Comrades
Here are two articles from the latest issue of Voice, the Socialist Party
newspaper.
For $5 you can get an subscription for 3 months. Email us and we will
invoice you.
From the Fast news column...
Message to PSIG or ASIO
The operative you send to the S11-Alliance meetings in Melbourne stands out
like a pork pie. Get your man some jeans (maybe flared?) or some clubbing
gear, a decent haircut and tell him not to sit alone...
Right-wing in fear of S11
As we get closer to September 11th, tensions are rising on both sides. The
recent closure of the Heinz factory in Dandenong with over 200 jobs lost is
directly due to globalisation and has reinforced support for our campaign.
The ruling class and its media have stepped up their attack on protest
organisers and organisations behind the first big Australian rally against
capitalism and globalisation rather than just against the effects of
globalisation.
Schools where students have been threatening to strike have been visited by
police. Talk back radio is hyterical in its red baiting. In the wake of a
fiery interview with 3AW's Neil Mitchell, some talk back callers screamed
for deportation of the SP S11 supporter.
This is despite the fact that media statement after media statement from
S11 Alliance has stated its commitment to non-violent protest action.
All police leave has been cancelled and the Army Reserve are on full
standby. In another sign of the privatisation of law and order, hundreds of
private security will patrol the Crown Towers during the protests.
The police may block the bridges over the Yarra to stop people attending
the rallies. Those getting through could be subjected to batons and gas.
The policehave put their hand on their hearts and denied they could ever
think of such a thing, but we are preparing for the worst.
The 'Labor' Government of Steve Bracks and the police are putting immense
pressure on Trades Hall to keep its Tuesday rally north of the river.
Bracks' strategy to undermine the protest is guaranteed to backfire. If the
9am gathering of thousands of school students is blocked at Flinders St
Station, if other protestors earlier in the day are also blocked from
crossing the Yarra, does the State Government and police really think we
will just throw our hands in the air and go home?
Trades Hall must resist the pressure to buckle to Bracks. A rally north of
the Yarra will be a token effort. It will leave isolated the students and
community protestors outside Crown Towers, as well as the many workers who
will participate at the main rally no matter what Trades Hall says. Members
of the Socialist Party will encourage unionists to cross the river during
their Tuesday rally. The presence of thousands of workers will encourage
the police to pull their head in.
What this hand-wringing by the ruling class shows is just how out of touch
they are with young people. They are held captive by an analysis of protest
movements that is all about "infiltrators, agitators, and reds under the
bed". They always underestimate working class people, especially young
people.
The great enthusiasm seen in the preparation for this rally and the
brilliant response the Socialist Party is getting in schools signifies a
reaction to 25 years of economic rationalism. Young people are repelled by
the major parties and 'politics'. But this is not the same as apathy as the
bosses would hope and some impressionistic commentators have claimed. This
was shown last year in Seattle, and at Corroboree 2000, and it will be
shown in Melbourne in September.
The campaign itself is diverse and no doubt police agents will try to churn
this up. But the vast majority are clear in wanting to have a non-violent
mass protest and as much disruption as possible at the Crown Towers. The
whole event will politicise wide layers of people.
Socialists argue for democratic organisation of the rally and democratic
nightly meetings to decide on tactics during the three days. Others argue
for decentralised structures and affinity groups. These debates will be won
and lost on the ground, through experience. For now, it is clear that full
agreement will not be reached before September 11th and therefore we need a
realistic understanding of what is possible, ie not marshalls but
communicators between the various constituent parts of the rally and
co-operation over first aid and food and legal support.
The S11 Alliance will have nightly meetings, but we must accept that other
layers of the campaign will not participate in this and our decisions will
not be holy writ for all.
The main unresolved issue is once communicators let protestors know what's
going on, who decides what to do? Will it be spontaneous? Or decided by
self-appointed 'leaders'? Or, as we believe, should there be some
democratic control over tactics by all protestors. For example we are
encouraging each school to elect a spokesperson for the Flinders St rally,
and 4 or 5 marshalls each for the march down to Crown Towers. From these
elected students, decisions can be made in a crisis.
We predict the vast majority of regular protestors will want to participate
in the S11 nightly democratic forum. If we are wrong, S11 will be
irrelevent. In that sense the debates over organisation in the campaign
will be decided on S11 itself when we can see the real balance of forces.
The main organisational tasks for now are to:
* Build support for the blockade and rally at Crown Towers, including the
school students rally at 9am at Flinders St Station. This 'second wave' of
school students coming to the Crown Towers a little later than the rest,
will add flexibility to the protest
* Campaigning within union's rank and file to come south of the river on
Tuesday 12th
* Attempt to build unity in action around first aid, legal support etc
between S11-Alliance and S11-AWOL, the left unions etc.
--
Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.alexia.net.au/~www/mhutton/index.html
Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop
Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink
Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
