NEW GCSB POWERS ARE FASCIST AND DANGEROUS WARNS MANA
Hone Harawira, Leader of MANA and MP for Te Tai Tokerau
8 May 2013
“The Government Communications Security Bureau and Related Legislation Amendment Bill is fascist and dangerous,” says MANA Leader and Tai Tokerau MP Hone Harawira. “Any government that demands this level of surveillance over its people is a direct threat to their freedom and democracy.”
“The Prime Minister was supposed to kick the GCSB’s arse for illegally spying on at least 85 Kiwis, but what he’s doing instead is ramming through, under urgency, a bill that will not only justify those unlawful actions, it will also erode NZ’s civil liberties so that the Police, the Secret Intelligence Service, the military and even private companies can get access to the GCSB spying on citizens.
“He’s granting corporations access to the private information of New Zealanders who protest their illegal procedures and unsafe products” said Harawira. “He is prioritising corporate profits over the rights of NZ citizens. It’s an absolute bloody disgrace.”
“By being able to simply list a class of people to justify a search warrant rather than provide details on specific individuals, the GCSB can now spy on every Greenpeace member, MANA member, Union member, Green Party member, Labour Party member, Amnesty International member, Oxfam member, peace activist and any Maori who has ever voiced a critical opinion.”
“It also means that the GCSB can now spy on anyone in Tuhoe just because they don’t like Tame Iti, on Ngapuhi for refusing to acknowledge the authority of the Crown, and on anyone for daring to join a picket against a corrupt employer.”
“This bill is a direct threat to the democratic process because it will allow the PM to make deeply personal information available to political appointees without justification, and opens the door to wide scale human rights abuses.”
“And because GCSB staff will receive harsh penalties under this new law if they go public with complaints about who they spy on, there’ll be even less scrutiny about what is actually happening.”
“This is military grade spying being turned on a civilian population. It is insidious, it is dangerous, it is fascist, and MANA will resist it at every stage.
By far the best comment any politician has made on this draconian legislation.
Great article. The new GCSB powers to spy on us are upsetting and despicable and this bill is a complete intrusion on New Zealanders’ right to oppose our government and other powerful people and organisations.
Anyone who says, “if you’ve got nothing to hide then you don’t need to worry,” well, let’s just put cameras in your toilet and publish all your texts and private emails, then, shall we? You’ve got nothing to hide, right?
Has the corporate media reported on Hone’s comments?
This Gilmore nonsense is a useful distraction while our civil liberties are quietly taken from us.
Maybe I’m cynical…..
“He is prioritising corporate profits over the rights of NZ citizens. It’s an absolute bloody disgrace.” I am so pleased that we have one politician who speaks the truth without the any hint of political double speak.
Good on you Hone!
John Key: the quisling that paved the way for the corporate jackboot to kick and keep this country underfoot. May you and your ilk rot in the neoliberal necropolis in hell you treacherous b*****d!
If communism is so damn evil – why are the corporations and their political supporters acting like the worst damn Stalinist the world has ever seen?
I despise this legislation so much. It institutes Big Brother.
Surely this threatens NZ’s economic well- being in respect to offshore companies not wanting their business communications spied on when they deal with NZ companies
Hone,
You are right on the button. Although I cautiously accept we need secret services, as far as I can see the legislation will impact on those seeking change to the cosy but unsavoury relationship we have with Western powers. The same powers who did not warn us about the pending French attack on the Rainbow Warrior! With “friends” like these, we do not need enemies. I would like to see any amending legistation thoroughly debated in the house after select committee examination. Fat chance though. Dictator Key will just ram things through. As an aside, hello to any spooks from GCSB or NZSIS monitoring this site. Get a proper job, guys and girls!
Well done, Hone. We need his comments broadcast far and wide. We have already seen the new police jackboot style in the Tuhoi and Dotcom raids. This is a very dangerous turning point in New Zealand’s history, where we risk heading down the chilling road of a fascist state of full blown Big Brother surveillance. Where will we turn once the powers to silence people are in place and the jackboot starts kicking our people? As a previous commentator said, the Gilmore saga is a perfect distraction. It could be seen all over Jonkey’s face tonight, as he smarmed his usual amoral smiling assassin act, hogging plenty of media time, bringing his henchmen ever closer to the starting block for New Zealand’s dictatorship. Why has the GCSB topic largely gone off the news radar, after our journos were doing so well with it? New Zealanders need to understand that the powers this government wants are the same as Hitler and Communist Russia used. Article 12 of the UN Unilateral Declaration of Human Rights prohibits surveillance of citizens and that overrides all other legislation. Social media may be the fastest way now to get the dialogue out there, to stop this toxic timebomb in its tracks. Once Kiwis fully understand the implications, there is no way it will be tolerated. We can lead the way with this issue, just as we have led the way on nuclear free.
It’s frightening enough that Jonkey is falling over himself to bring New Zealand under the iron fist of the new world order but what really scares the proverbial out of me is the thought that your average complacent Kiwi is just going to stand by and let it happen. The fact of the matter is, Mr “I Can’t Remember” and his ghastly yes-people find dissent and democratic processes a gross inconvenience which must be crushed with alacrity. I wonder if the ramparts of democracy are capable of withstanding the bombardment much longer? As the song goes, “You don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone”!
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