Before the arrival of the Olympic flame, elected officials castigate “the exploitation of the Olympics” which, according to them, have become “a tool for diverting public opinion from the vital issues of our time”.
“Negative ecological impact”, “greenwashing” by “climate-killing multinationals”, “social cleaning”: in a column published Tuesday on the Libération website, five elected environmentalists from Marseille denounce “the perversion of the Olympic ideal”, at the eve of the arrival of the flame in their city.
“We do not believe in the beautiful story that they want to tell us”, accuse the five signatories, despite being members of the municipal majority of the diverse-left mayor Benoît Payan who fought for France’s second city to host the Olympic flame of the Paris 2024 Games, whose arrival is scheduled for Wednesday around 8 p.m. aboard the three-masted Belem, from Greece.
They denounce “the exploitation of the Olympics”, which have become a “tool for diverting public opinion from the vital issues of our time: the climate challenge and the safeguarding of our democratic framework and our social pact”.
“Greenwashing operations”
Led by Sébastien Barles, deputy mayor of Marseille for ecological transition and member of the “Printemps Marseillais” majority who conquered the city in June 2020, after 25 years of reign of Jean-Claude Gaudin (LR), the signatories of the The forum thus denounces a “fortress Europe which has forgotten its traditions of welcome and hospitality”, threatened by “the rise of national populism and illiberal democracies”.
Likewise, they question the cost of these Games, “billions of public money” (three to five billion, according to the Court of Auditors, editor’s note) which could, according to them, “finance the investments necessary to the ecological transition and responding to the rise in energy and food insecurity.
On this ecological aspect, the five elected officials see in these Games “major greenwashing operations to the glory of climate-killing multinationals” like Coca-Cola, official sponsor of the torch relay, “global paragon of the ravages of junk food”. On April 29, the Marseille environmental defense association “Clean my Calanques” refused to carry the flame for the same reasons.
“It is high time to re-examine these major international sporting competitions where money reigns king and sport business and its excesses participate in the environmental massacre”, insist Marseille elected officials, highlighting “the immense carbon impact linked to international travel” athletes or spectators, “additional sources of pollution” and “social cleansing in host cities”.
