‘We don’t need Bezos’: Venice activists prepare to protest against tech billionaire’s wedding

Whereas last-minute preparations for US billionaire Jeff Bezos’ lavish Venice wedding ceremony subsequent week must be underneath manner, protesters are drawing up plans in parallel to dam streets and waterways and ship a message: the Amazon founder just isn’t welcome of their metropolis.

For some Venetians, the marriage of Bezos and Lauren Sánchez, a former TV journalist, which is rumoured to be costing some €10 million, represents the sell-off of their metropolis to the very best bidder – and they’re mobilising towards it. 

Marta Sottoriva, an organiser of the No Area for Bezos marketing campaign, advised Euronews that activists are demonstrating towards Bezos’ wedding ceremony due to what it represents for town.

“We’re not protesting the marriage per se, however a imaginative and prescient of Venice … as a metropolis that folks come and devour,” Sottoriva stated. 

The billionaire can also be a “image for a kind of wealth constructed on the exploitation of the various”, citing Amazon’s resistance to unionisation, Sottoriva stated, whereas noting his presence at US President Donald Trump’s inauguration. 

Sottoriva argued town more and more caters to vacationers and large-scale occasions fairly than its residents, leading to “depopulation and the closure of many companies and areas for locals”. In some methods, the issue of overtourism and the billionaire’s luxurious occasion “symbolize the identical imaginative and prescient of town as a commodity”, she stated.

‘We want homes and first rate wages’

Scant particulars have been made official concerning the wedding ceremony, however some 200 company are anticipated to attend and are stated to have booked town’s costliest resorts, whereas the Amazon founder might be travelling along with his yachts.

Whereas the marketing campaign doesn’t count on to cease the marriage, it hopes to throw a spanner within the works. The activists have already begun to take a stand, most notably by hanging a banner daubed with Bezos’ title crossed out on the bell tower of San Giorgio Basilica on Thursday, whereas posters promoting their actions are plastered across the metropolis.

The group is planning its foremost demonstration for 28 June. “We’ll create some inconvenience and delays and make the protest seen,” Sottoriva stated, including that the peaceable protests will characteristic individuals blocking roads, clogging up canals on boats and kayaks and leaping into the water. 

She hopes a whole lot will come out throughout Venice. “We’ll even have individuals enjoying music – it’s going to be a celebration for town, too.”

It isn’t the primary time Bezos’s presence has courted controversy in a Europe: in 2022, Rotterdam confronted criticism for dismantling its iconic De Hef Bridge in order that his yacht may go, regardless of town council’s promise to not disturb the monument after it was restored 5 years prior.

Venice has turn into a poster baby for the impacts of overtourism, with the variety of guests ballooning in current a long time, with some 30 million visiting the small metropolis every year.

Simply 51,000 locals reside within the historic centre, with round 250,000 extra dwelling on Venice’s mainland. Some Venetians complain that they’ve been pushed out of their neighbourhoods by rising prices and that tourism is straining town’s infrastructure and diluting Venice’s distinctive character.

Town has launched a vacationer tax, with a every day payment for guests, which its mayor, Luigi Brugnaro, stated goals to assist town to dampen down large influxes of travellers, although critics say it has failed to dissuade vacationers from coming in droves.

However some see the marriage as a chance, with some enterprise house owners telling Italian media that they oppose the protests and that occasions like Bezos’ wedding ceremony usher in customized.

The marriage has additionally been wholeheartedly embraced by the mayor, with Brugnaro saying he felt “honoured” that Bezos had picked Venice. “We’re very proud,’’ he advised the AP final week, including that he hoped he would get the possibility to satisfy the billionaire.

“I don’t know if I’ll have time, or if he’ll, to satisfy and shake palms, however it’s an honour that they selected Venice. Venice as soon as once more reveals itself to be a world stage.’’

Unsurprisingly, Sottoriva holds a contrasting view. “We don’t want Bezos. We want homes, first rate wages, and a sustainable future.”