The following is a post from Slackbastard's blog - I thought I would repost it on Melbourne Indymedia given that we are coming up to the 10th of the S11 demo's and Melbourne Indymedia was originally started by a group of people to help cover that historic demo. Would be good to see other reflections about S11 on the site ten years on.
A comrade has written the following and at their request I’m publishing it here to facilitate further disco. Write dr.woooo[at]gmail[dot]com for moar.
The ‘Autonomous Web of Liberation’ (AWOL) was a Melbourne based ‘networking hub’ that brought people together to share skills, network and exchange ideas in preparation for protests against the World Economic Forum in September 2000. This experience does not have the recognition it deserves, not only in terms of the blockade, but also the later networks that sprang from people having come together at this time, and the wider effects this experience had on their subsequent political practice.
For a long time I’ve been thinking about relaying my experience. I’ve hesitated because I’ve not felt that one person’s perspective can do justice to this subject. Many of us were involved in this experience: at times, up to 100 participated in the meeting/doing/happening that was ‘AWOL’. I’m hopeful that others will seek to collaborate on a larger piece, comment on this one publicly, or write their own story, in order to develop our history and our theory.
I have so many comrades that I still have some contact with who were involved in this project, but also those that span off from it at later times. It is rare I think in political movements over time to have such a sense of shared experience. I still feel that many of you out there got my back, that I can rely on many of you, that I share levels of affinity with many of you that I could not have anticipated at the time. That said, there is a fair bit of hate still around from people who felt left out, or who didn’t have great affinity to begin with, or that grew apart as time went on. There are yet others that I have no idea where they are or what they are up to now, and some I should try to catch up with more. I hope that some of what is said in this ramble will get us asking question about relationships of affinity and questions of organisation, then and now.
There was a sense among us – well, I can only speak for myself really – that the organising method of the ‘S11 Alliance’ was really problematic: it was too slow, it tried to speak for everybody, and meetings didn’t achieve much but rather served as a space for the pursuit of various agendas belonging to various little political parties, fighting about the demands appropriate to a united front. This had very little relationship to my politics, or those of the Seattle events that it claimed to be building on. The authoritarian left really did not get it. Or maybe they did, but wanted to use the rhetoric of Seattle for other ends – mainly building the parties and personality profiles of select others.
Back in early 2000, a number of ‘direct action folk’ – anarchists, autonomists, forest blockaders and other ratbags – had started attending the organising meetings for the protests against the WEF. Many of us found the authoritarian politics of the Alliance impossible to work with, and called a meeting for an alternative networking space. This became S11 AWOL.
Precisely when S11 AWOL began is debatable, as a number of people with roughly the same ideas had meetings at around the same time, but at the first meeting I attended (held in a little tin shed) we wrote ‘Who We Are’, and with some further brainstorming came up with the name AWOL. (“I want the word autonomy to be in it.” “Er, um what about ‘network’?” “Can we use the word web instead?” asked one beloved, bearded forest blockader. Bingo! ‘Autonomous Web of Liberation’: AWOL.) I thought to myself, how funny, this is exactly what we’ve done: gone AWOL from the traditional left.
I was pretty happy with the name and statement of ‘Who We Are’: it focussed on practice and not names or political identities but rather how we organise and what we are against, rather than ‘we are anarchist’ or ‘we are autonomist’ or we are this or that group. In so doing, and with some hard work, it became a very efficient, practical space for getting stuff done for a broad section of largely anti-statist and anti-capitalist types that avoided shit fights between people with very different politics. It changed how I saw things in a big way, and I think for many people in it, the relationships that went onwards into other projects are something we should not forget.
Who We Are
S11 AWOL is non-hierarchical, decentralised and autonomous. It aims to facilitate actions, hold skill-sharing workshops, and empower peoples with information and knowledge, to enable us all to most effectively shut down the World Economic Forum and say NO to global corporatisation and capitalism…
S11 AWOL gives a big thumbs down to those with racist, sexist, ablist, homophobic or nationalistic agendas.
