Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazonand your partner Lauren Sánchez The Wedding celebrations in Venice To celebrate your wedding this weekend. The arrival of the tycoon and the journalist lit the discontent of various groups premises, which denounced the social impact of this type of private celebrations in the midst of a city historically tension by Mass tourism and inequality.
The businessman arrived aboard a Aquatic taxi Accompanied by a reinforced security device, which included two support vessels. Fate was the Hotel Amanone of the few hotels of Seven stars of the world, located on the Great Channel.
Mobilizations and banners in key points
Venice activist groups deployed various actions in rejection of celebration. From Monday, banners with critical messages extended through emblematic spaces.
In the San Marcos Squaremilitants of Greenpeace next to a British group that usually opposes Elon Muskthey hung a sign with the phrase: “If you can rent Venice, you can pay more taxes”, Accompanied by a smiling image of Bezos.
The general slogan of the groups was “There is no space for Bezos”motto that alluded to the lack of access to housing in the city as to the past space flight of Lauren Sánchez.
On Wednesday, a fleet of protesters toured the Great Channel. In their boats, they transported a Jeff Bezos Maniquí mounted on a Amazon box, surrounded by false tickets.
According to the advertising agency that designed the action, the objective was not directly the wedding, but to highlight the hoarding of wealth, power in the media and the growing Privatization of public space.
The organizers indicated that they planned more forceful actions for Saturday, which included blocking the entry of the guests to the event. However, they resolved to change the approach and They summoned one Festive march which will depart from the central train station.
The change of wedding location
The protesters celebrated having achieved that The organizers will relocate the celebration to Arsenalea less accessible space and more safely.
“The protest will be strong, decisive but peaceful”, He declared Federica Toninelloreferent of the Social Housing Assemblywho stressed that the objective is to make visible the demands of the local community.
Among the 200 guests The ceremony includes personalities such as Mick Jagger, Ivanka Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCaprio. The presence of international celebrities generated global attention that the neighbors took the opportunity to install their claims.
The official support of Venice
He Mayor of Venice, Luigi BrugnaroHe supported the celebration and described it as a positive event for the city. “Venice is revealed once again as a global scenario”, Said the official to be consulted by the local press.
However, the marriage put the city’s tourist policy again, the access to housingand the Structural problems in the essential services faced by the population.
For residents, events such as the one stars Bezos deepen the exclusive model which prioritizes tourist income above urban needs. The housing crisis that has been going through Venice for years and the growth of Type Airbnb accommodation fed a climate of discomfort.
Civil organizations argued that while Housing are converted into hotelscitizens see their right to remain in the city that inhabit.
The Bezos Fund and Environmental Questions
Amid the criticism, some sectors tried to clarify the rejection remembering that the Bezos Fund for Earth allocated resources to environmental causes In the region. However, no amounts or concrete projects were specified, and local environmental spokesmen insisted that such contributions do not solve structural problems.
Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez wedding revived the global debate on the effects of the wealth concentration. In this case, the symbolic and real use of Venetian space as a luxury scenario contrasted with everyday reality of its inhabitants, who face housing access problems, labor precariousness and displacement of traditional activities.
For protesters, this type of event highlights an economic model that excludes and privileges an elite above collective well -being. The protest, far from opposing marriage, aimed to question the Unequal use of urban heritage and the role played by luxury tourism in the transformation of cities.
Source: Ambito
