JAVELIN
The best of the best
a corporate spectacle of
accumulation by dispossession
de Coubertin, the misogynist aristocrat lurking beneath the façade of a level playing field
whilst the fields that once stood bustling with communities are levelled
The IOC thrusting the cash cow javelin through the heart of neighbourhoods
Muscular nationalism and the Barons utterances about the “civilised” versus the “savages” brushed under the astro turf
along with his aristocratic disdain for the working classes
St Louis Olympics and their ‘Anthropology Days’ testing racist hypotheses
1936 Carl Diem conceived the torch relay, blonde-haired blue-eyed torch bearers rousing Germans in support of Hitler
a ‘Nazi Games’ creation that remains intrinsic to the spectacle
It’s traditional you see, pass that torch
Multinational conglomerates making out with global institutions, deeply penetrating each other, moaning and groaning in glee
deep throated cheers from the stands as athletes chase the dreams of lazy porkulent philanthropaths
coming first, coming second, or coming third, but coming together all the same
LA Games changed the game(s), a game changer, corporate capitalist Disneyfication
taking the Mickey and re-animating the profit margins, cartoon celebrity figurines heaving the shot, putting it into global orbit
Coca-Cola Panasonic Visa P & G Acer Dow Samsung Omega Atos McDonalds Lloyds TSB UPS GE BP EDF
healthy stuff, mmmm ‘it’s the real thing’ and it’s the thing that’s real, it’s reality, its realty
Land grabs for theme parks
promised social housing, mass evictions never to return to the level(ed) playing fields
there’s nothing quite like a ‘FuckDonalds’ to put the capitalist spore into
the beating heart of sport
Homeless swept underneath the pavements, social cleansing, over 9000 arrested in Brazil many of them disappearing forever beneath track and field
Hand in hand, a 100m sprint towards gentrification, breaking and skateboarding its way towards a scantily constructed image of social inclusion
a slight of hand to appeal to younger consumers
vampires of the ‘cool’ sucking them dry quicker than they can utter “top rock” or “six step”
The World Dance Federation ‘breaking’ it apart with its rules
Judges pulling it up from its roots
a Frankenstein like re-plantation with WDF and IOC overseers
Celebration Capitalism closely escorted by its equally dysfunctional ugly twin, Disaster Capitalism
holding each other tightly for an erotic last tango in Paris with Brando replaced by Branding, the ultimate climax of any twenty first century movie
Greenwashing and Artwashing its way towards rapacious community encounters, a slight of hand that draws cheers from the stands. Hip hipster Hooray!
IOC giving ‘gifts’ to the hands that look away, no one is for the high jump here
it’s a Fosbury flop, a soft landing into the offshore sands, untouched and golden
A global event, a spectacle, a perfect production of the capitalist ideal, dirty (i)deals and marathon profits for all involved, it’s official(s) it’s beneficial(s)
Public-private hybridities appearing in the taxes
Increased surveillance needed to protect the spectacle, remember G4S running a record time to escape with the loot?
“Im a private in a private(ised) army’” sounds crass but it’s not. Securicor cares
Athens, twenty-one out of twenty-two of the facilities remain derelict along with the promises of drip down effects and community health benefits
wealth benefits, stealth benefits, massaging the egos of public officials and private interests
International rivalry, cold wars, who is cancelled this year? Police and armed forces patrolling the stands for your safety
to understand is to set the Trojan Horse alight and push it back into the realms of the board rooms
Bored to death, literally and laterally, by excavators, so called innovators, and the sport of dispossession
The gold medallists are not on the track, in the field, or in the stadiums
Olympianizing the planet
the six rings of privatisation, one for each finger and one for the nose
use them without paying the organ grinder and you will land in the court
to play tennis of a different sort
that’s the sport of world power you see, do you see?
The opposite of ‘play’, which rejects repression and exploitation, it plays with the truth
the youthful dreams of track and field yielding to the sordid dreams of corpulent business
Hop, skip, and jumping beneath the bankrupt ideology of global sport
the sport of global business is setting new records
10/06/24
First published in Spinners Zine Issue 5
https://5767.co.uk/product/spinners-issue-5/