Global Peace And Justice Auckland Newsletter #58, April 20, 2004

Website http://www.gpja.pl.net/ Contact details: Forums - John Minto, (09) 846 3173, jbminto@xtra.co.nz; Newsletter Editor - Mike Treen 0212547440 / 3616989 miket@pl.net Web page - Geraldine Peters (09) 3765994 bern@ihug.co.nz Donations can be sent to GPJA, Private Bag 68905, Newton, Auckland. All communication regarding the GPJA mailing list (email or snail) should be addressed to gpja@xtra.co.nz

CONTENTS 1) What's On in Auckland 2) Messages: Overseas investment law changes; Fast Food campaign; Philippines Tour 3) Best on the Web: Hikoi; NZ Herald fraeup of Zaoui; Trade agreements; Antiwar; Iraq war; Afghanistan; War on freedom; Haiti; Cuba; Timor; Food; Bush the poet.

1) WHAT'S ON IN AUCKLAND

Wednesday, April 21, 7.15pm, Town Hall, Queen St " Be a whistle blower "..... Bring a whistle to the protest......The i i ( isolate israel ) campaign targets "The Jerusalem Quartet" ( Should read the WEST Jerusalem Quartet ) tour of Aotearoa / New Zealand. They are musicians with military strings attached as stated by the Jewish News of Greater Phoenix. Migrants from Russia, they have served in the army. For three, the Jewish News reported, "carrying a rifle in one hand and a violin in the other" is the ultimate Zionist statement. Though the Palestine Human Rights Campaign has asked the Quartet to denounce the occupation of Palestine and join many Israelis condemning the actions and policies of the present government lead by Ariel Sharon, our request has been ignored. We urge this Quartet to speak out against the inhumane and illegal occupation of Palestine by Israel, as did many white South Africans who spoke out against apartheid regime. PHRC, contact Tuma Hazou - 427 6527 or David Wakim - 520 0201.

Saturday 24th April, 9:30am,St Columba Centre, Vermont Street, Ponsonby, Auckland Quality Public Education Coalition Forum/AGM. TOPIC: "How important is the social context in which education takes place today?" See QPEC website for more details: www.qpec.org.nz

Wednesday, April 28 to May 8. Aotea Gallery level 4, Aotea Centre Bruno Stevens' photographs 'PALESTINE NOW' on show. Admission free. Photographic Display by International Award Winning Photo Journalist Bruno Stevens, (who has just been awarded the 1st Prize in the World Press Photo, daily life category.) 'PALESTINE NOW' will show at Aotea Gallery level 4, Aotea Centre from 28th April to the 8th May 2004. Admission free. Belgian Photographer Bruno Stevens (44) visited New Zealand in January this year to lecture on photography. "Taking pictures is not enough," he insists, "one has to show them afterwards". Unfazed by the pressure of producing exceptional work for the world's top magazines, including Time, Paris Match, the New York Times Magazine and the British Sunday Times Magazine, Stevens stresses the importance of going beneath the surface of events. This is the intention of the 17-image display 'Palestine Now', which depicts the human cost of the conflict between Israel and Palestine, and argues for peaceful solutions based on his hard-won view that "The only way to bring peace to the Israeli people is by recognizing the right of the Palestinian people to live in peace within a viable independent state of their own".

Thursday, April 29, 5.30-7.30pm, Auckland Art Gallery NZ BIG BROTHER AWARDS: The awards ceremony, a speech about privacy by Nicky Hager and refreshments. Hosted by the Auckland Council for Civil Liberties. Contenders for this year's awards include Paul Swain, Wayne Mapp, Phil Goff, Stephen Franks, Helen Clark and Deborah Coddington for worst elected representative, Baycorp and Pacific Retail Finance for worst corporate and Housing NZ, LTSA, NZ Police and WINZ for worst public agency. There will also be a Person of the Year award. Be there! For more information, contact Tim McBride phone 025 289 4127.

