The Olympics pose monumental risks to everyone unfortunate enough to be in their orbit, and this is true especially for workers – either workers who help make the games happen (construction, service industry, volunteers) to the athletes themselves. Labor exploitation and the Olympics are synonymous, and we’ve charted this history of rampant harm – everything from wage theft to psychological, emotional, and sexual abuse – in the modern Olympics, even the beloved 1984 games.

For episode 8 of the Rings of Hell podcast, we’re joined by members of DSA Los Angeles’ Labor and Healthcare committees to explore how the Olympics are always sold as being “good for labor,” while the receipts show the reality couldn’t be further from the truth.

Email us at no@nolympicsla.com to stay in touch or get involved today.

For this episode, we invited Olympic author and expert Jules Boykoff to call in and give us a broad look at how the modern Olympics came into being, how their power is structured, and how they’ve evolved over the decades, growing more insidious at every turn. The Olympic machine has been around since the late 1800s and operated as a sort of sideshow. To this day the IOC still feels like it’s being led by carnival barkers trying to hook the next gullible sucker, and this conversation tracks how they’ve managed to stay alive and where they’re potentially vulnerable.

To read more by Jules Boykoff: julesboykoff.org

Email us at no@nolympicsla.com to stay in touch or get involved today.

In this episode, we unpack LA’s occasional Mayor, Eric Michael Garcetti, who has the worst kept secret in local politics (an upcoming presidential run), and explore MEG’s privilege, his hijacking of marginalized groups’ identities for political advancement, his fear of adversarial journalism, and what his true goals are. And we bring it all together by exploring how the Olympics is the cynical vanity project Garcetti’s using to try to make you forget he works for developers, police, and other elite interests.

So turn on, tune in, and drop out; it’s time for the MEGisode.

Email us at no@nolympicsla.com to stay in touch or get involved today.

The Olympic games are sold to cities around the world as an opportunity to revitalize and highlight their development. But far from bringing tourist dollars the games actually facilitate a transfer of wealth upwards Neighborhoods are uprooted in favor of luxury development. Whole blocks are leveled to make room for new venues. Forests are literally clear cut for ski runs.

When we talk about the Olympics we need to look beyond the ceremonies and sports, we need to see who benefits and who loses across a city. The games are sold as a win for everyone to mask that they are designed only to benefit the wealthy few.

Email us at no@nolympicsla.com to stay in touch or get involved today.

The 1984 Olympic Games are hailed as one of the most successful games ever staged. For Eric Garcetti and Casey Wasserman this apparent legacy of success is one of their major selling points for the 2028 Games. But beneath the star-studded Opening Ceremonies and lavish Olympic Village, there is a narrative about displacement, policing, and inequality. While there is some truth to the idea that 1984 Games turned a profit the full story is much more complicated. 1984’s legacy is central to understanding the drive towards 2028 and how we can resist these false memories to stop the games.

Do you want to join our coalition in fighting the Olympics in Los Angeles and around the world? Email us at no@nolympicsla.com to stay in touch or get involved today.