The Loneliest Jukebox

Graham Barnfield's weblog, being gradually replaced by his Twitter feed - www.twitter.com/GrahamBarnfield

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Monday, October 16, 2006

What I've been up to

No recent postings due to off-line activities. These include attending:
Inaugural Lecture by Professor Gavin Poynter From Beijing to the Bow Road - Olympic Cities, States and Societies in the 21st Century 10 October
Professor Gavin Poynter’s inaugural lecture, which launched our Public Lecture Series and attended by over 100 staff, students and external visitors, deftly explored the relationship between the Olympics, Politics and Culture looking at various Olympiads since the turn of the century.
From the 1936 Berlin Olympics in which Jesse Owens ably demonstrated the idiocy of the host nation’s nazi ideology, to the 1968 Black Power salutes of Tommy Smith and John Carlos symbolising the call for equal rights in the US – as well as the US boycott of the 1980 games due to the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. Likening Beijing to Seoul 1988 Professor Poynter sees the primary function of the 2008 games as dispelling negative stereotypes and opening up the region to more tourism through substantial rebranding.
Many recent Olympiads are seen as the path to sustainable economic regeneration such as Barcelona, Sydney and we hope London 2012 – yet it’s very emphasis on sport and facilities at the expense of culture and art was seen as a self- defeating strategy – since as Gavin argued: “What East London needs most for sustainable development is a vibrant civic community which London 2012 as currently envisaged is challenged to deliver."


And an appearance at the 1st John Dos Passos International Conference in Madeira ... which was nice.

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