Saturday, May 1, 10.45pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn SITES OF STRUGGLE’: A May Day bus trip to visit various sites that have special interest and history for trade unionists. Dean Parker will provide a commentary at each of the 15 stops. $10 per head. Book by contacting Gay Simpkin at pgsimpkin@xtra.co.nz or 815 1873

Saturday, May 1, 2pm, QEII Square, Downtown. MAY DAY: March to Albert park for a 3pm Rally with music and speeches. Everyone welcome at the Maritime Club afterwards,, 68 Anzac Ave. Cash Bar available. Contact Gary Parsloe MUNZ, 021 326 261 or Linda Holt, NZNO, 0274 750 655.

Sunday, May 2, 3pm, Manaia Room, Auckland Museum "Vietnam the New Zealand Story" 150 mins in partnership with NZTV Archive. NZ's participation in the Vietnam War is examined through rare historic footage and interviews with high-level players from both the government and the peace movement.

Sunday , May 2, 5pm, 2 Conway St, Mt Eden. Planning Meeting for Mothers Day Protest- Money for Caring Not Killing. End the poverty of women and children, particularly mothers on the DPB. Stop spending on warfare, end the occupation of Iraq. All welcolme. Organised by members of the International Womens Day Committee. contact janetbogle@hotmail.com for details.

Monday, May 3, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn GPJA FORUM: Helen Te Hira speaks on "PALESTINE: WOMENS AND WORKERS RIGHTS". Helen is a union organizer in NZ and recently visited Palestine to see the situation first hand.

Monday, May 10, 11.30am-12.30pm, Shop 6 Three Lamps Plaza, 283 Ponsonby Rd. (office of Judith Tizard.) Mothers Day Protest. Money for Caring Not Killing. End the poverty of women and children. Raise the DPB to a Living wage. Stop spending on warfare. End the occupation of Iraq. Money for the Poor , not for War. Money for schools and hospitals, not soldiers and spies. Organised by members of the International Womens Day Committee. All welcolme. contact janetbogle@hotmail.com for details.

Sunday, May 16, 3pm, Manaia Room, Auckland Museum "Vietnam Under Fire". How do the Vietnamese of the 90s feel about the war and its effect on their country?

Sunday, June 6, 3pm, Manaia Room, Auckland Museum "Uncle Ho and Uncle Sam", BBC 60 mins. This film looks at the alliance between the CIA and Ho Chi Minh during the Japanese occupation of Vietnam.

Until June 6, Auckland War Memorial Museum VIETNAM EXHIBITION TO SHOW BOTH SIDES OF CONFLICT. A collection of startling, never-before-published images of the Vietnam War by North Vietnamese photographers. It will be accompanied by "Vietnam - A Kiwi Snapshot" an exhibition presenting New Zealanders' memories of power politics, protest and the sacrifice made by our own soldiers in this unpopular war. "Another Vietnam: Pictures of the War from the Other Side," presents over 100 evocative black-and-white photographs by North Vietnamese soldier-photographers who risked their lives to capture their country's struggle. Many perished - nine out of 10 did not survive. The exhibition is co-produced by the National Geographic Museum at Explorers Hall, Washington, and the International Center of Photography, New York. "Vietnam - A Kiwi Snapshot, includes photography by frontline Kiwi soldiers and documentary film footage. $8 adults, $6 concessions.

Monday, June 7, 7.30pm, Trades Hall, 147 Great North Rd, Grey Lynn GPJA FORUM: Luke Coxon speaks on "THE 2004 WORLD SOCIAL FORUM IN INDIA". Luke is a union organizer in NZ and attended the WSF for ARENA.

December 2-5, Massey University, Albany An International Interdisciplinary Conference on Restorative Justice to be held at Centre for Justice and Peace Development Massey University Albany Auckland. "NEW FRONTIERS IN RESTORATIVE JUSTICE: ADVANCING THEORY AND PRACTICE" To express interest in attending and/or to offer a presentation email newfrontiers@massey.ac.nz or write to Dr. Warwick Tie, Centre for Justice and Peace Development, School of Social and Cultural Studies, Massey University, Private Bag 102 904, North Shore MSC, Auckland. Closing date for the submission of abstracts is the 31st May 2004. Conference URL: http://justpeace.massey.ac.nz/

