BY SIMON BUTLER
BRISBANE — Activists are preparing the ground for dynamic protests directed at the October 6-8 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Brisbane. At a city-wide meeting on June 14 it became clear that a number of different activist alliances are already prioritising diverse protest activities. There is one purpose, however, that unites all: CHOGM, along with the Commonwealth Business Forum in Melbourne, represents the next major target for the growing movement against corporate globalisation in this country.
If the movement has learnt anything in the last period it must be that mass mobilisations of activists protesting against the neo-liberal, pro-free trade and pro-corporate agenda of meetings like CHOGM are essential in order to continue to build on the gains which have already been won.
A central, unifying theme of the CHOGM mobilisations will be the demand to stop the November World Trade Organisation (WTO) ministerial meeting in Qatar. Across the globe activists are responding to the call on governments to boycott the Qatar round made by the prominent opponent of corporate globalisation, Walden Bello.
This campaign against the WTO is a profoundly internationalist one. People's movements in both the rich and poor countries are determined to prevent the commencement of the new trade round which will include pro-business rules on competition policy, intellectual property rights, agriculture, services and international trade.
CHOGM, which represents 40% of the total membership of the WTO, will provide an opportunity for the Commonwealth's imperialist powers — Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa — to exert pressure for a "consensus" around the Qatar round. The 1999 Durban CHOGM, for instance, issued the Fancourt declaration that called for the full implementation of the previous Uruguay round of WTO trade negotiations.
Anti-corporate protesters will have additional reasons for protesting at CHOGM including against its member governments' attacks on labour and democratic rights.
What tactics for CHOGM?
It seems certain that there will be more than one type of protest action at CHOGM. The best way to build the protests will be to promote the widest possible discussion and collaboration among anti-corporate activists and organisations.
A number of different proposals for action were raised a June 14 meeting attended by representatives from many different groups organising against CHOGM. Members of the newly formed CHOGM Free Zone, for example, are committed to a blockade of the huge Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
The Stop-CHOGM Alliance has adopted what it describes as "a political position to shut CHOGM down". However, different activists within the Stop-CHOGM Alliance regularly give conflicting opinions about what they mean by this. For some "shut down" means a blockade of CHOGM, whereas other members are not prepared to wholly rule out alternative tactics — as long as the tactic leads to CHOGM being "shut down".
The success of the CHOGM protests, however, will be gauged by whether or not they mobilise sufficient numbers of people to send a strong, clear message of opposition to the corporate elite's agenda of globalised exploitation of the world's workers and poor. Only such mass action can strengthen the will, courage and determination of all those around the world who are struggling for global justice. The specific protest tactics employed should be subordinated to this strategic aim.
The political terrain facing activists planning actions against CHOGM is different from that at S11, M1 or the October 3-5 Commonwealth Business Forum in Melbourne. The cynically conceived, government-organised CHOGM People's Festival has succeeded in coopting a range of "non-government organisations" and community groups. Jubilee Australia, for example, is not only inviting British PM Tony Blair to address its "Drop the debt" picnic on October 6, but has accepted an invitation to set up an information stall inside the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre.
Jubilee will be involved in the Commonwealth People's Centre, located in the convention centre from October 2-8. According to the official CHOGM web site, the Commonwealth People's Centre will be open to the public and will include "sports activity zones, performance stages, arts/craft demonstrations, snack bars [and] cyber cafes".
People's March on CHOGM
In this context, a categorical call to blockade or "shut down" the convention centre runs a very real risk of isolating and marginalising the radical section of the anti-corporate movement. When the expected large numbers of police and troops, plus the technical difficulties of actually blockading the site, are added into the picture the proposition for a blockade appears highly impractical and, if attempted, could result in a demoralising setback for the movement.
But radical action needs to be taken. It must be action that encourages mass participation and helps educate the general public about the role of CHOGM, as well as attracting new radicals into the movement against corporate globalisation.
The newly formed CHOGM Action Network (CAN) — most of the initial members of which were played leading roles in organising the Brisbane M1 stock exchange blockade — has circulated a call to action that proposes a mass people's march on the CHOGM site as the central focus for anti-corporate action.
CAN argues that a people's march could be built as a mass civil disobedience action designed to place the police, the Australian government and CHOGM itself on the political defensive.
CAN has also indicated that it is interested in coordinating activities and discussing other proposals that incorporate the politics of the movement against corporate globalisation such as the holding of a counter-conference to CHOGM, a "Boycott the WTO" campaign and a range of non-violent civil disobedience acts to protest the CHOGM summit.
An open meeting to discuss and plan action around the CAN call to action will be held in Brisbane on June 26, 6pm, LHMWU Conference Room, 74, Astor Terrace, Spring Hill.
[Simon Butler is a member of CAN and the Democratic Socialist Party.]