Beattie plans carrot and stick for CHOGM

May 30, 2001
Issue 

BY SEAN HEALY

Fearful of being embarrassed by large anti-corporate protests at the October Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Brisbane, Queensland Labor Premier Peter Beattie is preparing a concerted effort to either intimidate or co-opt potential protest groups.

Both Beattie and Prime Minister John Howard have made repeated statements defending CHOGM, arguing that the top-level meeting doesn't deserve to be the target of public demonstrations.

Adding its muscle, the Australian Defence Force announced on May 18 that it was making extensive preparations for the meeting, including planning to have 1600 defence personnel in the city for the October 6-9 summit, ostensibly to stop "terrorism".

But the state government, the Brisbane City Council and CHOGM organisers also hope to avoid protests by organising a Commonwealth People's Festival, involving seminars, displays and cultural events which will prominently feature "development issues".

The festival involves establishing a Commonwealth People's Centre, open to the public, which will operate from the same venue as CHOGM itself, the Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, on Southbank.

While similar festivals have been features of the past two CHOGMs, in Durban, South Africa and Edinburgh, Scotland, festival organisers say that their aim is to make it, and thereby CHOGM, even more open to the public than before. They hope for a large turn-out to public events at the Convention Centre.

The combination of a high-level summit with a public festival seems partly derived from the strategy of Sydney Olympics organisers, who successfully defused the threat of large Aboriginal protests by scheduling an indigenous arts centre within the grounds of Olympic Park.

In addition to cultural performances, the Commonwealth People's Festival will include a one-day conference on the topic "Participatory democracy and responsive government" sponsored by Women Engaged in Connecting Communities, a forum, "People-centred development in the global economy", sponsored by the Australian Council for Overseas Aid, a seminar on racism and multiculturalism sponsored by the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and a possible dialogue between government, civil society and the Commonwealth Business Council, on "promoting partnerships for good governance".

The Queensland Council for Social Services is also planning a series of five seminars on development issues, featuring "Can Do communities", which will also formally be part of the festival.

According to Karen Fletcher, a spokesperson for the Brisbane M1 Alliance, which organised the May 1 blockade of the city's stock exchange and is now turning its attention to CHOGM, the Queensland government's strategy is motivated entirely by a desire to prevent protests.

"Peter Beattie's biggest fear is not terrorists", Fletcher told Green Left Weekly, "it's anti-globalisation protesters."

"Every tactic they're using, from the Commonwealth People's Festival, the 'bread and circuses' option, to the potential use of military personnel against civilians is designed to quell anti-globalisation protests."

Despite the government's strategy, many groups are planning protests, actions and conferences both immediately before and during CHOGM to highlight the inequalities and injustices of corporate globalisation.

Some activists in Brisbane have formed a Stop CHOGM Alliance, whose meeting on May 22 confirmed a decision to physically blockade the Convention Centre, albeit after considerable debate. While a clear majority (28 out of 52 participants) voted in favour, 14 voted against and 10 abstained.

Supporters of the blockade argued that, as CHOGM was an "illegitimate" institution, it had to be shut down, as a matter of principle, while others argued that tactically it may be wise to look at other options for mobilising people.

While some activists will undoubtedly attempt a blockade, there are also many different groups planning other actions of their own.

Some are discussing the possibilities of a coalition to organise a public march to the Convention Centre, while it is also likely that a national convergence, a tent city and an alternative summit will also be scheduled. It is likely that there will be a call by activists to boycott the official Commonwealth People's Festival events.

Friends of the Earth is "very interested" in organising events around the time of CHOGM and is currently discussing exactly what projects it will initiate and be involved in, according to national liaison person Cam Walker.

The anti-debt coalition Jubilee 2000 is also planning large-scale events, including a rally and festival in Musgrave Park, only a few blocks from the Convention Centre, on October 4 to call for the immediate cancellation of the debt of the poorest countries.

The group is hoping to have as international guests U2 singer Bono, a prominent advocate of debt cancellation, and the head of Jubilee 2000 UK, Ann Pettifor, according to Jubilee Australia spokesperson Thea Ormerod. On the meeting's first day, October 6, the group is planning seminars and briefing sessions on debt and AIDS for delegates and officials from Commonwealth countries.

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