2) MESSAGES

URGENT ACTION NEEDED: GOVERNMENT REVIEW OF OVERSEAS INVESTMENT LAWS STRONG POSSIBILITY OF REMOVAL OF ALL SCRUTINY OF FOREIGN COMPANY PURCHASES In November 2003 the Minister of Finance Michael Cullen announced a "first principles" review of the Overseas Investment Act. The purpose of this review is twofold. • "First, to ensure that the overseas investment regime focuses on those assets of critical interest, such as certain sensitive land areas, natural resources (eg fish) and assets with historical or cultural significance (eg heritage buildings). • Second, to maintain a liberal foreign investment regime and to reduce compliance costs where this is feasible, while ensuring the government’s objectives are achieved." Treasury is leading the review with input from the Reserve Bank, Overseas Investment Commission (OIC), Ministry of Economic Development, Department of Conservation, Land Information NZ, Te Puni Kokiri, Department of Immigration and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Many of these agencies are strongly in favour of foreign investment. Cullen himself has openly questioned the need for foreign company purchases to be scrutinised at all, so long as they do not involve purchase of sensitive land. Cullen could introduce legislation to remove such oversight in June 2004, coming into force soon after. With such a tight timeframe there will only be short time for public submissions. The public need to make their voice heard now. What You Can Do About this Review • Call for a public inquiry, rather than one led by agencies such as Treasury, MFAT and the OIC which will favour the dismantling of controls. • Write to your MP and register your opposition to the weakening of the current overseas investment law and regulations. • Write to your local paper. Call talkback. • Argue for strengthening the controls over foreign investment, the conditions that are placed on it, and the monitoring that should follow. • Advocate strongly for tighter control on overseas ownership of land and fisheries. • Become informed. Join CAFCA and gain access to a wealth of information and analysis that you will not find in your local newspaper. • The Government plans to have legislation ready by June 2004, so it is important to act now.

CAFCA LEAFLET AVAILABLE CAFCA has produced a leaflet on the subject, giving considerably more detail. It is entitled "Foreign Investment In New Zealand: We Must Have The Right To Pick And Choose". A copy has been posted to every CAFCA member with the latest Foreign Control Watchdog. We want it spread far and wide, by our members and supporters. If you would like hard copies of it, please reply to this e-mail, giving your name and postal address and saying how many copies you would like. Photocopying and postage costs money, so a koha towards costs wouldn't go amiss either. Make cheques to CAFCA, at the below postal address. The leaflet can also be downloaded from CAFCA's Website. It is a PDF. You can access it at http://canterbury.cyberplace.co.nz/community/CAFCA/OIAReview1.pdf There is also a background article on the subject. You can access that at: http://www.converge.org.nz/watchdog/04/01.htm If these Links don't work, for any reason, then go to www.cafca.org.nz , and click on the Foreign Investment In New Zealand page. You'll find them both in there. Read the leaflet, read the article, and you'll see the threat contained in the review. We need your help to arouse public awareness and action on this. This leaflet is only the first step in our campaign on this review. Let's all get stuck in! Murray Horton, Secretary/Organiser, CAFCA, Campaign Against Foreign Control of Aotearoa, Box 2258, Christchurch, New Zealand. cafca@chch.planet.org.nz www.cafca.org.nz

REGISTER AS A VOLUNTEER FOR FAST FOOD UNIONISATION CAMPAIGN Recently Unite Workers Union launched a "fast food campaign" which aims to unionise workers in the fast food industry in New Zealand. We have been signing up workers at Restaurant Brands (Call Centre, KFC, Pizza Hut) and Burger King. On the weekend of Friday April 24 to Sunday April 26 we hope to mobilise a large group of volunteers across the country to visit as many of the 62 Burger King Stores as possible (although some centres will be starting earlier than that). Volunteers can also "adopt" a local store to visit several times and talk to the workers about joining. PLEASE REGISTER AS A VOLUNTEER BY EMAILING help@unite.org.nz or phoning the Unite office 0800 2 UNITE or (09) 361 6990. We will contact you discuss how you can help. Every little bit helps.

