Christchurch Protestors Target
US
Air Force Base
Christchurch anti-war
protestors plan to demonstrate outside the US Air Force base at Christchurch
International Airport on Saturday December 1as part of a National Day of Action
against the war in Afghanistan.
Protestors
will meet at the Totem Pole by the roundabout on the corner of Memorial Avenue
and Orchard Road at 2.30 pm before marching to the base itself. Vehicles will
be leaving Cathedral Square at 2.00 pm to ferry protestors from town.
The
protest has been organised by the Christchurch/Otautahi Coalition Against the
War (COCAW). Groups involved include the Anarchist Round Table, Anti-Bases
Campaign, Aoraki Young Greens, CAFCA, Food Not Bombs, Staunch, Socialist
Workers Organisation and Women in Black.
Organisers
have asked participants to bring ribbons, balloons, poems, dolls and other
items, which will be tied to the security fence during the protest in memory of
the victims of the bombings and other military action in Afghanistan. Other
protest actions will also occur during the day. Food not Bombs will be
providing free soup.
“We are targeting the military base at
Christchurch not only because of the US Air Force’s bombing of innocent
civilians in Afghanistan, but also because the base itself has links to the
current war. Although the base operates under the cover of the Antarctic
Agreement of 1961, it is also used for overt and covert military and
intelligence support operations that have little or no relationship to
Operation Deep Freeze. US Air Force Starlifter and Galaxy cargo aircraft
regularly pass through the base on their way to US military and intelligence
bases in Australia,” said Mathew Turner of COCAW.
“One of these bases is Pine Gap, a major
satellite ground control station which is used in the gathering of military
radio transmissions, giving information on military readiness and troop and
ship movements. The satellites can intercept radar emanations, allowing mapping
of air defences, anti-ballistic missile radars and early-warning radars.”
“We are also concerned at the actions of
staff at the United States Antarctic Programme which led to the recent police
harassment of workers at the Pathfinder Press Bookshop, ” Mr Turner said (see
The Press, November 16, 2001).
Ends
For more information about the Christchurch
protest, phone (03) 365 4068.
For details of other protests around the
country on the National Day of Action, visit the Peace Movement Aotearoa website at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma