BY DANNY FAIRFAX
SYDNEY — After assembling in Hyde Park on March 17, 300 protesters set off on a tour of this city's most notorious corporate scumbags. The tour was organised as part of the build-up toward the May 1 blockade of the Australian Stock Exchange.
"We shouldn't see these corporate targets as bad apples to be rooted out of a system which is generally good. On the contrary, the system itself is rotten to the core", M1 Sydney Alliance activist Zanny Begg told the protesters at the start of the tour.
First stop was the headquarters of Australian Correctional Management, the company responsible for building and running most of Australia's private prisons, as well the refugee detention centres. As protesters chanted "Lock up the Liberals; free the refugees!", Kerry Nettle from Stop the Women's Jail and an Iraqi refugee addressed the crowd. Nettle explained that, "ACM is in bed with right-wing governments, they know that they can get right-wing governments to introduce draconian legislation which results in more prisons, and in more poor and black people being locked up."
On the way to Sydney's banking heartland, the anti-corporate protesters stopped at two companies with the most atrocious reputations on human rights — Nike and McDonalds.
The Nike store was the scene for an alternative fashion parade run by the cross-campus women's collective, with participants wearing bags bearing the words, "I'd rather wear a bag than support slave labour". In Indonesia, it was explained, workers only receive 40 cents an hour and have to work 12 hour days. In Australia, Nike refuses to adhere to the Homeworkers Code of Practice, which seeks to protect the country's 330,000 outworkers in Australia, most of whom are migrant women, and who have to work 15 hour shifts earning $1-2 an hour.
The next stop was Martin Place, where the headquarters of the four big banks are situated. David Cohen, who works in the finance industry, pointed out that the National Australia Bank made $3.24 billion profits last year, while the Commonwealth Bank made $2.7 billion; ANZ, $1.7 billion and Westpac, $1.7 billion. "But this is not enough for them", said Cohen. "Westpac has announced it will shut down 100 more branches and is abolishing passbook accounts, while Commonwealth is shutting down 250 branches."
Also at Martin Place is the Australian office of the World Bank, and this was the site of speeches from Mel Gillbank from Aidwatch, Transport Workers Union state secretary Tony Sheldon and Melanie Sjoberg from Unions Against Corporate Tyranny. Sjoberg informed the protesters of the situation of Daewoo workers in South Korea, 5000 of whom have been sacked since November.
Among the other targets of the corporate scumbags tour were Qantas and BHP, as well as Prime Minister John Howard's Sydney office, which was presented with the "Outstanding achievement in running the government in the interests of corporate scumbags" award by Cutie, the corporate crime-fighting chicken. However, the tour was provided with a sour end when police arrested a homeless man on groundless charges only metres away from where the march was finishing. Protesters tried to halt the police car from leaving, which resulted in a stoush which the police won, with one protester being injured.
Sunil Menon and Andy Gianniotis report that a loud and vibrant corporate scumbags tour of Parramatta captivated late night shoppers around the issues of corporate domination of the planet here on March 15. The tour included stops at Telstra, the banks in Parramatta Mall, local Liberal MP Ross Cameron, and finished up outside Westfields Shoppingtown.
Banners that said "the wealth of the richest three men equals the poorest 48 countries" were displayed and leaflets entitled "10 reasons to oppose corporate tyranny" were handed out to hundreds of interested onlookers.
M1 West activist, Pete Vella-Grech, felt that the tour "garnered a great deal of attention" for the anti-corporate tyranny campaign and that "lots of people who had similar concerns about their everyday lives wanted to find out more".
Paul Benedek, speaking for the Socialist Alliance, introduced the new electoral alternative to a large gathering outside the front of Westfields. "The major political parties are the parties of corporate tyranny, and even though that real social change cannot be achieved through parliament, M1 activists are determined to provide a real alternative in the most contested seat in Australia", he said.
Afterwards, activists were confident that a huge critical mass will be mobilised for the May 1 blockade of the stock exchange.