THE PHILIPPINES AND THE "WAR ON TERROR" FILIPINO HUMAN RIGHTS LEADER TO TOUR NZ APPEAL FOR FUNDS Marie Hilao-Enriquez is the head of Karapatan, one of the biggest and best known human rights groups in the Philippines, and also of Selda, the organisation of former political prisoners from the 1970s and 80s martial law dictatorship of the late Ferdinand Marcos. Marie herself was a Marcos prisoner and her family suffered badly (one sister was murdered by the military, another two siblings were imprisoned). Her topic will be: The Philippines As America's "Second Front In The War On Terror’" And The Impact On Human Rights. The tour will take place in October. She will spend two weeks in the country, starting in Christchurch and finishing in Auckland. She will also visit Dunedin, Nelson, Wellington, Palmerston North and Whangarei. We are appealing for funds. PSNA will underwrite the tour, but we definitely need financial help because to go it alone would empty our coffers. The amount needed is at least $5,000. The international fare accounts for half of that. We will keep her domestic travel costs as cheap as possible. All accommodation will be in private homes. We think that $5,000 is a realistic budget for this tour. Please make cheques to PSNA, with a note saying that it is for the Hilao-Enriquez tour. You can donate directly into our bank account (but if you do so, e-mail us with the amount and date, so that we know who it is from). Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa (PSNA), Kiwibank, 155 The Terrace, Wellington, NZ Account Number: 389000 0792619 00 Murray Horton, Secretary, PSNA, Philippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa, Box 2450, Christchurch, New Zealand. cafca@chch.planet.org.nz http://www.converge.org.nz/psn

3) BEST ON THE WEB

NEW ZEALAND Hikoi to parliament: We're marching http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0404/S00090.htm

'The Crown Baselines for Legislation on the Foreshore and Seabed' by Moana Jackson: http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/fs010404.htm '

Analysis of April Foreshore and Seabed Framework' by Te Ope Mana a Tai at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/fs070404.doc

'A few personal comments on the "new" foreshore/seabed policy' by David Williams http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/fs070404a.htm

The Waitangi Tribunal report is available at http://www.waitangi-tribunal.govt.nz/reports/generic/wai1071foreshore/

NZ Herald frameup of Zaoui http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0404/S00085.htm

PM misleads over China trade agreement http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0404/S00087.htm

Report Accuses Oz & NZ Of Bullying Pacific On Trade Pacific governments must draw back their veil of secrecy and engage in open, informed, and participatory debate and discussions with their people on the trade and political negotiations they are drawn into, says the Pacific Network on Globalisation (PANG). See... No more secret negotiations - PANG [1] MORE: - PANG - Launch of Trade Report [2] & Report Accuses Australia & NZ Of Bullying Pacific [3] - Full Kelsey Report - Professor Jane Kelsey: Big Brothers Behaving Badly [4] - Greens - Free trade spells disaster for Pacific Islands [5] [
1] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0404/S00028.htm

[2] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0404/S00027.htm

[3] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0404/S00026.htm

[4] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0404/S00030.htm

[5] - http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0404/S00091.htm

Stop failing the poor, Council for International Development http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/PO0404/S00074.htm

Big Brother Seen Lurking In American Visitor Changes Green MP Keith Locke is warning that US plans to fingerprint and photograph everyone visiting that country could lead to a universal ID system, with huge ramifications for individual freedoms and human rights. See... Big Brother is watching...and fingerprinting http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA0404/S00081.htm

ANTIWAR International call for an independent assembly of the Iraqi people http://www.spectrezine.org/war/Appeal.htm UK: Premier Creeps To Texan Idiot: It was embarrassing. More than that, it should disgust every voter in the United Kingdom where - if Blair has his way - our destiny is tied ineluctably to the murderous bully boys in Washington. http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/allnews/page.cfm?objectid=14154586&method=full& siteid=50143

IRAQ WAR Mutiny in the Ranks; Neophyte Iraqi soldiers refused to follow U.S. orders only to find themselves stripped of their jobs—and their uniforms http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4766616/ Report from Falluja http://www.opendemocracy.net/debates/article-2-95-1843.jsp How GI bullies are making enemies of their Iraqi friends http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/04/11/1081621841048.html Uprising in Iraq shows Muslim unity http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A56091-2004Apr6.html

