Peace Researcher 29 – June
2004
The Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) is not about to
abandon the struggle to close the spy base at Waihopai, in Marlborough. So we
organised and hosted yet another annual protest action the weekend of 16-18
January 2004. Despite the fact that the base is hundreds of kilometres from
Christchurch, our own base of operations, the ABC is the only group that
focuses on Aotearoa/New Zealand’s spies. Waihopai is formally known as the
Defence Satellite Communications Unit Blenheim and is run by the Government
Communications Security Bureau (GCSB).
Most of our research, education and action in
recent years has centred on the GCSB because much of its highly dubious
activity involves spying for foreigners – American, Brits, Aussies, and
Canadians. To its credit, our Government didn’t rush to join the absurdly named
Coalition of the Willing in blasting Iraq. But Waihopai has never shut its two
spying eyes (dishes under domes) as it continuously and fed intercepted
satellite messages into the laps of George Bush and Tony Blair.
New Zealanders care about this nefarious
business – if and when they find out about it. This was illustrated at 2003’s
Waihopai protest in Blenheim when an estimated 200 local Blenheimites joined in
the protest in Seymour Square and in a march through the city centre on a
Saturday midday. The theme was anti-war at a time when the invasion of Iraq was
imminent.
Of course the war went ahead and the result,
clearly predicted by many, was a disaster, which continues to unfold and
intensify day by day. Our recent January protest went ahead as well, beginning
with a Friday evening public meeting in Blenheim at a local church hall. This
was a new approach to opening our weekend of activities and it was a great
success. The hall was packed (including over 40 locals) to hear three speakers
on the theme “New Zealand’s role in the ‘War on Terror’”. Marlborough District
Councillor John Craighead led off with a stirring, challenging and often
philosophical essay on the “wars”, the real motivation behind intervention in
both Afghanistan and Iraq, and New Zealand’s participation, however
limited. Green MP Keith Locke then
elaborated on our own contributions of troops, ships, aircraft and intelligence
to the US-British invasions and dealing with the chaotic aftermath. Keith also
highlighted the first-ever annual report of the GCSB (for the year ended 30
June 2003; total expenditure nearly $30 million) and the fact that it makes no
mention of Waihopai’s international spying roles. Murray Horton of the ABC
focused the discussion on the nuts and bolts of Waihopai’s involvement, to the
extent that we can know it given the blanket of secrecy that surrounds the
activities of the GCSB.
ABCers and other activists then retired to our
regular campsite at the Pleiades Vineyard just a kilometre down the road from
the Waihopai base. For the second year in a row our sleep was aided by a frog
concert from the nearby pond. After a hearty breakfast and brief housekeeping
meeting we organised for the day’s activities in Blenheim and at the base.
We arrived at Seymour Square in beautiful late
morning weather to set up for a sausage sizzle, speeches, street theatre and a
central city march. And of course the public was invited to join the
festivities. Speakers included Mike Treen of the Alliance and Global Peace and
Justice Auckland, Green Co-leader Rob Donald and Bob Leonard of ABC. A group of
activists, coordinated by Claire Dann of Christchurch’s Peace Action Network,
did a bit of street theatre to dramatise Waihopai’s role in aiding the tragedy
in Iraq. Particularly stunning was Andre Prassinos of Wanaka in the role of
Dubya Bush. With an impeccable American accent, Andre ordered a massive rocket
attack on an innocent Iraqi village, based on faulty intelligence from
Waihopai. A bit far-fetched you might say, but it got the point across. Isn’t
faulty intelligence, and gross distortion thereof, the basis of “modern”
warfare and the slaughter of civilians? That has certainly been the case in
Iraq.
The sizzle of sausages, including vegetarian
ones, and onions helped feed the masses prior to the march. Although the public
turnout was lower than at the 2003 protest, the numbers were sufficient for a
spirited and colourful march through the central business district with plenty
of chanting for peace to edify and distract the locals enjoying Blenheim’s
sunny sidewalk café experience. Banners and placards were plentiful.
Following our return to and cleanup of the
Square, we departed for the Waihopai spy base, with a brief detour for some to
see the old protest campsite beside the Wairau River. There was the site of
several previous rough camps from which many and varied actions were launched
against the base, some in the middle of the night, in rain and wind.
Once at the base, commencing at about 2 PM, we
prepared for our usual peaceful march down the several hundred metres of sealed
road from the farm gate to the entrance to Fort Waihopai. We were greeted by
Uncle Sam, as in several past years, and by the new officer in charge of the
base, Jeff Holmes. As most informed people will know, Uncle Sam is in charge of
everything American, whether at home or abroad. He took charge at the farm
gate, introduced his underling, Mr Holmes, and lectured the mob on proper
behaviour on the march and at the gate. Every foreigner who passed the farm
gate had to have a passport to enter the Undemocratic Republic of UKUSA, which
had been formally stamped outside the gate.
These were inspected by Uncle Sam. Marchers proceeded down the road
under police escort.
