Construction Workers. ©Mehar Jyrwa
The 2010 Commonwealth Games (CWG) will be held in New Delhi, India, from 3-14 October 2010. The declared mission of the Games is to, “..deliver the 'Best Commonwealth Games Ever;” build state-of-the-art sporting and city infrastructure....create a suitable environment and opportunities for the involvement of the citizens in the Games; to showcase the culture and heritage of India; to project Delhi as a global destination; to project India as an economic power; and to leave behind a lasting legacy.”

.: © Martin Slavin

London's Olympic Park Energy Centre, flagship of its sustainability claims, is being built by a company described as "one of the worst and most violent companies in Brazil in terms of its social and environmental record". It will form part of a profitable portfolio of energy projects including massive dams in the Amazon rainforest that are being widely condemned for their ecological damage and social injustice.

By Mike Wells

Security precautions for London 2012 include the construction of a 17.5 km, 5,000volt electric fence, topped with 900 daylight and night vision surveillance cameras spaced at 50 metre intervals. On first sight of the fence you could be forgiven for thinking you had slipped through a wormhole in the space-time continuum to find yourself on the perimeter of a Soviet era Gulag.

By Paul Charman and Mike Wells

After spending hundreds of millions of tax payers’ money on a high profile ‘clean-up’, it has become clear that the 2012 Olympic Park actually remains classified as a contaminated brownfield site.

Holding the Equestrian Olympics in Greenwich Park is a bad idea, and it may never have got off the ground if the bid company: a) had not over-estimated the size of the Park; b) had carried out rudimentary environmental research; and c) had done a cost-benefit analysis against comparative sites.

Having won the bid, the organiser, LOCOG, is determined to go through with its plans despite the problems posed by holding such a major event in a fragile World Heritage Site. Its determination is rooted in the fact that equestrian is in decline; an iconic setting in an urban location might help to promote it, and the International Equestrian Federation has made it clear that, if Greenwich Park is not used, then the prospects for the sport in future Olympics are in peril. Hence the pressure to take risks.

While traveling to Vancouver, Canada to speak at the Vancouver Public Library at a benefit for community radio stations, Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman and her two colleagues were detained by Canadian authorities. The armed interrogators were particularly interested in whether she would be speaking about the upcoming Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. Amy was questioned extensively about the speech she intended to give; their car was gone through by armed border guards, and their papers and laptop computers were scoured.