Fern Hill of the Dammit Janet blogspot: http://scathinglywrongrightwingnutz.blogspot.ca/.  Fern Hill is the pen name for the blogger and her real identity is anonymous.  If you read through her twitter account she is bent on attacking every CPC across Canada and her current target is the Kamloops Crisis Pregnancy Centre.  Fern Hill and Joyce Arthur are collaborating together to get the charitable status of the Crisis Pregnancy Centres revoked.

In what's gotta be a first for this gang, that description is accurate.

And finally I'm getting my due recognition for it.

The page goes on to instruct the faithful on which particular failings Joyce and I need to improve.

Joyce Arthur & Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada

• For the Holy Spirit to hover over her and to move her towards her own healing journey
• For ARCC members’ eyes be open and see the truth about abortion
• For Joyce Arthur and ARCC members to experience firsthand the love of our Father
• For Joyce Arthur and ARCC members’ eyes to be open to the truth of abortion
• For God to open Joyce Arthur’s eyes to see that Centres and CAPSS does not give out anti-choice misinformation and harassment – that Centres and CAPSS are  not her or ARCC’s enemy
 
 



Fern Hill and her Dammit Janet Blog

• For Fern Hill to experience firsthand the love of our Father
• For Fern Hill’s eyes to be open to the truth of abortion
• That God will nullify the influence that she has
• That as people read her blog that they will read it in light of their own experience and have the courage to speak out

Interesting differences. Joyce gets both the Holy Spirit and "our Father." I get the attention of only "our Father." We both need our eyes opened.

But I love the third incantation for moi.

I'm sitting here feeling quietly INFLUENTIAL. And proud.

But this got me thinking of our old pal and sadly missed sister Vicious Abortion Crusader®, JJ who used to chortle when she was -- pretty regularly -- targetted for prayer assaults. If I were a praying gal myself, I'd lob a few in her direction. Wherever you are and whatever you're doing, JJ, we miss you.

Round-up: Toronto's Punditocracy Gives Thumbs Down to Olympic Bid

What does Toronto's punditocracy think of an Olympic bid for Toronto?

Not much.

All of them, from all beats (politics, sports, urban affairs, business), say a bid for the 2024 Summer Games would range on a scale from "stupid" to "colosally stupid."

One, Royson James, initially a fervent booster, has now changed his mind.

Here they are in chronological order.

Cathal Kelly, July 27: Hosting the Olympics is a roller coaster of despair.

Chris Selley (1), July 28: Everyone take a deep breath -- Olympic fever is fertile soil for nonsense.

Globe and Mail, Report on Business, no byline, July 28: Dear Toronto: Hosting the Olympics is really really expensive.

Royson James (1) August 7: Bring on the Olympics.

Lorrie Goldstein, August 22: Olympic bid survival guide.

Edward Keenan, August 12: How to keep the T.O. mojo going -- with or without the Olympics.

John Barber, August 25: The case against the Olympics.

Christopher Hume, September 1: Let the Games begin -- Somewhere else.

Royson James (2), September 4: An Olympian effort is beyond us for now.

Chris Selley (2), September 4: Not screwing up the Pan Am Games is no reason to dive headfirst into the mother of all money pits.

The only people in favour of a bid are former elite athletes and people who stand to make money from it.

Here Councillor Shelley Carroll hits the nail on the head.

Councillor Shelley Carroll (Ward 33, Don Valley East) says there is no way city officials have the time to gear up for a 2024 bid. But she understands the enthusiasm in some circles.

“Whether you win or lose, preparing a bid is a business and you make money being the guy who gets to prepare the bid,” she said. “A whole bunch of consultants make money and a whole bunch of retired dignitaries, and retired CEOs, get to have fun with this project and play around with big amounts of public money.”

Gee, I wonder who those people would be?

Here's a hint. Former co-chair of John Tory's campaign, former leader of a Toronto bid, and non-yet-declared member of the non-existent (if you believe them) Bid Committee, Bob Richardson howled over this admittedly mistitled Star article, This time, Bay St. joins Toronto's anti-Olympics team.

