Unions, the Labor Party and the WEF A look at some aspects of union involvement inside and outside the WEF, comments by Labor Premiers Brack & Carr, and a list of some relevant media sources. Article by Takver http://www.takver.com/soapbox/index.htm A union Stop Work rally and march, advocating 'fair trade' not 'free trade' was organised for 10.30am Tuesday outside Melbourne Trades Hall. Originally, the march destination was Enterprise Park, north of the Yarra, but this was changed to the main assembly area outside Crown on Queensbridge Street. Some 6,000 - 10,000 people gathered, and then marched down to the main assembly point. Giant puppets were part of the parade. Outside Nike, the march stopped to explain how Nike exploits workers in countries like Indonesia. Union marshalls ensured the protest was symbolic by forming a line in front of the store. At the rally near Crown Casino speeches were made by various Union officials and Greens Senator Bob Brown. Bob Brown was the only member of Federal parliament to support the S11 blockade and oppose extensive laws allowing use of the military where there is 'the threat of domestic violence'. The Labour Party chose to support the legislation with minor amendments, even though such legislation may be used in the future against the Union Movement. Labor party politicians were noticable by their absence at the rally. At the end of the rally many of those who marched took up an offer to march around the casino complex adding their weight to the human blockading of the many entrances. Although the turnout for the rally was reasonable, I thought there was little outreach amoung some unions to inform their members and to get them to attend the rally. Please remember this was a Trades Hall Council sanctioned Stop Work Rally! Personally, I received no bulletins from my union, the CEPU (Communications Division), advertising the rally. Similarly, the previous week a CPSU organiser attended my workplace for an open meeting, however no mention was made of the Stop Work Rally. In the morning of s12 about 100 unionists came down from Trades Hall and opened up a passage through the blockade for workers to enter the Complex! This indicated that there has been a fair amount of friction between s11 and the official union bureacracy, although there has been of involvement by individual unionists, and some of the more social justice oriented unions in the blockade. Whether people who worked in the Crown Casino complex should be allowed in and out was a major disagreement between union officials and blockaders. It was alleged by Leigh Hubbard, Secretary of the Trades Halll, that World Economic Forum organisers threatened to cancel their meeting after the success of protesters blockading the venue on Monday. This led to increased police confrontation on Tuesday, and the at times violent crackdown by riot police. To the credit of the union movement, Leigh Hubbard strongly condemned the violent actions of the police: "there ought to be a broad inquiry beyond just what happened" during the police baton charge on Tuesday night. "I believe the state should provide trauma counselling for those young people hurt. Once these things start, who knows where they might lead? The fact that the police weren't wearing ID badges suggests premeditated provocation. I think we as Victorians should be deeply ashamed of what happened, we don't want it to be forgotten." The State Ombudsman, Dr Barry Perry, has received numerous complaints about the behaviour of the police and has agreed to open an investigation. The Law Institute of Victoria has also welcomed the inquiry into claims of police brutality. Marcus Clayton, a lawyer associated with the s11 legal team, said that officers clearly used excessive force during two baton attacks on Tuesday. While Deputy Police Commissioner Neil O'Laughlin claimed that police were provoked, Clayton said that: "Provocation isn't a defence to an assault, if someone provokes you you're not entitled to hit them.....the police are in no legally different position." While it was to be expected that Prime Minister John Howard would praise the heavy police action, both Steve Bracks, Labor Premier of Victoria, and Bob Carr, Labor Premier of NSW, have made comments praising the police response as reasonable "despite great provocation". While there were a few incidents of provocation of police, most blockaders substantially dealt with and minimised provocation and abuse of the police. The provocation was certainly not "great". Blockaders were overwhelmingly peaceful and disciplined in their actions. The media showed incidents that took only minutes and ignored the essential and overwhelming peacefulness and festive nature of the blockade. The violence inflicted on demonstrators in the horse and baton charges is clearly documented in television coverage and numerous witness statements. The removal of identity tags by nearly all police present was premeditative, provocative, and a denial of the accountability of police. So when Steve Bracks said the demonstrators "deserved everything they got" he is condoning the use of indiscriminate excessive force against peaceful nonviolent people. Bracks is sanctioning the abuse of power by the police force, in preempting the judicial system. Instead of due legal process the police summarily judged, convicted and punished anyone in their path, no matter whether they were adults or children, blockaders or journalists. Our politicians should support the judicial system for maintaining Law and Order; Bracks has already condemned everybody outside Crown Casino without due process. Such comments by him do not deserve our respect, particularly when they come from the Premier, and as a Labor politician who claims the respect and support of unionists and ordinary people. For anyone wanting to send a message to the current government over the violent and inappropriate actions of the police during the WEF protests, Steve Bracks' email address is [EMAIL PROTECTED] You can also get your union Branch or other organisation to pass a censure motion condemning the Premier's comments, and the actions of the police. Write to newspapers and ring talk back radio to make your point. Some Relevant Links: Global Failures [Workers Online] http://workers.labor.net.au/71/c_historicalfeature_wef.html Sharan Burrows, President of the ACTU, addressed Forum members and said that the union movement acknowledges the benefits of globalisation but it's time to address the failures. Takver's Soapbox http://www.takver.com/soapbox/s11/s12.htm Report on s12 Union Rally and March including photos Leigh Hubbard quote: Bracks honors police for WEF 'restraint' By EWIN HANNAN [The Age] http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000915/A205-2000Sep14.html Steve Bracks quote: A touch of the Jeffs By EWIN HANNAN [The Age] http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000916/A1811-2000Sep15.html What, no Satanists down at Crown? by David Wroe (Staff Writer)[The Age] http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000915/A65518-2000Sep14.html On the political use of language and hyperbole by the Premier & others. Police violence stemmed from threat to cancel forum: unions By Michael Bachelard and Misha Schubert 15sep00 [The Australian] http://news.com.au/0,4780,1199611%255E421,00.html Behind the battle of the barricades 16 Sep00 [The Age] By MURRAY MOTRAM and SOPHIE DOUEZ http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000916/A1970-2000Sep15.html Disobedient citizens are citizens nonetheless 16Sep00 [The Age] BY JUDE MCCULLOCH http://www.theage.com.au/news/20000916/A1810-2000Sep15.html Provocation no defence fpr police: Lawyer [ABC] http://www.abc.net.au/news/wef/wef-14sep2000-3.htm Law Institute welcomes Probe into allegations of police brutality [ABC] http://www.abc.net.au/news/state/vic/metvic-15sep2000-12.htm -- Takver Takver's Soapbox: http://www.users.bigpond.com/Takver/soapbox/index.htm Radical Tradition, an Australasian History Page http://members.xoom.com/takver/history/index.htm Visit Anarres Books http://www.anarres.org.au -- Leftlink - Australia's Broad Left Mailing List mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Archived at http://www.cat.org.au/lists/leftlink/ Sponsored by Melbourne's New International Bookshop Subscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=subscribe%20leftlink Unsubscribe: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]?Body=unsubscribe%20leftlink
