BY ZANNY BEGG
SYDNEY — In one of the biggest campaign organising meetings to be held in Sydney for a long time, 60 people crammed into the Newtown Neighbourhood Centre on November 23 to discuss plans for May 1 in Sydney.
The meeting was called by Campaign Against Corporate Tyranny — United in Struggle (CACTUS), but was attended by a wide range of other groups, including the International Women's Day Rally and March Collective, NSW Greens, Democratic Socialist Party (DSP), International Socialist Organisation (ISO), Resistance, Love and Rage, Workers Liberty, Justice Action, rank-and-file unionists, musicians and new activists inspired by the mass September 11-13 (S11) blockade of the World Economic Forum summit in Melbourne.
The focus of discussion was a motion put by CACTUS calling for the formation of an M1 Alliance to organise a blockade of the Australian Stock Exchange in the city centre on May 1 (M1). The meeting atmosphere was imbued with enthusiasm for what S11 achieved and the hope and expectation that Sydney activists could organise an action of similar magnitude.
CACTUS's introduction to discussion called for unity around the M1 project. Last year, in the build up to S11, the anti-corporate tyranny movement in Sydney split three ways. CACTUS continued to meet and work to build the S11 protest, but those influenced by anarchism formed S11 Sydney, which focused on skill sharing for the blockade, and the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU)'s Phil Davey set up the S11 Coalition, which excluded members of revolutionary organisations and focused on networking with trade unions. The discussion on November 23 emphasised that the left needs to be tolerant of political differences if M1 is to reach its potential as a major demonstration against capitalism.
The meeting discussed a number of amendments to the CACTUS motion and eventually decided to form a group called M1 Sydney which is producing an initial leaflet calling for a mass action on May 1 featuring a blockade of the stock exchange. Other targets and actions will be discussed next year.
The first M1 Sydney meeting in 2001, to be held on the last Thursday in January, will discuss how M1 Sydney will operate. CACTUS activist Jesse Wynhausen argued that the group should establish a "spokescouncil" to facilitate a diversity of actions on May 1 through "affinity groups". However, the majority at the meeting wanted more further discussion about how a spokescouncil would operate, with some, including DSP and ISO members, emphasising that M1 would involve a diversity of activities anyway but what is necessary for involving a large number of people, well beyond those who are already part of the organised left or affinity groups, is a common project which new activists could be part of.
Another contentious issue was how to relate to the trade union leaderships. The ISO argued that it was crucial to bring the trade union leadership on board if M1 is to be successful. Others pointed to the experience of S11, during which some trade union leaderships were actively hostile to the protest and were only forced to cooperate by the decision of the S11 Alliance to go ahead with its plans regardless. Peter Boyle, from the DSP, explained that one of the greatest strengths of S11 was its independence from Labor Party leadership and that M1 Sydney should not be held hostage to the whims of the trade union leaders.
Following the discussion, the general feeling of the meeting was that M1 Sydney should try to convince union officials and activists, especially the latter, to attend the next meeting, but should not wait for this to happen before it started organising.
Discussion also ranged over how to develop the anti-corporate globalisation movement in Australia, to which S11 had given a big push forward. ISO members suggested that targeting the Liberals was the most "concrete" way of involving new people.
University of Technology academic and anti-corporate campaigner James Goodman suggested that the movement needs to present a vision of what we are fighting for, not just talk about what we are against. This hit a chord with meeting participants, who were interested in not only staging the next big anti-corporate demonstration here, but also in developing an ongoing movement against capitalism. A motion that M1 be seen in the context of building a diverse anti-capitalist movement was passed.
The meeting ended with participants feeling optimistic and enthusiastic about the possibilities for M1 in Sydney. A web site will be established soon and an M1 email discussion group has been activated. To participate, or for more information, call Zanny on 0425 209 375 or 9690 1977.