Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua

Haere Atu Condoleezza

2008-07-26T21:10:00.010+10:00

Dr Rice flew into a storm in more ways than one after touching down in Auckland late last night – a once in a decade storm bearing down on Auckland forced the cancellation of a powhiri planned for 11am

Well its seems that Tawhirimatea had no interest in providing an easy passage for a war criminal on our whenua.

And she was met in Tamakimakaurau with Protest, Outrage and Disgust

Spurred on by a bounty of $10,000, 150 protesters challenged her presence in New Zealand. They called for her arrest under the Geneva Convention for war crimes and the sanctioning of torture

Rice will accompany Winston Peters to a meeting in Apia, Samoa to meet Pacific Island leaders 'a gutless bunch of lickspittles that stomp about, protesting at interference in internal affairs, but fend off input from their own peoples as vigorously as any neocolonialist'. What's clear is that the United States are entrenching their economic, military & political presence in the Pacific. As the occupation of Iraq "winds down "we now see the US focus on Te Moana Nui a Kiwa (the Pacific). This was reiterated at the joint press conference Rice had with the nz settler grubbymen t.

"Samoa will not sacrifice its culture on the altar of Globalization"
-Misa Foni, Deputy Prime Minister, Samoa

With the relocation of the US army base from Onkinawa to Guam, against the express wishes of the Chamoru Peoples who are fighting to be decolonised from the United States. As occupied Hawaiihas proven, US Militarisation and globalisation is unsustainable, damaging, conflict-ridden, and excluding and is used as a pretext to gain control over the natural resources in indigenous traditional lands without adequate compensation.The United States were one of the four settler states that voted against the Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous peoples last year. The history of their lack of support for Indigenous rights to self determination in the Pacific is loud and clear.

Like New Zealand the USA, is a colonial settler state, based on invasion, dispossession and colonisation. Its past 30 years of free market fundamentalism must be understood in the context of an ongoing colonial occupation of Native lands and resources on which the American nation-state is based. As we faced last century, today Indigenous peoples of the Pacific are facing the onslaught of globalisation, trans national corporations and the neo colonialism of the USA.

Condaleezza's slavish adherence to neo liberal orthodoxy see the pressure on for an FTA between NZ & the US. The reality neo liberalism for us in the Pacific means the exploitation of labour and natural resources. It means the rampant widespread of poverty in the Pacific and the degradation and exploitation of our oceans, habitats, flora and fauna. Colonisation in the Pacific continues in the models of development that are being sold through a masquerade of trade, governance & security.

Pacific peoples are more than pawns in someone elses power play. The economic,militarily & strategic and interests of the United States are at complete odds to culture and values we have in the Pacific.

Haere Atu Condaleezza you are not welcome , get out of Aotearoa , get out of the Pacific.

AFP accused of secrecy over Haneef

2008-07-26T20:12:00.007+10:00

Mohamed Haneef

The Australian Federal Police has been accused of denying Gold Coast doctor Mohamed Haneef a lawyer and the chance to protest his innocence before a magistrate when he was arrested last year.

- New transcripts surface
- Claims AFP may have broken law
Continues here

Should He Stay or Should He Go?

Keetley Expired?

Cyber bandit sabotages top cop

anti terror law protest bankstown

Do YOU support a Free Trade Agreement with the US?

2008-07-25T22:37:00.000+10:00

Many New Zealanders believe that a New Zealand-US free trade agreement would put all of Aotearoa up for sale to US corporations by “removing barriers” to US corporate control and by allowing US corporations to sue the New Zealand government for threatening their profits.

Click on image for a larger version

Our World Is Not For Sale | Auckland, Friday 25 July 2008

Do YOU support a Free Trade Agreement with the US?

Press Release - For Immediate Release
ourworldisnotforsale.wordpress.com/

NZ is not for sale

Do YOU support a Free Trade Agreement with the United States?

