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This weekend’s star-studded Venice Amazon founders Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez are burning activist groups who are not only ignoring the city’s residents, but also violating the protest group as a sign of a growing gap between those who have and fame.
Approximately 12 Venetian organizations, including housing advocates, anti-cruise ship campaigners and university groups, have come together to protest the several-day event under Banner’s “No Space for Bezos.”
They staged small protests and spread anti-Bezos banners on the iconic Venetian site. They were joined by Greenpeace and the British group Everybody Hates Elon this week. Teslas destroyed Teslas in protest against Elon Musk, deploying a huge flag on St. Mark’s Square protesting the billionaire tax credit.
“If you can rent Venice for your wedding, you can pay more taxes,” read the banner featuring a huge image of Bezos. The police quickly took it.
There have been no comments from Bezos representatives regarding the protest.
Local activists have planned a more organized protest on Saturday, aiming to block access to the canal with boats to prevent guests from reaching the wedding venue. They then revised the protest from the railway station after claiming victory, claiming that their pressure forced them to change venues to Arsenale, a safer location that was easier and safer than beyond the busy centers of Venice.
“It would be a strong and decisive protest, but it’s peaceful,” said Federica Toninello, an activist with the Social Housing Assembly Network.
Among the 200 guests confirmed to be at the wedding are Mick Jagger, Ivanka Trump, Oprah Winfrey, Katy Perry and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Famous for its romantic canal scenery, Venice hosts hundreds of weddings each year, but weddings for the rich and famous are not rare. Previous celebrity weddings like George Clooney’s human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014 were accepted by the public. Hundreds of people often wished for a couple at city hall.
Bezos has a different political and business profile, said Tonmaso Kacciari, a prominent figure in the movement that successfully pushed the ban on more than 25,000 tonnes of cruise ships traveling through the Giudecca Canal in central Venice.
“Bezos is not a Hollywood actor,” Kutchalli said.
Critics also cite Bezos’ political groups as an added reason for Amazon’s labor practices, the ongoing tax dispute with the European government, and additional concerns.
Activists also argue that Bezos’ wedding exemplifies wider failures in local government governance, particularly tourism prioritization over the needs of its residents. They cite measures such as the Daytripper Tax, which critics claim to reinforce Venice’s image as a theme park. The main thing among their concerns is the lack of investment in affordable housing and essential services.
City officials defended the wedding. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro called the event a Venice honor and the city denied the wedding causing chaos.
“We are making clear that Venice is once again a global stage,” Burgnaro told The Associated Press, adding that he wanted to meet Bezos while he was in town.
Meanwhile, Corilla of the Venice Environmental Studies Association issued a statement that Bezos’ Earth Fund supports its work with “important donations.”
Corilla, who unites university scholars in the study of Venice’s conservation strategies with Italy’s leading national research councils, did not say how much Bezos was giving, but said contact began in April before the protests began.
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