NO HOLDS BARRED

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman once again spoke with Jonathan Cohn, who is involved with the successful movement that stopped Boston from hosting the 2024 Olympics, and is a co-founder and an organizer with NoBoston2024.

We spoke with Jonathan Cohn by phone Sunday.

While the plans of the U.S. Olympic Committee and the bid organization Boston 2024 for Boston to be a candidate city to host the 2024 Olympics have collapsed and failed, chiefly because of mass opposition, several other American cities are still in the running for that spot. The USOC has said that it will soon choose between Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. to be an American bid city.

In addition, Canadian Olympic Committee officials are seriously floating the idea of a making a bid from Toronto, while the list of other cities around the world which have said they will bid includes Paris, Rome, Hamburg, and Budapest.

These cities, of course, will face the same issues which sank the Boston bid: localities being held responsible for cost overruns and debts incurred for hosting the Olympics, forced removal of people to make way for Olympic venues and subsequent gentrification of those areas, militarization of Olympic cities and areas, net loss of tourism, related issues involving the prevalent corruption in the Olympic movement, etc., etc., etc.

As a result, we are already seeing opposition developing in some of these potential Olympic host cities, which will grow as more people become aware of the overwhelming problems associated with hosting the Olympics.

So while NoBoston2024 and others were successful in thwarting Boston's bid, this struggle against these Olympics ripoffs will continue in many parts of the world.

"We're very interested in helping out any groups that form in those other cities," said Jonathan Cohn. He and his associates have already had discussions with and have learned from activists in London, who opposed the London 2012 Olympics, and in Chicago, who opposed that city's failed bid to host the 2016 Olympics.

"Just last week, a few of us had met with Chris Gaffney, who's an activist in Rio, and his wife [Juliana Barbassa] who is doing a book tour for a new book, Dancing With The Devil In The City Of God," he said. There is also discussion about holding an international conference of activists who oppose these Olympics ripoffs, perhaps later this year in Zurich, Switzerland.

We also discussed more on why the opposition to hosting a Boston Olympics was successful in mobilizing public support, how these bids are thinly disguised land grabs by private real estate interests, the continuing problems in Rio de Janeiro related to the upcoming 2016 Olympics, the farce of the supposed reforms of the Olympic Agenda 2020, how activists in Boston plan to continue other struggles to improve their communities, why those involved in sports must develop alternatives to the Olympics, and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web, at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/no-holds-barred-with-eddie-goldman.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player for iOS is available for free on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Labels: Boston, Eddie Goldman, IOC, Jonathan Cohn, Los Angeles, No Holds Barred, NoBoston2024, Olympics, Toronto, U.S. Olympic Committee, USOC

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Jonathan Cohn, who is involved with the movement to oppose Boston hosting the 2024 Olympics, and is a co-founder and an organizer with NoBoston2024.

We spoke with Jonathan Cohn by phone Sunday.

While the U.S. Olympic Committee is sticking with Boston as its candidate city to host the 2024 Olympics, the latest opinion polls still show that a majority of people in and around Boston oppose this bid. Yet they are not opposing sports or even Olympic sports as such.

"At the community meetings we've had, there are many people who have noted that they do like the Olympics and they are very big sports fans, but they don't want the Olympics here just because of the long history of the corruption and the damage done to host cities," he said.

"Boston is very much a sports town and people enjoy and are proud of their local teams. But the Olympics increasingly is less about sports than it is about real estate and than it is about, because it's a money-making opportunity for its corporate sponsors."

We discussed how the people of Boston and the surrounding region have been kept out of the process of this bid; the lack of transparency of Boston 2024, the official bid committee; how much of this bid is really a "land grab"; how the Olympic Games usually lead to a financial net loss for the host cities and even a decline in tourism; how the massive debts incurred by Greece for hosting the 2004 Athens Olympics were one factor exacerbating that country's economic and debt crises; how NoBoston2024 has had to use public records' requests to obtain information on the details of this bid; the powerful use of social media in educating people and organizing people against the bid; and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

You can also listen to No Holds Barred via Stitcher through iOS or Android devices or on the web, at http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/no-holds-barred-with-eddie-goldman.

