Open Council Policies
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"Let's Merge Sport and Politics"
The Open Council's Special Olympic Project Live from London
The Open Council have known for a long time now that the relationship between sport and politics is there but recent months has seen the subject again visible.
Sporting events and particularly the Olympics have been often used as a platform for protest violence and terrorism but really its the powerful who are use the sport to them wants in a global spectacle distraction idea from events at home. Also the frenzied corporate branding melee.
In order to explore this further the Open Council are launching a new *call for work* project inspired by the 2012 Olympic games called "Lets merge Sport and Politics".
The project is based in London with a specific focus on the community of Dalston who are a stones throw away from the physical site of the Olympics. The aim is to make visible the complexity of sport/politics relations now and from before.
About Dalston
Dalston is a busy, densely populated town centre in Hackney, East London. It is a highly deprived but vibrant area which has suffered in the past from poor planning decisions. There is a tsunami of gentrification and a serious lack of affordable housing and open space.
The people of Dalston made their feelings known with the Shoe Wagon overflowing after every trip through the market.
Why Dalston
Dalston was selected because of the supposedly high level of anti-olympics feeling in the area. Open Council researchers put this perception to the test with a series of experiments using our specially designed 2012 Shoe Wagon.
The Wagon was paraded up and down Ridley Road offering the chance for passers by to voice their displeasure by shoe throwing at the the London Olympics logo. This simple test of public mood, which was conducted over the Jubilee weekend, revealed that there is indeed a healthy level opposition to the 2012 Olympic Games in the Dalston area.
In a bid to explore this discontent the "Let's Merge Sport and Politics" scheme is inviting Dalston members to send in their interpretations of the relations between sport and politics. Visit the "Let's Merge Sport and Politics"project page for full details here.
"The "Lets merge Sport and Politics" project comes on the back of the Open Council's previous engagements with the 2012 Game in the "lets merge sport and culture" and the £500,000 Sport and Culture Idea Contest but for the first time in Open Council history the project will be based outside of Newcastle. We hope our collaboration with the people of Dalston will help cement a special relationship between our communities for ever."
About Dalston
Open Council assistants have put together this video-quilt to introduce Dalston to Newcastle members who may not have visited the area.
