FEATURE

Fighting against persistent gender discrimination in Japan

Make the Olympics history:“Anti-Olympics one year to go!
International Get-Together!”
Kumiko Sudo

For the six years since Tokyo won the bid
to host the 2020 Olympics andParalympics, the second time Tokyo will
host the Olympics, we have witnessed
how extrajudicial the Olympics are as anevent. Anyone in the way, the Olympics
push out of the way, they inflict a heavy
sacrifice, and squeeze public funding andpublic space from us on an exorbitantscale. While there are more and moreconstruction sites and Olympic emblems
around the town, most of the mass media
have fallen into subservience to Olympics
sponsors. Olympics scandals such as theconstantly changing construction plansof the new National Stadium1 and thealleged bribing in the bidding process2,
have no follow-up reports because theseissues are soon relegated to 'old news'.
We have been facing crises that threaten
our lives: violent eviction, removal ofrough sleepers, continuous deadly
accidents of construction workers,
mobilization of volunteers in intense
heat, and the widening gap of income
and normalizing of poverty because of
the priority given to the Olympics.
Furthermore, regarding theaccident at Tokyo Electric Power

Company's（TEPCO）Fukushima Daiichi
Nuclear Power Plant3, the government isattempting cover up the damage causedby this accident by proclaiming the“Olympics for the reconstruction ofFukushima,” starting the torch relay from
Fukushima. This is part of their policy ofrepatriation that totally ignores theevacuees. As in 1964 when the first
Tokyo Olympics were held, it is only
necessarytoholdthegames
spectacularly, such negative memories
will be easily modified and will beforgotten in history.
However, no one can erase thememories of those who have been
unfairly deprived. The Olympics should
be buried, as the cause of suffering ofmany people in the world. As we areopposing the Olympics, we have naturally
met many people who continue to offer
resistance to the Olympics from future
and past host cities. Many of them are
women and they all said they would liketo come to Tokyo this July. With powerfulsupportfromtranslators
andinterpreters, we held a week of“Anti-Olympics one year to go!
International Get-Together!” organized

42Voices from Japan No.34, February 2020

Fighting against persistent gender discrimination in Japan FEATURE

with cooperation from each city. It wasmore powerful and empowering than we
had imagined. More than fifteen
members of “NOlympics LA” came fromLos Angles where the games are going to
be held in 2028. Members of “Rio onWatch” and those of “Non aux JO 2024 àParis” from the host city of Paris for the2024 Olympics joined as well. We were
happy to reunite with South Korean“Anti-PyeongChang Olympics Alliance”
for the first time since two occasions inlast year, on the site of the PyoeongChang
Winter Olympics in February and at theevent of passing of the Anti-Olympic
Torch held in Tokyo in November.
On July 20, one week of global
alliance started with a study tour of thenew National Stadium and Tokyo bay
area, which was hosted by Tokyo-based
anti-Olympics network “No Thank You to2020 Olympic Disaster Association(2020okotowa.link)” which we are partof. When the week started, there weremore than 30 participants fromoverseas—London (the host of 2012),
Indonesia (a would-be candidate city for2032), Toronto, cities in Malaysia, andHong Kong. The full week of events werecovered in The Nation almost daily byJules Boykoff, a former professionalsoccer player who advocates opposition
to “Celebration Capitalism,” and Dave
Zirin, a sports journalist. On the night ofJuly 24, one year before the opening dayof the Tokyo Olympics, about 230 people
participated in the Hottest Shinjuku
Street Protest, chanting “No Olympics
Anywhere.” At the same time, SNS wasflooded with the messages of solidarity
from various cities such as Denver,Hamburg, and Calgary, which all
successfully stopped the Olympics fromtaking place; as well as Vila Autódromo
where residents protected their rights toreside against the Rio Olympics.
Events hosted by “HangorinnNo Kai (No Olympics 2020)” putemphasis on creating meaningfulgatherings and collaborating with people
from various countries. In the evening ofJuly 22, we had a “night picnic” as awelcoming party in a park in Tokyo.
Before the protest started on 24th,
standing in international solidarity, we
dared to demand the end of the Olympics
onstreets
infrontofAsakusa-Kaminarimon and the Tokyo
International Forum in Yurakucho tooppose the festivity held there. Many ofthe passersby were drawn to a speech by
an immigrant family living in LA,
expressing their outrage and telling of
theirfightagainsteviction.
A
performance
using
masks
by
PyoeongChang members, braving thesummer heat, was also popular.
On the 26th, two workshops
were held at Sendagaya Community
Centerwith
more-than-expectedparticipants. In part 1, “Environmental
Issues and the Olympics,” Masao Eazawa,from Nagano, was the speaker. He is amember of the Anti-Olympics People's
Network which is a member organizationof Anti-PyeongChang Olympics Alliance;in addition, a participant from Malaysia
reported on the issue of illegally logged
43

Voices from Japan No.34, February 2020

FEATURE

Fighting against persistent gender discrimination in Japan

tropical forests for the Tokyo Olympics.
In part 2, “HOMES NOT GAMES: HousingRights
andtheOlympics,”
byNOlympicsLA, participants broke up into
small groups and had a discussion on thestatus of gentrification in each area, andthen as a whole shared the contents witheach other. Our comrades from Osaka,
who are protesting against the closure ofKamagasaki (Airin) Labor Welfare Center,came all the way to Tokyo and supported
a string of events using their knowledgeof outside cooking by providing meals for
us all. And at the final event “Make theOlympics History” on the 27th, there
were reports on topics such as gender,Paralympics, school education, labor andmilitarization. An intercity panel
discussion was held as well. Finally, weread out the joint statement which we
had discussed among the participating
cities. Make the Olympics History, wewill!

