GC TO GO PC DURING GAMES FESTIVAL

Festival of ‘reconciliation, youth empowerment and gender equality’ planned

COMMONWEALTH Games organisers say a festival they are planning to run alongside the Games will be structured to provide “courageous conversations” around the issues of “reconciliation, youth empowerment and gender equality”.

Among the politically correct activities planned is a workshop called ‘Children’s Republic’ which will call on kids as young as six to design a constitution, national flag and coat of arms for their “ideal country”.

THE politically correct Gold Coast Commonwealth Games will be accompanied by a PC arts festival.

The Bulletin can exclusively reveal the massive program of events on the Festival 2018 program, to be unveiled by GOLDOC on Wednesday, include several PC-friendly activities designed to encourage discussion around “gender equality, reconciliation and youth empowerment”.

Events include the Children’s Republic at Broadbeach, which will call on kids aged 6 to 12 to create a manifesto, flag and coat of arms for their ‘ideal country’ and Weaving Water Stories, which will see local indigenous weavers create an art installation inspired by their relationship to water.

Commonwealth Games Federation CEO David Grevemberg said the festival’s “exciting plans” would showcase the Commonwealth’s ‘diversity and creativity’.

“I’m particularly pleased to see the festival provide opportunities for courageous conversations around reconciliation, youth empowerment and gender equality,” he said.

“Festival 2018 will be more than an inspiring and unmissable part of the Games atmosphere – it should be a place to discuss and respond to the issues facing Commonwealth citizens in Australia and across the world today.”

The Festival 2018 program release comes after Games organisers were forced to defend a controversial handbook given to 15,000 volunteers and official staff and contractors that advises them to use gender-neutral language to not cause offence.

The guidebook advises Games workers against calling people “ladies and gentlemen” or “boys and girls” for fear of causing offence.

Games organisers GOLDOC were also criticised after a human resources executive invited staff to an ‘Invasion Day’ barbecue and pub quiz at the Games Village last Thursday.

While the Festival 2018 program is likely to attract similar criticism, organisers aren’t concerned. Festival 2018 creative director Yaron Lifschitz said the program reflected and supported the Coast and the values of the Commonwealth Games Federation – humanity, equality and destiny.

“The program represents the kind of inclusive, diverse and open society that I believe we are and that I hope we will remain,” he said.

THERE was a time, not so long ago, when the Gold Coast was marketed with the slogan “famous for fun”.

Of all the recent advertising campaigns, this was the one that resonated most with locals, who know they enjoy a lifestyle envied around the world.

With the awarding of the Commonwealth Games to the city, the future of our reputation for “fun” looked bright.

Where better to host an international celebration of sport than a city renowned for its outgoing, energetic nature?

But although the announcement that the Gold Coast would host the Games was made a mere six years ago, the world appears to have changed markedly since.

The “famous for fun” slogan was dropped, and promotion of the city skewed away from theme parks to focus more on coffee and crafts.

And, thanks to the creeping cancer of the most extreme form of political correctness, the Games no longer looks like being the carefree event once promised.

Volunteers have been warned against using supposedly offensive phrases like “ladies and gentlemen” lest they might offend someone, though quite who would be taken aback by such outrageous language has never been fully explained.

The divisive term ‘Invasion Day’ has gained currency at the heart of the Games Village.

And now we learn that the much-heralded Arts Festival that will accompany the Games has been infected by the same dreary narrative.

Nowhere in details of the festival seen by this paper is there any sense of celebrating the Gold Coast for what it is.

Ideas that proudly define the Coast and its culture – the surf lifesaving movement for example – do not merit a mention.

We do, though, see a program in which children aged 6-12 are encouraged to consider designing their own flags and systems of government.

We cannot be sure of the motivation for such an activity, though the program’s title, ‘Children’s Republic’, surely gives a clue.

The Festival promises to be all about “reconciliation, youth empowerment and gender equality“.

These are all, in themselves, fine ideals. Few could argue with them.

But why turn the Commonwealth Games into a platform for more preaching?

The Games is meant to be a fun event, a celebration of sport and a time to leave the troubles of the world behind.

Instead we are being asked to treat the Games as yet another opportunity to reflect on the ills of the world.

The arts festival, as proposed, sounds like it will have all the thrill and excitement of your average gender studies lecture.

No doubt there is someone, somewhere, most likely Melbourne, who finds all this highly invigorating.

But it sits very oddly on the Gold Coast, a city proud of its identity and secure in its place in the world.

Our marketing slogan may have officially changed, but one can only hope that locals can ignore the silliness emanating from Games organisers and ensure that the ”Famous for fun” ideal remains justified.