I’d been involved in some stuff when I lived in London – the G8 protests, the ‘carnival against capital’/J18 protests – and we had all been surprised by Seattle. It really felt like something big was kicking off and for several years it did. Then came the slow recuperation and decline of the movement, as well as many of its limitations being reached in the changing times of the ‘war on terror’, the shite politics of the anti-war movement, the rise and fall of the detention centre actions … WorkChoices, followed by global recession, the pseudo-left ‘pink tide’ in Latin America, and now bio-crisis, climate change and the rest.
I’ve had a number of years where I haven’t been involved in much, and I’ve had little new to say: I’ve felt ideologically and practically stuck. For some of the people I still have contact with from this time, I don’t think I’m the only one who feels this way. Maybe some joint reflection will spark some debate and action!
What I took from the experience of AWOL into later stuff, and what I saw carry forward or be altered in later stuff…
• May Day ‘Reclaim the Streets’ action (May 2001)
• Genoa solidarity action (July 2001)
• ‘Media Circus’ conference (July 2001)
• Tent City (October-November 2001)
• Woomera (March-April 2002)
• Baxter (April 2003)
• ‘State of Emergency’ conference (May 2004)
• Anarchist and autonomist conferences (2001-2005)
Questions Regarding AWOL And The Revolutionary Struggle, Intended To Be Discussed, Corrected, And Principally, Put Into Practice Without Delay…
• Hanging on to the AWOL ‘brand’ after S11. • Falling back into big ‘A’ politics: brand ‘Anarchist’ versus brand ‘Autonomist’. • Anti-media / radical media: questions of representation versus self-imposed silence, infodesks, media-spin games, multiple-name games… • Burnout and networked politics. • ‘Whats my new project?’ activism. • Yoof activism. • Giving up activism. • Where are we now? • What I reckon now / stuff I’d like to be doing now: workers’ enquiry, climate justice, how the experiences of AWOL shaped my current trajectory…
Comments
Re-circulating "S-11: This is What Democracy Looks Like
This is copy of the text from a new Facebook Event (see title above)
For those who do remember (and were there) and for those who were not able to get there for whatever reason, in 2000 there was a massive mobilisation of activists to attend a protest against the World Economic Forum outside the Crown Casino in Melbourne.
Members of Trade Unions, uni student groups, high school student groups, church and community groups, Leftists, Anarchists and heaps of other affinity groups and other individual...s got involved and there was a very credible bloc organised with the aim of shutting down the World Economic Forum in Melbourne.
For those who may not know about the controversy of police behaviour that day, they had removed their name badges so they could not be identified when they charged peaceful protestors. Then there was the incident where a young man was caught in the way of the WA Premier's car when he rammed the protest line, the car was not the injuring object but a police baton that struck him in the face three times was.
There are many other stories from those few days that are similar, on one occasion after a baton charge, 30 protesters were hospitalised.
Pretty much the aim of this ongoing event is to:
Access the doco titled "S-11: This is What Democracy Looks Like" either online or where-ever else you can find it. If you have a copy on DVD or know somebody who does then make use of it.
The link to the google video version is:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3288399461596127982#
The running time of the documentary is 42minutes 50seconds.
If anybody knows how to get that onto a DVD and make multiple copies of it then that should be sweet.
I stress that this should be done at the expense of willing individuals who want to chip in time and effort and blank DVDs so we can have this documentary distributed to activists in Melbourne, especially those who are just getting politically active now.
In short: THE DVD COPIES SHOULD ONLY BE SOLD TO JUST COVER THE COSTS OF BLANK DVDS!!!
It is a great display of the potential of activists here in Australia and should be used as a resource.
The other reason behind this is the tenth anniversary of the S-11 protests is this year!
If anything I would be open to respondents of this event to openly organise a meeting where we can further plan this.
