As London's bid to host the 2012 Olympics steams patriotically ahead, a Corporate Watch investigation has revealed that Ken Livingstone's London Development Agency (LDA) are threatening residents of the proposed Olympic site with Compulsory Purchase Orders if they do not agree to sell their homes and businesses, and relocate to make way for the developers.

At a meeting held last November in Stratford Town Hall, Tony Winterbottom, one of the LDA's directors, confirmed that businesses would be 'encouraged to relocate', but that Compulsory Purchase Orders would be used if necessary. In fact, by his own admission, without the use of CPO's, the LDA would only have half of the land needed to site the Games.

Residents of Hackney, Newham, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest, which all form part of the Olympic site plan, had been promised that that, should the bid go ahead, their boroughs would benefit from an almost magical transformation. 'London 2012 would be the key catalyst to the most significant urban and environmental regeneration ever seen in London' assures the bid's official site. In fact, London's Joint Planning Authorities Team (JPAT), responsible for overseeing the planning process, has just sent back part of the bid's application, on the grounds that there were 'sixty or seventy issues in the Environmental Statement which needed clarification', according to a JPAT spokesman.

The meeting at Stratford Town Hall disclosed 'widespread unease and frustration' among local people. They are unlikely to be convinced by the finer details behind the official website's grand promises. Benefit no. 3 of staging the Olympics is, according to the website: 'Anecdotally, participation in sport has led to downturns in youth crime'. Leaving the 'anecdotally' aside, it is easy to wonder what kind of participation in sport, precisely. Watching the construction companies as they move in to turn Hackney Marshes - currently a thriving local football venue - into an Olympic coach park, perhaps.

The fact that, as the website points out, the Olympics are proven to be 'a significant boost to the convention industry', is also unlikely to console residents whose homes are under threat, or the local businesses which will supposedly flourish despite being forced to close up and move elsewhere. But there are, certainly, parties who will benefit. The letters of support on the official website tellingly include those from Bechtel, Jarvis, the Bank of Japan and McDonalds. It is, however, the taxpayers who will supply most of the money to host the Games - just as in Athens, where the Games are currently thirty percent over budget, leaving the Greek taxpayers, who have already stumped up £3.3 billion, to find an extra £1.5 billion to support them.

Other concerns with previous Olympics include the fact that in Los Angeles, Atlanta and Seoul, Korea, there was wholesale removal of homeless people and criminalising of poverty to make way for the businesses. In Atlanta, 8000 people were removed from the streets. Community and environmental groups are already making a noise over Vancouver's pursuit to host the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, with critics concerned about the lasting economic, environmental, political and social impacts of doing so. While currently, in New York, a determined coalition of residents and small business owners looks likely to succeed in blocking that city's bid for the 2012 Games. Unless London residents do the same, the way will then be left clear for London and Paris to fight it out between them. Bechtel and Jarvis, however, are certain to win; as are McDonalds, Visa, and CocaCola - just three of the Games' official sponsors.

THE SPONSORS

The International Olympic Committee’s global sponsorship program is known as TOP. According to Olympic marketing officials, a single four-year TOP sponsorship sells for $65 million or more. Never mind if the company involved is the antithesis of everything the Olympics are alleged to stand for – if it can afford it, it gets the deal. And when you're a 'Worldwide Olympic Partner' there are a lot of benefits to be had.

These include:

Use of all Olympic imagery, as well as appropriate Olympic designations on products
Hospitality opportunities at the Olympic Games
Direct advertising and promotional opportunities, including preferential access to Olympic broadcast advertising
On-site concessions/franchise and product sale/showcase opportunities
Ambush marketing protection
Acknowledgement of their support though a broad Olympic sponsorship recognition programme
Unsurprisingly, the TOP sponsorship programme enjoys one of the highest sponsorship renewal rates of any sports property. But if you're thinking about doing anything about all this then bear in mind Rule 61 of the Olympic Charter which states that 'No kind of demonstration or political, religious or racial propaganda is permitted in the Olympic areas.' In previous Games, the definition of 'Olympic Areas' has been extended to cover vast swathes of the host city.

Visa
Visa will be the only card accepted at all Olympic Games venues with hundreds of ATMs especially installed. During the Salt Lake 2002 Olympic Winter Games in November 2002, sales on Visa cards increased 30% over the same period in 2001, and 23% over the previous month. Since Visa began its Olympic sponsorship in 1986, over 21 million Visa cards bearing the Olympic rings have been administered. Visa is the world's leading payment brand generating US$2.4 trillion in annual card sales volume.


McDonalds
As well as being well acquainted with heart disease, 'McDonald’s is a long-time valued friend and partner of the IOC and the Olympic movement,' said IOC president, Jacques Rogge. The McDonald's agreement covers sponsorship of national Olympic committees and their teams and will give it status as the 'official restaurant'.

Atos Origin
The French company, Atos Origin, is a 'leading international IT services company and a global provider of business consulting and technology integration services'. It helps the likes of Shell, Nestle and Unilever to 'achieve aggressive growth objectives'.

Coca Cola
The carbonated sugar water company, Coca Cola, maintains the longest continuous corporate partnership with the Olympic movement. According to the Olympic website, 'The Coca-Cola Company provides refreshment for Olympic athletes, coaches, officials and spectators.' It also, somewhat inexplicably, 'promotes the spirit of the Games and enhances the Olympic experience'.

John Hancock Financial Services
The life insurance and investment company has developed a 'tradition of powerful and moving Olympic advertising'. It uses this to gain 'a competitive edge in new client prospecting'.

Kodak
Proudly notes that 'over the past 27 Olympiads, virtually every moment has been recorded on Kodak film'. Rather than capturing humans at their physical peak, a more accurate 'Kodak moment' would be someone bent over double coughing their guts up. Kodak is one of the largest emitters of toxins in the United States. In New York State it has released more dioxin into the air during 2000 than any other source. It has also ranked as New York State's leading producer of recognized airborne carcinogens and waterborne developmental toxicants.

Panasonic
A subsidiary of, Matsushita Electrical Industrial Co., Panasonic's role in the Games will be to provide the equipment for the on-site International Broadcasting Centre and the 'Astrovision' giant-screen televisions. Unfortunately, Panasonic are also known for their use of low paid, non unionised, labour in the tributes to capitalism known as Export Processing Zones (EPZs). Human Rights Watch condemned Matsushita and Samsung (see below) after it was revealed that women workers in Mexican factories were forced to show used sanitary towels to prove that they were not pregnant.

Samsung
Samsung Electronics is a Korea based company that has disallowed the establishment of unions or works councils in its plants in Hungary. It has also been criticised for its treatment of workers in EPZs. For the Olympics, Samsung will provide 'wireless communication equipment, including cellular phones, pagers and personal communications services'. For the military it provides manufacturing services and vehicles.

Swatch
The Swatch Group Ltd., will provide the timing and scoring technology and equipment for Olympic competitions. It is the largest manufacturer and distributor of finished watches in the world and was the first to introduce the concept of 'internet time'.

General Electric
GE is the world's largest company by market share and churns out Gatling guns, mines, aircraft engines for the military, dodgy nuclear reactors and media spin through NBC, CNBC, Telemundo, and msnbc.com (they were to blame for Ronald Reagan's success). In addition to being a TOP sponsor, GE (through NBC) provided the winning bid in the US Olympic broadcast negotiations for TV rights in a package worth US$ 1,181 billion.