BY SIMON BUTLER
BRISBANE — The Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting here in October is set to be a focus for militant actions against the forum's expressed support for corporate globalisation.
Groups and individuals involved in organising the Brisbane contingent to S11 in Melbourne and the blockade of the Australian Stock Exchange on May 1 are currently debating protest tactics.
A meeting called by the International Socialist Organisation and attended predominantly by student activists on May 15, voted 29 in favour to 11 abstentions to call for a blockade of the conference site and to form a Stop CHOGM Alliance. Supporters of the motions argued that the decision about the form of the protest was one of principle, not tactics.
Socialist Alternative member Jo Ball pointed to the horrific human rights records of many CHOGM member governments such as that of Robert Mugabe in Zimbabwe, and concluded that a blockade was a "moral obligation".
Those abstaining from the vote argued that there should be a broader and more detailed discussion before CHOGM tactics were finalised. Resistance member Susan Austin presented a discussion for a "Peoples' Unity March" to the CHOGM site, and argued that any decision about tactics should take account of how best to involve the largest number of people prepared to take militant action against globalisation.
"We think that whether or not to attempt a blockade is a question of tactics, not of principle" she told Green Left Weekly. "The blockade tactic has been very effective in certain situations, but it shouldn't be elevated to a principle. Our goal has to be to organise the biggest, most radical and most effective blow to the neo-liberals and human rights abusers possible."
At a May19 Brisbane M1 Alliance meeting, attended by more than 50 people, concerns were raised about the decision of the newly formed Stop CHOGM Alliance to prioritise the blockade tactic.
Karen Fletcher from the Democratic Socialist Party raised the alternative proposal of a united march on the CHOGM site as a planned mass civil disobedience action designed to place the police and government on the political defensive. Fletcher warned that because the CHOGM People's Festival had succeeded in co-opting a range of NGO's and community groups the categorical call for a "shut down" by the Stop CHOGM Alliance ran the risk of marginalising the radical section of the anti-corporate movement.
Other activists reported their surprise that the very first meeting of the Stop CHOGM Alliance would make a such a major tactical decision five months out from the actual protest, especially when so many of those who were involved in organising for M1 were not present.
There was a significant sentiment that the Stop CHOGM Alliance meeting was not very representative, that the decision to blockade had been hasty and that more discussion was necessary if the movement was to avoid a split. Participants resolved to attend the next Stop CHOGM Alliance meeting on May 21 in order to investigate whether the discussion on CHOGM tactics can be reopened and a workable and democratic solution found.