Posted on 19-3-2003

Anti-war Activities

GPJA

It is clear that there will be war within days. The world needs to rise up
in one voice to condemn this war and demand the withdrawal of foreign
forces from the mideast. In Auckland there will be a mass protest march
this Saturday, assembling at 12 noon at QE2 Square (Bottom of Queen St) and
marching to Myers Park.

If the bombing starts earlier than Saturday there will also be a protest
outside the US consulate from 5pm the same day. Make sure you are there.
Make sure you bring family and workmates to make this protest a massive
repudiation of the warmongers. The antiwar movement now has to prepare for
a long-term fight against the empire building strategy of the US/UK and its
few allies.

This war will be the first of a series that will lead to new crises and
resistance to the mad dreams of the empires rulers to return to an age of
military occupation and colonial rule. Regardless of the course of this war
the peoples of the mideast will resist to expel the foreign occupiers. We
must be prepared to fight together for the withdrawal of foreign forces
from the mideast. We must move forward to fight for a world without
empires,resource wars and foreign exploitation.

BE THERE MARCH 22

HOW YOU CAN HELP

DONATIONS: Help pay for an emergency add in the NZ Herald. Send donations
to GPJA, 84 Paice Ave, Sandringham.

PICK UP LEAFLETS AND POSTERS, front porch, 84 Paice Ave, Sandringham.
Deliver to workmates, neighbours, schools, universities. Ph John 8463173 or
email jbminto@xtra.co.nz

Volunteer to help on the march as a marshal, money collector etc. Contact
Brian Ph 3737599 x85745, vandam@math.auckland.ac.nz

Buy some "Stop the War" badges $2 each, phone Mike Treen 3763780 or email
miket@pl.net

Poster available from GPJA website
http://gpja.pl.net/sub/Education/Iraq%20Publicity/war%20poster%20gpja%2022-03%20dont.pdf

Below is a special bulletin from Peace Movement Aotearoa with further ideas
on what we can do to oppose war. Links to some more articles are at the end.

18 March 2003

Kia ora,

The NZ parliament is going to debate the impending US led attack on the
people of Iraq at 2pm today. It would be particularly useful if you could
contact your MP as soon as possible to demand that the NZ government gives
no support whatsoever to this illegal and immoral war which is totally in
breach of the United Nations Charter, and international law.

The gang of three, Bush, Blair and Aznar, have announced their intention to
go it alone to forcibly remove Saddam Hussein from power - the fact that
they could not even get the support of nine members of the Security Council
to agree to their warmongering should be sufficient to deter the NZ
government from giving any support.

While it is likely that they will not offer direct military support, as for
example the Australian government is about to do, the government should go
further than that and condemn the impending war. As a practical
demonstration of their opposition to it, they must withdraw all military
co-operation with the US and Britain immediately. This alert has four
sections: 1) why all military co-operation with the US and British armed
forces should stop; 2) NZ's current involvement with the US and British
armed forces; 3) general information; and 4) contact details for politicians.

* 1) Why all military co-operation with the US and British armed forces
should stop immediately

As you may be aware, the government's Defence Policy Framework (June 2000),
states that 'New Zealand will not engage in military co-operation or
exercises with the armed forces of states which sanction the use of their
armed forces to suppress human rights.' (point 18). Waging a war of
aggression in violation of the United Nations Charter is clearly a gross
suppression of human rights of the civilian population of the country being
attacked, and on these grounds alone all military co-operation with the US
and British armed forces immediately.

In addition, the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms
Control Act (1987) prohibits any NZ citizen or a servant or agent of the
Crown from aiding or abetting ... "any person to manufacture, acquire,
possess, or have control over any nuclear explosive device" (Section 5b).

Both the US and Britain have nuclear weapons (and other weapons of mass
destruction), and the US government has threatened to use them in a
Pre-emptive strike against the people of non-nuclear weapons states - "on
11 December last year the Bush administration issued a statement publicly
warning that it reserved the "right" to respond with nuclear weapons if US
or allied armed forces were attacked with chemical or biological weapons.
Set aside the staggering double standards of the US threatening use its own
weapons of mass destruction while invading Iraq just on suspicion that it
has such weapons, let alone flouting the laws of war about proportionality.
What this means is that an Iraqi attack with crude chemical weapons which
killed, say, about 100 US troops could expect nuclear retaliation, killing
or maiming hundreds of thousands of Iraqi non-combatants and making a huge
area, possibly extending to other countries, uninhabitable for years." 'US
has hidden agenda', Robert Green,
http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cra0966.htm See also the follow up article
'How to Respond Lawfully to Iraq', http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/cra0967.htm

* 2) NZ's current involvement with the US and British armed forces
Currently, the Waihopai spybase is New Zealand's biggest contribution to US
wars - more information about Waihopai and the reasons why it should be
closed immediately is available on-line at
http://www.converge.org.nz/abc/waihopai.html

The NZ navy frigate Te Mana is currently deployed in the Gulf of Oman and
Straits of Hormuz as part of Operation Enduring Freedom - while the
government maintains it will not take part in any direct attack on the
people of Iraq, nevertheless its presence there frees up US naval units to
take part in that assault. There are NZ armed forces personnel deployed at
the US Central Command HQ in Tampa, Florida; and the US led Coalition Joint
Task Force in Bagram, Afghanistan. Details of NZDF involvement in Operation
Enduring Freedom is available in a statement from Mark Burton, Minister of
Defence, at http://www.beehive.govt.nz/ViewDocument.cfm?DocumentID=16180
The whereabouts of the NZ SAS is currently unknown due to Helen Clark's
peculiar obsession with keeping their deployment secret.

When contacting your MP, Helen Clark, Phil Goff and/or Mark Burton, it
would be useful if you demand that all of the above armed forces be
withdrawn immediately; that no further NZ military personnel be deployed to
the Middle East (with the exception of those involved in UN Truce
Supervisions Organisation on Israel's borders with Lebanon and Syria, and
those on Multinational Force and Observers duties in the Sinai); and that
you want Helen Clark to make a clear public statement that the NZ SAS are
not at this time in or near Iraq, nor will they be deployed there in the
future.

Contact details

Helen Clark, Prime Minister, email pm@ministers.govt.nz tel (04) 471 9998,
fax (04) 473 3579; Phil Goff, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, email
pgoff@ministers.govt.nz tel (04) 470 6553, fax (04) 495 8444; Mark Burton,
Minister of Defence, email mburton@ministers.govt.nz tel (04) 470 6564,
fax (04) 495 8465.

MPs can be contacted at their parliamentary office by telephoning (04) 471
9999 and asking to be put through to the respective MP; and contact details
for all MPs are available on-line at
http://www.clerk.parliament.govt.nz/YourMP/ListMPs/