The tour of the Olympic site during Open House 2007 was when we knew for sure that we were being told a load of hype-filled lies by the ODA.
Getting onto the tour was a job and a half, the ticketing process seemed ridiculously paranoid and closed, but we managed to get through.
The day started out with a lot of hanging around. We were shown a video that featured many of the clichés that have come to nauseate us over the intervening months: athletes winning, a crescendo of operatic music, the moment of Jaques Rogge’s announcement played again and again and again.
The tour itself took place on a bus. There would be no getting out and walking around, we were told, because of the dangers of contaminating the site with Japanese Knotweed, which they were trying to eliminate. We were given maps which we weren’t allowed to keep, but they had numbers on them and no key, so it was impossible to work out what was going on where. Was this a deliberate strategy to confuse the plebs? Who knows. We were also told that filming and photography was forbidden. The tour guide referred to “people doing nasty things,” ie a terrorist threat.
The site was mainly earthworks and demolition. There was little to see. Highlights included a series of grim, tattered “Back the Bid” banners hanging from businesses that have been forced out by the Olympics, and a length of kid’s Olympic murals that will never be seen because they are on a site closed to the public. I also saw this sign knocked over, broken and mashed into the ground, but I’ll come back to that in a bit.
So the guide was someone whose name escapes me, but who is/was the head of HSE at the ODA. He was a middle-aged white guy, nicely spoken and possibly somewhat middle class. Why is that so unsurprising? He was clearly several social strata above the people in the bus and he addressed us in a way that was both on-script/on-message and very patronising.
So the HSE honcho did not go down very well. Firstly, he talked about getting rid of wood and bricks, of clearing the earth. But he made no mention of the people who are also being cleared away, other than to say that everyone was thrilled about it and grateful to the wonderful and fair developers. Clay’s Lane was described as student housing, but that’s not strictly true, it was a co-op community, and there were a lot of underclass people living there. There was a long-standing traveller’s community nearby too.
He spoke with this rather disturbing “we’re in charge” sort of attitude. Apparently, this part of East London used to be a bit of a dump and we should all be thankful that the ODA are coming in, heroically, and making it a “place where people want to live.” Not only that, but those who have left (ie been forced out) have left a lot of nasty, ugly, dirty buildings and land that they are now clearing up.
According to this guide, there was little of value around the site, nothing really worth saving. I wonder if he’s talking about the aforementioned Clay’s Lane estate, or Bully Fen Community Woodland (more about that here) or the Eastway Cycle Circuit? Or any of the places depicted here?
We were told that the Olympics are going to be great for the environment, yet the development is clearly an environmental disaster. There were mixed messages about the ODA clearing up the waterways, yet also needing to look after the wildlife that lives there. If those waterways are and were so polluted, how come there is/was wildlife to look after?
Someone in the bus told the guide to fuck off, but that was after he let slip the truth about what’s going to happen to a chunk of Hackney Marshes, currently used by one of the most popular Sunday football leagues in the country. The official line has been that a portion of this land will be tarmac for the Olympics, but that it will revert to football fields afterwards. This is clearly untrue, and the guide laughed it off and said that the land would have too high value as real estate after the Olympics. Those fields are going to be gone, baby.
It’s odd that the ODA decided to present the site as though they were talking to corporate sponsors, rather than people who live in the area, know it well, and have strong attachments to the land. It strikes me that the developers have no relationship to those they are displacing and inconveniencing, despite the showy attempts at public consultation. And the lies, they just keep on coming, the spin is so compelling, it’s like reality is an awkward intrusion.
Oh yeah, and despite the promises of an appearance, Daley Thompson was nowhere to be seen. Fucker.
Charlotte
