CHRISTCHURCH — Anti-war protests took place in nearly 20 centres in New Zealand over the February 15-16 weekend, from Whangarei in the north to Dunedin in the south. The largest was in Auckland, called by Global Peace and Justice, which drew around 10,000 people, according to organisers.
According to Mike Treen, one of the main Auckland organisers, calls by speakers for Labour Prime Minister Helen Clark to "get off the fence" and speak out against a US attack on Iraq, whether it is endorsed by the UN Security Council or not, got a good response from the crowd.
A popular chant was "UN or USA, no war, no way". Greens co-leader Jeanette Fitzsimons' praise for Clark's support for the Franco-German alternative plan did not seem to strike a chord. Daphna Whitmore of the Anti-Capitalist Alliance, announcing International Women's Day activities, pointed out that this plan was no alternative and all Western attempts to dominate Iraq should be opposed.
At the Wellington march, organised by Peace Movement Aotearoa, more than 7000 took part. Greens MP and foreign affairs spokesperson Keith Locke condemned any war on Iraq, regardless of whether it is US or UN-led. The mood of the Wellington crowd seemed somewhat to the left of the main organisers and was relatively anti-Clark.
In Christchurch, about 1000 people attended a peace picnic in the city. A range of left and peace groups had stalls, which did brisk business. Mustafa al Zaidi of the Middle East Information and Solidarity Collective and Ola Kamel from the Christchurch Mosque both pointed out that the Western powers had no business dictating anything to the people of the Middle East.
Although the February 15 protests were much larger than previous ones, the movement still remains far smaller in NZ than in many other countries, notably Australia. There are several reasons for this. One is that the far left, which is at the organising core of protests around the world, is especially weak in NZ. The other is that the Labour government has been relatively successful in publicly appearing to distance itself from the US position.
Labour leader Clark has been able to present the protests as much smaller than the anti-Vietnam War marches that she went to three decades ago and claims that this is because most people in NZ support the position of the government. She even refused to meet a delegation from the Auckland march organising group who protested her dismissive comments.
Clark's position is that NZ won't contribute militarily to an invasion of Iraq without a UN mandate, but neither will it criticise a US invasion if it goes ahead without such a mandate. The NZ government supports the US- and British-enforced "no-fly zones" in northern and southern Iraq, UN sanctions and the presence of UN arms inspectors and therefore is already very much complicit in the war that has been going on for over 10 years. A NZ warship helps escort US ships in the Gulf.
And, embarrassingly for the government, recent newspaper reports have revealed that the NZ SAS contingent in Afghanistan has been involved in targeting work for the US, including bombings in which civilians have been killed. Clark's government has maintained a wall of silence about NZ involvement in Afghanistan and journalists have noted it is easier to get information on US troop activity there than about what the NZ forces are up to.
While Clark is able to appear quite cocky due to the underdeveloped protest movement in NZ, she is nevertheless worried. Instructions have gone out to Labour MPs telling them not to make anti-war speeches. Given the overwhelmingly yuppie make-up of the Labour parliamentary caucus, it is unlikely that there will be any significant breaking of ranks.
Even before Clark's clampdown, Labour MPs were showing their colours. For instance, leading Labourite Ruth Dyson attended a 1000-strong January 18 protest in Christchurch. Interviewed shortly after on student radio, Dyson gushed about how great the protest was. When the interviewer asked her what she would now be doing in parliament to raise an anti-war perspective, Dyson suddenly "discovered" she had problems with her cell-phone and hung up.
The Council of Trade Unions has adopted a general anti-war position, including calling on unions to support anti-war activity. Only three unions remain affiliated to the Labour Party, which is primarily funded by business and the state these days. Anti-war pressure within the working class could further the break of the union movement from Labour.
[Philip Ferguson is an editorial collective member of the NZ-based socialist magazine Revolution.]
From Green Left Weekly, March 5, 2003.
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