#313: Antiwar March Sat 11.30 – Tell Clinton “It’s Not OK”

GLOBAL PEACE AND JUSTICE AUCKLAND
NEWSLETTER No. 313, January 13, 2010

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CLINTON – OBAMA – IT’S NOT OK TO WAGE WAR AND WRECK THE PLANET! US-NZ OUT OF AFGHANISTAN AND IRAQ NOW!

PROTEST MARCH 11.30am Sat January 16, ASSEMBLE US CONSULATE, Citibank Bldg, 23 Customs St East

Despite the hope for change the new Obama administration in the US is proving to be a loyal servant of big business and the wars of empire.

Since the election President Obama and his Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have overseen a continuation of the war in Iraq, trebling of military forces in Afghanistan, uncritical support for the Israeli regime, the overthrow of a democratically elected President in Honduras and the scuttling of any serious plan to confront global warming.

The economic crisis has seen a further deepening of the grotesque inequalities between and within nations. This is the direct result of policies dubbed the "Washington Consensus" designed to give as much power and freedom for big business as possible. In the ensuing crisis it is the big banks that get bailed out while workers lose their homes and jobs.

Clinton arrives in New Zealand this week pushing her corporate globalisation agenda. She wants a Pacific Free Trade Agreement and closer military ties between the US and New Zealand. The nuclear free policy in NZ is no longer seen as a barrier to closer “intelligence” sharing and military training to allow for even greater integration in the wars of empire. NZ currently has SAS forces in Afghanistan and supports a US-led force that targets North Korea.

The recent “elections” in Afghanistan have revealed the regime to be simply a continuation of the same corrupt, drug running, warlord dominated elites that the US allied itself to in the overthrow of the Taliban. No progress has been made to bring about any real social or economic progress to the country.

The war and occupation of Iraq continues with no end in sight. The US continues to build military bases while promises “eventual” withdrawal. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died and millions been driven into exile.

Opinion polls in both Iraq and Afghanistan show that a substantial majority of the population in both countries want all foreign troops withdrawn.

The US military budget at over $600 billion annually is almost as great as the rest of the world combined. It exports billions of dollars in war equipment to corrupt and brutal regimes around the world. It has military bases in 130 countries.

Despite this expenditure on death and destruction the US and its Western allies have opposed any meaningful expenditure to close the gaps between rich and poor in the world (including in the fight against global warming).

Freedom is under threat around the world with the US exposed as a government that condones torture. Pledges to close Guantanamo and the rendition programmes remain unfulfilled. Warfare gets privatised and outside any democratic control. Drone missiles are used to assassinate anyone deemed an enemy of the state without any accountability. Civilian deaths are deemed “collateral damage”.

Let us make our voices load and clear!

It’s not OK to wage war for oil and profit!

It’s not OK to torture and assassinate!

It’s not OK to overthrow democratically elected governments!

It’s not OK to wreck the planet!

Download PDF leaflet from https://gpjanz.files.wordpress.com/2010/01/antiwar102.pdf

REPORTS ON PALESTINE SOLIDARITY ACTION IN NZ

Tennis Protests Not A Popularity Contest By John Minto – If last week’s protests directed at Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer were a popularity contest she would have won hands down against the protestors. This was reflected in the Weekend Herald’s editorial which described the protest action as a disgrace. A hardly surprising view with Peer portrayed as an innocent young woman who only wants to play professional tennis. As the week went by she seen as "bravely winning the battle" against disruptive protestors. When questioned, Peer kept to her script and refused to discuss politics. Just as well for her. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1001/S00051.htm

‘Police want to destroy my loudhailer’ – Protest leader John Minto today said police were seeking an order to destroy a loudhailer he used outside the ASB Classic tennis tournament venue in Auckland last week. http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/3223924/Police-want-to-destroy-my-loudhailer

Full interview with activist John Minto on anti-Israel protest http://www.scoop.co.nz/multimedia/tv/national/31239.html

Interview with Janfrie Wakim on Shahar Peer 2010 Protest

Matt McCarten: It’s the police who are out of line, not the protesters http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=10619307

