“Venezia is not a city that money can buy,” they said, signaling a demonstration to block entry to the ceremony on the day of the wedding.
According to the daily Corrieredela Sera on the 16th, Bezos and his fiancee Lauren Sanchez’s wedding will be held in Venice, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, for three days from the 26th.
About 200 guests were reportedly invited, including star broadcasters Oprah Winfrey and Kim Kardashian, singers Mick Jagger and Katy Perry, actress Eva Longoria, and President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner.
Father Sanchez will reportedly change a total of 27 dresses for three days. Bezos is said to have reserved a water taxi and several luxury hotels in Venice for guests.
Local civic groups, however, strongly oppose the ultra-luxury wedding, viewing it as a “commercialization of the city.” Under the slogan of “No Space for Bezos,” the group has continued to put up anti-Posters across the city and protest.
On the day of the wedding, some activists also announced plans to block the waterway in front of the cathedral, where the wedding will be held, with rubber boats and boats, and block the land route with protesters to prevent guests from entering.
Venice’s leading anti-tourism civic group “No Grandi Navi” (an anti-extra large cruise ship group) and anti-fascist civic group ANPI participated in the campaign.
They criticized Bezos as a “symbol of labor exploitation, tax avoidance, and digital capitalism” and criticized such ultra-luxury events for making public spaces exclusive to the rich individuals.
Particularly controversial was the location of the wedding ceremony. The wedding hall, Misericordia Cathedral, is run by a private company owned by Venetian Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, raising the issue of conflict of interest over the private use of public facilities.
In response, the mayor countered, saying, “It doesn’t matter if 200 guests come to the city where 150,000 tourists come every day.” Local tourism, hotel and water taxi industries expect the wedding to help the local economy. Some wedding-related companies are expecting a special wedding.
Civic groups, however, dismissed the expectations as “joying the crumbs of a feast for the rich.” They argued that “the profits go only to a small number of large corporations and some luxury hotels, but the majority of Venetian citizens end up with only traffic control, space infringement, and inconvenience of living.”
JENNIFER KIM
US ASIA JOURNAL
