Playing the fear card – Key’s last frantic gamble

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As public opinion continues to move strongly against John Key’s big brother surveillance legislation (the GCSB Bill and Telecommunications Interception Capability and Security Bill) the Prime Minister announced on breakfast radio last Thursday that Yemeni-trained Al Qaida-supporting kiwis are amongst us here which is why we need this spy legislation.

Key’s big claim was made just a few hours before this much derided and dangerous legislation was due to be reported to parliament for its second reading.

Key’s dramatics were deliberate and calculated scaremongering – a frantic effort to get public support for these two particularly nasty pieces of legislation which dramatically extend the power of state agencies to spy on New Zealanders.

Generating fear is a tried and true method to get public support for unpopular measures – applying in all places and at all times in human history.

Key needs fear to get this legislation through. However this legislation is not about keeping us safe but rather it’s about keeping the flow of intelligence from Waihopai to the US so it can pursue its global military and commercial objectives more easily.

The role of the GCSB and its Waihopai spybase is well told in this great piece of music from kiwi Jeff Simmonds – send this link around your friends and family – every kiwi should see this:

It seems Key’s playing the fear card has not had the impact he might have hoped for and that’s a good sign. New Zealanders are beginning to wake up to the massive powers our secretive state agencies have been given to spy on us over the past 12 years.

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The fear card has been played dramatically in the US in the last few days also where its government is on the back foot following revelations by whistleblowers Bradley Manning and more recently Edward Snowden.

Bradley Manning was convicted last week of leaking to Wikileaks masses of classified US government communications while Edward Snowden blew the whistle on his government’s secret mass surveillance of US citizens.

After Snowden’s revelations in particular US public opinion is shifting to seeing these men as whistleblowers and heroes rather than criminals. How timely then for the US government to ratchet up fear by closing 21 embassies and consulates from North Africa to Afghanistan and issuing travel warning to US citizens claiming they and the country are under threat from Al Qaida attacks. All too convenient.

Serious terrorist attacks against US interests have taken place but the source of the problem is not Al-Qaida but rather US foreign policy as it bombs, blasts and murders its way across the world to extend its global control at the expense of democracy, human rights and human lives.

The greatest danger we face from terrorism arises from our foreign policy being aligned with the US. We are therefore part of the global terrorism problem.

7 COMMENTS

  1. Is it a coincidence that earlier this week Key claimed GCSB was spying on Kiwi Al Qaeda operatives in Yemen
    Then, days later, NSA warns world of terror threat; is the GCSB and Waiohapai so import to the Gang of Five they need to scare little old NZ into passing the amendment ?

    • The social engineering tactics Key is using, obviously provided by his FiveEyes overlords, look cliche to anyone who’s even taken a cursory look at historical propaganda techniques and the effects they can ultimately have…

      The outcomes for civil liberties never end well with these tried and tested tactics Key is using, it’s ironic that now the mainstream media have been attacked, that some much louder, real and socially responsible investigative journalism related to this government’s feral behaviour, is finally taking place.

      • I totally agree however it appears the average citizen is not concerned enough to do anything about it. we can scream and yell all we want but if the public, which is as usual, complacent do not act this will become a law!!! After all it is the public that voted the American clone into office. It is the attitude that “I have nothing to hide” that drives this. self contentedness, lack of understanding of the big picture and no desire to learn. Outrageous.

    • Yeah, I noticed that as well, Gruntie…

      Obama is having his own GCSB/NSA and media spying problem in the US. It seems that both Dear Leader Key and Big Leader Obama have been playing loose with their respective spooks…

  2. Thanks John Minto for reminding us of this important facet of the GCSB saga, that our independent foreign policy is in tatters and this alignment has become obvious and embarrassing when JohnKey has made off the cuff remarks about military intervention when in Korea etc. I noted with interest a NationalParty supporter worrying that John Key is a CIA plant who is kowtowing to Imperial power, in response to Armstrong’s latest opinion piece. When even his former supporters are publicly stating this everyone else should be convinced. But public apathy may be as frustrating as ever however I live in hope maybe this will wake up the nation?

  3. Somewhat Ironic that 3/4 of a century ago a little man with a strange mustache used the pretense of fear of the Jews to solidify his power base, and NZ Servicemen paid dearly to reject that notion, now we have a Prime Minister born into that faith, a faith that was saved from eradication by those that found it despicable using the very same tactics to try and secure his power base.

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