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is arriving in Auckland this Friday night and will be having meetings in Auckland on Saturday with Winston Peters, Helen Clark and John Key among others. She will also be meeting with the US-NZ Council who will be trying to push for a free trade deal between New Zealand the United States.

A free trade agreement will not be in either country’s best interest and we must continue to oppose the neoliberal free trade agenda.

A free trade agreement would allow US corporations to sue the New Zealand government for threatening the profits of U.S. companies effected by the agreement. Many New Zealanders believe that it puts all of Aotearoa up for sale to US corporations. Their free trade agreement will “remove barriers” to US corporate control. Changes could include:

- Privatisation of New Zealand’s water, schools and hospitals.

- Removal of environmental, water quality and public health protections to make way for massive increases in Dairy production to feed the U.S. market

- Banning labelling of genetically engineered food.

- End to government subsidies of medicines in New Zealand

A protest march to her state welcoming at Government House will be held to tell her that she is NOT welcome here. This will be followed by a protest from 3.15pm outside the Langham Hotel in Symonds Street where she is scheduled to meet National Party Leader John Key. There is also a $5000 reward offered by the Auckland University Students Association for any student who places Condoleezza Rice under a Citizen’s Arrest.

Saturday 26th July
1:30pm at Auckland Domain cnr Carlton Gore and Parks Roads
3:15pm outside the Langham Hotel on Symonds Streeet
Bring noise makers, placards and banners

On the 11th of September 2007 - The U.S. and New Zealand delegations made up of U.S. and NZ corporate and business interests attempted to hold a preliminary meeting in Auckland to discuss the future of such a free trade agreement.

The forum organisers had originally planned to host the event at the Auckland war memorial museum. However, much evidence suggests that in light of information gathered via surveillance of New Zealanders opposed to the Trade agreement in the run up to the event the organisers were forced to employ between 60 and a hundred of police officers to barricade themselves into the hotel they were staying at and hold the event there instead. Unlike the millionaires and corporate CEOs, the New Zealand public was largely kept in the dark about the forums existence.

Despite this, several hundred turned up and peacefully protested outside the event. The social reprecussions of such an agreement for New Zealanders have been completely ignored with most media focusing on New Zealand delegates sidestepping of the serious issues instead making congratulatory comments about how New Zealand’s students will now be able to get longer working holiday visas to the U.S.

The OUR WORLD IS NOT FOR SALE campaign was formed around building the protests at the September 2007 US-NZ Partnership Forum, the global justice campaign aims to build public support and organisation against the signing of any form of free trade agreement between the United States and New Zealand.

source: Scoop

Pacific NGOs angered over Pacific Forum leaders meeting

2008-07-25T21:55:00.000+10:00

Updated 5 hours 51 minutes ago

A number of Non-government organisations in the Pacific say they are angry after again being barred from a meeting of Pacific Island Forum officials in Suva.

The meeting was held ahead of the Forum leaders conference on Niue in August.

Katabwena Tawaka, from the Pacific Island Association of NGO's, has told our Pacific Beat program it's the second consecutive year their accreditation has been denied with no reason given

"If there's ethics of good government and transparency, what is their to hide? Aren't they working for the people?" he said.

"We are working for the people too and their should be transparency - that's why we believe that if we are there we'll be able to transmit the voices heard in this meeting to our people back home at the grass roots level."

FTA on agenda for War Criminal Rice talks

2008-07-25T15:54:00.003+10:00

Jul 25, 2008 3:40 PM

A free trade agreement between New Zealand and the US is expected to be on the agenda when the Prime Minister meets with the US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

Rice arrives in New Zealand on Friday night and will hold talks with Helen Clark and Foreign Minister Winston Peters on Saturday.

The NZ US Council Chairman, former prime minister Jim Bolger, says they will have a number of issues to discuss including the possibility of a free trade deal.

He says the politicians are also likely to talk about the unstable economic climate worldwide.

Bolger says international security and the development of Pacific nations will also be a talking point, before Rice travels to Samoa with Peters to meet with Pacific Forum Foreign Ministers.

