BY PHIL DAVEY
I confess I made a wrong call with the May Day "M1" protest this week.
I predicted with great confidence a few days before that M1 would max out at maybe 1000 protesters. The march from Bridge Street to Martin Place at lunchtime May 1, though, would have had a good 5000 people at it. The overwhelming majority of them under 25 years of age.
What exactly is going on here? Writing these people off as "ferals" or "trots" (short for "Trotskyists") as some do is becoming increasingly absurd. There aren't 5000 ferals in Sydney and there aren't 5000 "trots" in Australia, possibly in the world. Without wanting to be a smart-arse about it, there also aren't too many unions in this state which could put 5000 people on the street.
The movement against corporate power is growing at a rate that is catching everyone off guard. It is a rainbow alliance which includes our core constituency (I saw many, many ASU, ETU and CFMEU members at M1), as well as just about everyone else under the sun who has an ounce of progressive politics.
The union movement has made a great contribution to this movement since its inception some 18 months ago — Sydney unions participated in S11 and Melbourne unions in M1.
But some remain uneasy at the thought of a heightened involvement. This is unfortunate as this embryonic movement articulates almost exactly the same world view as we do!
Being "anti-globalisation" means simply that you are anti-corporate dominance of our society — i.e. anti-bosses and their filthy greed.
The primarily young people in this new movement are even copying "our" tactics. No one has been able to explain to me yet the difference between a "blockade" and a "picket".
The union movement needs to engage with this movement. If we don't then we are simply alienating the next generation from our own almost identical cause and abrogating the leadership by default to the extremists amongst us.
The suddenness and urgency of the workers' compensation emergency here in NSW meant that most progressive unions in NSW sat M1 out. But we need to systematically engage with the next generation of progressives coming through on our issues (which are their issues), using our tactics (which are their tactics) and not let the odd dreadlock or the odd trot put us off.
At the end of the day it's only people's programming and irrational fears which divides us and keeps us from the promised land. Let's play it smarter. Warmest congratulations to all involved with M1 and happy May Day to all!
[Phil Davey works with the NSW construction division of the Construction, Forestry, Mining and Energy Union. Reprinted from Workers Online, the web magazine of the NSW Labor Council.]