FoE 30 <strong>Years</strong> 88 ...................................................................................................................................................................................................
In September 2000, <strong>the</strong> World Economic Forum (WEF), a group <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> world’s largest corporations and some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> richest people on <strong>the</strong> planet, met in Melbourne. Some 15,000 people came out to greet <strong>the</strong>m, blockading <strong>the</strong>ir meeting for three days. The venue, appropriately enough, was <strong>the</strong> wonderful symbolic Crown Casino, on <strong>the</strong> banks <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Yarra River. There was months <strong>of</strong> planning, hundreds <strong>of</strong> meetings, until, finally <strong>the</strong> day arrived. The backdrop to <strong>the</strong>se protests was <strong>the</strong> growth <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>the</strong> global anti-corporate globalisation movement, and a strong sense that this was <strong>Australia</strong>’s big day on ‘<strong>the</strong> stage’. 6am, Monday, September 11th – s11. Finally, it’s here. But its not as I had imagined. We hid under a giant banner, <strong>the</strong> rain literally pounding down on our heads. The cops had bolted for cover. The towers <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Crown Casino loomed over-head, faintly malevolent in <strong>the</strong> cold <strong>of</strong> pre-dawn Melbourne. I peered out from under <strong>the</strong> banner and could count barely 200 people. Someone with a megaphone was berating people to start blockading, and some were obliging, stopping commuters on <strong>the</strong>ir way to work. I looked for an escape route, wondered if I could slink away, and felt a sudden and terrible panic. Had we totally misread <strong>the</strong> feeling <strong>of</strong> people towards <strong>the</strong> WEF, getting so caught in our own rhetoric that we hadn’t realised that maybe no-one else would show Rain kept hammering <strong>the</strong> banner. It was so cold. I tried to think <strong>of</strong> a positive media spin. A couple <strong>of</strong> hours later, I walked <strong>the</strong> circumference <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> Crown Complex, thousands <strong>of</strong> people cheerfully blockading every entrance. It felt like a giant film set, as I wandered from a Mad Max scene to Christians praying, to unionists talking to security guards, old fashioned communists alternating with skate punks. The sense <strong>of</strong> ................................................................................................................................................................................................... <strong>the</strong>atre, goodwill and determination was remarkable. The sun started to come out. Even <strong>the</strong> cops looked happy. Maybe I won’t get any ulcers, afterall. The global mantra from that year goes ‘Seattle, Washington, Melbourne, Prague’. It was a highpoint in <strong>the</strong> world wide mobilisations against corporate-defined globalisation, before <strong>the</strong> September 11 attacks on <strong>the</strong> USA and <strong>the</strong> second war on Iraq. And while Melbourne isn’t as well known around <strong>the</strong> world as <strong>the</strong> o<strong>the</strong>rs, <strong>the</strong> reality is that more than 15,000 people came out to blockade <strong>the</strong> WEF; not bad for a country <strong>of</strong> our size and population. Busloads came from Nor<strong>the</strong>rn NSW, unionists from Sydney and Adelaide, forest campaigners from WA, delegations from rural towns. For months afterwards, in <strong>the</strong> most unlikely situations, people would say ‘yes, I was <strong>the</strong>re’. Despite what <strong>the</strong> Herald Sun said, it wasn’t just <strong>the</strong> feral contingents, it was remarkably broad-based, diverse and determined. In that time, we felt some <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> most intense police violence <strong>Australia</strong> had seen for many years. Following a baton charge on <strong>the</strong> second evening, people with head injuries had to catch taxis to hospital because <strong>the</strong>re were too many casualties for <strong>the</strong> ambulances to handle. We were, <strong>of</strong> course, vilified by <strong>the</strong> media (<strong>the</strong> Herald Sun, in particular, got very confused about <strong>the</strong> difference between news reporting and opinions). But we also felt incredible community support. A last minute decision to finish <strong>the</strong> blockade with a march through <strong>the</strong> city was an excellent move, and was more like a celebration parade than a street march. FoE played a key role before, during and after <strong>the</strong> WEF protests. We worked to build alliances with <strong>the</strong> more conservative NGOs and collaborated on various preconferences, marches and events. We were a key part <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> S11 alliance, <strong>the</strong> grouping FoE 30 <strong>Years</strong> 89
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Up to a few decades ago, many peopl
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Over thirty years, FoE has develope
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decades. In Australia, FoE is commi
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This group acted as an inspiration
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Keith Suter The future is never as
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In late 1980 a couple of people who
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The Australian Mining Journal noted
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Anon (1987); Know your FoE; the Coe
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