
Issue No 70		07 September 2000

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Satire

Threat to withhold pocket money derails S11 protest

By The Chaser

MELBOURNE, Tuesday: Members of the activist collective S11 announced today that they had decided to cancel their protest at the upcoming World Economic Forum meeting at Crown Casino.

The decision comes after a number of rich, white, middle-class parents of S11 activists threatened to withhold their pocket money if the protest went ahead.

"I wanted to protest, but my dad really put the pressure on me," said one activist, Felicity Brown, 21, of Surrey Hills, who is a member of the International Socialist Organisation. "He said he'd confiscate my Volvo, and I was hardly going to catch the train in." Resistance organiser Tim Edmonds, 19, of Burwood echoed her sentiments. "I'm very committed to fighting capitalism, but I'm not stupid," he said. "When dad said he'd stop my allowance, I had to give in. I decided I didn't want to take the risk of delaying the revolution by a single day because I couldn't afford to help work towards it."

According to S11 organisers, the threat was co-ordinated by a group of evil employers, including Coca-Cola, Monsanto and Microsoft, who bullied their Australian employees into making the threat through repressive labour practices. But at least one parent, Jenny McGrath of Fitzroy, claims it was all her own idea. "My daughter Teri doesn't understand the value of a dollar ," she said. "I wanted to teach her that while Nike's labour policies keep foreign child workers in crippling poverty, they also keeps her in her favourite grungy fashions."

The S11 organisers, who were going to try to disrupt the WEF through a massive, co-ordinated protest, have decided to adopt different tactics, choosing instead to "infiltrate" the companies, as one anonymous activist who has taken a job with Nestl� puts it. "We all knew that Nestl� forces third world women into using formula instead of breast milk, and my commitment to fighting this exploitation demanded that I find out as much about it as possible," she said. "Now I have learned that there are all kind of benefits to the mother from using Nestl�'s competitively-priced products. Who would have thought it?"

S11's change of heart comes as the Liberal Party is attempting to increase Federal Government funding to private schools in another attempt to remind activists of their responsibilities as members of Australia's wealthy elite. "Our government is committed to diversionary programmes to keep troubled youth from leading a life of crime," said Federal Education minister Dr Kemp. "Protesting is the thin end of a wedge leading to serious crimes like trespassing and resisting arbitrary arrest," he explained. "But now that private schools can afford to buy lots of new pool tables, they may be able to keep kids off the streets."

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  Issue 70 contents

Interview: New Internationalism
In its battle with Rio Tinto the CFMEU has pioneered global campaigning. National Secretary John Maitland talks to Workers Online about globalisation, a union response and using new technologies to organise .

History: Pickets and Police
S11 protestors would do well to be wary. Fred Paterson, CPA member of the Qld Parliament, was bashed by the Queensland police on St Patrick's Day 1948, when a Labor Government was in power in that state.

Education: The WEF -Why Should We Care?
An event like the World Economic Forum attracts all the spin doctors for every interest, often obscuring real issues. For educators the issues may seem remote but a closer look shows that services like public education could be dramatically affected by the unfolding agenda of global trade liberalisation says Rob Durbridge.

Economics: A Vandalised Economy
Since New Zealand was opened up to the forces of globalisation, it has performed dismally, both economically and socially. NZCTU Economist Peter Conway reports.

Unions: Our Vital Role in Society
Eight months into his new role as ACTU Secretary Greg Combet reflects on the challenges facing Australian unions.

International: Turning Up The Heat
John Sweeney of the AFL-CIO says the union movement can and will reform the global economy, for as Dr Martin Luther King taught us, the moral arc of history is long but it bends towards justice.

Satire: Threat to withhold pocket money derails S11 protest
MELBOURNE, Tuesday: Members of the activist collective S11 announced today that they had decided to cancel their protest at the upcoming World Economic Forum meeting at Crown Casino.

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