Berlin, 21. August 2026
Dear friends,
NOlympia Berlin stands in solidarity with you and all the people of Brisbane who are working to protect the beautiful Victoria Park / Barrambin from large-scale Olympic development.
We are a citizens‘ alliance in Berlin campaigning against the city’s bid to host the Olympic Games. Our experience has led us to question a model in which Olympic ambitions can take priority over the long-term needs of the city, its people, its environment and its public spaces.
What is happening in Brisbane concerns us for many of the same reasons.
Victoria Park / Barrambin is not simply an empty piece of land available for development. The historical record documents Barrambin as a place of profound cultural importance to First Nations peoples – a place of meeting, camping, ceremony, hunting and connection to Country. Contemporary Elders, historians, researchers and government documents have continued to recognise that significance.
The proposed Olympic development therefore raises questions that go far beyond the construction of a stadium.
It concerns whether an Olympic project should be allowed to permanently transform a culturally significant landscape and one of Brisbane’s important inner-city green spaces.
It concerns whether public money should be committed to major Olympic infrastructure when cities have many other pressing needs.
And it concerns whether the promise of an Olympic legacy should mean sacrificing places that already provide an enduring legacy to the community.
NOlympia Berlin believes that cities should invest first in the things that their residents need every day: schools, housing, public transport, public parks, community facilities, grassroots sport and climate resilience.
Olympic infrastructure should not come at the expense of these priorities.
Nor should communities be expected simply to accept irreversible changes because they are presented as necessary for the Olympic Games.
Our campaign in Berlin has also raised concerns about the financial structure of the Olympic model. The IOC is a private organisation with enormous revenues, while host cities and their taxpayers carry substantial infrastructure and financial risks. NOlympia Berlin has documented concerns about the billions associated with Olympic hosting, the uncertainty surrounding total costs and the imbalance between private Olympic revenues and public financial exposure.
This is why we recognise the concerns being raised in Brisbane.
The Olympic Games should serve the places – not the other way around. But they don’t. The Olympics frequently leave a trail of devastation behind.
We therefore express our solidarity with the community organisations, Traditional Custodians, residents, environmental advocates, historians, researchers and others who are calling for the protection of Victoria Park / Barrambin.
We particularly support the principle that Olympic ambition must not override cultural heritage, environmental protection, democratic participation or the long-term public interest.
The world does not need Olympic Games. It needs cities that are liveable, sustainable, democratic and respectful of their history and culture.
Victoria Park / Barrambin is part of Brisbane’s living heritage. Its value cannot be measured simply by the number of seats that can be built upon it or the economic activity generated during a few weeks of Olympic competition.
Some places are more valuable because they remain.
NOlympia Berlin stands with those working to ensure that Victoria Park / Barrambin remains one of those places.
Solidarity from Berlin to Brisbane.
Professor Johannes Verch
Dr. Gabriele Hiller
Carmen Schultze
(Trust Persons of the People’s Initiative NOlympia)
Alliance NOlympia Berlin
Brief als pdf