The PodOmatic Podcast Player for iOS is available for free on the App Store.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Labels: Boston, Eddie Goldman, IOC, Jonathan Cohn, No Holds Barred, NoBoston2024, Olympics, U.S. Olympic Committee, USOC

On this edition of No Holds Barred, host Eddie Goldman spoke with Britni de la Cretaz. She is involved with the movement to oppose Boston hosting the 2024 Olympics, and is a member of NoBoston2024.

NoBoston2024 describes itself as "a place for concerned citizens who are opposed to hosting the Olympics in Boston to express their views, share what they’ve learned, and find like-minded people. It is not an organization. No one can speak for NoBoston2024. Each person speaks for themselves."

We spoke with Britni de la Cretaz by phone Wednesday.

The movement against Boston hosting the 2024 Olympics has been growing. This was evidenced by a March poll by radio station WBUR which showed that 52 percent of the people polled in the Boston area were opposed to it, while only 36 percent supported it. A similar poll taken just two months earlier in January had a 51-33 majority supporting the Boston Olympics. These numbers are even more stunning considering the fact that Boston is one of the sports capitals of the U.S., and is home to a large number of serious sports fans.

"I love that you're making the distinction between sports fans and the Olympics, because that's actually been a really important part of what's going on in Boston," said Britni de la Cretaz.

Many members of the official Olympic bid group, Boston 2024, "have tried to make those of who are opposed to the bid seem like we hate sports," she said. In fact, the opposition to the 2024 Boston Olympics agrees with the bid organizers about the positive role sports can have, especially with young people.

"We wholeheartedly agree with that. I'm a huge sports fan myself, and I love watching the Olympics on TV. But that doesn't necessarily mean that I want my city to host the Olympics," she said.

She noted "the general reasons to oppose the Olympics that almost every city that has opposed them so far has, and they range from economic reasons to security reasons and safety reasons and all of these other things that we can talk more about."

Boston, she added, has its own reasons as well.

"In Boston, in particular, there has also been this really anti-democratic way that the bid has been presented to us, that it's almost been done behind the backs of the people that live here. And so a lot of the objections to the bid are coming from people who are feeling really betrayed and left out of the process of what's happening to our city in general," she said.

We discussed how the local politicians and the bid organizers have tried to conceal that public money will be used to fund a Boston Olympics; how the city is in crisis following a very bad winter which saw the public transportation system shut down and many closings of schools, homeless shelters, and other vital services; how the doubletalk from these politicians and bid organizers has only fueled opposition to the bid; the negative experiences of many cities which have already hosted the Olympics; how the U.S. Olympic Committee, which chose Boston as the U.S. bid city, has shown bad leadership; why the bid has little chance of succeeding; what people are doing and can do to oppose this bid; and much more.

You can play or download No Holds Barred here and here. If one link doesn't work, please try another.

No Holds Barred is also available on mobile phones and iPads through Stitcher.

Also, No Holds Barred is available through iTunes.

The No Holds Barred theme song is called "The Heist", which is also available on iTunes by composer Ian Snow.

No Holds Barred is free to listen to and is sponsored by:

American Top Team. Whether you're a beginner or a champion, train with the champions in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, boxing, wrestling, grappling, and mixed martial arts at American Top Team. Check out their web site at AmericanTopTeam.com.

Defense Soap, an effective, deep penetrating body soap with natural antifungal, antiviral, and antibacterial soap ingredients. Defense Soap is the best cleansing body soap for men and women athletes who are involved in contact sports such as MMA, wrestling, grappling, jiu-jitsu, and judo, to help their antifungal, anti-ringworm, anti-jock itch strategy. Check out their web site, at DefenseSoap.com.

Labels: Boston, Britni de la Cretaz NoBoston2024, Eddie Goldman, IOC, No Holds Barred, Olympics, U.S. Olympic Committee, USOC