Aborigines want end to NT intervention

2008-07-25T12:22:00.000+10:00

July 25, 2008 - 11:14AM

Thousands of Aborigines are petitioning to have the Northern Territory intervention abandoned.

Activists say their petition will be tabled in federal parliament in mid-September to coincide with the end of the Rudd government's 12-month review into radical measures to combat child sex abuse.

Organisers of the petition have warned that Labor is at risk of repeating the mistakes of the Howard government.

The campaigners from Central Australia on Friday backed calls from Arnhem Land, where elders earlier this week met with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and urged him to abandon key aspects of the reforms.

In a statement signed by Northern Land Council chair Wali Wungamurra and 52 traditional owners, they demanded the scrapping of "intervention bureaucracy".

The statement, which claims to represent more than 8,000 indigenous people, described the Income Management (IM) system, which quarantines 50 per cent of payments to prevent them being spent on alcohol or drugs, as "punitive".

Instead, they advocate implementation on a case-by-case basis.

Since coming to power in November last year, the Rudd government has already rolled back some of the reforms and reinstated the permit system and Aboriginal-work-for-the-dole.

But Mr Rudd has maintained the new government will not tinker further with the reforms until it had considered the findings of three-person review, headed by West Australian Aboriginal leader Peter Yu.

Anti-Intervention campaigner Barbara Shaw, from a town camp in Alice Springs, on Friday urged Mr Rudd not to ignore the elders' concerns.

"It's good to see people standing up," she said.

"Many more should feel confident to follow the lead of these elders. We share their frustration and anger ... .

"It's unacceptable for the federal government to brush our concerns aside and leave everything to the work of the review."

Amala Groom, from the Stop the Intervention Collective based in Sydney, said a protest was being organised in Central Australia from September 29 to October 5, to coincide with the end of the review.

"They can't claim to be bringing in a new era of indigenous affairs whilst their policies bring on this latest stage of dispossession," she said.

Ms Groom said a petition calling for an end to the intervention, "which already has thousands of signatures", will be tabled in federal parliament in mid-September.

Australia, NZ to train Pacific trade negotiators

2008-07-25T11:07:00.001+10:00

Radio Strayaliea reports

Australia and New Zealand have offered to train trade negotiators who would act on behalf of Pacific island nations under the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations.

Forum trade ministers concluded their meeting in the Cook Islands agreeing that PACER - a guide for a trade and economic relationship between Australia and New Zealand and Pacific island countries - is still work in progress.

Our reporter, Ulamila Wragg, says Australia announced its trade fellowship program to help forum island countries in negotiations under PACER, starting in September this year.

Australia also says it will assist island countries undertake national studies to inform them of their engagement in PACER Plus - an agreement extension to include deepening trade and economic cooperation between all member countries.

New Zealand also provided $US378,000 to fund activities for trade facilitation programs this year and next.

The Latin Americanist: New report blasts trade policies

2008-07-25T08:13:00.000+10:00

A report released last week by the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) and the Global Development and Environment Institute (GDAE) at Tufts University takes aim at the US trade policies in the region.

The report, titled The Promise and the Perils of Agricultural Trade Liberalization: Lessons from Latin America, reviews a number of real-life impacts of US-influenced trade policies that negatively affect the immigration (mostly via NAFTA) and small-scale farmers across the region.

The report makes a strong case for considering the human effects of trade policies designed predominantly to spur growth and productivity for the "haves" of the hemisphere.

According to WOLA's press release:

“This report comes at an important time...WOLA’s Policy makers in the region, and the U.S., have to re-think the whole package of policies they’ve adopted in recent years. The new administration and Congress will have the opportunity to reconsider U.S. support for trade liberalization policies and move toward financially supporting small producers who supply local and regional markets.”

The release of the report happened to coincide with President Bush's renewed urging of Congress this week to pass the pending trade agreement with Colombia that has been stalled for months.

Legislation bringing in China FTA passed

2008-07-24T22:13:00.000+10:00

Parliament has passed legislation which will bring in the Free Trade Agreement with China on October 1 and the Government says it represents a historic advance in New Zealand's trading relationships.