Tell your mates and anybody else who would be interested.
in solidarity,
Benny
http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=122091157842341
Your the voice!!! Ah the memories
Check out the S11 anthem - your the voice by John Farnham and let those memories come back!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LcUKImkk52w
Check out this story below with the response from Farnham's management - classic!
John Farnham warns protestors of legal action
AM Archive - Friday, 25 August , 2000 00:00:00
Reporter: Giulia Baggio
COMPERE: The organisers of S11, a group protesting against the World Economic Forum in Melbourne next month have ignored legal warnings from the lawyers of singer John Farnham.
Farnham's best known rock anthem, "You're the Voice" has been adopted by the movement as its theme song for the mass rally.
Giulia Baggio spoke to a defiant S11 organiser who goes by the name of "Lachlan Murdoch".
"MURDOCH": It's crazy, it's just a perfect song, it's all about the individual becoming self-empowered. You know, "You're the voice, try and understand it", it's just the perfect song for S11 and for protestors to sing.
GIULIA BAGGIO: The 5.00pm deadline has come and gone, do you think John Farnham is serious about suing you?
"MURDOCH": I really feel it's John Farnham's lawyers, because John Farnham is out of the country, and I reckon he doesn't know what's going on. I don't think he would give a toss about it. He'd probably be proud of it.
GIULIA BAGGIO: Is there any law against what you have done?
"MURDOCH": I'm quite sure there is no law against what we've done. The photo we have on our web site is taken from a fan's site, so his record label doesn't own it. We haven't actually taken his recording and put it on our servers, we have just linked to a server that holds his song.
GIULIA BAGGIO: What server is that?
"MURDOCH": John Farnham's fan's web site, so John Farnham should really be suing one of his fans, not us.
GIULIA BAGGIO: And if he wanted to sue you, where would he find you?
"MURDOCH": They may have trouble trying to find us, because we've registered the domain name for S11.org under the name of Lachlan Murdoch, and we have given our street address as Spencer Street, Melbourne, the Age building.
GIULIA BAGGIO: False addresses and false names, why is that?
"MURDOCH": Just because we want to avoid the spokesperson type mentality behind a lot of political groups, and we are doing all our media interviews under the name of Lachlan Murdoch so that we can't be discredited as individuals.
GIULIA BAGGIO: You are not ashamed of yourselves, are you?
"MURDOCH": No, I feel very proud that I am doing something for S11.
REPORTER: John Farnham is a fairly easy going bloke, do you think he's getting a bit uptight about your use of his song?
"MURDOCH": I hope we haven't upset him, because after reading his lyrics he sounds like a pretty progressive man, so I am hoping it's just his lawyers and it's not him. We have asked to speak to him directly, and we actually told his lawyers that if John asked us to take it down we will take it down.
COMPERE: A protestor avoiding the spokesperson mentality there.
http://www.abc.net.au/am/stories/s167551.htm
Another memory - the S11 Barbie!
SII protesters join Labor BBQ
JOHN HIGHFIELD: Well, it seemed the political fallout from last month's protests at the World Economic Forum in Melbourne will simply not go away for the Premier Steve Bracks.
A barbecue is to be apparently held tonight to honour the Victoria Premier's first year in that office, but as the party faithful from Labor grill up a snag or two, remnants of the S11 protesters will be sizzling away right next door. Shane McLeod reports.
SHANE McLEOD: It's meant to be a high spirited affair, Steve Bracks, the Premier from Williamstown is being honoured with a Labor Party barbecue in his home town tonight to celebrate his first year in office. The Williamstown lifesaving club has been booked and the party kicks off at about 5:30pm.
And it seems that Williamstown tonight is quite the place to be and to be seen. Less than an hour after the Bracks bash starts, another barbecue kicks off just a little further down the beach.
Jane Thomas from the S11 Social Club explains.
