BY KAREN FLETCHER
BRISBANE — The Brisbane M1 Alliance has pledged to build a peaceful mass blockade of the Brisbane office of the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) on May 1 and bring the business of neo-liberal globalisation to a standstill for a day.
Fifty activists from Brisbane's socialist, green and anarchist parties and groups gathered at the Trades and Labor Council building on January 31 to discuss proposals for Brisbane's part in the global M1 strike. The Democratic Socialist Party's proposal to peacefully blockade the Waterfront Place office of the ASX received strong support, although some argued for a "symbolic" action rather than a real attempt to prevent business as usual.
The Brisbane ASX building is also home to a range of multinational stockbroking firms and mining companies, including BHP Coal. It was decide that the alliance would contact workers in the building, and their unions, and seek their support and assistance for the blockade.
A second proposal to call a strike so that students and workers could participate in the day-long action was tabled for discussion at the next meeting on February 14. Although the motion was not opposed, International Socialist Organisation spokesperson Lana Naj expressed reservations about whether the M1 Alliance had sufficient influence in the union movement to "pull off" a strike.
The Brisbane M1 Alliance can be contacted by email at <M1bris@hotmail.com> or by phone on (07) 3846 2414. The nest meeting is on February 14, at the TLC building, 16 Peel Street, South Brisbane.