Peace Researcher 38 – July 2009
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SIS
First Spied On Maire When She Was Ten
In my teenage years I liked to make long phone
calls - no e-mail, tweets, or text messages in those distant times. If ever
there was a bit of static or an unusual noise on the line I would joke that the
SIS was listening in. Ours was a very political household but the plans and
schemes I shared with my friends were of the intense personal nature typical of
most young people. Now that I have obtained my SIS records under the terms of
the Privacy Act, it seems that the spies were spared the tedious task of
listening to phone calls. The information obtained by the SIS (and its
forerunner, the Police Special Branch) was instead obtained largely from
“sources” who attended meetings and events and occasionally carried out a
surveillance operation. The first entry in my file is a report stating that I
delivered a copy of the Communist Party paper Peoples’ Voice newspaper to a resident of
It was the era of the Cold War and under the
heading of "Counter-subversion" my parents Jack and Elsie Locke were
persons of “security interest”. When I went along with either or both of them
to watch an Albanian movie or even a social evening of the William Morris
cultural group an SIS source was often present.
The source duly recorded the attendees, the nature of the activity and
added in some “spice”, often amounting to little more than a précis of some
semi-malicious gossip. The Housewives Union and the William Morris group were
closely scrutinised as “Ancillary organisations” relative to the Communist
Party. It seems that it was enough that some members of these groups were past
or present members of the Communist Party. Or that a cultural group should
choose to name itself after the 19th Century British socialist
design and architectural guru?
In the event the spies could find no evidence
of any plots to overthrow the Government or any other threat to peace and
order. So it seems they went determinedly on documenting minutiae in the hope
that a conspiracy would be unearthed sooner or later. Ironically there is a
bonus in this slice of history. The reports brought back warm memories of
taking part in junior drama, sharing my Mum's joy in Kiwi folk songs,
remembering long forgotten family friends.
Beyond the personal there are also some
invaluable records of some of the seminal meetings from the early days of the
Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND). In 1959 the Nobel Laureate, Professor
Linus Pauling, toured
My early SIS records include a smattering of reports
on the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and the Youth Campaign for Nuclear
Disarmament, from the early 1960s when I was closely involved in both
organisations. There are notes of attendances at some meetings and lists of
office holders, but with little comment or elaboration. This was also an
important time at the beginning of the anti-apartheid and anti-Vietnam war
movements, and my involvement is noted. Was I the secretary in 1965 of the
Christchurch Anti-Apartheid Movement as suggested in one report? I think it was
probably the Student Anti-Apartheid Committee as I have a
There is a gap in my SIS records from 1970 to
1983. It seems the spies lost sight of me when I left
I have written elsewhere about the SIS
surveillance of the Philippines Solidarity Network. Compared to the effort devoted to keeping
tabs on the
Reporting
On Internal Peace Movement Controversy
I was also intrigued to note a record of
internal peace movement controversy that followed the release of the Defence
Review Committee Report, (known as the Corner Report, after the Chairperson,
Frank Corner).[4] The
peace movement was shocked that the peace activist appointee, Kevin Clements,
assented to the report’s pro-ANZUS* conclusions. An early copy of the
Committee’s report found its way from the Prime Minister’s Department to
several Labour MPs who in turn ensured that leading peace movement figures were
informed. Kevin Clements was subjected to telephone calls with “varying degrees
of abuse” and was “variously told that he had sold out, betrayed the movement
and been dismissed as a friend”. My negative views (hopefully not abusive!)
were conveyed by a fellow CND member. *ANZUS
was the cornerstone military treaty between the US,
Looking back, this reaction seems unnecessarily
punitive, but at the time, there was bitter disappointment among the “rank and
file”. We believed that Kevin Clements had been appointed because of his
pacifist and anti-nuclear credentials, and should have defended the view that
our nuclear free stand was more important than an outdated alliance. However,
the same SIS file note paraphrases a conversation with Prime Minister Lange. Mr
Lange met with Kevin Clements a few days after the storm broke and found him
“tired and shaken by the experience”, but suggested that Kevin’s resolve was unshaken.
David Lange concluded that Kevin had been able to approach his task with an
open mind, as Lange had advised him to do at the time of his appointment.
When the Report, and its ambiguous conclusions,
became public it was clear that the Committee had relied heavily on opinion
poll data and on an analysis of submissions which included coupon submissions
from a pro-ANZUS newspaper advertisement. The Prime Minister was among those
subsequently expressing concern about the methodology and interpretation of the
opinion poll. As I look back at the Corner Report and news coverage and
articles that followed it, I marvel at the energy and commitment that went into
this debate about defence and our nuclear free status. If the controversy
helped to fuel our subsequent campaigning for nuclear free legislation that was
a plus surely?
Professor Kevin Clements has recently returned
to
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[1] District Office,
[2] From Headquarters to District Office
Northern District Keith James Locke (PF) , 2 May 1986
[3] Miscellaneous Peace Groups “Public Peace Forum
Coalition” To Headquarters (Counter Subversion)
from District Office Northern District, 9 May, 1983
[4] Note for File “Peace Movement” 6 August,
1986