Constructing and contesting the Olympics online: The internet,Rio 2016 and the politics of Brazilian development

Abstract

The awarding of the 2016 Summer Olympics to the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil continues the trend of international sports mega-events being hosted in the global South and constructed and promoted as part of long-term development plans and policies. Rio 2016 also connects with the International Olympic Committee’s (IOC) current commitment to international development and global humanitarianism. In this paper, we examine the proliferation of this agenda through official online Olympic communication and compare it against critical perspectives from activist bloggers concerned with development issues specific to Rio 2016. The results support the notions that the internet can be used both to serve and challenge processes of capitalist accumulation and that political debates and contestations, such as those regarding development policy, are increasingly ‘amplified’ online. We argue, therefore, that while the IOC and Olympic stakeholders use the internet in support of neoliberal and modernist notions of development, online communications also offer important avenues for disseminating current critiques of, and resistance to, Olympic hosting.

Keywords

Activism blogs international development Olympic games online

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Agre

(2002) Real-time politics: The internet and the political process. The Information Society 18: 311–331.

Biccum

(2010) Global Citizenship and the Legacy of Empire: Marketing Development. New York: Routledge.

Black

(2008) Dreaming big: The pursuit of ‘second order’ games as a strategic response to globalization. Sport in Society 11(4): 467–480.

Black

Van der Westhuizen

(2004) The allure of global games for ‘semi-peripheral’ polities and spaces: A research agenda. Third World Quarterly 25(7): 1195–1214.

Brewster

(2010) Changing impressions of Mexico for the 1968 games. Bulletin of Latin American Research 29(1): 23–45.

Broudehoux

(2007) Spectacular Beijing: The conspicuous construction of an Olympic metropolis. Journal of Urban Affairs 29(4): 383–399.

Cheyne

(2010) Rio: They paved paradise and put up a parking lot! In: Games Monitor: Debunking Olympic Myths. Available at: http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/1186 (accessed 14 June 2011).

Cheyne

(2011a) UN Special Rapporteur criticizes Brazil evictions. In: Games Monitor: Debunking Olympic Myths. Available at: http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/1264 (accessed 14 June 2011).

Cheyne

(2011b) It’s that mega sports event – eviction. In: Games Monitor: Debunking Olympic Myths. Available at: http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/1265 (accessed 14 June 2011).

10.

Clarke

(2010) After neo-liberalism? Markets, states, and the reinvention of public welfare. Cultural Studies 24(3): 375–394.

11.

Cooper

(2005) Colonialism in Question: Theory, Knowledge, History. Berkley, CA: University of California Press.

12.

Cornelissen

(2009) A delicate balance: Major sports events and development. In: Levermore

Beacom

(eds) Sport and International Development. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 76–97.

13.

Cornelissen

(2010) The geopolitics of global aspiration: Sport mega-events and emerging powers. International Journal of the History of Sport 25(16): 3008–3025.

14.

Crouch

(2011) The Strange Non-Death of Neoliberalism. Cambridge: Polity Press.

15.

Curi

Knijnik

Mascarenhas

(2011) The Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro 2007: Consequences of a sport mega-event on a BRIC country. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 46(2): 140–156.

16.

Dahlberg

(2005) The corporate colonization of online attention and the marginalization of critical communication? Journal of Communication Inquiry 29(2): 160–180.

17.

Darnell

(2007) Playing with race: Right to play and the production of whiteness in ‘development through sport.’ Sport in Society 10(4): 560–579.

18.

Darnell

(2012) Sport for Development and Peace: A Critical Sociology. London: Bloomsbury Academic Press.

19.

Darnell

(in press) Olympism in action, Olympic hosting and the politics of ‘sport for development and peace’: Investigating the development discourses of Rio 2016. Sport in Society.

20.

Davis

(2009) Typing Politics: The Role of Blogs in American Politics. New York: Oxford University Press.

21.

do Rio

(2011) Rio: World Cup 2014 to be paid for out of public finds. In: Games Monitor: Debunking Olympic Myths. Available at: http://www.gamesmonitor.org.uk/node/1232 (accessed 18 February 2011).

22.

Escobar

(1995) Encountering Development: The Making and Unmaking of the Third World. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.

23.

Fairclough

(1992) Discourse and Social Change. Cambridge: Polity Press.

24.

Farrell

Drezner

(2008) The power and politics of blogs. Public Choice 134: 15–30.

25.

Ferguson

(2005) Decomposing modernity. In: Loomba

(ed.) Postcolonial Studies and Beyond. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, pp. 166–181.

26.

Fiell

(2011) Way beyond the UPP. In: Rio on Watch: Community Reporting on Rio. Available at: http://rioonwatch.org/?p=702 (accessed 14 June 2011).

27.

Gaffney

(2010a) Mega-events and socio-spatial dynamics in Rio de Janeiro 1919–2016. Journal of Latin American Geography 9(1): 7–29.

28.

Gaffney

(2010b) Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora/Police Pacification Units. In: Geostadia. Available at: http://www.geostadia.com/2010/08/unidades-de-policia-pacificadora-police.html (accessed 18 February 2011).

