BY CRAIG MCGREGOR
MELBOURNE — Workers in the Australian Stock Exchange's Melbourne building got a rare taste of democracy on March 27, when a contingent of M1 activists converged on the Collins Street offices to ask them to vote for their favourite "corporate scumbag".
The M1 Alliance has already announced three targets for its upcoming "Corporate Scumbags Tour": Telstra, BHP and Nike. But it has announced that the protest rally's fourth target will be determined by a "corporate unpopularity test".
According to M1 Alliance spokesperson Sarah Peart, "Despite some initial reservations, many of those approached were actually quite willing to participate, with McDonald's a favourite".
The launch of the scumbags tour came the day after the March 26 launch of an M1 group in the Coburg/Brunswick area of Melbourne's northern suburbs. A dozen people watched a documentary about mining giant Rio Tinto, Naked in the jungle, and then discussed plans for publicising M1 in the local area.
The group plans to next meet on April 9 at 7pm at the Coburg Library.
Those interested in lodging a vote for the fourth corporate scumbag target can email their nominations to: <nominate_your_corporate_scumbag@yahoo.com>.
In Adelaide, the M1 Alliance has delivered letters congratulating those companies fortunate enough to have made it onto the itinerary for its April 1 Corporate Scumbags Tour.
The companies selected by public nomination included News Corporation "for its careless disregard for the truth, free speech and journalistic integrity, and for [Rupert Murdoch's] gross global tax evasion", and uranium miner Heathgate Resources for its "disregard for the Australian environment".
After delivering the letters, activists further nominated Telstra as the most paranoid corporate scumbag, after they were required to provide proof of identity and to open the letter to show that it only contained paper.
In contrast, which bank left an activist wandering around the executive level and boardroom searching for senior management to accept the letter of congratulations?.