AMWU and N14
When it was announced the November 14 anti-World Trade Organisation (WTO) unity rally in Sydney would not be marching due to fears of "violence", I was appalled. When I found that the leadership of my union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Union, had helped scuttle the march I was embarrassed.
The AMWU reps' reason was that other groups involved in organising the protests had not given guarantees that there would be no violence. Permission was even refused for members to fly the AMWU flag on the march.
The anti-war march to the November 14 unity rally that was organised without the AMWU's support was a spirited event, with 1500 people defying bans by police minister Michael Costa, who had stated there would be no marches on the days around the WTO meeting.
I was a marshal for the rally and found that an organised event and leadership meant we had no real problems with the police, despite our stated plans having been thrown out of the window. There was certainly no violence instigated by the protesters.
When we arrived at the "official" unity rally site, there were about 100 people already there. Several officials were in the park, some wearing marshals vests, despite the unity rally not going anywhere.
I feel it is a great shame that the AMWU did not support the march. The union likes to present itself as leading the anti-globalisation movement, but apart from several flags and national secretary Doug Cameron speaking at the rally, there was no obvious union presence.
The AMWU could have supported a march and volunteered to organise marshals. This would have made sure that it was seen as being a leading force in the anti-globalisation movement, helped educate its members and provided leadership of the rally, ensuring that no violence occurred.
I hope the next time a march is mooted, the AMWU does not scuttle it. I hope to see my union more involved in the movement and play a leading role in mobilising people in support, instead of blocking it.
Liam Mitchell
Lewisham NSW
Sectarianism
On the evening of November 13, we attempted to attend a publicly advertised meeting of the Red Bloc, a grouping led by Socialist Alternative, that participated in November 14-15 protests against the World Trade Organisation.
We went to ask Red Bloc participants to support a "No War! No WTO!" rally outside Town Hall at 11am on November 14. Many left and social justice groups were supporting this rally. These groups intended to (and did) march together to the noon rally in Hyde Park in order to highlight their defiance of the NSW Labor government's ban on street marches.
We had reason for optimism, given that the Red Bloc's stated aims included: "To work with other blocs who share some of our goals, even if we have political and ideological disagreements".
The Red Bloc was also advertised with the words: "All you need to agree on is that you want a militant, lively protest. What we actually do will be debated and discussed at our caucuses ... If you enjoy political discussion and debate, you'll be at home in the Red Bloc, whether you agree with us or not."
Unfortunately, we were asked by leading Socialist Alternative members Tom Bramble and Sandra Bloodworth to leave the meeting before it had even started, because we were members of the Democratic Socialist Party and the meeting was "a Socialist Alternative caucus". An offer to leave after we had explained the details of the 11am action was rejected. We were told that the meeting "had nothing to do with" whether the bloc would support the rally and that we would have to negotiate with Socialist Alternative members at the spokescouncil being held at the same time.
We were yelled at for several minutes and, when we explained that we would just distribute information about the rally before leaving, all our leaflets were snatched from the table and disposed of by Bramble. We left somewhat shaken.
The futility of this incident was shown by the Red Bloc's decision to support the Town Hall gathering. It has left us, however, questioning the commitment of Socialist Alternative members to democracy and to collaborative relations within the left.
Alison Dellit & Bronwyn Powell
Sydney
Oriana Fallaci
In your latest issue (#516) you published a photo taken during the European Social Forum rally in Florence Italy. A woman was holding a placard. The translation confused the word "la Fallaci" with "fallace", which means deceptive.
Recently Oriana Fallaci, who in the past had always had the support of the "European cultural left-wing", published a book, The Rage and the Pride against European and Arab anti-Semitism, with an impassioned critique of the Palestinian leadership and gave support to Sharon's policies against the Palestinians.
The book asserts the superiority of Western culture and norms over Islamic civilisation and links immigration with Islamic terrorism. In all Europe, a movement has grown up against her book and her recent opinions.
The French human rights group Movement Against Racism and For Friendship has even lodged a request for the book to be banned because it "incites racial hatred".
The correct translation of the placard should have been: "Keep Ms Fallaci silent".
Roberto Crosti
Mt Hawthorn WA
[Abridged.]
From Green Left Weekly, November 20, 2002.
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