The Winter Olympics kick off on Feb 7 — and if journalists on-site are to be believed, Sochi’s not exactly ready for launch — and protests are being planned across Toronto.
First is a mass demonstration by All Out for Feb 5, to pressure Sochi sponsors like McDonald’s, Coca-Cola and Visa to speak out against Russia’s anti-gay laws. According to the event’s Facebook page, “a small delegation will deliver the 100,000 strong All Out petition to the manager of McDonalds, calling on sponsors to speak out to McDonalds in Fairview Mall” at 7:30pm. Participants are encouraged to wear red for love.
Gay advocates are also setting their sights on, of all things, the CN Tower. A petition on change.org is gathering signatures to ask management to light up the CN Tower rainbow style in solidarity with Russia’s LGBT community.
And, of course, there’s the simplest way to protest Sochi: just don’t watch the Olympics! Seriously, do you have any idea how much money it costs to maintain them? And do you know how much of a financial hit the host cities take just to have the Games in their homeland? So if you can’t do anything to protest the Olympics, just do what you can to not support them.
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