Australian PM John Howard has made a You Tube appeal that both apologises to Sydneysiders for turning the city into fortress Sydney in preparation for the forthcoming APEC meeting and anticipates the protests that now accompany meetings of such leaders similar to this and the G8. The slick video features an identikit Australian newsreader and the PM selling the need to host the meeting and painting protesters as the baddies who should support APEC rather than decry it, whilst explaining to the city residents why most of central Sydney around the Opera house is now encased in a ring of steel fencing and barbed wire and generally looking like a scene from Bladerunner (re-released again I see).
What about Canberra?
It was Howard’s insistence that the meeting be held in Sydney against the city premier’s preference and the logical venue choice of Australia’s capital, Canberra (Australia’s capital was purpose built to be the nation’s capital and would have caused much less disruption than grandstanding in Sydney).
Enemies Of Democracy?
You do have to wonder at the nature of government and democracy today which needs to stage these now very expensive, disruptive ,air-mile burning elite meetings behind fortress doors that often leave a trail of protest and destruction in their wake. It just seems a very old fashioned and unproductive way of ‘doing business’. Standby businesses in the central business district of Sydney as a slight disruption to your normal routine may be coming your way courtesy of John Howard.
Photo by Koyla under this creative commons license.
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