Raffaele Fantasia

It has become clear in recent weeks the extent to which the NSW and federal governments want to block protests at the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney in September.

More than 55 people met at the University of Technology, Sydney on May 28 discuss the upcoming “Stop Bush!” demonstrations, which will be held during the September APEC summit in Sydney. The meeting was a promising sign that people believe APEC is an important opportunity to build the campaigns that can challenge Prime Minister John Howard and US President George Bush’s neoliberal agenda.

Students across NSW are getting organised for a “Stop Bush! Stop Howard!” student conference on June 1 aimed at building the protests when the US president comes to Sydney for APEC in September.

Morris Iemma’s calculatedly boring “I’m-so-predictable-so-vote-for-me” campaign has virtually put NSW to sleep. More than ever before, interest in the NSW state elections has dwindled to the point where even the Fairfax-owned Sydney Morning Herald is desperately trying to generate interest by running the hapless opposition’s election campaign for it.