BY LISA MACDONALD
SYDNEY — "We value our relationship with S11 and M1, a relationship born of common values and goals [and] we'd like to talk to you about what will take place at CHOGM and work closely with you", John Maitland, the national secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), told an M1 Sydney-organised public meeting on May 10 titled "Which way forward for the anti-corporate movement?".
The 100 participants were also addressed by Kim Bullimore from the Indigenous Students Network (ISN) and Arrabunna elder Kevin Buzzacott. Jubilee Australia's Thea Ormerod, Australian Manufacturing Workers Union (AMWU) researcher Jennifer Holmes and M1 activist Vince Caughley also spoke.
The meeting was an opportunity to discuss the way forward for the anti-corporate movement following the huge success of the May 1 stock exchange blockades around the country, as well as some of the anti-corporate action plans already made by various organisations.
M1 activist Zanny Begg introduced the meeting with a brief outline of the history and nature of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), the next meeting of which will be in Brisbane October 6-8.
Jubilee Australia, Ormerod reported, is organising a rally near the CHOGM venue in Brisbane, on October 6, the first day of CHOGM. The rally will culminate in a "human chain" event and will be addressed by some prominent anti-debt campaigners from Jubilee's sister organisations overseas, such as South Africa's radical new Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane.
The AMWU, Holmes reported, is organising a mass rally as part of the International Metal Workers Congress to be held in Sydney on November 13, which coincides with the next round of World Trade Organisation talks in Qatar. Holmes encouraged anti-corporate activists to participate in a May 21 organising meeting for the rally.
The AMWU, said Holmes, will support the anti-corporate movement's actions at CHOGM and will be organising an action there to demand for "fair trade not free trade".
On July 1 there will be a "No reconciliation without justice" convergence on Parliament House in Canberra, organised by the ISN. Bullimore encouraged M1 activists to support that national action for indigenous rights as an important component of the anti-corporate movement's building towards CHOGM, emphasising that the strength of the movement lies in its uniting of diverse issues and activists to more effectively highlight and fight the myriad of injustices created by the system as a whole.
Foreshadowing much of the discussion later in the meeting, Caughley stressed the opportunity that was created by the huge success of M1 to draw more activists into the anti-corporate movement and create new and stronger alliances with many sectors and campaigns. He proposed that M1 Sydney become a broader forum involving left activists, unions, indigenous people, environmentalists and all those who want to discuss the issues confronting the anti-capitalist movement and build towards a mass action at CHOGM.
The overwhelming majority of those present agreed that CHOGM be a major target of the movement, and that support for the June 3 refugee rights national day of action, the July 1 indigenous rights convergence and the anti-G8 rallies on July 22, among others, was important for building towards CHOGM.
A discussion about what sort of protest to hold at CHOGM was also begun. Ormerod said that Jubilee Australia advocated against a blockade of CHOGM in favour of actions that would "raise public awareness about the issues" and "amplify the voices" of those Third World governments arguing for debt reduction and cancellation. Some activists from Socialist Alternative and the International Socialist Organisation argued in favour of a "more militant" action, similar to S11 and M1. Others argued that in the interests of unity, space should be made for a variety of forms of protest at CHOGM.
All present recognised the need for further discussion on this question and motions were unanimously passed calling for an open meeting on May 31 to kick off an activist group that will build for CHOGM, and for ongoing liaison between all the groups organising for CHOGM.
Motions were also passed to raise with the trade unions, not only their involvement in CHOGM protests, but also the establishment of May 1 — May Day — as an annual mobilisation, and for collaboration with Jubilee Australia to make the July 22 march a major mobilising focus for the movement.
For more information about the May 31 CHOGM protest organising meeting, phone (02) 9690 1977.
[The author is a member of the Sydney M1 Alliance and is the Sydney district secretary of the Democratic Socialist Party