Will John Tory go ahead with a bid that will please only elite athletes and just plain elites?

We hope he'll soon give us an answer.


ADDED: It occurred to me that people might want to copy and paste just the links.

Cathal Kelly: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/kelly-the-emotional-rollercoaster-of-hosting-the-olympics/article25728670/
Hosting the Olympics is a roller coaster of despair

Chris Selley (1): http://www.nationalpost.com/m/wp/news/blog.html?b=news.nationalpost.com/toronto/chris-selley-everyone-take-a-deep-breath-olympic-fever-is-fertile-soil-for-nonsense&pubdate=2015-07-29
Everyone take a deep breath -- Olympic fever is fertile soil for nonsense

Globe and Mail, Report on Business, no byline: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/dear-toronto-hosting-the-olympics-is-really-really-expensive/article25731774/
Dear Toronto: Hosting the Olympics is really really expensive

Royson James: http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/08/07/bring-on-the-olympics.html
Bring on the Olympics

Lorrie Goldstein: http://www.torontosun.com/2015/08/22/olympic-bid-survival-guide
Olympic bid survival guide

Edward Keenan: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/08/12/how-to-keep-the-to-mojo-going-with-or-without-the-olympics-keenan.html
How to keep the T.O. mojo going -- with or without the Olympics

John Barber: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/08/25/the-case-against-an-olympic-bid.html?utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter
The case against the Olympics

Christopher Hume: http://www.thestar.com/news/gta/2015/09/01/hume-let-the-games-begin-somewhere-else.html
Let the Games begin -- Somewhere else

Royson James (2): http://www.thestar.com/news/city_hall/2015/09/04/an-olympian-efforts-beyond-us-for-now-james.html
An Olympian effort is beyond us for now

Chris Selley (2): http://news.nationalpost.com/full-comment/chris-selley-not-screwing-up-the-pan-am-games-is-no-reason-to-dive-headfirst-into-the-mother-of-all-money-pits
Not screwing up the Pan Am Games is no reason to dive headfirst into the mother of all money pits


UPDATED September 9/15: Two more.
Richard Florida, Why Toronto Should Say No to the Olympics
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/globe-debate/why-toronto-should-say-no-to-the-olympics/article26263925/

Martin Regg Cohn, Why the Pan Am Games Don't Qualify Us for Olympics
http://www.thestar.com/news/queenspark/2015/09/09/why-pan-am-games-dont-qualify-us-for-olympics-cohn.html

UDATE, September 11/15: Globe and Mail editorial

Ontario College of Slut-Shaming and Reproductive Misinformation

We know how scared the fetus freaks are by how loudly they SHRIIIEEEK in idiotically inflated language.

So, congratulations to the latest study of crisis pregnancy centres (CPCs), aka fake clinics, in Ontario. You've scared them witless. Again.

Here's the most recent in a long, long series of efforts to document the lies, manipulation, and shaming these evil outfits mete out. (In this oldish blogpost are links to a few of the countless other studies and investigations.)

To absolutely no one's surprise, this is what researchers found:

Crisis pregnancy centres, which most people know from transit ads or campus posters, are pathologizing and stigmatizing women who reach out to them after an abortion, according to a new study.

Or, in the words of the abstract:

Conclusions: The expanded provision of post-abortion support by CPCs in Ontario represents a new method for these organizations to pathologize abortion. Our findings suggest their services are judgmental and shaming, thereby contributing to abortion stigma.

(The terrible photographs in the National Post article are in themselves a testament to society-wide anti-choice judgment and shaming. Why not show photos of "post-abortive" women doing things like, gee, I dunno, eating an ice-cream cone, going for a bike ride, laughing with friends.)

Here is LieShite's operatic, no, make that Shakespearean, response.

A new report in a journal with the telling name “Contraception” has concluded that Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) in Ontario treat abortion as if it were something more than having a wart removed and that the counseling found at such centers only contributes to “abortion stigma” by using “judgmental and shaming” techniques.

