BY MATTHEW EGAN & BRONWYN POWELL
SYDNEY - More than 100 student activists from across Australia discussed the way forward for the anti-corporate movement at the June 29-30 Globalise This: Student Anti-Capitalist Conference.
The conference began with a discussion of different solutions to eliminating world poverty. The vast majority of conference participants clearly supported the abolition of such international financial institutions as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank. But the conference was dominated by debates around the tactics for the anti-corporate protests in October in Melbourne at the Commonwealth Business Forum (CBF) and Brisbane at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Commenting on the discussion, Fred Fuentes, a member of the Melbourne O3 Alliance and Melbourne Resistance branch organiser, said: "We think that it would be a mistake for the student movement to counterpose the Melbourne and Brisbane protests. At M1 we were able to build eight convergences across the country, mobilising a total of 20,000 people. Both the CBF and CHOGM meetings have a political agenda to gain support for a new [World Trade Organisation] trade round, this is a key reason why the movement will need to protest during these meetings in October."
The conference also heard from two of the Australian solidarity activists recently detained by police in Indonesia. Kerryn Williams from the Democratic Socialist Party and Ian Rintoul from the International Socialist Organisation described the struggle for democracy in Indonesia and urged participants to build international solidarity with the Indonesian democracy movement. Williams called for a student national day of action to be held on August 16 in solidarity with Indonesian activists' struggle against the IMF and World Bank.
Workshops discussed the growing Fairwear campaign against sweatshop labour in Australia, the international role of revolutionary Cuba in the anti-corporate movement and the relevance and nature of revolutionary socialist politics.
A highlight of the conference was an address made an organiser from the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union on behalf of the sacked Metroshelf workers from Revesby. The conference passed a motion in support of the Metroshelf workers and pledged to actively build solidarity with the dispute.
The conference also supported action in solidarity with students in PNG and refugees in Australia's detention camps.
The conference ended in a heated discussion about the way forward for the anti-globalisation movement, in particular how it should relate to trade unions, social movements and the recently established Socialist Alliance.