{"id":24684,"date":"2023-04-26T15:23:22","date_gmt":"2023-04-26T15:23:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/fake-volunteers-hope-to\/"},"modified":"2023-04-26T15:24:24","modified_gmt":"2023-04-26T15:24:24","slug":"fake-volunteers-hope-to","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/fake-volunteers-hope-to\/","title":{"rendered":"Fake volunteers hope to disrupt Paris Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Layli Foroudi<\/p>\n

PARIS (Reuters) – An anti-Olympics collective is aiming to disrupt next year’s Paris Games by recruiting fake volunteers.<\/p>\n

Saccage 2024, which translates as Destruction 2024, has already generated a buzz on social media with its “pseudo-volunteer” plan, saying they should be paid for their work.<\/p>\n

“Volunteering is supposed to be for the common good and that is not the case for the Olympic Games – it does not have charitable aims,” Saccage 2024 member Arthur, who declined to give his family name, told Reuters.<\/p>\n

The 25-year-old, an environmental activist who lives in Saint-Denis, where the bulk of the Games will be organised, plans to withdraw at the last minute or try to disrupt the Games from within if he is selected to be a volunteer. <\/p>\n

Saccage and other critics of the Paris Olympics say the event will negatively impact the environment and benefit big businesses and elites, rather than locals.<\/p>\n

Paris 2024 organisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment but have said in the past that they would organise “popular and spectacular Games” that will bring in millions of visitors.<\/p>\n

The Olympics organisers are looking to recruit 45,000 volunteers. The organisers have said that volunteering – also widely used in past Games – is an opportunity to participate in the Olympics. The deadline for applications is May 3.<\/p>\n

Paris organisers said they would take the time to ensure the “sincerity” of candidates and that volunteers would have a background check. Candidates are required to demonstrate their motivation and experience, and there will be interviews for some roles.<\/p>\n

Volunteers will receive uniforms, free travel and meal vouchers.<\/p>\n

The Games are more than a year away and there is no certainty activists will be able to generate the numbers needed to disrupt events. <\/p>\n

However, the plan reflects a widespread discontent in France, with huge protests over a law increasing the pension age and hashtags linking opposition to the reform and the Olympics. <\/p>\n

Saccage could not say how many had signed up as would-be disruptors, but said it saw a rise in interest after President Emmanuel Macron rammed through the pensions law without a final vote in parliament. <\/p>\n

Jan, a library worker in his 50s, said he came across the idea on Twitter after France’s Constitutional Council verdict gave its green light to the law.<\/p>\n

He had been striking and protesting against the pensions law, and said the fake volunteer plan was a “fun and constructive” way to continue the protests and, at the same time, oppose the Games and their impact.<\/p>\n

This would not be the first time the Olympic Games have been used by activists to further their causes, said Jules Boykoff, a political scientist at Oregon University.<\/p>\n

“Money spent on the Olympics is not spent on basic needs such as housing, education, healthcare and pensions. The Games are a high-profile target for activist ire,” he said.<\/p>\n

\n

(Reporting by Layli Foroudi; Editing by Ingrid Melander and Alison Williams)<\/p>\n

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By Layli Foroudi PARIS (Reuters) – An anti-Olympics collective is aiming to disrupt next year’s Paris Games by recruiting fake volunteers. Saccage 2024, which translates as Destruction 2024, has already generated a buzz on social media with its “pseudo-volunteer” plan, saying they should be paid for their work. “Volunteering is supposed to be for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":24685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1219],"tags":[1223],"class_list":["post-24684","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-u-s-sports","tag-updated"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-content\/uploads\/Reuters_Direct_Media\/USOnlineReportSportsNews\/tagreuters.com2023binary_LYNXMPEJ3P0PR-VIEWIMAGE.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24684","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24684"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24684\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24686,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24684\/revisions\/24686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24684"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24684"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/lynettelockhart.com\/client\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24684"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}