Titled “Toll free but not judgment free: Evaluating post-abortion support services in Ontario,” the report is from beginning to end nothing but pro-abortion propaganda written by pro-abortion activists. It appears to have the goal of silencing pro-life counsellors who recognize that a living human being exists in a mother’s womb and that when a mother kills her own child it will eventually come back to haunt her.

Note typical scare quotes and co-option of progressive language. Not to mention fetuses haunting former hosts.

It gets better -- or worse, depending on your viewpoint.

For example, did you know that Lady Macbeth had an abortion?

Killing another person always damages the soul of the killer, whether the victim is a full grown adult, a child, or a baby in the womb. Shakespeare expressed this well in the character of Lady Macbeth, who, for all her ambition, cunning, and strength of will, eventually cracked after masterminding the coldblooded murder of the king. Through her display of psychological disorders and gradual loss of reason Shakespeare offered a severe warning to anyone who deliberately acts to bring blood upon their own hands.

OK, maybe Lady Macbeth didn't have an abortion, but a fictitious character's reaction to regicide is totally pertinent to a discussion about fake clinics in Ontario, right?

If you don't want to read the whole hysterical dumbfuck article, here is a selection of words and phrases used to describe the researchers, the report, and "post-abortive women" in general:

• axe to grind
• nauseating
• sick and twisted
• post-abortive women are truly broken
• lives have been damaged and even ruined by abortion
• self-hatred

Stigmatizing? Nah, who's stigmatizing self-hating, nauseating, sick and twisted, truly broken people here?

The real evil, according to LieShite, is, of course, the researchers.

It’s as if the authors of this report want to lock post-abortive women in a lifetime of guilt and regret by taking away from them the only resources that actually help them come to terms with the pain experienced after abortion. This is not helpful to women. This is simply cruelty and torture.

Let's go back to the abstract for what those evil researchers had to say about the implications of their work.

IMPLICATIONS: Post-abortion support services appear to be a new frontier by which CPCs are able to stigmatize and pathologize abortion. Increasing awareness of and access to existing non-judgmental, non-directive post-abortion services appears warranted.

Because, of course, there are existing non-judgmental services available. But there needs to be more done here, everyone agrees.

Ontario should look to Quebec, researcher Kathryn J. LaRoche said.

“In Quebec, the government has come out with materials denouncing crisis pregnancy centres and saying that they provide false information and lie to their clients,” she said.

I'd go further. But then I would, wouldn't I?

Ontario should regulate crisis pregnancy centres. If they're pretending to offer health care, they deserve as much attention as other outright quackery.

Let there be a College of Slut-Shaming and Reproductive Misinformation, like the College of Homeopaths of Ontario.

Wouldn't their Code of Ethics be fun?

Toronto Olympics: Insult, Injury, and AmuseRage

The successful NoBoston2024 campaign can teach us much about how to stop this madness.

Here is a 14-minute video featuring sports economist Andrew Zimbalist that I found rivetting and damning. (I normally can sit still for video for about 2-3 minutes max, but this kept me watching.)





He talks about the costs that boosters will talk about, the ones they won't, and how these costs get inevitably overrun.

He also blasts with more facts and figures the mythical benefits boosters tout.

If you're video-averse, here's an interview of him by Richard Florida that covers much of the same ground.

Intro to interview:

Zimbalist, who has studied the economics of stadiums and sports events for the past couple of decades, takes a clear-eyed look at the effects of much-hyped mega-events like the Olympics and the World Cup on the cities that host them. His book [Circus Maximus], subtitled The Economic Gamble Behind Hosting the Olympics and the World Cup, shows in precise detail how these events have become such bad deals.

The pull-quote:
"Attempting to shoehorn a city plan into a scheme subordinated to the demands of the IOC is bound for economic failure."

An almost throw-away point from the video about billboards got me looking further and I found this amazing document: What the IOC demands.

From rather (by comparison) picayune requirements like "Olympic lanes" on streets and highways, guaranteed hotel rooms for Olympic poohbahs, and exemption from customs duties, to rather more stunning demands for the abrogation of democracy, the document reads like a royal edict from some medieval century.

The IOC demands that cities give up control over their civic calendar.

