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  Issue No 103 Official Organ of LaborNet 20 July 2001  

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Politics

Now We The People

By Peter Murphy

A new group believes there is an alternative to corporate gobalism and economic rationalism

 
 

People Power

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The chair of the Australian Republican Movement, Greg Barns, told a 400-strong anti-corporate globalisation conference in Sydney today that if companies and capital were allowed to move around the world, then people should also be allowed to do so.

"We are rightfully attracting international opprobrium for our disgraceful treatment of the 5000 or so asylum seekers who we mandatorily detain in a manner befitting an authoritarian or totalitarian regime of the Eastern bloc or South America. Why should we not allow people to move around the globe in search of better life just as we allow companies and capital to do so? Is it fair that we sit on enormous resources, physical, cultural, social and economic but put up the 'no go' sign for those who seek to share in this experience. Where is the justice in that?" he asked.

Greg Barns won a warm round of applause for that statement, but his claim that tariffs for the car, textile, clothing and footwear industries should be removed, drew sharp opposition. Barns represented the most pro-market sentiment among the conference speakers, but he agreed with the majority about the lack of morality in the corporate ethos, and the need for government to act firmly to defend fairness and social cohesion

The Now We the People Conference which met at Newtown Theatre and Newtown High School in Sydney this weekend endorsed 39 points for an alternative to economic rationalism and corporate globalisation. Conference spokesperson Peter Murphy said that the privatisation, deregulation and trade liberalisation in Australia had been driven by global corporations for the last 15 years for the benefit of a few.

"Globalisation has resulted in growing insecurity and poverty for the many and has sharpened divisions in our society. This weekend's conference explored the need for Australia and the world to take a new direction based on the values of cooperation, inclusiveness, ecological sustainability, equality, social justice and fairness to future generations.

"The 400 people who attended the conference committed themselves to make this a major issue in the coming federal election and beyond. Now We the People will organise networks of like-minded people across urban, rural and regional Australia, with the support of local government wherever possible," he said.

"We will oppose those who advocate economic rationalism, corporate globalisation and free trade not fair trade," he said.

Mr. Murphy said that the conference participants included members of the Greens, Democrats, Australian Labor Party, churches and the trade union, women's, environmental, student, and migrant communities.

Christine Milne, of the Australian Greens, told a plenary session that globalisation was not inevitable. "Globalisation is a political project which can be responded to politically. Corporatisation might be global but it is being implemented by national governments. Part of the challenge is to get young activists from the S11 and M1 protests organized around a clear positive agenda with activists of all ages," she said.

John Maitland the National Secretary of the Construction Forestry Mining and Energy Union spoke in support of fair trade and not leaving it to the free market. He told the conference that workers and the community need to get together to force global corporations to sign enforceable agreements to protect the environment, respect labour standards and human rights.

"There is tremendous potential to use workers capital (e.g. in industry superannuation funds) to intervene to push for industry and social development which benefits workers and their communities," he said.

THERE ARE BETTER WAYS THAN ECONOMIC RATIONALISM

NOW WE THE PEOPLE SAY THAT

� the economic rationalist agenda for Australia, driven by global corporations for the last 15 years, benefits the few at the cost of growing insecurity and poverty for the many and sharpens divisions in our society;

� Australia and the world urgently need a new direction based on values of cooperation, inclusiveness, ecological sustainability, equality, social justice, and fairness to future generations;

� we need new policies, a new philosophy and new vision based on these values which will create a viable future for us all and for the planet.

In our broad diversity, we are determined to act together

� to assert a new direction based on values of cooperation, inclusiveness, ecological sustainability and equality, and to oppose economic rationalism, global free trade, deregulation, privatisation and outsourcing, racism and ecological destruction;

� to raise these issues in the coming Federal Election to make them a priority in the election debate, and subsequently;

� to support and vote for candidates and parties that uphold these values, and to oppose those who advocate economic rationalism and corporate globalisation.

A NEW DIRECTION FOR AUSTRALIA

Our discussions show that priorites for confronting global corporate power include:

� achievement of a just and genuine settlement between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians, through an open negotiation process;

� full employment, by creating quality jobs and quality public services in public health, public education, aged care, child care, housing, transport, welfare services, and the arts, and encouraging investment in ecologically sustainable manufacturing and agriculture; and by negotiated measures to share work more fairly, and to retrain the unemployed.

� ratification of the the Kyoto Protocol on Reductions in Greenhouse Gas Emissions, meeting and surpassing its inadequate target for Australia, and energetically supporting higher targets;

� achieving women's right to equal opportunity and active participation in democratic processes, leadership and decision-making in all aspects of public and private life;

� restoration of the rights of workers to organise into trade unions, to bargain collectively with employers on an industry basis, with recourse to the Industrial Relations Commission, and to protect the right to strike; and support for greater democracy in trade unions;

� promoting a just work environment by reasserting the use of industrial awards to advance employment equity, through community wage increases, equitable valuation of work, protection and portability of workers entitlements, a 35-hour week, paid parental leave, regulation of casual work, family-friendly work practices and fair rostering / shift work practices;

� replacing the GST with a fair tax system where business and the wealthy pay their share, to raise adequate revenue for national social and environmental goals, including provision of an adequate income for all through job creation, quality public services, and higher welfare payments;

� vigorous support for an international tax on foreign currency transactions - the Tobin Tax - to restrain financial speculation;

