BY FEDERICO FUENTES
MELBOURNE — Students have begun to organise for the biggest possible blockade of the Commonwealth Business Forum on October 3 to 5. On nearly all university and TAFE campuses, students have formed collectives to help build the CBF protests.
At Melbourne University the first collective meeting attracted the participation of around 30 people, while at La Trobe University, O3 activists have held blockade-training workshops.
On a citywide basis, students have already begun to prepare for actions to help build the blockade. On August 16 many students will be participating in a national day of action in solidarity with the people of Indonesia, Aceh and West Papua. "We will be attempting to shut down the Department of Foreign Affairs in an act of non-violent civil disobedience to express our solidarity with people struggling against not only the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, but also the imperialist policies of the Australian government", Marcus Pabian, a Resistance member studying at Victoria University, told Green Left Weekly.
The weekly, Friday night blockade of the Nike superstore on Swanston Street is another focus of O3 activists. After the August 10 Nike action, most participants marched to Trades Hall to attend the launch of the O3 to CHOGM Alliance. The alliance has called for an 8am blockade of the Nike store on September 11 to celebrate the anniversary of the S11 protests against the World Economic Forum.
As part of building the anti-CBF protest, the alliance is planned a corporate scumbag tour of the city, visiting the offices of a number of the corporations that will be participating in the CBF. These will include Rio Tinto, BHP, Western Mining Corporation and the Commonwealth Bank.
"The celebration of the anniversary of S11 will allow us to tell these corporations that we will be coming for them at the CBF", said Kylie Moon, a Resistance activist at La Trobe University. "We want to let them know that wherever they meet, we will be counterposing our people power on the streets to their pro-business agenda."
As part of an August 29 student national day of action on education issues, O3 activists will be focusing on the General Agreement on Trade in Services. Ema Corro, a Resistance member studying at RMIT told GLW: "GATS is aimed at the privatisation of public education services and the CBF is pushing for Commonwealth countries to support GATS. If GATS goes ahead, there will be a rapid deterioration of the quality of higher education in Australia, much more than we have now. So this protest will be a great way to draw more students into the mobilisation against the CBF."