Provide a declaration from the relevant authorities confirming that no other important national or international meeting or event will be taking place in the Host City itself or in its vicinity or in the other competition sites, during the Olympic Winter Games, or for one week immediately before or after the Games.

The IOC demands that the local organizing committee can sign contracts on behalf of the city.

Provide a declaration from your city authorities confirming that the Bid Committee is empowered to represent the Candidate City and indicate the names of the persons and/or their titles who have the authority to sign contracts and other documents (such as the Undertaking and the Host City Contract), on behalf of the city.

And the infamous "Guarantee," aka Blank Cheque, about (inevitable) cost overruns.

Guarantee to cover any potential economic shortfall of the (Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games), including refunds to the IOC of advances in payment or other contributions made by the IOC to the OCOG, which the IOC may have to reimburse to third parties in the event of any contingency such as full or partial cancellation of the Olympic Games.

And the commandeering of all advertising and vending control.

Provide (a) written guarantee(s) from the relevant government authorities confirming that legislation will be passed as soon as possible but no later than 1 January 2020 as necessary to effectively reduce and sanction ambush marketing (e.g. preventing unauthorised third parties from associating directly and/or indirectly with the Games or the Olympic Movement for commercial and/or advertising purposes), and, during the period beginning two weeks before the Opening Ceremony to the Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Winter Games and to eliminate street vending within the vicinity of Games venues, prevent un-authorised ticket resale, prevent un-authorised live sites or similar concepts, and control advertising space (e.g. billboards, advertising on public transport, etc.) as well as air space (to ensure no publicity is allowed in such airspace).

Got that? Not only does the city give over all control and revenue from its own advertising sites, it must "secure binding options from third parties," i.e. owners of private advertising spaces, to acquire -- buy -- their spaces too.

For the Vancouver Winter Games, the city was so cowed by all this folderol that it issued an order to public libraries to eschew any taint of non-official brands.

IOC documents are rife with these indignities -- big and small.

In Norway:

Norwegian citizens were particularly amused/outraged (amuseraged) by the IOC’s diva-like demands for luxury treatment during the hypothetical Games. Here’s a piece in the Norwegian media about the controversy, with translation provided by a generous Norwegian reader named Mats Silberg:
• They demand to meet the king prior to the opening ceremony. Afterwards, there shall be a cocktail reception.
• Drinks shall be paid for by the Royal Palace or the local organizing committee.
• Separate lanes should be created on all roads where IOC members will travel, which are not to be used by regular people or public transportation.
• A welcome greeting from the local Olympic boss and the hotel manager should be presented in IOC members’ rooms, along with fruit and cakes of the season. (Seasonal fruit in Oslo in February is a challenge…)
• The hotel bar at their hotel should extend its hours “extra late” and the minibars must stock Coke products.
...
• IOC members shall be greeted with a smile when arriving at their hotel.
• Meeting rooms shall be kept at exactly 20 degrees Celsius at all times.
• The hot food offered in the lounges at venues should be replaced at regular intervals, as IOC
members might “risk” having to eat several meals at the same lounge during the Olympics.
• “All furniture should be OL-shaped and have Olympic Appearance.“

Those are just a few of the demands listed in a 7,000-plus page document listing the IOC’s requirements for the Games.

(I love the "Olympic furniture" and "seasonal cakes." WTF is a seasonal cake?)

To return to Andrew Zimbalist: the main take-away is that we will effectively lose all control, oversight, and citizen-centred planning of our own damned city over a three-week party for millionaire hucksters and elite professional-turned-temporarily-amateur athletes. NINE YEARS FROM NOW.

And be insulted at every turn.

Say no.

Get involved.
NoTO2024 website.

Download briefing note provided to Toronto City Council on September 1, 2015.

Petition to Toronto City Council and Government of Ontario.

Council scorecard with contact info.


Previous posts:
Owe-lympic Myth: Olympics Are a Good Investment.

Owe-lympics Myths: Reuse Pan Am Venues.

Owe-lympics Myth 5: Health and Fitness Legacy.

Toronto Star and Olympics: Something Stinks

Toronto Councillors' Twitter Accounts

10 People on Twitter