29.

Gaffney

(2011a) Ocupações, demolições, e concentrações, oh my! In: Geostadia. Available at: http://www.geostadia.com/2011/02/ocupacoes-demolicoes-e-concentracoes-oh.html (accessed 18 February 2011).

30.

Gaffney

(2011b) Festa Juninho (Pernambucano). In: Geostadia. Available at: http://www.geostadia.com/2011_06_01_archive.html (accessed 14 June 2011).

31.

Gidwani

(2008) Capital, Interrupted: Agrarian Development and the Politics of Work in India. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

32.

Gillett

(2003) Media activism and internet use by people with HIV/AIDS. Sociology of Health & Illness 25(6): 608–624.

33.

Hardt

Negri

(2004) Multitude: War and Democracy in the Age of Empire. New York: Penguin.

34.

Harlow

(2011) Social media and social movements: Facebook and an online Guatemalan justice movement that moved offline. New Media & Society 14(2): 225–243.

35.

Hayhurst

Wilson

Frisby

(2010) Navigating neoliberal networks: Transnational internet platforms in sport for development and peace. International Review for the Sociology of Sport 46(3): 315–329.

36.

Hine

(2000) Virtual Ethnography. London: SAGE.

37.

Hookway

(2008) ‘Entering the blogosphere’: Some strategies for using blogs in social research. Qualitative Research 8: 91–113.

38.

Horne

Manzenreiter

(2006) Sports Mega-events: Social Scientific Analyses of a Global Phenomenon. London: Blackwell Publishing.

39.

Horne

Whannel

(2012) Understanding the Olympics. London: Routledge.

40.

Hrynyshyn

(2008) Globalization, nationality and commodification: The politics of the social construction of the internet. New Media & Society 10(5): 751–770.

41.

International Olympic Committee (2009) Olympism in action. Available at: http://www.olympic.org/olympism-in-action (accessed 15 February 2011).

42.

International Olympic Committee (2010a) Sport officially recognized to boost MDGs. Available at: www.olympic.org/development-through-sport/sport-officially-recognised-to-boost-mdgs (accessed 11 February 2011).

43.

International Olympic Committee (2010b) IOC and UNHRC launch programme for refugees in Namibia. Available at: http://www.olympic.org/education-through-sport/ioc-and-unhcr-launch-programme-for-refugees-in-namibia (accessed 15 June 2011).

44.

International Olympic Committee (2010c) OVEP ready to go global. Available at: www.olympic.org/education-through-sport/ovep-ready-to-go-global (accessed 15 June 2011).

45.

International Olympic Committee (2011) IOC President meets with UN Secretary-General Ban-Ki Moon. Available at: www.olympic.org/content/Olympism-in-Action/Development-through-sport/IOC-President-meets-with-UN-Secretary-General-Ban-Ki-Moon/ (accessed 14 February 2011).

46.

Kahn

Kellner

(2004) New media and internet activism: From the ‘Battle of Seattle’ to blogging. New Media & Society 6(1): 87–95.

47.

Kapoor

(2011) Critical Perspectives on Neoliberal Globalization, Development and Education in Africa and Asia. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.

48.

Kidd

(2008) A new social movement: Sport for development and peace. Sport in Society 11(4): 370–380.

49.

King

(2006) Pink Ribbons, Inc.: Breast Cancer and the Politics of Philanthropy. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.

50.

Lenskyj

(2000) Inside the Olympic Industry: Power, Politics, and Activism. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

51.

Lenskyj

(2008) Olympic Industry Resistance: Challenging Olympic Power and Propaganda. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

52.

Lynn

(2011) World Cup and Olympics in Brazil set to spark social media frenzy. In: The iStrategy Blog – Digital Posts from the iStrategy Conference’s Global Marketing Experts. Available at: http://www.istrategyconference.com/blog/?category=Strategy&title=World-Cup-and-Olympics-in-Brazil-set-to-Spark-Social-Media-Frenzy&pid=190 (accessed 12 February 2011).

53.

Macgilchrist

Bohmig

(2012) Blogs, genes and immigration: Online media and minimal politics. Media Culture & Society 34(1): 83–100.

54.

McMichael

(2009) Contesting Development: Critical Struggles for Social Change. New York: Routledge.

55.

McNair

(2009) The internet and the changing global media environment. In: Chadwick

Howard

(eds) The Routledge Handbook of internet Politics. London: Routledge, pp. 217–229.

56.

Mitchell

(2000) The stage of modernity. In: Mitchell

(ed.) Questions of Modernity. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 1–33.

57.

Mitra

(2001) Marginal voices in cyberspace. New Media & Society 3(1): 29–48.

58.

Nauright

(2004) Global games: Culture, political economy and sport in the globalised world of the 21^st century. Third World Quarterly 27(7): 1325–1336.

59.

Neuman

(1997) Social Research Methods: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

60.

Payne

(2005) The Global Politics of Unequal Development. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

61.

