A public meeting as political debrief from the StopG20 protest. At this forum, participants in the demonstration will talk about media coverage, police violence, protest tactics and APEC. 7pm, Friday 1 December Trades Hall Bar Cnr Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton South

Public Meeting:

From G20 to APEC: 

7pm, Friday 1 December
Trades Hall Bar
Cnr Lygon and Victoria Streets, Carlton South

Mainstream Media coverage of last Saturday’s StopG20 protest focused on protester violence in an attempt to discredit the protest as a whole.

What the media didn’t cover was police violence at the Saturday rally as well as at parliament house and the Melbourne Museum (where a woman was hospitalised). Another man (who wasn’t at the rally) was abducted by police, beaten and released after two hours on Sunday.

A debate over protest tactics has also emerged: what is best way to build the movement as we turn our attention to APEC?

At this public meeting participants in the demonstration will talk about media coverage, police violence, protest tactics and APEC.

Speakers:
Anthony Kelly, organiser of Human Rights Observers on the day
Holly Creenaune, National Convener Aust. Student Environment Network
Liz Thompson, organiser with the StopG20 committee
Jonathon Collerson, International Socialist Organisation
(more speakers to be announced)

Endorsed by: RMIT Student Union, Australian Student Environment Network, International Socialist Organisation, Moreland Peace Group (if your group would like to endorse this meeting please email)

Contact: Jonathon Collerson, 04 3813 6093 or jonathoncollerson@gmail.com

My name is Peachy. I am writing on my own behalf, am not part of a group or do not represent any one else’s opinion but my own.

I have now worked in the environmental and social movement in Australia for over a decade. I have worked hard within mainstream, non-government organisations and grass roots organisations and have participated in blockading and in non-violent direct action. I am committed to facilitating social change, environmental awareness and protection, and strengthening community.

Having some sense of the energy that potentially was to errupt at the G20 protest, I brought these objectives to the Stop G20 Carnivale event - with a strong commitment to trying to create (if possible) a space that was inclusive – and where people felt like they could be present at the G20 protest and Carnivale, in a non violent way. I personally tried to facilitate Indigenous involvement, the involvement of multicultural groups, and other sectors of the community that exist beyond my own loose social and working group. (more…)

There have been many calls for Arterial Bloc to come forward and "justify" their tactics during the G20 protests. The following statement is not a justification of specific actions; it is an exploration of politics. This statement has not been written for or on behalf of the Bloc; it has been written from within the Bloc. None of us can be leaders or spokespeople for each other.

We apologise for the delay. We were not able to head straight from the streets to the internet. We have been dealing with the consequences of achieving more than perhaps we thought we would, and the aftermath of repression. We have been caring for each other, talking to each other, trying to find out what happened to those arrested and injured; remembering to breathe and sleep and eat. (more…)

In the Wake…..After G20
Please forgive any typos – time is of the essence.

So what happened at the G20 in Melbourne? On one hand it was business as usual. The G20 met and seemed to function as planned with both agreement and disagreement amongst the assembled representatives of the capitalist global order. Predictably, despite the boosterism of groups like Make Poverty History, the G20 did nothing to ameliorate even the most horrific consequences of capitalism. Yet something happened outside: a relatively small group of protesters produced a political event, a moment of rupture that is full of possibilities and dangers. What we do now after that event, how we trace the lines of struggle that it opened up is crucial. There are both opportunities and pitfalls ahead and the telling of the tale, the reflection on our experiences and the sharing of stories is important. Because there is not just one version of what happened: indeed part of the power and joy experiencing something like this mobilization is being part of collective moment that has many points of origins and many experiences. In the normal daily life of capitalism we have only two views: that of the machinery of public opinion, and that of the isolated individual. In moments of upsurge something different happens. Lets find a richness in and continue to enrich this difference. (more…)

Statement on the G20 Demonstrations

<!–[if !supportEmptyParas]–><!–[endif]–> The recent G20 protests in Melbourne posed some political questions that are now being explored by different sections of the left. Firstly, and quite immediately is the question of how to relate to the confrontations with Police. Second in the political isolation of the anti-G20 demonstrations from the ongoing campaign work of the activists involved.

Confrontations with Police

The fact of the matter is that right now our comrades are being grabbed off the street by undercover thugs. The Victorian Police Commissioner has “vowed to hunt down protestors” and set up a Task Force including the AFP and “other Federal Agencies” to identify and arrest activists involved in the riot. Police have told press about a list of 200 names of suspects associated with the protest who could be arrested. At least one man arrested has not been granted bail. A number of activists have been stopped and searched at the airport attempting to leave Melbourne. One man not even associated with the demonstration was detained by under covers, tied and beaten in an unmarked van before being released. A small demonstration at the Melbourne Museum on Sunday was baton charged, leaving a woman hospitalised. (more…)

International Socialist Organisation
24 November 2006
Statement on the Stop G20 Protest

Our enemies are Paul Wolfowitz and Peter Costello, not Akim Sari

1.    The G20 is part of the global offensive responsible for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, sustaining world poverty, undermining labour rights and accelerating climate change. The immense harm their policies inflict on our planet and its people put cosmetic damage to one police truck at the 18 November StopG20 rally in Melbourne in perspective. These criminals – and their media allies – attempt to hide their culpability by creating hysteria about protester violence. Their aim is to discredit all militant protest action and, by extension, the legitimate concerns expressed by demonstrators. Criminalising protest will be an important weapon for the Howard Government in convincing the public of the need for an extraordinary state of security at next year’s APEC summit in Sydney. Responding to this is a major challenge for the Left. (more…)

(Here’s the Arterial Bloc callout, which was distributed in the week before the G20 protests)

A Call to form an Arterial Bloc
for Saturday November 18,
in the G20 protests in Melbourne, Australia

This is what we want: lives worth living, lives of dignity and autonomy and we want to work together against capitalism and the state to achieve this. We want to develop collective power and collective communication. Not to follow, not to lead, but to work out how we can organise ourselves. (more…)