Use of public space is being restricted by privatisation. Earlier this year, the management of Barkly Square shopping centre in Brunswick stopped Green Left Weekly from operating its regular Saturday stalls. A community campaign resulted in Green Left Weekly winning limited access. While Green Left Weekly is happy to allow other community campaigns to distribute materials, access to this social space is restricted.
Events at Barkly Square are part of a disturbing pattern around the country. Community is being shut out of ever-diminishing public areas. Social spaces, such as shopping centres, are being taken over by big business whose only concern is making a profit.
Passing out information, collecting signatures on community petitions, distributing election material, holding speakouts or engaging in other activities are essential democratic rights. People increasingly find that the spaces where the public congregate are defined as corporate no-go zones. Even where permission is given by the gatekeepers, requirements — such as demands for huge public liability insurance coverage — rule out many community groups.
A panel of community activists and experts will describe how they see free speech, freedom of assembly and the right to organise being eroded by this creeping privatisation. They’ll discuss current campaigns and explore the tools for resistance that community members can use to reclaim our spaces. Brunswick has a proud history of community activism to defend democratic grassroots organising. The meeting will spotlight both historical and contemporary examples of those who have fought back and won.
Speakers
Brian Walters, civil libertarian, Greens candidate for Melbourne
David Nichols, lecturer in Urban Planning, University of Melbourne
Debbie Brennan, Melbourne Organiser, Radical Women
Meghan Fitzgerald, solicitor, Fitzroy Legal Service
Sharon Firebrace, Yorta Yorta woman and activist
Trevor Dobbyn, Victorian Branch Secretary, Rail Tram and Bus Union
Wednesday 27 October, 6:45 pm for a prompt 7 pm start
Brunswick Town Hall,
233 Sydney Road, Brunswick
This event is supported by Australian Sex Party, Campaign for Women’s Reproductive Rights, Freedom Socialist Party, Green Left Weekly, Indigenous Social Justice Association – Melbourne, Moreland Greens, Radical Women and Socialist Alliance.
For more information call 9388-0062 or e-mail freedom.socialist.party@ozemail.com.au