Tag Archives: mega events

A local business man speaks out about the Olympics

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Lance Forman is managing director of H Forman & Son, a salmon smoking factory, that has been based in East London for over 100 years. In these interviews he speaks about the obstacles his business has had to overcome in connection with the Olympics.

OlympicForman

After having build a brand new factory with a grand by the LDA, H Forman & Son were faced with a compulsory puchase order by LDA and the task to relocate, along with 250 other businesses.

Part 1 deals with the history of the factory and the bad luck the company has faced during the past 10 years.
Part 2 is an account of the negotiations and dealings with the LDA
Part 3 takes a different view on the Olympic Legacy
Part 4 talks about the public presentation of the Olympics
Part 5 is the story of the search for a suitable site for a new factory
Part 6 tells about the last obstacles that had to be overcome when building the new factory

London 2012 Olympics Logo – Battersea Power Station

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Battersea Power Station Community Group urge you to take the chance to nominate Battersea Power Station landmark to be used as the design on a set of commemorative pin badges. We here at Spectacle thought about just how great an opportunity this is to raise awareness about Battersea Power Station and the current state it’s in.

You are able to submit one vote on the landmark of your choice, and so this is a very good chance to kick-start some action dealing with the Battersea Power Station problems!

The website can be found here

Visit Spectacle’s on-going Battersea Power Station Project

Watch a video trailer here: Battersea Power Station – The Story So Far

Subscribe to our newsletter mailing list, visit our contact page to subscribe

If you live in the neighbourhood and would like to get involved, contact us here putting Battersea Power Station in your message.

Click here for more Battersea Power Station links

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World Cup effect on South africa

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Mnikelo talking

Mnikelo talking

In may 2004, South Africa became the first African nation to be nominated to host a football World Cup. Following that announcement, South African’s were overwhelmed by the prospect of much needed development and new business opportunities.

Since then, a lot (mainly the poorest) have been evicted or resettled  as the government try to show a “clean” image of South Africa to the world.

Spectacle has recently uploaded and interview with Mnikelo and Zodwa from Abahlali baseMjondolo, the South African shackdwellers’ movement, talking about the negative effects of the 2010 World Cup on South Africans. This can be viewed on the Spectacle archive page (World Cup, South Africa) and was filmed in connection with the London Olympics 2012 and the recurring effect of mega sporting event.

Mnikelo’s interview gives an insight into the World Cup backstage and its effect on the host nation.

White elephant Olympic site on horizon

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The Olympic site risks becoming a white elephant due a plan that “lacks detail” and a  budget which is “underdeveloped”. The London assembly’s economic development, culture, sport and tourism committee, stressed in a recent report “There is concern that, given the experience of other cities that planned long in advance of actually staging the games, we are missing the boat”.

The Guardian reported that the committee charged with overseeing spending on the £9.3bn game has concluded that the lack of a tenant for the main stadium means there are “serious doubts as to the future financial viability of the venue and hence attractiveness of the park site to business investment”. Aspirations to create between 9,000 and 10,000 jobs in the Olympic Park could be at risk without private funding, it warns.

In a letter to The Guardian on July 4th, an assembly member argued that the lack of affordable housing being created by the Olympics, particularly for families meant that the legacy was going to leave nothing but a concrete eyesore.

Source:http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jul/01/olympics-london-assembly

Will the Olympics develop any of the promises it made to Londoners in the bid?

Given the destruction caused by the Olympics and the lack of solid plans for after the event, is it worth it?

To find out more about Spectacles Olympic project please visit our Project Page

The Fog of Games: Free talk at the LSE

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In The Fog of Games, the first casualty is the truth. The Olympics are brief and transitory television events that disguise and justify mega projects of vast urban restructuring that permanently distort our cities for the benefit of a few business interests. Common features of such projects are unprecedented land grabs, the peddling of myths of ‘regeneration’ and ‘legacy’ benefits, the sweeping away of democratic structures and planning restraints, the transfer of public money into private hands, and ‘information management’ to hide truths and silence critics.

Mark Saunders from Spectacle will be showing clips of Spectacle’s ongoing Olympic Project The Fog of Games: Legacy, Land Grabs and Liberty.

