The Olympic State of Exception

The Olympic State of Exception
by Michael Truscello

The Olympic torch relay was invented by the Nazis, added to the 1936 Olympics by Hitler to demonstrate an ancient Aryan lineage with the Third Reich, proof of a past and present warrior culture, and foreshadow for a pan-European trail of domination. The contemporary "Olympic Movement," as it calls itself, trots out a similar set of symbols, but now backed by corporate logos and the promise of a portable "state of exception," to use the term articulated by Nazi political theorist Carl Schmitt.

Anarchists in Canada, especially those whose primary concern is class war, may not see much value in the protest of the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver. Why so much fanfare for the Olympics, a one-off event, while barely a whimper from radical groups over, for example, the installation of the HST in Ontario and BC, a tax grab that punishes the poor in perpetuity?

As films such as Five Ring Circus demonstrate, the Olympics are a corporate affair that invades host cities such as Vancouver in the name of gentrification, environmental devastation, and the repeal of civil liberties. The mechanism by which the Olympics accomplish these deeds is akin to what Schmitt, and later Italian philosopher Giorgio Agamben, called the "state of exception." Agamben writes,

[quote]"The entire Third Reich can be considered a state of exception that lasted twelve years. [b]In this sense, modern totalitarianism can be defined as the establishment, by means of the state of exception, of a legal civil war that allows for the physical elimination not only of political adversaries but of entire categories of citizens who for some reason cannot be integrated into the political system[/b]."[/quote]

The Olympics do not require a specific regime for the imposition of their particular state of exception. Instead, the Olympics make this state (in both senses of the word, as a form of being and as an entity of governance) a portable affair, mobile authoritarianism, branded nationalism in the guise of goodwill and amateur competition.

The Olympics produce in host cities, especially post-9/11, the impetus for exceptionalism: developers are handed blank cheques by politicians, [i]to ensure dormant projects are completed in time for the Games[/i]; homeless people are ushered into buses or fined for panhandling or simply lying on the street, [i]to improve the city's image before the Games[/i]; natural settings previously protected by municipal or provincial laws are gutted, [i]to provide services and infrastructure such as rails and roads for the Games[/i]; civil liberties are repealed and surveillance apparatuses installed, [i]to provide security and an image of unanimous support for the Games[/i].

In other words, the Olympics become the excuse for imposing authoritarian excesses that would not be tolerated, or at least would be subjected to greater scrutiny, under normal circumstances. Of course, one might argue these impositions are fairly localized. However, even localized transformations of this kind can become precedents for other cities, provinces, or countries. Consider, as well, the overall impact the Olympics have on the "hearts and minds" of people around the world, the propaganda value of trumpeting corporate-sponsored "amateur" competition that represents international goodwill by inspiring breathless jingoism.

Also consider the fortress mentality that arises in the host city and spreads throughout the country, as Canadians hold their breath in anticipation of the all-purpose phantasm of terrorism. One border guard in BC tried to protect the fortress by interrogating leftist journalist Amy Goodman of Democracy Now! as she tried to enter Canada to give a talk that, much to the guard's chagrin, was not about the Olympics. And the lunacy spread to Burnaby-Lougheed Liberal MLA Harry Bloy, who referred to Olympic protestors as "terrorists" with "limited intelligence."

Will the dozens of closed-circuit video cameras being installed in Vancouver be removed once the Games are over? How about the intelligence gathered on activists by CSIS? Will it be destroyed as one final application of the torch? How about the cost overruns, already estimated in the billions? Will Canadians, especially British Columbians, receive a rebate from corporations? And what about the abuses of First Nations' rights?

Sadly, the state of exception leaves behind traces, and rarely relinquishes that which was obtained during its exceptional moment. Those excluded by the Olympic Games are the same "categories of citizens" on whose behalf anarchists must continue to struggle, even after the five ring circus leaves town.