Protesters Should Confront Israeli Tennis Player’s Presence In New Zealand http://www.voxy.co.nz/national/protesters-should-confront-israeli-tennis-players-presence-new-zealand/1273/35037

John Minto: What do we want? Setting aside the incoherent abusers, thanks to everyone else who made considerate comments – both positive and negative – about the tennis protests on the previous blog. http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/frontline/3220176/What-do-we-want

John Minto: Where are the Palestinian tennis players? http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/blogs/frontline/3211294/Where-are-the-Palestinian-tennis-players

VIDEO REPORTS OF THE TENNIS PROTESTS – interviews, speeches and coverage of the arrests.

TV ONE interview Janfrie Wakim Of PHRC
Protest
Protest part 2
Protest part 3
First Arrest 06 Jan 2010
Police Arrest John Minto 7 Jan 2010
Protest arrests 8 Jan 2010
Protester and police on Tree

Mike Treen on Why Boycott? Why Protest? Part 1-3
Mike Treen on Why Boycott? Why Protest? part 2-3
Mike Treen on Why Boycott? Why Protest? part 3-3

TV Interview with Mike Treen 8 jan 2010
Fair Game
Protest and Noise Control
TV Interview with Joe Carolan after Police arrest (uncut)

GLOBAL BDS MOVEMENT FOR BOYCOTT, DIVESTMENT, SANCTIONS
http://www.bdsmovement.net/

ANNOUNCEMENTS

FOREIGN CONTROL WATCHDOG 122 – DECEMBER 2009 http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/22/index22.htm
– No Entrance Refused: NZ’s New Investment Protocol OpenDoor For Australian & Other Foreign Investment, by Quentin Findlay
– Forward And Leftward, by Bill Rosenberg
– The Rise Of The Privatisers (Again), by Liz Gordon
– Big Banks Behaving Badly: More Regulation Needed. Edited version of CTUsubmission to Parliamentary Banking Inquiry
– Auckland Supercity: Another Big Dose Of Neo-Liberalism, by John Minto
– Globalisation, Capitalism And Crisis: Contesting The New Social Darwinism, byDennis Small
– Banging My Head Against SIS Wall Of Silence, by Jane Kelsey
– 2009 AGM Minutes; CAFCA/ABC Organiser Account 2008/09, by Bob Leonard;Organiser’s Report, by Murray Horton
– Reviews, by Murray Horton, Jeremy Agar and John Kelcher: “Looking ForAnswers: A Life Of Elsie Locke”, by Maureen Birchfield; “HelenClark: A Political Life”, by Dennis Welch; “The Predator State: HowConservatives Abandoned The Free Market & Why Liberals Should Too”,by James K Galbraith; “Spies For Hire”, by Tim Shorrock; “TheFuture Of Global Relations: Crumbling Walls, Rising Regions”, by TerrenceEdward Paupp; “The Great New Zealand Fishing Scandal”, ADocumentary By Guye Henderson; “Flat Earth News”, by Nick Davies;
– Obituaries: Ted Roberts; Death In The Family: John Gannaway

BOSSES SHOULD SHARE THEIR OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNES! LIVING WAGEPETITION

Win tickets to the Big Day Out
Living Wage Petition: We have two tickets for the Big Day Out, whichis headlined by pro worker bands like Muse
If you’d like to enter the draw for the BDO tickets, Download a copyof the petition and get it filled in with 10 names – one sheet = one entry(multiple entries allowed!), and write your name, address and mobile number onthe back. We’ll be pulling the names out of the hat on Jan 10th, so ifyou want to go, get them in soon!

