WAIHOPAI SPYBASE PROTEST SATURDAY JANUARY 23rd
WAIHOPAI & THE GCSB SPY ON KIWIS & FOREIGNERS
NSA SPIES ON EVERYONE
BACK TO WAR IN IRAQ
People from all around New Zealand will be converging on the super-secret Waihopai satellite interception spybase, in Marlborough, on Saturday January 23rd.
The Anti-Bases Campaign’s activities will start in Blenheim. At 10 a.m. we will assemble in the vicinity of the big roundabout on Main Street (which is also Highway 1). We will display our banners, placards, etc, where a large number of motorists and passersby will see them. We will then march through the CBD, stopping at 3 or 4 key places for speeches from: Murray Horton, ABC; Metiria Turei, Greens Co-Leader & Intelligence spokesperson; Frances Mountier, Stop The Spies, John Minto, Mana and Maire Leadbeater, veteran peace activist. The march will feature ABC’s suggestion for John Key’s new flag and Uncle Sam and “John Key” as a double act.
We will be at the Waihopai spy base main gate at Waihopai Valley Road at 1.30 p.m. There will be speakers; information will be provided on the function of the base; and there will be a peaceful protest, calling for its closure.
At 4 p.m. we will be screening “Citizen Four” (the 2014 Oscar-winning documentary about Edward Snowden) at the Nativity Church Hall, 76 Alfred St, Blenheim.
2015 brought further revelations from Edward Snowden via Nicky Hager and others that, not only have the GCSB & Waihopai been conducting mass surveillance on New Zealanders for years (as ABC has said since the spy base was first announced in 1987) but also that they have been spying on a number of other countries (from our Pacific neighbours to Bangladesh and China, on behalf of the US National Security Agency (NSA). Plus spying on Tim Groser’s rivals from other countries during his unsuccessful attempt to become head of the World Trade Organisation. The Government either completely ignored or tried to minimise these damning revelations. The “independent” Intelligence Review can be guaranteed to recommend even more repressive spying agency laws to “protect us from the terrorists”. The Government has embroiled NZ in America’s new war in Iraq (will Syria be next?).
Waihopai does not operate in the national interest of New Zealand. In all but name it is a foreign spy base on NZ soil, paid for with hundreds of millions of our tax dollars; it spies on Kiwis and foreigners; it is NZ’s key contribution to America’s global spying & war machine. Waihopai must be closed.
I am sorry to say I think protests are past their use by date. In this day & age they don’t go anywhere near to achieving their aims. I am sure there is an element of satisfaction for those taking part and there will no doubt be some media coverage but then life will go on as normal. Nothing will change. There has to be constructive dialogue with the organisations involved in order to get any meaningful change. I’m not saying that will work either but flags and banners will not change anything.
In my view the same applies to the trade deal. The last election was evidence enough that big town hall meetings are not the answer.
I will be at Waihopai as I have a number of times in the past. No one yet has come up with a better solution and at least this keeps it on the radar. I do not believe for one moment protests will ever be past their use by date these are used in other countries all the time. One of the problems I think is the numbers that actually attend, the biggest demonstrations in Aotearoa have been the Springbok tour ones followed by Nuclear Free and GE Free demos. The bigger the numbers who get out of their seats and take part the more likely we have of making change. The town hall meeting at the last election was hijacked, partly because Dotcom did not release the information which he said he was going to and because that is all the MSM focussed on. Not the stunning stuff from Snowdon and Asange. To suggest that we have constructive dialogue is to me laughable. In the case of Waihopai who do you suggest we talk to? Successive governments have colluded as per usual with the U.S.A. That is not about to happen without a complete change from capitalism as we know it.
It seems, from this link, that the chief spymasters are based in Switzerland. Worth reading and researching:
http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2015/03/1-most-censored-story-in-the-world-10-reasons-switzerland-is-home-to-cia-central-intelligence-agency-3130940.html
I had difficulty with the link and had to paste to browser.
Global Energy Network Institute: http://www.geni.org/
Sounds great but this Institute can monitor (and control) every electrical device on you and in your home/car. Probably can do other malevolent things – info all on the web for those interested in research.
Honestly it’s going to be 31 degrees at Waihopai tomorrow and I think the best protest we did was when we all got out gear off in 1994, who knows what will happen!
It got some attention back then, but I am a lot older now!