BY EWAN SAUNDERS
BRISBANE — Plans are well underway for a mass people's march and convergence on the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in October after more than 30 anti-corporate, environmental, indigenous and social justice activists came together on July 11 for a meeting of the CHOGM Action Network (CAN).
In addition to the march, the network decided to investigate holding an alternative "counter-conference" around the time of CHOGM, which could include prominent human rights campaigners and representatives of struggles for social justice from around the world.
CAN members also discussed the best response to the state Labor government's proposal to establish a mediation unit to "negotiate" with protesters.
The meeting decided to establish a media and publicity working group to liaise with the unit, in an attempt to win the "war of words and ideas" that members expect during the next few months, as Premier Peter Beattie seeks to discredit the protesters.
Already the Beattie government has launched an aggressive marketing campaign painting CHOGM as an opportunity for Australians to experience the cultural diversity of the Commonwealth.
CHOGM "will be a celebration of music, dance, food, wine, culture, diversity and the Commonwealth people", Premier Beattie stated in a recent media release. An electronic "People's Forum" has been established for people to voice their protest to CHOGM as the premier would prefer — silently.
Brisbane will also be covered in large billboards to "complement" and promote the week-long "people's festival".
The government is spending a fortune in an attempt to obscure the political significance of CHOGM and isolate the growing anti-corporate movement that made a spectacular appearance at the S11 protests last year.
The Brisbane CHOGM will likely be a platform for pressuring Third World delegates into supporting a new round of "free trade" talks in the World Trade Organisation. The Third World is wary of a new round, as existing WTO agreements have delivered much gain to Western companies and little to poor countries.
CAN member and Brisbane Resistance organiser Simon Butler told Green Left Weekly, "CAN will be going all out to expose the real significance of CHOGM. The people's march will be a creative, lively and politically charged expression of the growing anger against the anti-people agenda of many CHOGM delegates."
The CAN meeting also discussed a proposal not to condemn the actions of other groups within the movement. A decision on the motion was deferred to a later meeting.