Stalls in your area:
AUCKLAND: Contact Joseph – 029 4455702 joseph@unite.org.nz
WELLINGTON: Contact Joel – 027 600 9282 joel.cosgrove@gmail.com TheWellington crew operate their own e loop 15dollarwgtn@googlegroups.comand regular stalls in different areas and events.
WHANGEREI: Contact Vaughan – 021 041 5082 svpl@xtra.co.nz
ROTORUA: Contact Bernie – bernieh@clear.net.nz 07 345 9853
CHRISTCHURCH: Contact Joe – 029 201 3859 joe@unite.org.nz
DUNEDIN: Contact Chris – 027 781 0371 mr_matahaere@hotmail.com
HAMILTON – Contact Jared – 029 494 9863 jared@unite.org.nz

WAIHOPAI SPYBASE PROTEST JANUARY 22-24, 2010 – ENDNZ INVOLVEMENT IN US WARS
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on Blenheim andthe super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, onthe weekend of January 22-24. The war in Afghanistan, in which the NZ militaryis directly involved, has got dramatically worse and President Obama’s surge of30,000 extra US troops will escalate it further. Already it has spread acrossthe border into Pakistan. Hillary Clinton’s NZ visit this week is aimed atwhipping America’s allies into shape and to get more troops out of the Keygovernment, whilst simultaneously dangling a Free Trade Agreement as the"reward" – nothing has changed since Holyoake’s "guns for butter" catchcry ofthe Vietnam War years. The theme of our activities, both at the spybase and inBlenheim, will be anti-war. The US says that Intelligence is the key componentof all the wars that it is fighting, or planning to fight, throughout the world(Yemen is the latest target in this endless war). The Anti-Bases Campaignpoints out that Waihopai, an important source of intelligence for the Pentagon,is New Zealand’s most important contribution to the American war machine and itmeans that we New Zealanders have blood on our hands. To symbolise that, ourprops will include crosses, coffins and white masks. This will be the firstprotest at the spybase since the April 2008 deflation of one of its domes bythe Ploughshares peace activists. In solidarity with them, we will be poppingwhite balloons at the base (and we will be at their Wellington trial, for theweek starting March 8). Waihopai, of course, is a "New Zealand" base – or sothe Government says. The fact is, however, that in everything but name it is anoutpost of American Intelligence – paid for by the long suffering NZ taxpayer.More than $500 million of public money has been spent on the NZ GovernmentCommunications Security Bureau (the agency which runs Waihopai) in the 22 yearsof Waihopai’s operation. That money could have been much better utilised onhealth and education, not spying on behalf of Uncle Sam. On Saturday 23rd wewill meet in Blenheim’s Seymour Square at 11 am. From there we will marchthrough central Blenheim, with speeches at the band rotunda in the Forum. Thiswill be followed by a visit to the Waihopai spybase itself at 2 pm. Informationwill be provided on the function of the base and there will be a peacefulprotest, calling for its closure. Speakers, either in Blenheim and/or thespybase, will be: Keith Locke, Green MP; John Minto, of Global Peace andJustice Auckland; and Murray Horton of ABC. Waihopai does not operate in thenational interest of New Zealand. In all but name it is a foreign spybase on NZsoil, paid for with hundreds of millions of our tax dollars, and directlyinvolves us in America’s wars. Waihopai must be closed. (For details onWaihopai and what it does, go to our Website http://www.converge.org.nz/abcRegister to take part in the protest ($40 waged / $20 unwaged). Writre to:CLOSE THE WAIHOPAI SPYBASE NOW! Organised by the Anti-Bases Campaign, P.O. Box2258, Christchurch. E-mail cafca@chch.planet.org.nz http://www.converge.org.nz/abcMake all cheques to ABC – Murray Horton, for ABC Anti-Bases Campaign.

STOLEN – DOCUMENTARY?
Dear friends, Stolen was made up to promote its makers and to create sensationand drama to sell the film. The film doesn’t reflect reality in theSaharawi refugee camps and it is not based on facts. Therefore, it’s nota documentary. It’s fiction film and has no place in a documentaryfestival. Please check this website for more information about Stolen: http://www.therealtruthaboutstolen.com/It’s a shame that those behind the festival in NZ selected this dodgyfilm.