The New Zealand-China Free Trade Agreement Bill passed its third reading on a vote of 104 to 17, strongly supported by the National Party and opposed by the Greens, New Zealand First and the Maori Party.

Trade Minister Phil Goff said being the first developed country to sign an FTA with China would bring major benefits for exporters.

"Initial tariff cuts will take place on October 1, resulting in the immediate elimination of tariffs on over $200 million worth of current New Zealand exports to China," he said.

"By 2017, tariffs on 96 percent of New Zealand's exports to China, which currently cost exporters $120 million a year, will be phased out."

Mr Goff said that would give New Zealand companies a unique competitive advantage in the world's fastest growing economy.

"Our exports to China, currently at more than $2 billion a year, are estimated to grow by between $230-350 million a year faster than they would have without an FTA."

Written by Hone Harawira

Tuesday, 22 July 2008

I te hui a tau o te Roopu Haina ki Aotearoa i tera tau, i puta te korero a te ahorangi a Makere Mutu, kia mahi tahi te Maori me te Hainamana, kia haere whakamua, a raua wawata, haerenga tangata.

At the annual conference of the New Zealand Chinese Association last year, Professor Margaret Mutu told the hui that Maori and Chinese should work together to advance their political agendas.

Ko Mutu he uri no Ngati Kahu, no Te Rarawa, no Ngati Whatua hoki, a nana te kii, kua hohonu haere te whanaungatanga, i waenganui i te Maori me te iwi o Haina.

Mutu, of Ngati Kahu, Te Rarawa and Ngati Whatua whakapapa told the conference of the significant relationship that had developed between tangata whenua and Chinese.

Ki a ia, ka puta tenei whanaungatanga i te mahi kaikiri a tauiwi – ki a ia “Kei te pehia, kei te whakaparahakotia, taua tahi”

It was, in her words, a relationship formed in reaction to Pakeha racism - "We are both oppressed and discriminated against."

Tera te piri tahi e whakaaro nei au, i au e wananga ana i tenei pire, ara, te Pire Hokohoko, Kore Utu o Aotearoa me Haina.

It is that relationship I think of in considering the New Zealand China Free Trade Agreement Bill.

E hangaia ana he ara, kia watea ai te uru atu o nga taonga hokohoko, me nga putea whakangao ki Haina; a, a tona wa, kia tangohia nga here utu kei runga i nga taonga o Niu Tireni, me te whakawatea ano, i te haere o nga kai-pakihi ki Haina.

The pathway is being set for increasing access New Zealand trade and investment in China; for the removal over time of tariffs on current exports to China, from expanding the movement of business people.

Inaianei, kua tau mai te honore he Whenua Aronui a Aotearoa, me ona tikanga kore here, kia orite a tatou kaiwhakarato moni, ki era ake o te ao. Ko te korero, ka penei i te mea, koia nei te oranga mo Aotearoa.

We are now being honoured with the treatment of a “Most Favoured Nation” non-discrimination provision to ensure that our investors remain no worse off than investors of any other countries. It’s all being painted as a major development, as fundamental to the future economic wellbeing of Aotearoa.

Na te aha i riro i a tatou, te tuunga “Whenua Aronui”?

So how did we earn this rapid escalation to be the ‘most favoured nation’?

Na te aha i riro i a tatou tera tunga, hakoa mai rano to matou whakaiti i a ratou i roto i nga ture, me nga kaupapa, hei kati kia noho-ki-waho, era e ki ana e te tuhinga tawhito, ko te “taniwha kowhai”.

How could we achieve this, based on a history of consistently passing laws against the Chinese, of creating policies to restrict and exclude what the history books describe as the ‘yellow peril’?

He korero tawhito tenei kia kaua te Hainama e uru mai nei, ki Niu Tireni. Ka kitea enei korero i te tatau taake i te tau 1881, e orite ana ki te utu o te Hainamana mo nga tau e wha ki te ono.

