BY DAVE MURPHY
DARWIN — Chanting and music brought the generally sleepy business district of this city to life on May 1 as anti-corporate protesters peacefully blockaded the main entrance to the Northern Territory Chamber of Commerce, before marching through central Darwin.
The protest brought together 120 socialists, unionists, environmentalists for a relaxed gathering, which the local media described as "fortunately not violent".
Protesters enthusiastically welcomed news of larger gatherings in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane and spoke in anticipation of big crowds around the world. Most expressed a sense of being a small part of a large and growing movement.
Speakers included representatives from trade unions, including Alan Paton, a state organiser for the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union, who said that the growing concentration of wealth was worsening work conditions for workers around the world, and Mark Hathaway, the assistant secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union.
Environmentalist David Pollock spoke of the impact of corporate control of agriculture technology, which he said was bleeding wealth from small farmers in the First and Third World.
The Democratic Socialist Party's Sibylle Kaczorek opposed the opening of a new refugee detention camp near Darwin and community lawyer Cassandra Goldie called for an end to mandatory sentencing laws.
The Darwin M1 Alliance organised a poll, in which protesters and bystanders could vote for the worst "corporate scumbag". The four big banks won the award, beating off challenges from the oil companies, Nike and McDonald's.