Sydney and APEC

Sydney and APEC

All a question of the state asserting it's power.

"�The official APEC is here to push nuclear power, free trade with all its privatisations and deregulation, and to assert that big business can run the world better than democratic citizens. That�s also why APEC promotes repression in our region. That�s why we are protesting and projecting an alternative people�s agenda�."

Who said that? It just looks like an uneducated opinion to me.

How so?

There's nothing wrong with free trade, privatisation, or deregulation. They are good things. The less government in our lives the better. siac2007-09-04 23:48:56

Also, your quote "All a question of the state asserting it's power." seems to completely contradict the quote you pasted directly after it.

No it doesn't, read it again. dairyflat2007-09-05 08:48:09

Now that I read your post again I can interpret it in 2 ways. Are you saying that Apec is an example of the state asserting their power, or that the people who made the quote is an example of the State asserting their power?

Because you didn't provide a source for the quote, its context is a little confusing.

I'm with you now. It's the first interpretation. dairyflat2007-09-05 09:32:22

Subsidies are bad - I completely agree. They are against the spirit of free trade.

You are dead right there Frankie this democracy lark is a bit tedious ,anyway ive just heard a rumour that Enron are going to be sponsoring the Phoenix this year and  they have  arranged for a  friendly game against a Union Carbide 11 in Bhopal and are sponsoring a supporters cruise ship the Exxon Valdez to take us all to the game!!
Because they are such  huge corporate  businesses  i intend  like your self  to put  a blindfold on  bend over and put my absolute trust in them!!
Aye right!



Kiwi Jambo2007-09-06 09:06:15

lets just get with the times and adopt nuclear power and be done with it, sh!t it never hurt the Simpsons.....much.

Pro-Nuke-Carney :)

Meanwhile, John Howard said -

Hilarious - APEC security not so clever. Cue chants of "what a waste of money..."

that chaser stunt was hilarious,especially the bit where 3-4 police arrest the guy dressed as a bodyguard and completely leave the guy dressed as usama bin laden alone!

Not generalising or anything of course?? 
It goes like this. One person kicks in a window - that's vandalism. A thousand do the same and that's a "political statement".

no it isint! Thats just a sh*t load of broken windows that need fixed! 1.if they have a point to make thats fine i'm all for free speech and if you want to protest a cause thats fine by me too,but A. do it in a civilised manner and B don't wear a mask or cover your face witha bandana while doing it,otherwise you're just a coward.

I can make the case for that being political too. I've seen police forces being used for political gain. When they ally themselves with the state AGAINST the people. Say like in the Springbok tour of 81?
It all depends on context.

I was at this one. It was *^&%&^% terrifying!!
dairyflat2007-09-17 22:48:21

the thing is mate,you don't live in apartheid south africa or nazi germany where the police forces really were the 'tools of an evil empire',if you want to put it in such a dramatic way. You live in new zealand or in my case australia but am originally from the uk. In all three cases there we're talking about fairly liberal democracies where the police are by and large,and i know there's some bad exceptions, professional and obey the law when it comes to how they treat citizens,carry out arrests,protect peoples rights etc. The fact that in melbourne you had some protesters (and again i know this wasent everyone doing this) spitting,punching and throwing urine at police and the police,instead of beating the crap out of people-which i'm sure you'd want to too if someone spat on you,behaved with real restraint and obeyed the law. This only goes to show how lucky we are to live in countries with such,by and large, good police forces. I'm not sure if i've entirely responded to your point here but what i mean to say is attacking an aussie cop who's just doing his job is definately not a legitamate protest. And if any of those people who did it want to really protest human rights and the behaviour of police forces they should hop on a plane to jakarta or harare,where there really are some horrific violations by the state,and see what would happen to them there.How do you think they'd get on?

and by and large, yes, I agree with that. I have been on demos where clearly nutters just wanted an excuse to "hide in the crowd".

Last week on Lambton Quay

"Sir do you like Greenpeace?"

"No"

It leaves them speechless.

see that would really piss me off if i was out trying to make a sensible point and protest say the iraq war or an enviromental issue and you could see some idiots who you knew were just there for a fight or to pretend they were che geuvare.You'd get a lot more people to listen to your point of view without them.

Granted but, you know that, sadly,in some respects that's not true. Lovely, friendly, orderly protest often leads nowhere. Look at the anti war marches before Bush/Blair sanctioned the onslaught on Iraq. A MILLION people demonstrated in London and did Blair listen...  did he hell?  I often wonder if that ORDERLY million had become a mob would Blair have dared to take the decision he did...  ?