Shoutingout"anti-Olympics"

slogans.

International solidarity in front of the Tokyo
International Forum in Yurakucho. (July 24)

Panel discussion: Make the Olympics History atSophia

University. Reading out thejointstatement of anti-Olympics. (July 27)

Kumiko Sudo, Hangorin-no-kai (No Olympics2020)
Translated by Chie Michihiro

The new National Stadium and Tokyo bay study
tour. (July 20)

It was decided that the new National Stadium which is to be the main venue for the Tokyo
Olympics and Paralympics 2020 would be designed by an architect Zaha Hadid, under thecondition that the total construction costs were 130 billion Japanese yen (some 1.19 billionUSD). However, because the estimated total construction costs ballooned to 300 billion yen(some 2.75 billion USD), Japan Sport Council—which manages construction and is under thecontrol of the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT)
144
Voices from Japan No.34, February 2020

Fighting against persistent gender discrimination in Japan FEATURE—revised its plan. In June 2015, Hakubun Shimomura, then-Minister of MEXT, announced
the total construction costs were 252 billion yen (some 2.3 billion USD). Thenmounting criticism made the Japanese government call off the construction plan. According
to the new plan, the total construction cost was to be a maximum of 155 billion yen (some1.41 billion USD), but it is said that most of the 5.9 billion yen (some 53.8 million USD) that
had been already paid under the contract of the former plan would not be returned.
2 In January 2019, it was reported that the French prosecutors had officially started toinvestigate Tsunekazu Takeda, then-president of Japanese Olympic Committee, forsuspected bribery during Tokyo's bid to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. In
the spring of 2016, the French authorities indicated that they were investigating suspicionsof bribery, that the Japan’s Bid Committee had paid 2.8 million Singapore dollars (some 220
million yen or 2 million USD) to the son of Lamine Diack, a member of International
Olympic Committee (ICO) and a former president of the International Association ofAthletics Federations (IAAF).
3 The Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant accident was triggered by the earthquakeand tsunami that occurred off the Pacific coast of the Tohoku region on March 11, 2011. It
caused a meltdown of the reactors and resulted in the release of radioactive materials.

NOlympics anywhere: A joint statement in solidarity
Anti Pyeongchang Olympics AllianceHangorin no kai No Olympics 2020
No 2020 Olympics Disaster OkotowaLink
NOlympics LA
Non aux JO 2024 à Paris

The specifics may differ in scope and scale, but the broad forces that the Olympics unleash
wherever they take root are the same: the expansion of police and military surveillance,
rampant corruption, crippling financial waste, environmental degradation, mass
displacement, and the trampling of individual rights.
These outcomes are not the symptoms of an otherwise benign project. They are built into
the Olympic movement by design and serve the needs and goals of Olympic organizers,
who represent some of the most elite and powerful interests in the world. The games are
extremely political events that make athletes compete under the banner of nationalism,
while inflaming rivalries and international conflict. Despite the claim that the Olympics
transcend the violence of wars and conflicts, the Olympics provide an excuse to exploit
local residents; oppress the already marginalized; and bring benefit to the few selected
wealthy, all of which are justified by the celebration of the victorious athletes who take the45
Voices from Japan No.34, February 2020

FEATURE

Fighting against persistent gender discrimination in Japan

stage. This is true regardless of where the games are situated, and it is untenable.
The stakes of disregarding urgent social and environmental crisis have never been higher.
Access to shelter across the globe has not been so fragile in generations. The power
technology grants to police and military forces has made our ever expanding surveillance
apparatus all the more insidious. We sit on the precipice of ecological disaster. It is in thismoment of global fragility that we can least afford the corrupt largesse of the Olympics
Games, which exacerbates each and every one of the critical issues and crises that ourcities face today.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) members know their project is in crisis. In
recent years, wherever residents have been given an opportunity to express their opinion
about bidding, the answer has almost always been « NO ». And today, we want toemphasize that the IOC’s meager promises for reforming the candidature procedure andbidding costs are not enough. Until we remove the incentives for exploitation and profit
that currently ensnare global sports, no reform will be enough. Until we remove theincentives that send politicians racing to serve the whims of the global elite instead of
their needs of their constituents, no reform will be enough.
Instead of the Olympics, we want permanent and truly affordable housing for all our cities’residents, in healthy and sustainable environments, with access to jobs, education, culture,and community ties. Instead of the Olympics, we want a radical rethinking of existing
surveillance and policing methods so that our poor, minority, and immigrant communities
are no longer criminalized for existing and surviving. Instead of the Olympics, we want thepower to decide what happens in our city in accordance with our real needs, not thespeculative interests of the global financial elite.
Today, this vision for our cities is far from a reality. The crises of displacement, poverty,authoritarianism, fascism, environmental collapse and more are felt globally. In each ofour cities and communities, we experience their effects on a daily basis. We recognize thatthe same forces, institutions, and individuals responsible for bringing the Olympics to ourcities are responsible for driving each one of these crises. The politicians, corporate
oligarchs, and real estate speculators who make up the global power network behind theOlympics will never offer meaningful reform because they directly profit from thesecrises.

46
Voices from Japan No.34, February 2020

Fighting against persistent gender discrimination in Japan FEATURE

So today we stand together; we do not merely oppose the Olympics in the cities fromwhich we hail. We do not want the Olympics to find another home to spare ourhometowns of Tokyo, Paris, and Los Angeles. We do not merely stand with our brethrenfrom Rio and Pyeongchang, and with communities across the globe that have been
affected by the games or have successfully resisted them in the past. We go further: wedemand an end to the International Olympic Committee. Until the corrupt forces thatdrive these parasitic events relinquish control, we oppose the Olympic Games in any andall locations.

47
Voices from Japan No.34, February 2020