This is not because I have anything other than utter contempt for Howard's IR laws - I was at the last rally, and more than happy to stand up and make the point that I was angry, I wasn't going to take it any more, and I was going to chant loudly about it.
It's not because Jimmy Barnes is going to play, although being kilometres away does reduce the risk of being subjected to Khe Sanh.
And it's not really because I still feel bitter with the ALP over its filthy dishonest smear campaign against the Greens last week, and am reluctant to contribute to its 2007 campaign (which is clearly what this is about; this is an ALP-branded event).
It's because I'm reasonably skeptical that it will achieve anything. I'm sure they can get 100,000 people to the MCG - the IR laws are very unpopular, and the only way Howard can sell them to the public they're going to screw over is with tens of millions of dollars of misleading and expensive taxpayer-funded advertising. It's obvious to blind Freddy who the new system favours (big business and the rich) and who it doesn't (everyone else).
But is anyone really going to change their mind just because there are a lot of people protesting at the MCG? "Well, I was uncertain about how bad the IR laws were until I knew that there was a big rally at the MCG!"
Is John Howard really going to look at the crowd and mutter "Geez, maybe I'll rescind this legislation after all"? Or is he merely going to note "Hmm, I'd better budget another couple of million on
In short, is today's rally about anything other than making the ALP feel good about itself? (And, after last week, does it deserve to?)
Anyway, so I'm not there. Up the workers and so on, though.
