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Activists spread various anti-Bezos banners around Venice
Venice activists have launched a series of protests against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Jeff Bezos is set to marry his fiancee Lauren Sanchez next week in a gorgeous multi-million dollar ritual that will close parts of the well-known city.
Jeff Bezos, 61, is the third wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of $220 billion. He owns Amazon and Space Tech Company Blue Origin.
Hundreds of well-known guests are scheduled to descend to Venice between June 23rd and 28th for their fiancée, reportedly taking over the entire island of San Giorgio, across from the square of St. Mark.
According to Italian media, almost all luxury hotels, like many water taxis, are booked by wedding parties.
“Venice is treated like a showcase, a stage,” said Federica Toninelli, a 33-year-old Venetian activist who belongs to the Bezos protest group’s No Space.
“And this wedding is a symbol of the city’s exploitation by outsiders… Venice is now just an asset.”
There is no space for Bezos. Activists belonging to various Venetian groups, from campaigns to anti-cruise ship committees seeking more housing for Venice’s declining population.
“All of these topics are linked,” Toninelli told the BBC. “They all have to do with Venice being a place where its politics are central to tourists rather than residents.”
On Thursday, the group raised flags spread against Bezos from the bell towers of San Giorgio Maggio Rebasilica and Rialto Bridge. Next week they plan to disrupt the festival by diving into the canal to disrupt water taxis and blocking the various Calillis, a narrow street in Venice, to prevent wedding guests from arriving at the venue.
In a social media call for people to join the protest, activists accused conservative Venice mayor Luigi Burgnaro of “treating residents like annoyance… For him, the only effective use of Venice is as a backdrop to events that enrich the rich.”
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There are two purposes of the protest, which organizers argue that they will be completely peaceful.
“We want to spark conversations throughout the city and say that people like Bezos, who represent a future we don’t want and a world we don’t want to live in, are not welcome here,” Tonyelli said, citing Bezos’ business venture and proximity to the Trump administration.
But the mayor of Burgnaro said he was “embarrassing” to the protesters: “What other cities will organize committees against the wedding of such important figures?”
“I hope [Bezos] There’s no rethinking,” he said.
Reflecting the mayor’s digging, jeweller Setrak Tokatzian will lead the Association of Shopkeepers in St. Mark – told Italian media that protesters “harm the city.”
“This type of event brings jobs and wealth, otherwise all we have left is increasingly low-cost tourism.”
Authors and former news presenters Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez have been together for years and got engaged in 2023.
Although details of the wedding have not been revealed, there is no space for the Bezos committee, and the couple believe that they will tie the knot in the 10th century church at the Abbey of Misery Ecordia.
Approximately 200 guests are expected, many staying in Venice’s most exclusive hotels and Bezos’ yachts, Kol and Abeona.
According to Vogue Magazine, the guest list includes Kim Kardashian, who attended Sánchez’s bachelor party last month in Paris, and Katy Perry, a pop star who flew into space at Blue Origin Rocket earlier this year. It is rumored that members of the Trump family are also present.
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Venice Street poster, “Let’s sort out the reaction to Jeff Bezos’ wedding! We are preparing a day of joint resistance to give everyone the opportunity to say: There is no space for Bezos!”
Toninelli said protesting Bezos’s gorgeous wedding will draw attention to the wider issues facing her city and its vulnerable lagoon.
When local homes were replaced by holiday rentals, the Venetians left a large crowd. According to local activist group Ocio, the number of tourists exceeded the number of residents for the first time in 2023.
The current population is less than 49,000, and 175,000 in 1950.
Last year, the city introduced admission fees for day trips on peak days. The mayor of Burgnaro celebrated the plan as a success, but opposition politicians argue it has not helped to spread the flow of tourists that regularly flood Venice’s narrow streets.
However, Ms. Toninelli argued that she and other activists were not opposed to the concept of tourism. “We also love traveling around the world. The problem here is not tourists. We abuse tourism and make it all grounded.”
“We need to think about the post-tourism transition,” she said.
“The city administration, which places residents rather than visitors, will be a good step forward for the front desk and centre.”
Jeff Bezos’ wedding is not the first major celebration of its kind in Venice.
In 2014, actor George Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in a flashy event that saw many celebrities descend on the canals of an Italian city. There was no major uproar over their event at the time.
