WAIHOPAI
PROTEST 08
Peace Researcher 36 – August 2008
-
Murray Horton
The Anti-Bases Campaign held our
regular protest in Blenheim and at the Waihopai spybase in January 2008 (the
media refer to it as our “annual” protest; in fact, there have been some years
when it hasn’t been held, but it’s near enough to annual). In the normal course
of events, that would be the lead story in this Peace Researcher. But, as the spectacularly successful April 30th
dome deflation by Ploughshares demonstrated (see cover story), 2008 is not
following the normal course of events when it comes to Waihopai actions. So
I’ll happily defer to them in terms of PR
coverage and just give a brief summary of ABC’s own Waihopai protest last
summer.
Not that we’re complaining. For
years, our standard response to those who have criticised our actions as
“tame”, “predictable” and “scripted” has been that we don’t claim any monopoly
on the campaign to close Waihopai; that we’re only there one day a year; and
that others are welcome to do their own thing. As long as it is non-violent
direct action, we are happy to support it. That had never been put to the test
until this year, due to a conspicuous lack of Waihopai actions (let alone
campaigning) by any other groups. But we were only too happy to declare our
full support for the Ploughshares Domebusters’ action. In fact, all three of
them (Adrian Leason, Peter Murnane
and Sam Land), plus a sizeable contingent of their relatives and Catholic
Worker colleagues, played a full part in our January activities. Without them
our numbers would have been noticeably smaller.
As ABC’s photographer, Kane
O’Connell, put it, his photos from January 2008 look almost indistinguishable
from those he took in January 07. And indeed, our activities were very much the
same. On the Saturday morning anywhere up to 50 people marched through
Blenheim, starting and finishing at Seymour
Square. We stopped at the Rotunda in the Forum in
the centre of town where there were several speakers: Green MP Keith Locke, John Minto
from Global Peace and Justice Auckland and myself, on behalf of ABC. Both John
and myself asked those present to remember Graeme White, who was a regular at
recent Waihopai protests and indeed fell into the category of once met, never
forgotten (Graeme disappeared in Lyttelton Harbour in August 07 and his body
has never been found; see my obituary of him in PR 35, December 2007, which can be read online at http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/pr35-159.html).
As well as our copious supply of
colourful placards and banners, we used the same props that we have used so
successfully in recent years – a giant mock cheque showing the financial cost
of the spybase in the 20 odd years of its existence, coffins and crosses and
white face masks to represent those killed by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
which Waihopai helps the Americans and their mates to wage; the eyecatching
Uncle Sam (aka Bob Leonard) who
always turns up to tell us to bugger off from his little bit of America in
Marlborough. This year we were unexpectedly joined by another eyecatching
fellow, namely a very tall visiting American dressed just like a Secret
Serviceman (complete with TV aerial protruding from his collar, dark glasses
and a newspaper with especially cut eyespy holes). He spoke to us “on behalf”
of America’s
spies. As a piece of street theatre, he was great.
In the afternoon a smaller number
(around 30) went out to the spybase where we had permission to march up the
access road to the inner gate where there were further speeches demanding the
place’s closure. We always have an open mike out there and a number of people
spoke, such as local ABC activist, Steffan Browning
and veteran peace and international solidarity activist, Maire
Leadbeater, who pointed out the role of Waihopai and its
sister bases in spying on independence struggles in countries such as Indonesia.
Two of those who spoke outside the gate were among those who got in and
deflated the dome three months later. Right up until the last minute Waihopai
08 was going to feature a real point of difference with previous demos, in that
it was going to include a delegation of Japanese peace activists, including
some hibakusha (victims of the
American atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945). But,
right at the last minute, they had to cancel their NZ visit for various
reasons, to the great disappointment of organisers in both countries (ABC has
hosted Japanese peace activists at Waihopai before; in 2005, Bob Leonard escorted a group up to the inner gate,
to their great delight).
Excellent Media Coverage
ABC’s Waihopai actions may be
numerically small and purely symbolic but they always get very good media
coverage, far out of proportion to the actual numbers taking part. 2008 was no
exception, with very good coverage in the Marlborough Express (which also ran special
interest stories such as a profile on the return of “veteran Blenheim
protester” Evin Wood, who has been
in the campaign from the outset, except for several years teaching in China
recently). To the great delight of leading Auckland activist, John
Minto, his hometown newspaper, the New Zealand Herald (the country’s biggest) actually ran an article
this year on Waihopai, timed to coincide with the protest. Bringing this issue
to the attention of the country’s biggest city is always a challenge and this
was an excellent result. There was also good coverage from various radio
networks.
Although our numbers may be small,
they make up in quality what is lacking in quantity. John
Minto, in his Blenheim speech, described the Waihopai
protesters as the “most discerning” in the country. For example, Bob and I
shared our tent with two City Councillors (one each from Auckland
and Christchurch,
although neither was there in his official capacity). The Waihopai protest is
always a most enjoyable and stimulating three day weekend. We camped in a new
Department of Conservation campsite this time, at beautiful Whites Bay,
complete with beach, bush and, most importantly, minus the bogans who made our
last campsite a trial. Once again we had adventures with the ABC tent,
specifically the poles needed to hold it up, but nothing that the trusty Alan
Liefting couldn’t fix with a pocket knife and some lifesaving insulating tape
that our Catholic Worker friends were carrying.
ABC intends to keep going back to
Blenheim and Waihopai. We are fully aware that one likely result of the
Domebusters’ action is that we will be denied permission to go up the access
road to the inner gate. That was the status quo throughout much of the first
decade of our campaign and it doesn’t make much difference to us, as our
intention is to regularly focus attention onto the place and demand its
closure, not to actually try and storm the place there and then. The difference
in 2008 is that others have, most dramatically and effectively, joined the
campaign and taken it to another level. We say, welcome aboard, the more the
merrier. Let’s shut this monstrosity down.