The Paris Olympics risk deepening the social “exclusion” of the most vulnerable, as was the case in previous editions, French and Canadian associations and activists warned on Monday, five months before the 2024 Olympics.
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The forced displacement of precarious populations (homeless people, migrants in camps, sex workers, etc.) as sport moves closer to the masses represents the real “social legacy” of the Winter Games in Vancouver (2010) and possibly also of the Games in Paris (26 July – August 11), estimated during a joint press conference in Paris the Revers de la Medal collective, which brings together around 80 French associations and NGOs as well as Canadian organizations for the defense of social rights.
Between Vancouver and Ile-de-France “the street scene is different, but the practices in terms of harassment and expulsions are very similar,” said Paul Alauzy, coordinator at Médecins du Monde and spokesman for the other side of the coin, which has been denouncing the “social Cleanup” of the Paris region.
Fourteen years after the Canadian Winter Games, “we are far from the mark in terms of social inclusion” in Vancouver, “which promised 27,000 new social housing units,” complained city planner Irwin Oostindie, a member of the Canadian association delegation.
“There was social marketing, but on the ground we saw more of a cathartic, social repression,” he said.
In previous years, “there was a process of criminalization in disadvantaged neighborhoods, where fines were handed out to street vendors, to people crossing outside the borders, to those who urinated in public spaces,” with the aim of encouraging them to do so to leave the area. added Canadian historian Nathan Crompton.
French actors emphasized a situation reminiscent of the Ile-de-France with a view to the regular evacuations of refugee camps.
The Paris Olympics could “exacerbate social exclusion in Ile-de-France,” French organizations said in a press release.
For this reason, these associations will ask the Organizing Committee of the Olympic Games (Cojo) to create a “solidarity fund” to cover the needs for food distribution or emergency shelter, Mr. Alauzy.
When contacted by AFP, Cojo confirmed that it intended to receive this collective on February 16, but did not elaborate further on the matter.