BY SARAH PEART
MELBOURNE — At its June 18 meeting, the O3 to CHOGM Alliance unanimously decided to organise an S11-style three-day blockade of the Commonwealth Business Forum from October 3 to 5. The CBF is meeting in Melbourne before the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Brisbane on October 6.
The CBF is organised by the Commonwealth Business Council which represents 17,000 listed companies and contributes 25% of global trade, generating annual trade of US$2 trillion. Its "success" in forging business links has made it a regular feature of CHOGM gatherings.
The key aim of the Melbourne meeting of the CBF will be to promote the next round of World Trade Organisation negotiations in Qatar in October. These negotiations, which would further open up Third World economies to the transnational corporations based in the rich countries (many of which are members of the CBF), were put on hold by the premature cancellation of the last meeting of the WTO in Seattle in December 1999.
The web site of the CBF says that the meeting is about "enhancing the participation of developing countries within the WTO". According to O3-CHOGM Alliance member Kylie Moon, "This really means coercing them to sign agreements which make it easier for transnational corporations to dominate their economies."
"It is our duty as anti-corporate activists in the First World to oppose this by any means necessary", she told Green Left Weekly. "That is why the alliance is calling on all anti-corporate activists to come behind the call from the Third World to stop this new trade round by converging in Melbourne on October 3 to participate in a mass non-violent blockade of this meeting of corporate tyrants. We will try to stop them from even getting to CHOGM in Brisbane."
The O3-CHOGM Alliance also decided to organise a public meeting on August 10 to discuss the organisation of the blockade. It hopes to use the meeting to draw together all the different community groups, trade unions and activists who support the call for a blockade of the CBF.
Anti-corporate activists at the June 18 meeting also had a fruitful discussion about how to link the anti-Nike blockade actions with support for the O3 protests.