Referendum on the Olympics: NOlympia Hamburg plans to collect signatures

On Wednesday, the Hamburg Citizenship will vote on the proposal of the coalition factions to hold a Citizenship referendum on the holding of the Summer Olympic Games in Hamburg on 31 May. The NOlympia Hamburg initiative announces a counter-campaign – and will collect signatures from the end of January in order to enter the voting booklet with its own statement. The initiative must collect around 10,000 valid signatures within three weeks.

Eckart Maudrich, spokesperson for NOlympia Hamburg:

“Hamburg has many problems – be it massively rising rents, poverty, traffic chaos or the impact of the impending climate catastrophe. The Olympic Games may contribute to a good image, but they exacerbate the problems. As long as the Senate doesn't get the housing shortage under control, it can't seriously bring a mega-event to the city that pushes rents even higher. Many social supporters are already struggling to survive. For Olympia, on the other hand, the Senate has the donation pants on and will loosen up 20 million euros in the shortest possible time for the application alone. If it comes to the point that the elephant Olympia climbs into the household bathtub, there is not much water left. Every euro that goes into the 30-day mega-event is missing, for example, from education, mobility, housing and social facilities.”

Clara Ihring, trustee and spokeswoman for NOlympia Hamburg:

‘Contrary to the promises made by the Senate, this time not everything is quite different from 2015. Olympia doesn't adapt to the city. There is no basis for claiming that a new stadium would have to be built in Volkspark independently of Olympia. The model for the new stadium is the Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid, which cost 1.79 billion euros more than three times as much as originally planned. Permanent construction sites and Olympic Lanes in the middle of the city become many hamburgersGoing inside in despair. On the other hand, there are hardly any positive effects: Studies show that the Olympic Games have neither significant economic benefits for the venues nor encourage participation in sporting activities. Hamburg deserves something better. We are confident that the majority of hamburgersIt is more reasonable internally than the Senate coalition and, as in 2015, rejects megalomania.’