Jeff Bezos, today the world’s third richest person, has an estimated net worth of $220.9 billion. He’s about to marry Lauren Sánchez, Amazon’s vice-president of creative development and former news anchor, in a star-studded do in Venice. The two have been a couple for several years and proclaimed their engagement publicly earlier this year. The wedding dates are June 23-28. It will radically rethink the whole of the island of San Giorgio, across the bacino from St Mark’s Square, and welcome hundreds of VIP guests.
The event has grown to attract nearly 200 participants. Most of these comfortability-seeking guests will be enjoying all expense-paid stays in some of Venice’s most exclusive hotels — or on Bezos’s yachts, the Koru and the Abeona. This lavish jubilation is evoking memories of other historic weddings throughout the city. A prime, feelgood instance would be actor George Clooney’s marriage to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin in 2014.
Not everyone is happy about the impending wedding bells. The Seattle local activist group No Space for Bezos intends to rain on that parade with some accompanying protests. The delegation counts well-known activist Federica Toninelli amongst its number. Together, they hope to bring focus to the urgent challenges confronting Venice and its delicate lagoon. They expect to have canal jumping contests to stop water taxis. They wish to block their cramped streets, or calli, for the wedding. A massive no space for Bezos banner has already been dropped on a highway overpass in the city.
Toninelli stated, “We want to spark a citywide conversation and to 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.”
The protests have highlighted the negative effects of mass tourism on Venice’s resident population. Since 1950, the city’s population has sunk from 175,000 to barely 49,000 as of this writing. In 2023, the distinct tourist population officially exceeded the number of residents for the first time. That change triggered an economic and cultural renaissance that fundamentally changed the city’s housing market. Many natives have been displaced as their residences become vacation rentals. This significant change has profound and negative implications for the future of sustainable tourism on the coast.
The city government has just introduced an entry charge for day trippers. This approach would allow for improved capacity management of tourist traffic during rush times. Mayor Luigi Brugnaro touted this program as an unqualified success. Opposition politicians slammed it, asserting that it has failed to curb congestion on Venice’s small streets.
Mayor Brugnaro expressed his disappointment regarding the protests, stating, “What other city would organise a committee against the wedding of such an important person?” He expressed hope that Bezos would not change course on his plans as a result of the ongoing protests.
Jeweller Setrak Tokatzian, representing the association of St Mark’s shopkeepers, defended large events like Bezos’s wedding. He remarked, “This kind of event brings in work and wealth. Otherwise all we have left is increasingly low-cost tourism.”
The No Space for Bezos committee members training for days of nonviolent direct action, in advance of the wedding. They clarify that the fight is not against tourists but instead against the predatory industry of tourism. Toninelli elaborated on this sentiment: “Venice is being treated like a showcase, a stage. We need to think about a post-tourism transition.”
“A city administration that puts residents – and not visitors – front and centre would be a good step forward,” she concluded.