JOIN ANTI-BASES CAMPAIGN IN SOLIDARITY WITH WAIHOPAI DOMEBUSTERSTRIAL STARTS MONDAY MARCH 8, WELLINGTON DISTRICT COURT
Monday March 8, 2010 has been set as the opening day for theWellington District Court jury trial of the Waihopai Domebusters – SamLand, Adrian Leason and Peter Murnane, the Ploughshares activists who deflatedone of the domes at the Waihopai spybase in April 2008. The trial has been setdown for a week (and may last several days longer). Anti-Bases Campaign urgesall our members and supporters, and everyone who believes that the Waihopaispybase should be closed, to come to Wellington to show active solidarity withthe Domebusters. It was a Ploughshares action, not an ABC one and we were assurprised by it as the rest of the country, but it was an action that we fullyendorse, the perfect example of non-violent direct action. At this stage wehaven’t worked out the details of what we are going to do in Wellington,but we want to get the word out now, and we will release details as they cometo hand. Activities will, hopefully, include:
•Being spectators at the actual trial, being there in court to support thethree of them
•Holding a picket outside the Wellington District Court for at least partof the trial
•Holding a protest action at the nearby HQ of the NZ GovernmentCommunications Security Bureau (GCSB), the top secret agency which runsWaihopai
•Holding a public meeting in central Wellington one night of the trial todiscuss Waihopai and related issues
These are just some of the ideas that we already have. There are others –we would like to have our excellent Waihopai spybase display in Wellingtonduring the trial, if a venue can be arranged. And there are other worthytargets for pickets, such as the US Embassy. We need help from Wellingtonians.ABC is a Christchurch group and it is difficult to organise a range ofactivities like this from long distance. There are a number of things that canbest be done by locals. And we urge people from all around the country to joinus in Wellington from Monday March 8 to show active solidarity with theDomebusters. What these brave guys did had not only national, butinternational, significance. This trial could, quite literally, be a once in alifetime event. You will have to arrange and finance your own travel andaccommodation. Bring appropriate placards and banners. The trial is, of course,on weekdays and during work hours. And it’s worth noting that courthearings can be subject to delays at short notice. But we are proceeding on thebasis that the trial has been set to start on Monday March 8.
SEE YOU IN WELLINGTON MARCH 8, Murray Horton, Anti-Bases Campaign, Box 2258,Christchurch, New Zealand. cafca@chch.planet.org.nz http://www.converge.org.nz/abc

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

"If you don’t stand for something, you stand for nothing." — MelThompson

"Those who stand for nothing fall for anything." — Alexander Hamilton

BEST ONTHE WEB

NEW ZEALAND

Protest Boat Broken In Southern Ocean Sea Shepherd Report: In an unprovokedattack captured on film, the Japanese security ship Shonan Maru No. 2deliberately rammed and caused catastrophic damage to the Sea Shepherd trimaranAdy Gil. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/WO1001/S00097.htm

Finance: Aussie Bank Dividends "222.8% Of Their Profits" – Bankworkers’ union Finsec is calling on the government to toughen itsoversight of the Australian owned banks in light of revelations that shows thebanks paid dividends to their parent companies in 2009 that were more thandouble what they earned. http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/BU1001/S00071.htm

WORLD ECONOMIC CRISIS

Cerberus Capital: Literally Blood-Sucking the Poor to Make Their Billions -How one company made $1.8 billion by paying peanuts to human plasma donors, andthen manipulated the market by restricting supply to the desperately ill. http://www.alternet.org/workplace/145044/cerberus_capital%3A_literally_blood-sucking_the_poor_to_make_their_billions/

Economy Loses 85,000 Jobs in December, Ends Decade with Job Loss by DeanBaker http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/baker080110.html

FOOD, FARMING AND THE ENVIRONMENT

Bolivia: We Must Support a Universal Declaration of the Rights of MotherEarth http://boliviarising.blogspot.com/2009/12/bolivia-we-must-support-universal.html

Big Green NGOs: Sleeping With the Enemy – The largest climate changecampaign in the world is in bed with the world’s most powerfulcorporations. … The mainstream environmental movement no longer inspiresnor leads society to an enlightened existence – it simply bows down tothe status quo. http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=1522

Barry Commoner: The Illusion of Consumer Sovereignty http://climateandcapitalism.com/?p=1514#more-1514

