Posted on 30-3-2004

Democracy, Use It Or Lose It
by Alan Marston

In any democracy, organizing private associations and groups does not have
any direct bearing on national security. Any Constitution that purports to
defend democracy (political, civil and economic rights equal for every
citizen) stipulates something like "The people shall have freedom of
assembly and association." But, influenced by personally insecure and thus
power-hungry politicians and businessmen who actually seek to maintain an
economic authoritarian tradition, leaders of countries often regard
people's assembly and association as a threat to their power.

The current proposals by the NZ Labour lead Government to legalise state
security agencies to secretly impose restrictions on NZ citizens in
respect of their democratic rights is nothing short of authoritarianism
and is a stumbling block to the universal exercise of the freedom of
association both in New Zealand and with others overseas.

The proposed new laws reflect the confusion over values that prevail when
political/economic ambition casts a shadow over democratic ideals.
Political groups, namely political parties, give themselves looser
regulations, set ups before government approval and direct access to state
security agencies. But social groups founded by individuals and the
individuals themselves are governed by another set of far more restrictive
and disempowering rules.

To monitor the internal affairs of social groups, the various incarnations
of state `security' have regulations that impose administrative controls
and constraints on matters that ought to be open and universal rights, in
particular the right to travel overseas and to live in New Zealand. Far
from passing legislation that decreases the role of non-governmental
agencies the NZ Government would do well to emulate the UN and many
democratic countries which encourage non-profit and non-governmental
organizations to participate and co-manage increasingly complex public
affairs. Instead it appears the NZ Government's power player, Helen Clark,
is determined to continue to curry favour with the global renegades, US
President Bush and his cabal.

I believe that security is highest under well lit conditions, not in the
shrouded corners of `secret services'. Legisllation should simplify the
security laws and practises to reduce government interference as much as
possible, allow access to information held by state security agencies,
lower the threshold for setting up associations of public individuals and
increase the cooperation between government and non-governmental groups.
The Ministry of the Interior should set up a task force to examine
possible amendments and hold a public hearing to collect opinions. The
government should publicly announce that, in a bid to foster a mature
civic society, it will encourage rather than repress, and serve rather
than direct, civic associations and provide the people of New Zealand with
the utmost freedom of association on the basis of trust.

The significance of modern democracy lies in the fact that everyone enjoys
basic freedoms and can achieve their goals by cooperating with others.
This has been manifested in political parties and business enterprises.
The scrapping of current proposals to increase the secret powers of the
SIS et al and replace with legislation to facilitate the above would
better enable people to fully exercise their rights as "social citizens."
Only when this happens can New Zealand continue the development of the
project called democratisation.