http://www.upi.com/view.cfm?StoryID=20040406-035654-8564r 200,000 rally against occupation http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1189295,00.html An Iraqi intifada: Now the war is being fought in the open, by people defending their homes, Naomi Klein in Baghdad http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1190300,00.html "I want heads to roll," US President George W. Bush told top US officials here last week. And rolled they have. More than 500 Iraqis have died as violence engulfed Iraq in the past week. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid =1081577940272 Israel trains US assassination squads in Iraq: Israeli advisers are helping train US special forces in aggressive counter-insurgency operations in Iraq, including the use of assassination squads against guerrilla leaders, US intelligence and military sources said yesterday. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1102869,00.html Iraq's enemy within: The governing council is as responsible as the US-led occupation forces for Iraq's rapid slide into chaos and bloodshed. They have been watching in silence while Iraqis have been killed in Basra, Nassiriya, Kirkuk, Amara, Baquba, Kut, Kerbala and Najaf. http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,1189396,00.html

AFGHANISTAN Civil war fear as Afghan city falls to warlord : The forces of General Abdul Rashid Dostum, a special adviser to President Hamid Karzai, who is known for crushing his prisoners under tanks, invaded the northern province of Faryab on Wednesday, according to officials. http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1188797,00.html Warlords, Government ministers seize homes of poor http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2004/04/11/world/afghan_poor040411 Record poppy crop makes mockery of Afghanistan's 'jihad' on opium http://news.independent.co.uk/world/asia/story.jsp?story=512488

WAR ON FREEDOM 'US is bigger threat than terror: Globalisation and the US pose a more serious threat to the world than war and terrorism, according to a BBC poll. BBC World asked 1,500 viewers of its news and international channel for the biggest problems in the world with 52% saying the US and globalisation. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3613217.stm The Invisible Men: Canadian inquiry may reveal CIA secrets on outsourcing torture http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0413/fahim.php When U.S. Aided Insurgents, Did It Breed Future Terrorists? http://truthout.org/docs_04/041104H.shtml Colin Powell – the true story http://www.consortiumnews.com/archive/powell.html

HAITI Witnesses: U.S. Special Forces Trained and Armed Haitian Anti-Aristide Paramilitaries in D.R. http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=04/04/07/1527256

CUBA Cuba a bioweapon threat to US! http://dailytelegraph.news.com.au/story.jsp?sectionid=1274&storyid=1132851 Video: Oliver Stone's Comandante: Never before seen by a U.S. audience: Comandante was banned from the New York Tribeca film festival and HBO postponed its broadcast stating that current events made the film 'incomplete'. http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6004.htm GM will never be grown in Britain http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/environment/story.jsp?story=508201

EAST TIMOR In his latest column in the New Statesman, John Pilger describes how East Timor - independent after almost a quarter of a century of genocidal attack by Indonesia, backed by the West - is being cheated of its oil by Australia. http://pilger.carlton.com/print/133225 Movement Against the Occupation of the Timor Sea http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0404/S00132.htm Timor-Leste: UN dragging its heals on Justice http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/WO0404/S00129.htm

THE RIGHT TO FOOD The latest report of the UN's Special Rapporteur on the right to food is highly critical of the role of the WTO, the IMF, the World Bank and transnational corporations in worsening world hunger and malnutrition. The Rapporteur, Jean Ziegler, recommends that 'models of export-oriented agriculture that threaten the livelihoods of millions of peasant farmers should be reviewed' and that 'food sovereignty be considered as an alternative model for agriculture and agricultural trade, in order to meet State obligations to respect, protect and fulfill the right to food'. Download the report from http://www.unhchr.ch/Huridocda/Huridoca.nsf/ (Symbol)/E.CN.4.2004.10.En?Ope nd ocument

GEORGE BUSH, ZEN POET This is a short poem made up entirely of actual quotations from George W. Bush. These have been arranged, only for aesthetic purposes, by Washington Post writer, Richard Thompson. A poem like this is too good not to share.

MAKE THE PIE HIGHER

I think we all agree, the past is over. This is still a dangerous world. It's a world of madmen and uncertainty And potential mental losses.

Rarely is the question asked Is our children learning? Will the highways of the Internet Become more few?

How many hands have I shaked? They misunderestimate me. I am a pitbull on the pantleg of opportunity.

I know that the human being And the fish can coexist. Families is where our nation finds hope, Where our wings take dream.

Put food on your family! Knock down the tollbooth! Vulcanize society! Make the pie higher! Make the pie higher!

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