This is a history to keep the Chinese out of New Zealand; a history that derives its source from the 1881 poll tax which was the equivalent of between four to six years earning for a Chinese person at the time.

Kotahi rau pauna kia haramai ki konei, kia utaina nga korero whakaparahako ki runga i a ratou, nga korero he paruparu, he tahumaero, he tahawahawa, a, he whakakinotanga.

£100 to come here, to be subjected to attitudes associating Chinese people with terms like filth, dirt, disease, contamination and degradation.

I whakaritea, ko te tekau ma rima anake nga Hainamana, kia haramai i runga tima i te wa kotahi.

Limits were set on the numbers of Chinese able to travel to New Zealand –a limit of only 15 Chinese passengers per ship.

I tohua ano he whakamatautau kia mohio mai ratou i nga kupu Ingarihi kotahi rau, engari i tupurangi te whiriwhiri o te kupu. Tae atu ki te tau 1920, i tohua ma te tiwhikete whakaaetanga anake, ka uru mai. Tae atu ki te tau 1925, i tohua te Kawanatanga kia kaua te wahine e uru mai, kia kore tona iwi e whakarahi atu.

A reading test of one hundred English words chosen at random was imposed; and in 1920 entry was only allowed by permit. In 1925, the Government decided to exclude women from the quota in an effort to prevent reproduction.

Tae atu ki te tau 1951, e kore taea te Hainamana kia tu hei iwi whenua, a, tae atu ki te tau 1965, ka taea tonu te pirihimana kia uru atu ki roto i nga whare a te Hainamana, i raro i te ture “Rahui i te Rongoa Whakamoe”, ahakoa horekau he pukapuka whakaae.

Up until 1951, the Chinese were not allowed to be naturalised; and up until 1965, under the Opium Prohibition Act, Police were able to enter any Chinese home without a search warrant.

Ka mutu, ko nga ture kai-kiri, kia kore ai nga toa hoko hua rakau, horoi kakahu, hoko kai hoki o te Hainamana, e tukituki i nga toa o te Pakeha.

Finally, a series of laws were passed to stop Chinese fruit shops, laundries and groceries from competing against Europeans.

Na, i runga i tenei tu momo hitori, kai-kiri, whakahawea i nga Hainamana, he aha te take e tino hiakai ana tenei kawanatanga, kia whakaritea i tetahi tiriti ki a Haina.

So how is it, that in a land with such a shameful history of exclusion and institutional racism against the Chinese, the Government is suddenly bending over backwards to become party to a treaty with China.

He aha te tikanga nei, kia hurikoaro te kotahi rau tau o nga whakaiti, tukinotia, kia hoa tahi tatou ki a Haina?

What has been the dramatic turnaround to reverse over a century of racism into a determination to develop ties with the region?

Maumahara mai ki nga kupu a Mutu - “Kei te pehia, kei te whakaparahakotia, taua tahi”

Remember Margaret Mutu’s words – “We are both oppressed and discriminated against."

Kotahi anake te kaupapa hei tautoko i tenei pire. Kia peke ki te tuara o tenei whenua tino kaha rawa, kia watea ai te iwi nui nei hei hoko taonga. Ko te wawata kia whai moni a Niu Tireni i te iwi rawa, o Haina.

There is one motive for this free trade agreement. It is about jumping on the back of an economic super-power and gaining access to the largest consumer market in the world. It is about the forlorn hope that New Zealand will make money from the wealth of a burgeoning Chinese middle class.

Engari, he whakaaetanga koura tënei, kaore ranei?

But is this agreement all it’s worth in gold or not?

Kahore te roopu whakawä i mohio, mënä ka kitea koe ki nga korero i tae mai ki te Komiti hei whakatau.

The jury is out when you look through the submissions that came into the Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Select Committee.

15 i tautoko, 12 ki runga i te taiapa, 27 e kore e whakaae.

Fifteen supported it; twelve were neutral and twenty seven opposed the deal.