Pieterse

(2010) Development Theory. 2nd ed. Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.

62.

Richey

Ponte

(2008) Better (RED)™ than Dead: ‘Brand Aid’, Celebrities and the New Frontier of Development Assistance. Third World Quarterly 29(4): 711–729.

63.

Rio2016 (2010a) The event. Available at: http://rio2016.com/en/the-games/the-event (accessed 11 February 2011).

64.

Rio2016 (2010b) Barra: The heart of the games. Available at: http://rio2016.com/en/the-games/the-city/barra-the-heart-of-the-olympic-and-paralympic-games (accessed 11 February 2011).

65.

Rio2016 (2010c) Copacabana: Iconic location. Available at: http://rio2016.com/en/the-games/the-city/copacabana-iconic-beachside-locations-and-outdoor-settings (accessed 11 February 2011).

66.

Rio2016 (2010d) Deodore: The youth experience. Available at: http://rio2016.com/en/the-games/the-city/deodoro-the-olympic-youth-experience (accessed 11 February 2011).

67.

Rio2016 (2010e) Maracana: Tradition and celebration. Available at: http://rio2016.com/en/the-games/the-city/maracana-place-of-wonderful-ceremonies-and-athletics (accessed 11 February 2011).

68.

Rio2016 (2010f) The emblem: Passion and tranformation. Available at: http://www.rio2016.com/en/the-emblem/passion-and-transformation (accessed 12 February 2011).

69.

Rio2016 (2010g) The emblem: Contagious energy. Available at: http://www.rio2016.com/en/the-emblem/contagious-energy (accessed 12 February 2011).

70.

Rio2016 (2010h) The emblem: Exuberant nature. Available at: http://www.rio2016.com/en/the-emblem/exuberant-nature (accessed 12 February 2011).

71.

Rio2016 (2011, January 27) Game makers: Carlos Arthur Nuzman. Available at: http://www.rio2016.com/en/games-makers/interviews/carlos-arthur-nuzman (accessed 12 February 2011).

72.

Roche

(2000) Mega Events & Modernity: Olympics and Expos in the Growth of Global Culture. New York: Routledge.

73.

Roche

(2002) The Olympics and ‘Global Citizenship’. Citizenship Studies 6(2): 165–181.

74.

Rohter

(2010) Brazil on the Rise: The Story of a Country Transformed. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

75.

Rolnik

(2010) Truculent Olympics. In: Rio on Watch: Community Reporting on Rio. Available at: http://rioonwatch.org/?p=456 (accessed 13 June 2011).

76.

Sage

(1999) Justice do it! The Nike transnational advocacy network: Organization, collective actions, and outcomes. Sociology of Sport Journal 16(3): 994–1013.

77.

Sport for Development and Peace International Working Group (2008) Harnessing the Power of Sport for Development and Peace: Recommendations to Governments. Toronto, ON, Canada: Right to Play.

78.

Suter

(2000) Best Olympics money can buy. The World Today 56(8/9): 40–41.

79.

Swart

Bob

(2004) The seductive discourse of development: The Cape Town 2004 Olympic bid. Third World Quarterly 25(7): 1311–1324.

80.

The Economist (2009) Rio’s expensive new rings. The Economist 393(8652): 41–43.

81.

Tomlinson

(1996) Olympic spectacle: Opening ceremonies and some paradoxes of globalization. Media Culture & Society 18: 583–602.

82.

Tomlinson

(2008) Olympic values, Beijing’s Olympic Games, and the universal market. In: Price

Dayan

(eds) Owning the Olympics: Narratives of the New China. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press, pp. 67–85.

83.

Tremayne

(2007) Blogging, Citizenship, and the Future of Media. New York: Routledge.

84.

UPP Reporter (2011a) UPP Reporter: Embrace this idea. Available at: http://www.upprj.com/en/ (accessed 12 February 2011).

85.

UPP Reporter (2011b) O Dia: UPPs use football and art to drive away crime for good. Available at: http://upprj.com/en/timeline_en.html (accessed 12 February, 2011).

86.

Wall

(2005) Blogs of war: Weblogs as News. Journalism 6(2): 153–172.

87.

Wall

(2007) Social movements and email: Expressions of online identity in the globalization protests. New Media & Society 9(2): 258–277.

88.

Wilson

(2006) Ethnography, the internet, and youth culture: Strategies for examining social resistance and ‘online-offline’ relationships. Journal of Education 29(1): 307–328.

89.

Wilson

(2007) New media, social movements, and global sport studies: A revolutionary moment and the sociology of sport. Sociology of Sport Journal 24: 457–477.

90.

Wilson

(2012) Sport & Peace: A Sociological Perspective. Toronto, ON, Canada: Oxford University Press.

91.

Wilson

Hayhurst

(2009) Digital activism: Neoliberalism, the internet, and sport for youth development. Sociology of Sport Journal 26(1): 155–181.

92.

Wright

(2011) Politics as usual? Revolution, normalization, and a new agenda for online deliberation. New Media & Society 14(2): 244–261.