� insistence on a new set of global trade and investment rules aimed at fair trade, which give priority to human rights, the environment and diversity of culture, and opposition to any new World Trade Organisation negotiations or "free trade agreements" until this is achieved;

� cancellation of the debt owed to Australia by poor countries;

� a legislated Charter of Community Obligation for the banking system, and creation of a publicly owned bank to ensure fair banking services for all Australians; explore the use of the Reserve Bank and superanuation funds to finance ecologically sustainable public infrastructure;

� creating a major industrial capacity in renewable energy systems (excluding use of old growth forests) and sustainable transport systems; closing the uranium mining and export industry, and the Lucas Heights Nuclear Reactor; and banning port visits by nuclear-armed and powered ships. Banning imports of any nuclear waste and creating a final repository of existing Australian domestic nuclear waste in Australia;

� promoting a higher quality standard of living through reduced material consumption and improved patterns of life;

� forging an independent, non-nuclear foreign policy promoting democracy, genuine development and peace in the Asia-Pacific region and globally; opposition to the US National Missile Defence Program, and all programs for weapons of mass destruction;

� investing in a massive program to bioremediate the natural environment, including the Murray-Darling Basin, to halt salination and desertification, especially by reafforestation and sustainable water use, and taxing environmental damage;

� reinstating full welfare support to migrants, respecting the human right to family reunion for migrants, abolishing mandatory detention and treating all asylum seekers with full human dignity, and reaffirming the multicultural character of Australian society;

� a strong, free and secular public education system whose funding and support is the primary responsibility of both State and Federal governments. Public schools, public universities and publicly-provided vocational education and training including TAFE must be funded at a level where they can provide excellence and equity to all Australians. Public education is integral to democracy and social justice and should emphasise inclusive values, environmental sustainability, equity, creative thinking, and the capacity to assess information and make considered decisions;

� restoring and sustaining a high quality public health system and ending subsidies to private health insurance;

� adequately funding a technically advanced ABC and SBS, fully staffed with secure jobs, with the ABC's independence secured by Parliament appointing its Board; a program of funds for community-based and independent electronic and print media, to reduce concentration of private ownership of media in Australia; and greater regulation of advertising directed at children;

� ensuring fair access to justice through adequate legal aid funding and community legal centres, rejection of mandatory sentencing, and the operation of prisons for profit;

� initiating an open, inclusive Constitutional Review to consider a Bill of Rights and an Australian Republic, on which the people will ultimately vote in a constitutional referendum;

� celebrating the contribution made to our society by children, young people, the elderly, people with disabilities, and people of alternate sexual orientations, and supporting their struggles for equal access to resources to ensure that participation in the social, political and economic life of our community is open to all;

� recognition and remuneration for the unpaid work now performed in carer relationships;

� promotion of local and small community autonomy and self-reliance, and greater participation by people in decision-making at local, state and national levels;

� developing the parliamentary system to ensure parliaments oversee the Executive, that all votes are equal, and that election results reflect voters intentions.

� the Australian government meeting its current human rights and international treaty obligations, and ensuring maximum access to human rights structures and processes, including the International Labour Organisation.

We participants at the 2001 Now We the People conference, in all our diversity, agree on the need to:

� reinvigorate democracy and public debate, to work at all levels of society to change thinking, and to map out practical programs for Australian society for the first decade of the new century, to turn from the destructive path we are now on.

We commit ourselves to:

� the building of networks of discussion and action across urban, rural and regional Australia, among individuals, organisations, communities and ethical businesses who share this vision

� cooperation in the campaigns needed to apply the values of cooperation, inclusiveness, ecological sustainability, equality, and fairness to future generations, in political, economic and social life;

� support for alliances of the labour and other social movements to campaign at the local and international level against economic rationalism and corporate globalisation;

� research, discussions and publications to address this challenge;

� encourage contributions to these tasks from people in every strata of society

� organise seminars and meetings in towns and cities across Australia, auspiced and supported where possible by Local Councils, leading up to our next national conference in 2003.

Adopted by acclamation at the final plenary, Now We The People Conference, Newtown, Sydney, July 15, 2001


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*    Visit the official site

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*   Issue 103 contents

In this issue
Features
*  Interview: Political Witch Hunt
CFMEU national secretary John Sutton on the mooted Royal Commission and what is really needed to clean up the building industry
*
*  E-Change: 1.3 The Nation State in Crisis
In the latest instalment in their study on the new politics, Peter Lewis and Michael Gadiel looks at the rise and fall of the institutional State.
*
*  Unions: Industrial Violence
Rowan Cahill agrees with Tony Abbott that thuggery and violence are part of Australian industrial relations landscape - but it's the bosses who do most of the bashing.
*
*  History: Total Recoil
Neal Towart looks at how Royal Commissions designed to kick unions have typically come back to haunt their architects.
*
*  International: Behind the Eight Ball
Jubilee Australia's Thea Ormond looks at the international activity being generated around this week's Group of Eight Summit in Genoa
*
*  Politics: Now We The People
A new group believes there is an alternative to corporate gobalism and economic rationalism
*
*  Satire: Marsden Now to Sue Himself
Sydney solicitor John Marsden is suing himself for defamation, claiming the recent libel case he brought did irreparable damage to his reputation.
*
*  Review: In The House
Resident Four-Eyes Mark Morey attempts the impossible with this attempt at a serious analysis of Big Brother.
*

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»  Activists Notebook
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Columns
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»  Tool Shed
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Letters to the editor
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»  A Lost Cause
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»  High Farce
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