Plans announced for three-day blockade

BY ANNE O'CASEY

MELBOURNE -- The S11 Alliance has announced its plans for the three-day non-violent mass blockade of the Crown Casino, the site of the World Economic Forum's Asia-Pacific Economic Summit, which will include all-day picketing and protesting and a near-continuous speakers' platform.

The blockade is scheduled to begin at 7am on September 11. More than 10,000 people are expected to participate in it.

A series of “themes” will be presented from the speaking platforms three times a day (at 9am, 12.30pm and 5pm). At other times, rally participants will be encouraged to have their say. A range of bands and artists will perform.

The first platform on September 11 will feature trade union and international speakers. At noon, a platform will be organised and run by striking high school students, who will disprove the capitalist media's sensationalist claims that they are being “manipulated” by radicals. The evening platform will focus on Third World debt and the extreme poverty of most of the world's population.

September 12 will primarily be a “labour rights day” and will coincide with a rally organised by Trades Hall. The evening platform will present the views of environmentalists on the global and local environmental damage caused by the corporations represented inside the casino.

On the final day of the blockade, the morning platform will feature international and Australian feminists who will examine the struggle of women against global capitalism. On the lunchtime platform, indigenous and social justice activists will address questions of racism and discrimination. The final evening rally will weave together the range of issues already highlighted and urge protesters to join the actions planned for the Olympic Games in Sydney from September 15.

[For billeting and transport information, visit the S11 Alliance web site at <http://www.s11.org>. Green Left Weekly's Global Action Against Corporate Tyranny is at <http://www.greenleft.org.au/globalaction/s11>.]

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