We Cannot Shop Our Way Out of the Problems – John Bellamy Foster Interviewedby Max van Lingen http://www.monthlyreview.org/mrzine/foster011209.html

Advertising Is a “Serious Health Threat”—to theEnvironment http://monthlyreview.org/100101lowy.php

Why Ecological Revolution? by John Bellamy Foster http://monthlyreview.org/100101foster.php

FEATURES

Exclusive: U.S. heads for record overseas arms sales in 2009: The UnitedStates is close to a new peak in government-to-government arms sales, poised totop last year’s record $36.4 billion. Way back in second place was Russia with$3.3 billion or 7.8 percent of such agreements. France was third with $2.5billion or 5.9 percent, the report said. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5895G620090910

REVIEWS

Anti-imperialism in 3-D – There is much more to Avatar than the spectacularspecial effects, says Nagesh Rao http://socialistworker.org/2010/01/07/anti-imperialism-in-3D

Einstein on Palestine and Zionism http://dissidentvoice.org/2010/01/einstein-on-palestine-and-zionism/

The Arabs – Book Review by Anne Alexander, January 2010 – Eugene Rogan,Penguin Books, 25 http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11116

Up in the Air – Film Review by Liz Wheatley, January 2010 – Director: JasonReitman, Release date: 15 January http://www.socialistreview.org.uk/article.php?articlenumber=11126

AUSTRALIA

“Australians no longer need to hide their racism” http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2010/01/444474.html

How governments and the capitalist media marginalise the Muslim community http://links.org.au/node/1438

AFGHANISTAN

Mercenaries, Robot Planes and the CIA Produce Lethal Mix for Secret AfghanWar http://www.alternet.org/world/145054/mercenaries%2C_robot_planes_and_the_cia_produce_lethal_mix_for_secret_afghan_war_/

CUBA

Cuban Truth Against the Lies http://flindersstudents.com/blogs/cuban-truth-against-the-lies/

Angry Cuba demands removal from U.S. terrorism list http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60732R20100108

FIJI

Fiji’s children face bleak future as global crisis hits economy http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2010/01/fijis-children-face-bleak-future-as-global-crisis-hits-economy/

Indo-Fijians and ethnic violence of the 2000 coup http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2010/01/indo-fijians-and-ethnic-violence-of-the-2000-coup/

‘Parachute journalism’ and the Fiji regime http://pacific.scoop.co.nz/2010/01/parachute-journalism-and-the-fiji-regime/

HAITI

Aristide Supporters Protest Election Ban in Haiti http://www.globalpolicy.org/security-council/index-of-countries-on-the-security-council-agenda/haiti/48588.html

HONDURAS

IRAQ

In Baghdad, Victims of Blackwater’s Nisour Square Bloodbath Want Justice,Not Money http://www.alternet.org/world/145028/in_baghdad%2C_victims_of_blackwater%27s_nisour_square_bloodbath_want_justice%2C_not_money/

INDONESIA

Asylum Seekers Interrogated By Their Persecutors In Indonesian Detention http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1001/S00044.htm

ITALY

Migrants escorted out of Italy town: At least 300 African migrants have beentransported out of a southern Italian town rocked by two days of clashesbetween the migrants, police and local residents. http://english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/2010/01/20101918461937126.html

PAKISTAN

PALESTINE

Occupation 101: An award-winning documentary film on the history of theZionist military occupation and colonisation of Palestine. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24327.htm

Israel prevented 17 sight-impaired Gazans from leaving for cornea transplantoperations on time; a donation of dozens of corneas went down the drain http://www.phr.org.il/default.asp?PageID=190&ItemID=488

Terror is the price of support for despots and dictators – Egypt’scomplicity in Gaza’s siege underlines the role of western support for suchregimes in the spread of war http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2010/jan/07/egypt-gaza-strip-viva-palestina

TURKEY

Children Political Prisoners http://louisproyect.wordpress.com/2010/01/11/turkey-children-political-prisoners/

USA

Did a Court Just Deal a Fatal Blow to Tasers for Police? http://www.alternet.org/story/145039/did_a_court_just_deal_a_fatal_blow_to_tasers_for_police

YEMEN

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