JANE THOMAS: We heard that apparently they were having a barbecue in Williamstown to celebrate Steve Bracks' first year in office, or as we like to think of it, Steve Bracks' first year of being Jeff Kennett, and we thought, well, heck, what a great opportunity, we'll go and have our barbecue down there and then we can not only have a great time and celebrate our success, but also remind the ALP of just what exactly Steve Bracks commended the police for and just how unacceptable this is in Victoria.
SHANE McLEOD: Bracksy and barbies have actually been in the news before. It was when the Premier proposed to honour the police front line defenders in the World Economic Forum protests with a state sanctioned thankyou barbecue. The protesters, some of whom claimed they were injured when police charged them, were, according to Mr Bracks, 'unAustralian' and 'got what they deserved'.
The Premier dropped the barbie plans when his comments sparked open revolt among some members of the Labor Party rank and file.
Jane Thomas says the S11 veterans don't plan to disrupt the Bracks bash up the road, but they do want to make a point by being at Williamstown.
JANE THOMAS: We'll be set up about 50 metres down the beach from the lifesaving club, where the ALP will be meeting. Our emphasis is on having a good time, on having fun, we're going to be playing some beach volleyball, some beach cricket, we'll have some music, we've got our barbecue, obviously, and we'll be cooking up, you know, lentil burgers, and if people want to bring snags down et cetera.
And also one of the other emphasis is to raise money for people that are now facing medical and legal costs as a result of violence at S11.
SHANE McLEOD: A spokesman for the Premier says Williamstown Beach is a public place and he's relaxed about the S11 barbie. But it seems that later today, Williamstown is likely to see a little sizzle down on the sand.
JOHN HIGHFIELD: Shane McLeod in Melbourne, and that sizzling of the prawn and other things in Melbourne tonight.
http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/stories/s199194.htm
Pt'Chang report on Police Violence at S11.
By Anthony Kelly via Facebook
10 years ago Pt'chang's Legal Observer Team began at the World Economic Forum at Melbourne's Crown Casino. For three days the 40 trained Observers watched, recorded and and scrutinized the most horrific police brutality and command controlled violence seen against activists in recent times. Along with volunteer st...reet medics, IXpress couriers and 10,000 courageous global justice activists of all hues and persuasions, we faced the full force of paramilitary, mounted and riled-up police intent on breaking the back of sustained nonviolent resistance. The Legal Observer Team Report tells some of these stories of S11.
The report along with the Psychologists report into post S11 debriefing is available here. http://home.vicnet.net.au/~ptchang/download.htm
Learn more about s11
To learn more about the S11 demo visit Takver's site below for an account of the three days of protest
http://www.takver.com/history/s11.htm
Unfortunately the old S11 site is no longer archived online - would be great to see it back up one day.
Re: Reflections on organising for the S11 Protest, Melbourne ...
The official s11.org site was archived by the National Library on 14 September 2000 and is stored in their Pandora archive
http://pandora.nla.gov.au/nph-arch/2000/S2000-Sep-14/http://www.s11.org/
Certain pages from Melbourne Indymedia dating back to August 2000 have been archived by archive.org, but sadly not archived are most reports on s11,
http://web.archive.org/web/*/http://melbourne.indymedia.org
Also checkout the antimedia website still online
http://www.antimedia.net/index.html
which has the original S11-AWOL organising site
http://www.antimedia.net/s11awol/main.html
Graeme Dunstan from Peace bus reporting on S11 - 14 Sep 2000
http://www.peacebus.com/s11/
And of course Andy, from Slackbastard, did a notable first assessment of S11 and the Left in a paper from August 2001
http://www.takver.com/history/S11left.html
Re: Reflections on organising for the S11 Protest, Melbourne ...
What about the bowls club! It supported and provided a space for the AWOL meetings and for countless people during the protests. Anyone have any pictures of that time, I would love to see them!
Signed,
An old tenant of the bowls...
Re: Reflections on organising for the S11 Protest, Melbourne ...
Hey I saw that you wanted your documentary published onto a DVD. I could easily arrange that for you. Just email me.
I believe in publishing truth and freedom.
Thanks.