It seems Danny Boyle plans to celebrate law breaking protest inside the Olympic stadium even as the police and politicians are clamping down on the same outside!

by Steve Rushton
American League Against War and Fascism poster: Poster calling for boycott of Hitler's 1936 GamesSponsors of the 2012 London Olympics profit from peoples’ deaths and destroying the planet, whilst creating a vastly unequal economic system; this smears the Olympic ethos of people coming together to celebrate sporting excellence. Desecrating the games integrity will be advertisements from companies that profit directly from and cause peoples’ death, not least BP, Dow and Rio Tinto. Nevertheless, David Cameron has come out in support of DOW’s sponsorship.[i] More broadly, it has been argued that elites within the system are attempting to suppress peoples’ rights to express their discontent against injustices in Britain and abroad.

The New York Times published this piece, 'The Games Hurt London', as a contribution to its Room for Debate on the Olympics. For other contributions to the debate go to Are The Olympics More Trouble Than They Are Worth?

Peaceful non-cooperation: locals and supporters play boules on Sandy Lane Leyton Marshes

CARP, the Carpenters Road campaign, was holding a film show outside the Carpenters Arms. I had wandered off and found a blocked off road with a sign which said 'Welcome to the Olympic Park'. It was so ridiculous that I decided to take a photo. Just as I was doing this a police car pulled up and a policeman leaned out and asked:

Dear International Olympic Committee, London Organising Committee of the Olympic and Paralympic Games, and Commission for a Sustainable London 2012,

Given the recent controversy about the Dow contract, and following the resignation of Meredith Alexander from the Commission for a Sustainable London 2012, we are pleased to see that the CSL’s Chair has acknowledged that this has ‘raised wider questions about corporate behaviour, past and present, and how ethical issues are effectively factored into decision making,’ and that the Commission is going to address the challenge of considering ‘new approaches that incorporate a broader range of ethical issues into decision making’ in its forthcoming Annual Review, to be published in May.

Following the eviction of the Jaconellis from their home to make way for the Glasgow Commonwealth Games questions are finally being asked about land deals which netted property developers millions of pounds in profit.

What is a favela, a slum or a 100 year old community without services? What happens when the police move in? Gentrification?