New Zealanders prepare to blockade Weapons Expo next week

People from all over the country are preparing to head to Wellington for
a non-violent blockade of the annual NZDIA Weapons Expo next week.

The Expo is being held this year at the Westpac Stadium. People
interested in participating in blockading are invited to meet at 90
Waterloo Quay at 7:30 am before proceeding to the stadium.

“New Zealanders are travelling from far and wide to stop weapons dealers
from peddling death in their capital city, ” said Peace Action
Wellington spokesperson Jessie Dennis.

“The products on sale, the delegates attending, and the companies they
represent are part of a killing machine that profits from death and the
ruination of whole countries.

“War is a money-making industry and the deals made at these expos are
deadly. In 2015, then-defence minister Gerry Brownlee claimed that there
were nothing more deadly than socks and paper cups on display. Socks and
cups aren’t killing people in Yemen, Syria, and Palestine but the
weaponry sold at this expo is.

“We invite people from all walks of life to join us in resisting the
militarisation of this country.”

Groups including Auckland Peace Action, Peace Action Hamilton, People
Against Prisons Aotearoa, Palestine Solidarity Network, Whanganui
Positive Activists, It’s Our Future Manawatu, Oil Free Wellington,
Shakti Women’s Refuge, Unions Wellington, Pacific Panthers, Quakers,
Catholic Workers and many other individual social justice activists will
join the blockade.

“It’s time the government recognised that the money spent on ‘defence’
could be better spent on reducing the disgraceful levels of child
poverty in this country, or on addressing the housing crisis,” said
Dennis.

ENDS

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