February 03, 2010
Sick of hearing about the Olympics? Get 'Active
By
Sarah Levine
With the Olympic games less than two weeks away, I'm feeling absolutely saturated with pre-Olympic "news". I now know more than I will ever ever need to about aritificial snow, road closures, and the City of Vancouver's guidelines on sock colours. But along with the intense security, the ubiquitous advertising, and the (hey, remember them?) incredible athletes, the Olympics also bring an opportunity to talk about the issues facing this city.
A few folks have taken this opportunity and run with it. One group is PIVOT, who are continuing their push for a national housing strategy with a "Red Tent" Campaign. The campaign will use red tents as symbols to draw attention to homelessness on the streets and in the media. If you're concerned about homelessness in this country, you can take action by sponsoring a tent, sleeping in a tent, or sending postcards to government. It's a good use of a clear visual to make a point while the world's media is in town.
Another somewhat unexpected Olympic initiative is Safe Games 2010. Figuring that Vancouver is hosting a party for the entire world, a group of local organizations are acting as "responsible hosts"; promoting harm reduction for the party. Volunteers will be out at bars and clubs helping people find local harm reduction resources like needle exchange and HIV testing, handing out condoms, and helping people get around safely. In place Vancouver's image as "that place with the drug problem", they're positioning the city as a global leader in providing harm reduction services.
WAVAW Rape Crisis Centre is also expecting the bars to be full-to-bursting this month. So, they've picked February 4th to launch SafeVibe, a campaign against sexual predators and drink-spiking in bars. The message is that "keeping the vibe safe" is everyone's responsibility, and that we can prevent sexual assaults by changing bar culture. While it's not directly connected to the Olympics, I think it's a timely campaign on an issue that really needs more attention.
The Olympics are coming, that's for sure. And while there are parts of the games I'm not wild about, there's also an opportunity to talk to the whole world about things that really matter in this city, like housing, harm reduction and sexual assault. And there's speed skating, which - let's face it - is pretty incredible.
Sarah
Tag(s):
Poverty and Economic Justice,
Social Justice,
Health/Health Advocacy,
Bevel Up,
Olympics
Recent Blogs by Sarah Levine:
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RN, Street Nurse & part of the Bevel Up outreach team.
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