'For me, the most important issue is the Games themselves’: Anti-Olympic activism and AI video surveillance

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Talbot, A and Ludvigsen, J (2026) 'For me, the most important issue is the Games themselves’: Anti-Olympic activism and AI video surveillance. Leisure Studies. ISSN 0261-4367

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Abstract

This article explores the ways in which activists contest Olympic-related security and surveillance measures. The Olympics bring about some of the largest security operations globally and, by drawing upon qualitative data, the article questions (1) how ‘anti-Olympic’ activists contest practices, technologies and legacies of security, and (2) how these activists can be situated within a wider social space – a security field – structured around security claim-making. This article argues that despite activists’ efforts to question and critique security-related trends, the politics of (in)security constitute a significant barrier that may mute activists’ expressed discontent within the field. Further, activists’ critiques of security can only be fully understood if seen in relation to the more general social struggle against the Olympics-related gentrification, evictions, and human rights breaches which in itself is a struggle against injustices and uneven power structures in capitalist societies. These findings add to recent debates surrounding the importance of human rights and social justice within leisure contexts.

Item Type: Article
Uncontrolled Keywords: 1504 Commercial Services; 1506 Tourism; 1608 Sociology; Sport, Leisure & Tourism; 3508 Tourism; 4406 Human geography; 4410 Sociology
Subjects: H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure > GV561 Sports
Divisions: Humanities and Social Science
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Date of acceptance: 24 March 2026
Date of first compliant Open Access: 13 April 2026
Date Deposited: 30 Mar 2026 10:40
Last Modified: 13 Apr 2026 15:51
DOI or ID number: 10.1080/02614367.2026.2652891
URI: https://researchonline.ljmu.ac.uk/id/eprint/28309
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