Ahakoa te tini o nga Yuan i te ao, kore taea te whakarerekë, he nui ake era e kore whakaäe, ki era i whakaae.

All the Yuan in the world doesn’t change the fact that the numbers of NO outnumbered the YES votes.

Ka hoki mai ki tera rereketanga, o te tuunga Whenua Aronui i tetahi ringa, ki te mahi whakahawea tangata i tera atu.

It comes back to the fundamental mismatch between being ‘most favoured nation’ on one hand, with a past that is less worthy.

I whakaae ake te Komiti Whakawa, ko te tikanga a tangata i Haina a ”he nui, he rahi ona raruraru”

The Select Committee acknowledged, yes the human rights record in China has “many and substantial imperfections”.

I whakaae taua komiti, i mohio ratou ki nga awangaawanga kua korerohia, mo nga mahi takahi tangata i Haina.

The Select Committee acknowledged, yes, they were very conscious about the legitimate concerns raised about human rights in China.

Engari i te mutunga, ki nga paati nui, horekau he awangawanga.

But when cash came to crunch, the ruling parties didn’t care.

Tika ana te whakaräpopoto a UNITE. Ko te FTA nei, he kaupapa mo te painga o nga kai pakihi, ehara mo te painga o nga kai mahi, nga whanau, nga iwi kei tawahi, kei te kainga ränei. Ko nga whakaaro mo rätau, kei muri noa atu.

Unite summed it up. The FTA policy is designed to serve interests of big business – with the interests of workers, of families, the people abroad or at home who have to suffer the consequences are very much a secondary concern.

E whakapono ana a UNITE, ko te FTA nei, he mahi tukituki, kia whakaiti te utu o nga kaimahi o konei, i te whakataetae utu ki nga taonga i Haina.

Unite believes that the FTA will create competition and drive our own internal wages and work conditions down, as firms struggle to compete with Chinese imports.

Na te mahi a nga kai pakihi nui, i waho atu o te ture o tenei whenua, ka whakaiti te mana o te käwanatanga whakahaere a iwi, rangatiratanga hoki.

The opportunity for big business to trade outside of government influence or control, in its effects, serves to both erode democracy and economic sovereignty.

Ki ta Ahorangi Jane Kelsey ki te Komiti, ko te mate o te tohu Whenua Aronui, koia ko te hinga o te rangatiratanga o te käwanatanga, ia FTA, ia FTA.

What Professor Jane Kelsey also brought to the attention of the committee is that the Most Favoured Nation obligations mean that each new FTA will have the domino effect of removing foreign investments further from control of parliament.

Ahakoa e whakahokia mai ana te mana whakahaere o nga kaupapa a tängata ki te käwanatanga, i te mea e kore te kaupapa mäkete e whakamana ana i a Niu Tireni, engari ko nga FTA nei, ko rerekë atu ki taua whakapono.

So at a time when government is re-regulating services and resuming state ownership because the market model does not serve the national interest, it is acting in quite the other direction in pursuing Free Trade Agreements such as this.

Kore taea e matou o te Paati Maori, te tautoko i tenei Pire.

The Maori Party cannot support this Bill.

He nui a matou äwangawanga, mo nga mahi takahi tangata, a Haina.

We have ongoing concerns about China’s human rights record.

He äwangawanga hoki, mo nga taonga ka utaina e Haina, ki runga i a tatou.

We have ongoing concerns about the potential for China to dump goods on our domestic markets.

He awangawanga ta mätou, mo nga mahi kia ngaro.

We have ongoing concerns about the potential loss of jobs in our manufacturing sector.

He mahi tinihanga hoki tënei, kia tukua mai te pepa nei kia tirohia. Kua oti te whakarite me pehea ra te haere, kua tamokohia nga pepa. Kua oma ke te hoiho, he moumou taima te kati i te keeti. E mara whakamutu atu.

And we believe that being allowed the opportunity to scrutinise the FTA at this stage of the proceedings, only after it has been signed, makes the whole select committee process a farce.

