BY ANDREW HALL
CANBERRA — While momentum for the September 11 protest in Melbourne against the World Economic Forum snowballs, the S11 movement has much to work out: including whether it can unite on anything other than the protest itself. A successful teach-in here on August 12 showed just how divergent activists' opinions are.
One of the points of most controversy at the teach-in, organised by the S11 Alliance and attended by 50 people, was what demands the S11 movement should put forward, if any at all.
Activist Anthony Hayes argued that the movement should embrace diversity. He said it should not have a false unity, as expressed in common demands, and was in favour of "autonomous organising".
Others, including members of the International Socialist Organisation, argued that the only thing the S11 Alliance should agree on was building protest in Melbourne. If the alliance agreed on specific demands, it would exclude some groups from participating, they argued; groups could have their own demands, but the alliance should not.
The Democratic Socialist Party's James Vassilopoulos replied that clear demands would not exclude people from participating, but would educate people about what we are fighting for.
It was positive that the movement was broad and diverse, he said, but more could be achieved if it attempted to find unity around agreed political demands. He believed that activists working together in alliances could narrow their existing political differences.
Demands on which most activists agree can be won, he said. If the alliance agreed on, say, the demand to cancel Third World debt, it could then convince more people to support the demand and pressure the Australian government and the international institutions.
Controversy aside, participants were upbeat about the movement's prospects.
The ISO's Jim Casey argued that the capitalist ruling class was weak and uncertain and that the focus of the anti-globalisation movement should be an attack on the system at the point of production. The diversity of the anti-globalisation movement was a strength.
Casey said that reformism had no answers to the capitalist crisis and emphasised the necessity of fighting for human liberation rather just for single issues.
Vassilopoulos argued that the November anti-World Trade Organisation protests in Seattle showed the development of an anti-capitalist consciousness amongst young people and the possibility and importance of mobilising massive numbers of people behind the movement's goals.
He also argued that struggles against capitalism were most advanced in the Third World, pointing to the example of the Ecuadoran popular uprising in January which highlighted the need for the people to take state power if the movement's goals were to be realised. These struggles required our active and sustained solidarity, he said.
To get involved in the Canberra S11 Alliance phone 6247 2424, 6262 8488 or 6247 4549.