On May 22 around 150 people packed out the Collingwood Gallery in Melbourne for the launch of the new book ‘Beating the big end of town’. Written by Socialist Party member Anthony Main the book outlines how a community campaign defeated the proposed East-West toll road.
By Emma Linacre, Socialist Party
Local residents and campaigners celebrated the defeat of the East-West toll road at the launch and listened to speakers explain the key events and the lessons of the campaign.
Laura MacFarlane performed the song she wrote for the campaign, ‘No Tunnel No Way’ while Ivan Hexter and Marion Crooke showed a preview of their upcoming documentary ‘Tunnel Vision’.
It generated cheers from the crowd when they saw the picketers blocking the drill sites and boos each time a Liberal or Labor politician was onscreen. The launch was a huge success and 130 copies of the book were sold.
Speaking on the night Anthony explained how the road was solely designed to create profits for big business at the expense of homes, parkland and communities. If allowed to go ahead it would have been a social, economic, and environmental disaster.
