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