At the heavily fortified front gate to the base
the protesters, including many members of the public, assembled and were once
again reminded, by Murray Horton, of how the base operates in the interests of
all our UKUSA partners (signatories of the 1948 UKUSA Agreement: the US, UK,
Canada, Australia and NZ). Several others took the microphone to speak about
Waihopai from their own perspectives and to ask questions. But questions and
comments addressed toward the spies behind the gates were, as usual, met with
silence. The weather was about as good
as it gets in this very exposed part of Marlborough. It wasn’t too hot or
windy, but it was sunny and the asphalt was blazing hot. So the really
interesting new twist to this year’s “assault” on the base was a barbecue of a
different sort. Several protesters stripped off their clothes and splayed
themselves out on the black grill in the form of a peace symbol. It was a brave
act in more ways than one. It added some new and different colours to the
action, and the media loved it. Both TV and print media were present and didn’t
fail to use the material in their coverage of the protest, including TVNZ’s One News
that evening.
After about an hour, the peaceful mob retreated
back to the main road and dispersed back to camp, or home for the locals. It
was a successful action, in a recent succession of non-confrontational
protests. Despite ABC’s long history of protest at the base, going back to 1988
and including any number of arrestable actions, followed by court cases and
convictions, ABC is regarded by some as a bunch of wusses for not cutting
fences, chopping down power poles, deflating domes and blocking access roads,
all with the goal of closing the base. We take those comments on board and
welcome constructive criticism, but we can’t fail to notice that nobody else in
the country has organised a protest, peaceful or otherwise, at Waihopai in recent
memory.
Back at camp we enjoyed the remainder of a
beautiful afternoon, then a delicious vegetarian dinner, and a good rest in our
cosy tents. No activities were planned for the evening this year. But a number of people did enjoy a dip in
the nearby Waihopai River, led by the indefatigable Rod Donald who insisted on
a dip before taking a long drive back to Golden Bay to rejoin his family on
holiday.
Sunday morning was spent in debriefing and
general discussions of future actions. We abandoned the camp around noon
leaving the vineyard to its grape growing and grazing by the lone Pleiades
horse. We learned a bit later that some group had deposited a sizeable load of
boulders and other rubble in front of the farm gate entrance to the base during
the afternoon. ABCers wonder just who that might have been.
Peace
Researcher 29 – June 2004
The Auckland Council for Civil Liberties organises the annual Big Brother Awards. The awards, for outstanding contributions to the abuse of privacy in New Zealand, are modelled on similar awards held in many other countries. ABC’s Bob Leonard wrote our nomination of the Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB), which operates the Waihopai and Tangimoana spybases, in the category of “Worst public agency – an agency which has most systematically invaded the privacy of New Zealanders”. PR readers don’t need us to spell out why.
We’re pleased to report that, when the winners were announced in April 2004, the GCSB won that category. To quote from the Civil Liberties release (29/4/04): “…the most frequently nominated contender in this category was the GCSB for its surveillance work, notably targeting our Pacific neighbours. The judges recognise that those who work in the GCSB are effectively only doing what others have empowered them to do. However, the enormous, and publicly unsupervised, threat to privacy that the organisation represents means that it is the clear winner of this category”. And so say all of us. Obviously ABC wasn’t the only one to nominate the GCSB. And we fully support the judges’ choice for the overall winner.
“Person of the Year - supreme winner, for outstanding abuse or disregard of privacy and civil liberties in New Zealand . . . Joint Winners: All the Ministers and politicians responsible for recent new ‘anti-terrorism’ and surveillance legislation in New Zealand.
“Most nominations for this category focused on people who had been instrumental in passing New Zealand's anti-terrorism legislation, and other legislation which allows additional, secret snooping - with little or no public accountability - into the private lives, transactions and communications of New Zealanders. While falling mercifully short of the excesses of the United States Patriot Act, these various pieces of legislation result in significantly reduced privacy and civil liberties for all of us, but do little to reduce any actual terrorist threat.
“Given the number of elected representatives and others who have been involved in the process of drafting, passing and implementing the legislation, the judges felt it would be unfair to honour any one person with this ultimate award. Our award therefore goes to all those jointly responsible.
“Worst elected representative - for the elected representative who has most neglected or abused their responsibilities to protect privacy. Winner: Minister of Justice, Phil Goff.
“The judges' award in this category goes to the Minister of Justice, Phil Goff, for his part in fronting the counter-terrorism legislation. In his honour, following true Orwellian precedent, the office should perhaps be renamed Minister for Injustice. A close runner-up, and worthy of mention, was Paul Swain, who, as Minister for Telecommunications, uncritically pushed through new surveillance powers”.
ABC couldn’t agree more. If you want to refresh your memory about the slew of new “counter-terrorism” legislation (some of which predates September 11), then read your back issues of PR or our submissions on several of the laws. Both PR and the submissions can be read online at our Website www.converge.org.nz/abc The best thing about these Awards was that they achieved good, national media coverage. Publicity is the sunlight needed to kill these germs. George Orwell’s Big Brother would be very proud of today’s New Zealand.
|
|
|
|
|