BY NIKKI ULASOWSKI
For several months, activists in Brisbane have been busy organising for the protests at the October 6 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
"We have been campaigning on campuses and on the streets and have found significant interest in the mass people's march on CHOGM and around issues of corporate globalisation", Simon Butler, who is the organiser of the socialist youth group Resistance in Brisbane, told Green Left Weekly. "Resistance is encouraging students to join the march and make a stand against corporate greed."
Resistance has called for people to join the Globalise Resistance contingent in the march. "This contingent will be the radical youth section demanding cancellation of Third World debt and the abolition of institutions such as the World Trade Organisation, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank", Butler explained.
"Young activists across the world have gained inspiration from the struggles for justice around the globe from Genoa to Port Moresby, from the struggle for democracy in Indonesia and for justice in Palestine. This inspiration has drawn many young people into political activity. The CHOGM protests in Brisbane and the protests in Melbourne outside the Commonwealth Business Forum will be a continuation of the anti-corporate tyranny campaign.
"Resistance is campaigning for all young people who believe another world in possible to join the mass people's march and the Globalise Resistance contingent. In the wake of the terrorist attack in the US and the subsequent rise in racist attacks on people from Middle Eastern backgrounds, now more than ever people need to march against racist scapegoating. We need to march against war and militarism and for a world where human welfare and dignity come foremost", said Butler.
Resistance is organising a public debate — "Should you march on CHOGM?" — at the University of Queensland on October 4, 1pm. The Globalise Resistance contingent will gather at 9am, October 6, at the Roma Street Forum.
To find out more about the march and the Globalise Resistance contingent, phone Brisbane Resistance on (07) 3831 2644 or email <brisbane@resistance.org.au>.