150 Workers Died Building the Facilities (Olympics)

[donsu]

http://www.counterpunch.com/zirin08142004.html

-snip-


We are also getting bombarded with stories about how Athens is "a city transformed" by the Olympic Midas touch. As International Olympic Committee Chairman Jacques Rogge put it, "At Athens the legacy will be a new airport, new metro, new suburban train, this is a legacy the Greeks will be proud of."

But don't let the gold, silver, or soft-core sexism fool you: These Greek Olympics arrive bathed from head to toe in blood and dust.

You won't hear about it in NBC's gauzy coverage, but estimates range that as many as 150 construction workers died in work place accidents building Olympic facilities. The new center right government of Costas Karamanlis, terrified of international embarrassment for not having a modernized infrastructure, turned the screws to finish facilities by any means necessary

In the last week of round the clock preparation alone, 13 laborers were killed at the service of making Athens, in the words of one Olympic official, "habitable for a global audience".

As Andreas Zazopoulos, head of the Greek Construction Workers Union said, `"We have paid for the Olympic games in blood."

-snip-

May their blood forever stain every flag that's unfurled.

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power to the people

[aquart]

1. Nice union. To let 150 die and THEN mention it?

GMFB

[BJ]

2. This is what infuriates me about "CounterPunch"

And the contributors to CounterPunch.

I agree with them. Most of the time I agree with them 100%. And then Alexander Cockburn writes something like this:

Can someone win the presidency entirely on the basis of a negative asset? I wouldn't have thought so, but here's John Kerry, just about 90 days shy of election day, promoting himself as a man of presidential caliber entirely on the basis that he's the Anyone in "Anyone But Bush". Aside from the flag wagging , that's what it comes down to, unless you take the probably realistic view that when it comes to war-fighting in the service of Empire he's far more bloodthirsty.

Pitches a bitch about John Kerry, climbs aboard the moral high horse and hopes Nader torpedoes the Democratic Party's chances.

[papau]

3. A bit of truth in story -14 dead in 30 locations-and bad safety standards

A bit of truth in story -14 dead in 30 locations-and bad safety standards May have contributed to some of the deaths. The Union claims as many as 40 during the 8 years at all the "sites" (including Athens' new roads, airport, tram lines, and metro) taking the actual death toll to 40. The 150 appears to be pulled out of the air - A BBC story from July details the complaint - but note that not one death is linked to any specific safety standard violation (only poor safety standards, shortage of hard hats/safety boots, and little or no apparent organization are noted) - and note that the Brit papers have been on a 4 year dump on Greeks for not be as scheduled and anal as a proper Brit or German. Indeed this weekend other international media are asking the Brits to admit their bias and over the top stories - which the Brits will not do - saying they were just trying to encourage speed to their good friends in Greece!

In any case, 14 is a very high number by Historical Olympic building records (one person died in the construction of the Sydney Olympics and two in that of the Barcelona Olympics).

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3920919.stm

Workers in peril at Athens sites
Evidence of poor safety standards at construction sites for next month's Olympic Games in Athens has been found by a BBC radio programme.

Many workers have been killed - many more than the official death toll of 14, a Greek union representative said.

But, he told the programme, no official numbers are being kept.

The BBC team observed workers - many from Eastern Europe and South Asia - operating without protective equipment and with minimal supervision. <snip>


Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/1/hi/world/europe/3920919.stm

Published: 2004/07/23 14:47:00 GMT

[Kanary]

4. apparently the loss of life is going to be buried in arguments

about "truth".

The Greek people are very special to me, as are unions. So, I will express sadness to know many died in this effort of glitz.

Their lives are important, and must be remembered.

Thank you for posting this!

Evharisto para poli!

Kanary