the past week an a half has blown by and i’m honoured to have spent all my time surrounded by such great people at such awesome events. i’m taking the next week off to write and prepare for the post production of our anth478 ethnographic film.

after the memorial was over, i tried to catch a bus up main street to no avail. each one of them was full so i ended up walking which was pretty cool. i got to take a bunch of iphone shots. so far i have tried to steer clear of all the olympic mayhem but i took this opportunity to walk through the science world section of the seawall. it’s craziness, i tell you!! i am really disappointed by all the corporate sponsorship.

it’s like our city has been turned into a giant canvas for advertising and the people are allowing it- no, enjoying it. i have never seen so many people willingly advertising for corporations and blindly accepting that it is some sort of patriotism. i just don’t get it.

as soon as i left the olympic section of main street i walked past one of my favourite wall quotes in the city, painted on the side of the foundation restaurant.

ah, so all is not lost with the world. voices can be heard and people still have the ability to think critically and engage socially, if they so choose.

and then i got on the b-line. a man boarded at the cambie stop and i noticed that he had advertising in his hair. i said “do you know you are advertising for coke and the cbc?” he said “what?” i said, “you have COKE in your hair!!!” he said, “i know, but it looks like a canadian flag so i don’t mind”.

i stuck a sticker on the flag closest to me.

2010-welcoming-rally-0221
Originally uploaded by kk+.

what an awesome day for community building and free speech!

i had a blast filming the “stop the torch” event on the drive as well as the “take back our city” demonstration and march from the art gallery to bc place. i commend all of the dedicated activists who came together with such unity- it was an honour to be among the thousands!!!!

thanks to kk+ for snapping this photo of me at VAG

let’s hope for peaceful demos where diversity and free speech reign!!

….couldn’t resist

‘Welcome’ the 2010 Olympic Torch with Free Games, Free Food and Free Speech!

* Friday, February 12, 2010, 3pm
* Vancouver Art Gallery (Georgia Street, between Howe and Hornby)

Join us in a public festival at the Vancouver Art Gallery at 3pm followed by a march to protest the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Olympics at BC Place Stadium. As the Winter Games begin, we will show the world the negative impacts of the Olympic industry and celebrate our communities with our own games and entertainment.

* The 2010 Welcoming Committee supports the participation of parents and caregivers. Childcare arrangements and registration at: 2010welcoming.wordpress.com/details

While City and Olympic officials try to turn our city into a sanitized corporate image, we experience:

* Increasing homelessness, poverty, illegal evictions and rent increases,
* Union-busting and public services cutbacks with a $6 billion Olympic budget,
* Threats to civil liberties and crackdowns on visible poverty,
* At least 15,000 police, soldiers, spies and security forces and public video monitoring,
* Corporate sponsors engaged in arms manufacturing, human rights abuses, and the environmentally destructive Alberta Tar Sands,
* Exploitation of unceded Indigenous land and resources,
* Major environmental damage to build the ‘Green Games,’ and more …

Public space has been turned over to the Games but the community has fought back and preserved our rights to protest. Now is your chance to Stand Up, Be Counted and Take Back Our City!

Organized by the 2010 Welcoming Committee: community groups, service providers, activists and educators united by a social justice critique of the Games.

Contact: 2010welcoming@resist.ca
Visit: 2010welcoming.wordpress.com

The 2010 Welcoming Committee is endorsed by:
2010 Watch, Alliance for People’s Health, Anti-Poverty Committee, Bridgeview Community Action Group, Building Bridges Human Rights – Vancouver, Bus Riders’ Union, Check your Head, Citywide Housing Coalition, Colour Connected Against Racism – UBC, Co-op Radio Bulland Awaaz, Co-op Radio The Rational, Community Olympics Watch, Council of Canadians – National, Council of Canadians – Delta/Richmond Chapter, Council of Canadians- Vancouver/Burnaby Chapter, Council of Senior Citizens Organizations – Sunshine Coast Chapter, DTES Community Arts Network, DTES Power of Women Group, East Van Abolitionists, Ethical Environmental Consulting, Federation of Iranian Refugees, Food not Bombs – Vancouver, Freedom Socialist Party, Friends of Women in the Middle East Society, GatewaySucks.org, Impact of the Olympics on Communities Coalition, Indigenous Action Movement, Industrial Workers of the World, Iran Solidarity, Justicia 4 Migrant Workers, Latin America Connexions Collective, no2010.com, No 2010 Victoria, No One Is Illegal – Vancouver, OilSandsTruth.org, Olympic Resistance Network, Pink Resistance, Poverty Olympics, Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas, Siraat Collective, Progressive Nepali Forum in Americas, Simon Fraser University Public Research Interest Group, Social Justice Centre – UBC, Solidarity Notes Labour Choir, StopWar.ca, Streams of Justice, Student Christian Movement – UBC, subMedia, Surrey Urban Youth Project, Teaching Support Staff Union Social Justice Committee, UBC Network of Sri Lankan Law Students, Vancouver Action, Vancouver Status of Women, VANDU Womyn’s Group, Warrior Publications, West End Wild Animal Alliance, Whister Watch, Workers Communist Party of Iran, and Work Less Party.