Jules Boykoff - NOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beyond

NOlympians

INSIDE THE FIGHT AGAINST CAPITALIST MEGA-SPORTS IN LOS ANGELES, TOKYO AND BEYOND

JULES BOYKOFF

FERNWOOD PUBLISHING
HALIFAX & WINNIPEG

Copyright 2020 Jules Boykoff

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form by any means without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Editing: Andrew Loewen

Cover design: Evan Marnoch

eBook: tikaebooks.com

Printed and bound in Canada

Published by Fernwood Publishing

32 Oceanvista Lane, Black Point, Nova Scotia, B0J 1B0

and 748 Broadway Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3G 0X3

www.fernwoodpublishing.ca

Fernwood Publishing Company Limited gratefully acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, the Manitoba Department of Culture, Heritage and Tourism under the Manitoba Publishers Marketing Assistance Program and the Province of Manitoba, through the Book Publishing Tax Credit, for our publishing program. We are pleased to work in partnership with the Province of Nova Scotia to develop and promote our creative industries for the benefit of all Nova Scotians.

Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication

Title: NOlympians : inside the fight against capitalist mega-sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and beyond / Jules Boykoff.

Other titles: No Olympians

Names: Boykoff, Jules, author.

Description: Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: Canadiana (print) 20200160540 | Canadiana (ebook) 20200160583 | ISBN 9781773632766

(softcover) | ISBN 9781773632773 (EPUB) | ISBN 9781773632780 (Kindle)

Subjects: LCSH: Olympics. | LCSH: OlympicsPolitical aspects. | LCSH: OlympicsSocial aspects. | LCSH: Sports and globalization. | LCSH: Socialism and sports. | LCSH: Anti-globalization movement. | LCSH: Protest movements.

Classification: LCC GV706.35 .B69 2020 | DDC 306.4/83dc23

Sudo Kumiko, anti-Olympics organizer with the Tokyo-based group Hangorin No Kai, speaks at a pop-up protest outside the official one-year-to-go Olympic ceremony on 24 July 2019. Tokyo.
Photo credit: Jules Boykoff

Satoshi Ukai speaks at an anti-Olympics rally on 24 July 2019. Tokyo.
Photo credit: Jules Boykoff

Wheres Garcetti? A sticker on lamppost near Little Tokyo. Los Angeles.
Photo credit: Jules Boykoff

NOlympics graffiti on a discarded mattress. Los Angeles.
Photo credit: NOlympics LA

Anti-Olympics march on July 24, 2019. Tokyo.
Photo credit: Takane Suzuki

For Kaia Sand and Jessi Wahnetah
And for Gilmar Mascarenhas (19622019)

THIS IS A BOOK ABOUT collective action, so it should come as no surprise that it was a collective effort. First, big thanks go to the activists in Los Angeles who made time for my questions, who allowed me to tag along, who shared their thoughts with me even when they had important things they needed to do. Thanks also to the organizers in Tokyo who put together a rich, energetic week of anti-Olympics action in July 2019 and for giving me a front-row seat. In Tokyo, anti-Olympics activists from Los Angeles, Paris, Tokyo, Pyeongchang, Seoul, London, and Rio de Janeiro teamed up to create a remarkable slate of events, and on a tiny budget. Im extremely grateful for the space they made for me to learn from them and to share my work, too. Many thanks for your labor and for your generosity.

Speaking of munificence, this book benefited from comradely feedback and encouragement. Huge thanks to those who bandied about ideas with me, read sections of the book, or shuffled resources to me that helped strengthen the project: Ben Carrington, Tina Gerhardt, Dave Zirin, Satoko Itani, Chris Gaffney, Toby Kobayashi, Dan Burdsey, DeVon Pouncey, Naofumi Suzuki, Gilmar Mascarenhas, Robin Hahnel, Alan Tomlinson, Sue Schoenbeck, Meg Eberle, and Helen Caldicott.

Some of the ideas in this book were test-driven elsewhere: the Los Angeles Times, the Guardian, The Nation, Asahi Shimbun, Howler, NBC News Think, and Public Books. I extend my gratitude to the editors at these publications who supported my work and made it stronger. Janice Forsyth and Michael Heine afforded access to important archival documents at the International Centre for Olympic Studies at Western University in Ontario, Canada. Thank you to Peter Kuznick at American University and Kazembe Balagun and Ethan Earle at the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftungs New York office for creating space to share my work. In Spring 2019, University of Connecticut Law students Tatyana Marugg and Tarek Chatila organized a thought-provoking symposium Behind the Games: The Effect of the Olympics on Host Cities where I was able to contribute. Thanks also to Waseda University and Sophia University in Tokyo for giving me a platform to speak and to learn. Big thanks to those at the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport who for years have provided intellectual and moral support.

A huge thank you to Tanya Andrusieczko at Fernwood Publishing for believing in the project and helping me see it through. Thanks also to Curran Faris, Candida Hadley, Nancy Malek, James Patterson, and Bev Rach at Fernwood for their support, and to Andrew Loewen for copyediting work. Big thanks to Evan Marnoch for designing the book cover. Thanks be to Joan Baron, Reuben Baron, Emily Berger, Andy Berger, Thom Boykoff, Neal Sand, and Molly Boykoff for their longtime support. Thanks also to Gina Kelley and Eamonn Hartmann for providing timely, reliable research assistance throughout the writing of this book. This research was also supported by a Faculty Research Grant, a Story-Dondero award, and Deans Office support from Pacific University in Oregon. Thank you to Jeane Canon at Pacific University for her patient, behind-the-scenes assistance. And heres to Henri Henriski Wabosa for being there until the very end.

Finally, this book would not have been possible were it not for the love and patience of Kaia Sand and Jessi Wahnetah. Kaia, you amaze me with your brilliant, connective mind and your generous, capacious spirit. Jessi, I cherish our evening walks where you unspool your beautiful thoughts and find tiny sparks of joy in the unlikeliest of crannies the future is yours to claim. You two bring light to my world and without it I would not be able to truly see.

Sudo Kumiko, anti-Olympics organizer with the Tokyo-based group Hangorin No Kai, speaks at a pop-up protest outside the official one-year-to-go Olympic ceremony on 24 July 2019. Tokyo.
Photo credit: Jules Boykoff

A COLLECTIVE GASP RIPPLED THROUGH the ballroom at the Tokyo International Forum. After entering the room at a brisk clip, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe stumbled forward, lurching toward the dais of Olympic luminaries, which included International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach. Fortunately for Abe, a security official caught him before he hit the floor, dodging a potentially mortifying, viral-video moment. I almost tripped when I entered the room, the prime minister said. Thomas Bach praised me that my recovery was like an athlete.