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Posted on 30-4-08 Waihopai Deflated
30 April 2008
In a remarkable and embarrassing breach of security, sickle-wielding
protesters attacked the Waihopai Spybase in Marlborough this morning. A
protest group called Ploughshares deflated one of the two domes which
protects the radar dish inside.
Three men have been arrested and taken to Blenheim police station.
In a press release, Ploughshares said at 6am this morning three members of
a Ploughshares team entered the Waihopai Spy Base and used sickles to
deflate one of the two 30 metre domes covering satellite interception
dishes. "The members then built a shrine and prayed for the victims of the
war with no end - the so-called 'War on Terror' led by the United States
Empire which also controls the New Zealand taxpayer funded Waihopai base."
Ploughshares is a London-based organiser for the Ploughshares movement,
which delivers its disarmament message by attempting to disable warplanes
and other military equipment.
The Waihopai base is operated by the Government Communications Security
Bureau. It is described as a satellite communications monitoring facility,
but opponents believe it is part of Echelon, the worldwide network of
signals interception facilities run by the American and British
intelligence
agencies. Group spokesman Manu Caddie, who was at the base this morning
but not involved in the attack, said the group of Adrian Leason, Sam Land
and Dominican friar Peter Murnane was originally going to use a truck with
a hydraulic arm, but because of overnight rain it got stuck in a nearby
vineyard.
In the end it took the three men about 30 minutes to cut through the three
fences and deflate the dome with two sickles before security guards came
out to investigate, he said. "Basically the material draped down over the
dish."
Mr Caddie said the action took about two months to plan. He said the group
did really expect to succeed. "We were expecting not to get anywhere close
to it." The planning involved a lot of texting, emails and phone calls,
which were not intercepted, he said. "I guess it shows that the system
doesn't work that well."
Mr Caddie said they had read about a suspicious black convoy that was
reported in the Marlborough Sounds. "We thought they might have on to it,
but they must have been here for some Chinese businessman." Mr Caddie said
the Anti Bases Campaign had been protesting for 20 years at the base, but
had abandoned direct action. "Some times direct action can draw attention
to the issue the issue in ways the annual ABC get together might not.
Hopefully it will stir up action about the issue." He said the three hoped
not to go to jail, but were prepared for it.
The Waihopai ANZAC Ploughshares statement is copied below - more information
including profiles of the team members Adi Leason, Sam Land and Father Peter
Murnane, is available at http://www.ploughshares.org.nz - if you have any
difficulty accessing that site, please go to
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/plshares.htm which will have more
information later this morning.
STATEMENT OF THE WAIHOPAI ANZAC PLOUGHSHARES
They shall beat their swords into ploughshares, their spears into pruning
hooks; nation shall not lift sword against nation; and there shall be no
more training for war. Isaiah 2/4
Waihopai Spy Base Penetrated
This morning, 30 April 2008, we entered the Waihopai Spy Base near
Blenheim. Our group, including a Dominican Priest, temporarily closed the
base by
padlocking the gates and proceeded to deflate one of the large domes
covering two satellite dishes.
At 6am we cut through three security fences surrounding the domes - these
are armed with razor wire, infrared motion sensors and a high voltage
electrified fence. Once inside we used sickles to cut one of the two
30-metre white domes, built a shrine and knelt in prayer to remember the
people killed by United States military activity.
We have financed our activities through personal savings, additional
part-time employment and a small interest-free loan from one of our
supporters.
We are responding to the Bush administrations admission that intelligence
gathering is the most important tool in the so-called War on Terror. This
war will have no end until citizens of the world refuse to let it
continue. The ECHELON spy network including Waihopai, is an important part
of the US governments global spy network and we have come in the name of
the Prince of Peace to close it down.
The base is funded by New Zealand tax payers and located on New Zealand
soil which makes New Zealand a target through our association with the
UKUSA intelligence cooperation agreement. Five years ago the Clark
government opposed the US-led invasion of Iraq. Yet at the same time the
Bush administration was using the National Security Agencys ECHELON
system, of which Waihopai is an integral component, to spy on UN Security
Council members so it could more easily swing them in favour of an
invasion.
There have been over 100 Ploughshares actions over the last twenty years
around the world. Ploughshares direct actions are linked through the
common factors of: entry to locations connected to military activity,
Christian prayers and most involve some form of property destruction.
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