BY SARAH PEART
MELBOURNE - On May 18, for the eighth Friday in a row, anti-corporate protesters peacefully blockaded the entrances to Nike's superstore on Swanston Street, in the centre of the city. The authorities are hitting back, however, in what activists and civil libertarians are describing as an unprecedented assault on freedom of speech and freedom of assembly.
On May 4, Melbourne City Council by-laws officers, acting in consultation with the Victoria Police, fined one activist $500 for distributing a leaflet which criticised Nike's record on labour practices in the Third World. They also threatened a number of other people with fines.
The US footwear and clothing company has been a favoured target of anti-corporate protesters for some years. The protesters in Melbourne have been demanding that Nike sign the Homeworkers Code of Practice, which demands fair and legal wages and the provision of safe working conditions, that it recognise trade union rights in its Third World factories and that it provide a liveable income for its workers.
Protest organisers have likened the Melbourne City Council's action to the "McLibel" case in Britain, when McDonald's sued two activists for handing out leaflets critical of the company's environmental, labour and nutritional record.
They vow that the outcome will also be the same. After a long David and Goliath struggle in the courts, the two anti-McDonald's activists were largely vindicated, McDonald's suffered a public relations disaster and the case was dropped.
Protester Jerome Small was issued with a $500 fine at the blockade on May 4 for breaching by-law Section 1, 5.4, "allowing a person to display a handbill in a public place without a permit". The by-law was originally introduced to put a stop to the distribution of race hate material.
Small, an activist in the group Socialist Alternative, told Green Left Weekly: "This by-law gives Melbourne City Council the power to clamp down on anything that they and the Victoria Police see fit. It was fairly clear ... that the by-laws officers filled out the infringement notice on the instruction of the Victoria Police who were at the blockade."
Small said that it was not the first time by-laws officers had been used in his way. "I was involved in the [campaign against uranium mining at] Jabiluka ... and every time we were down at [the offices of mine owner] North Limited, a by-laws officer would be down saying we can't have a banner because it will distract the traffic."
The council by-law was previously repealed in 1969, after well-known Labor parliamentarian Jim Cairns and many others were repeatedly arrested for leafletting against the Vietnam war. The anti-war movement had targeted the by-law as an explicit attack on its right to free speech and had run a strong, public campaign against it.
The by-law was quietly reintroduced in 1999, prompting Cairns to comment "If democracy is to mean anything, direct co-operative and peaceful action in the streets is essential".
Jean McLean, another prominent activist in the anti-Vietnam war protests and the Save Our Sons campaign of the 1960s commented, "I am absolutely shocked that this by-law, which was so clearly discredited, is being used again as a political weapon against free speech".
The use of the by-law been the only way authorities have attempted to deter protesters.
Small recounted the story of a student from Monash University protesting outside the Nike store on a previous occasion, who was "dragged into the store in a headlock and thrown on the ground face down".
"A cop then kneeled on his head while another cop repeatedly asked him if he was coming back next week. Every time he said 'yes' he received a blow to the face. It is clear that a section of the Victoria Police are keen to use this sort of thuggery and intimidation to dissuade people from a legitimate protest outside the Nike store."
The police's actions follow an international pattern, according to Pamela Curr, the coordinator of Fairwear, a group which campaigns against sweatshop labour.
"Around the world Nike is increasingly responding to peaceful protest by putting pressure on police to use heavy-handed tactics," she told Green Left Weekly, citing efforts by US police to prevent a national tour by student activists.
Protesters' reaction to the intimidation has been defiant. According to Small, "The best response to this behaviour is to have more people turn up to the blockade on Friday night and say we won't be intimidated".
Certainly, that approach seems to be paying off. The May 18 protest was one of the largest to date, its numbers swelling to 300 people, including 40 members of the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union. Faced with a determined crowd, police decided to allow the protest to proceed unimpeded.
Support is growing for the repeal of the by-law and the protesters' demands. The Victorian Trades Hall Council executive passed a motion on May 11 calling for the by-law to be overturned. Trades Hall also backed the call for Nike to sign the Homeworkers Code of Conduct and to respect the right of workers making Nike goods around the world to organise.
The Australian Manufacturing Workers Union has also been notable for its support. The union's state council on May 16 formally endorsed the public demonstrations outside Nike's store and encouraged its members to attend "carrying union banners and flags". The council also directed its state secretary, Craig Johnston, to write to the Melbourne City Council, and to local government minister Bob Cameron, urging the repeal of the by-law.
Johnston told Green Left Weekly that: "This by-law is obviously outrageous and we would call on that individual not to pay the fine - the unions will support him on that."
He said the union will meet with the council in the coming week to demand it withdraw the by-law, "otherwise we'll be in the streets because this is outrageous".
"I mean, what are those clowns going to do when the council elections come up, when they are out there handing out how to vote cards?", Johnston asked.
At the May 15 meeting of the Melbourne City Council, Lord Mayor Peter Costigan quashed an attempt by Greens councillor David Risstrom to prioritise as "urgent business" a motion to repeal the by-law. Instead the meeting decided to hear a full report at their next meeting, scheduled for some time in June.
Costigan reportedly told the meeting that the matter "is not urgent business". "While it is central to our democracy to have public debate, there is no need to rush into it", he added.
Risstrom told Green Left Weekly that "the by-law is a bad law, it is one which operates to limit political debate in the city. We should change it and I'm very disappointed that my colleagues felt the matter wasn't urgent."
"I would like to see the city as ... a village green, one where the government facilitates discussion rather than limits it", Risstrom added. "That's what civic participation is about, not simply whether you have the money to participate in commerce."
While repressive police tactics at demonstrations have been the most prominent part of state attempts to crack down on the new anti-corporate movement, they are only one part of a large arsenal.
Anti-corporate activists, especially those willing to engage in civil disobedience, are finding that a long list of petty laws restricting freedom of speech and assembly has already been quietly assembled by state and local authorities for use against them.
Corporations also have sought to use their muscle against activists, including lawsuits designed to extract apologies and silence from critics.
The new global movement, for its part, has discovered that fighting corporate power apparently also means fighting for elementary democratic rights, including the right to free speech and free assembly.
A further protest will be held outside Nike's superstore on May 25.
[Sarah Peart is a Melbourn district organiser of the Democratic Socialist Party and is a spokesperson for the Melbourne M1 Alliance.]