Also Reporting the London Olympics Martin Slavin from Games Monitor website will discuss the gap between the media image of the Olympics and the historical impact they have had on communities.

This free event will take place at The London School of Economics on Thursday 28th May at 7pm. Everyone is welcome.

For more information on Spectacle’s Olympic project visit our Olympic project page

To see more clips from our Olympic project please visit the the Spectacle Archive Page



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Interview with Johnnie Walker online now

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An interview is now online with Johnnie Walker from the Hackney and Leyton Sunday league about the effects of the Olympics on Hackney Marshes football. To view this interview and other clips from our Olympics project please visit the Spectacle website.



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Olympic firms use construction blacklist

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It has been revealed that several firms working on the Olympic site, including Sir Robert McAlpine who is building the stadium, were subscribed members of the Consulting Association which is accused holding sensitive information on 3,213 workers. This information came to light after a raid by the Information Commissioners Office.

Contract journal writes

‘Union leaders are demanding the Olympic 2012 site is purged of all blacklists held on construction workers.

Olympic Stadium builder Sir Robert McAlpine is believed to have spent nearly £30,000 last year alone on information to vet potential employees.

Unite joint general secretary Derek Simpson is calling for an immediate probe into all Olympic contractors caught up in the Consulting Association scandal.

He said: “On the basis that many of the employers concerned will be winning billions of pounds worth of public and private sector work, the government should announce an immediate investigation into the practices that exist in the industry.”‘

source:http://www.contractjournal.com/Articles/2009/03/11/65585/construction-unions-demand-olympic-blacklist-ban.html

For more information on Spectacles Olympic Project please visit our Project Page

For Spectacles latest film on the Olympics please visit our archive page.



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London Social Forum – Katie Andrews

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An interview with Katie Andrews on the consultation process of the London Olympics taking place in east London. Katie Andrews talks about the ways in which there was a lack of communication and information being delivered to the members of the public prior to the bid being being put in for the olympics to be held in London.

To watch interview click below:

London Social Forum – Katie Andrews Interview

Iain Sinclair banned from Hackney libraries because of Olympic criticism

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Iain Sinclair, novelist and long standing Hackney resident has been banned from reading extracts of his new book in Hackney libraries because of his criticisms of the 2012 olympics.  In an interview that was published in the Guardian, Sinclair describes the measures taken by Hackney council to stifle debate on the Olympic issue.

“I was asked to go along to Stoke Newington library to speak to 20 people: old hippies and local history buffs, probably. But I’d written an anti-Olympics piece in the London Review of Books, and so the Hackney thought police decided: no, we can’t have this person in our library. They lied about this all the way down the line, insisting it was nothing to do with the Olympics but that they can’t have ‘controversial’ topics discussed in libraries. Eventually someone from the Hackney Citizen used the Freedom of Information Act to get the transcript [of what was said in a meeting] and, sure enough, it came directly from the Mayor, Jules Pipe, saying that this person is anti-Olympics, and he doesn’t go into our libraries. So Hackney Council is my co-sponsor, really – and, of course, this manipulation [on the part of the council] is also a big theme of the book.”

For more information on Spectacles Olympic Project please visit our Project Page

For Spectacles latest film on the Olympics please visit our archive page.


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Olympics ‘not worth it’ say Hackney footballers

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Spectacle went to Hackney Marshes to interview local footballers on what they thought of plans to turn their pitches into a coach car park for the Olympic stadium.

The East marsh, has a reputation all over the world for being home to the largest number of outdoor pitches in Europe. It is not just this reputation that will be lost if Olympic plans go ahead says locals. The deep community spirit the football games bring to Hackney will also disapear.

As one female footballer pointed out, they could play in Walthamstow but why should Hackney women’s team play in Walthamstow ‘its not right’. Many were highly sceptical that once the Olympic games were finished their precious  pitches would be returned to them.

The East marsh football games have been taking place for over 50 years. They have been kept going through rain or snow by the local community and easy availability of space.  Anyone who wants to can play.  For many who take part, losing all this for a the Olympics, which will only last 3 weeks, is just not worth it.

For more information on Spectacles Olympic Project please visit our Project Page

For Spectacles latest film on the Olympics please visit our archive page.



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