Venetian activist plans to destroy Jeff Bezos’ wedding

Venetian radicals have launched a series of protests against Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who will marry next week at a luxurious, multi-million dollar ceremony that could shut down parts of the famous city.

Jeff Bezos, 61, is the third richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of $220.9 billion. He is the founder of Amazon and space technology company Blue Origin.

Hundreds of high-profile guests of the wedding will land in Venice from June 23 to 28, which will reportedly take over the entire island of St. George across from St. Mark Square.

According to Italian media reports, almost all luxury hotels have been booked for weddings, as do many water taxis.

“Venetian is seen as a display cabinet, a stage,” said Federica Toninelli, a 33-year-old Venetian activist.

“And this wedding is a symbol of outsiders’ exploitation of the city… Venice is just an asset now.”

Bezos has no space for radicals of various collectives in Venice – from the population-decreased for Venice to the campaign of the Anti-Driver Commission.

“These topics are linked,” Toninelli told the BBC. “They all become a place with Venice that turns tourists rather than residents into the center of politics.”

On Thursday, the collectively unfolded banners against Bezos from the San Giorgio Maggiore Basilica and the Rialto Bridge. Next week, they plan to sabotage the celebration by jumping into the canal to block water taxis and block various celebrations Kalithe narrow streets of Venice to prevent wedding guests from reaching the venue.

Amid social media calls on people to participate in the protests, activists accuse conservative Venetian mayor Luigi Brugnaro of treating residents “like nuisance… because for him, the only effective use of Venice is as the background of events that make it rich.”

Organizers said the purpose of the protests – they insisted that it would be totally peaceful – was double.

“We want to inspire conversations across the city and say that people like Bezos (representing a future that we don’t want, a world that we don’t want to live in) are not welcome here,” Tonelli said.

But Mayor Brugnaro said he felt “hamed” by the protesters: “Other cities will organize a committee against the wedding of such an important person?”

“I hope (Bezos) doesn’t have a second idea,” he said.

Jeweler Setrak Tokatzian (ST Mark’s Shopkeepers of Shopkeepers) echoed the mayor’s indignation, telling Italian media that those protesting “harm the city.”

“This kind of activity brings work and wealth, otherwise what we’re left with is the tourism industry that is increasingly costly.”

Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez are writers and former news show hosts who have been together for many years and have been engaged in 2023.

Although details of the wedding have not been revealed, the Bezos Commission has no room to believe that the couple will marry in the 10th-century church in the Misericordia Monastery.

There are about 200 guests, many of whom stay in the most unique hotels in Venice as well as the yachts in Bezos, Koru and Abeona.

According to Vogue magazine, the guest list may include Kim Kardashian – who attended Sánchez in Paris last month Fly into space on the Blue Origin Rocket Earlier this year. There are also rumors that members of the Trump family are attending.

Ms Toninelli said protesting against Bezos’ luxury wedding will draw attention to the wider problems facing her city and the fragile lagoon.

The Venetians have fallen into the city as local housing was replaced by holiday rentals. According to local radical group OCIO, the number of tourists exceeded that of residents for the first time in 2023.

Its current population is less than 49,000, compared with 175,000 in 1950.

last year New York City’s admission fee to day trips on peak dates. Mayor Brugnaro celebrated the plan, which was a success, but opposition politicians believe it did not help spread the flow of tourists who regularly flooded the narrow streets of Venice.

However, Ms. Tonelli insists that she and other activists are not opposed to the concept of travel. “We also like to travel around the world. The problem here is not the tourists, but the use of tourism and relying on everything.”

“We need to think about the transition after the journey,” she said, highlighting the need to stand out from the concept of Venice.

“A city government that makes residents rather than tourists would be a great step forward.”

Jeff Bezos’ wedding is not such a massive celebration in Venice.

In 2014, actor George Clooney married human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, an incident that brought many celebrities to the canals of Italian cities. Their activities did not cause a huge commotion at that time.