Ko te iti o te utu, ko te kore e aro ki nga kaupapa whakaruru kaimahi, ko te kore e manaaki i te taiao, ko nga taumahatanga ka tau ki runga i o tatou kaimahi, ko enei katoa nga ähuatanga, e kore matou e tautokongia i tenei pire

The cheap labour, the weak health, safety and environmental standards, the poor protection of workers, the adverse impacts that will be suffered by New Zealand workers are all reasons why we can not support this Bill.

Kua rongo ripoata mätou, e rima miriona nga tamariki i raro i te tau tekau ma rima, e mahi ana mo nga haora roroa, mo te utu iti noa. E rima miriona nga take nei, kia kaua mätou e tautoko i tenei Pire.

The reports of some five million Chinese children under the age of fifteen, lumbered with long hours for low pay, are five million more reasons why we are voting against this Bill.

Ko nga iwi whenua e kore nei i kitea i nga Whakataetae o te Ao, te tini o rätou no Tibet kua mauheretia. E kore taea te aro ake, mo era momo mahi tukino.

The dissidents being hidden out of the radar of the Olympic spotlight, the hundreds of Tibetans being imprisoned, the international stigma of China’s human rights issues can not simply be ignored.

Me mihi atu kia nga kaipakihi Maori, nga roopu a iwi hoki, e whai ana i te oranga mo o ratou ake uri, kia whai whakaaro, kia whai putea, mo ratou.

We fully respect the right of organisations, of iwi, of Maori businesses, to take up the opportunity to pursue their own best interests, and to return dividends to Maori shareholders.

Kei a ratou tera, a, e möhio ana mätou, ka taea e rätou te whakanui i to rätou ake putea. E möhio anoki mätou, ko te tu o te kaipakihi, he mea nui ki te Maori, a, e tautoko ano mätou i taua whäinga.

That is their prerogative and we are confident that they will be very competitive and achieve impressive returns. We believe that economic growth is essential for Maori businesses to succeed; and we will support them all the way.

Engari, e titiro tonu ano matou ki nga taumahatanga, ka tau mai ki runga i nga papakäinga Maori, ratou te pani me te rawakore, ratou e kore e kitea i nga painga, e mäturuturu mai nei, i nga mahi kaipakihi.

But we are also charged with looking out for the impacts on Maori communities, especially those who may be least resilient and least likely to benefit from the trickle down of economic growth.

E tautoko ana mätou, kia totika te utu mo te taonga, engari, e kore tautoko i te korero kia kore utu nei.

We support fair trade not free trade.

E tautoko ana mätou i te whakangao e whänuitia ana töna painga, me te mea ano, e hiahia ana mätou kia kitea, ko nga waahi mahi i konei, i Haina hoki, he waahi pai mo nga kaimahi.

We seek socially responsible investment. We want to see the provision of healthy and safe working conditions both here and in China.

E kore e taea e matou te nohopuku, ina maukinohia nga kaimahi i tawahi, mo te painga o to tatou ao, a, kore hoki matou e noho pohehe ana, e tiaki ana te pire nei, i a tatou kaipakihi.

And we can not sit by and be silent that workers overseas may be exploited to benefit our economy; or to pretend that New Zealand industry and services will be protected.

E hiahia ana matou kia mohio, ka tu tonu te Maori hei iwi motuhake, i raro i te whakaruruhau o tona Tiriti o Waitangi.

We must know that the rights of Maori will be actively protected, as provided for under Te Tiriti o Waitangi.

Me te mohio ano hoki, ka taea te pire nei ki te whakamarumaru, ki te whakanui ano ra i to matou whenua me ona iwi i mua noa atu i te painga mo nga kaipakihi nuinui o te ao.

And we need to ensure our laws serve to protect and enhance our nation, not globalist agendas.

Symposium: Pacific Islands Migration and Labour Mobility: Issues and Responses

2008-07-24T20:23:00.000+10:00

At the Pacific Heads of Governments meeting, in Niue on 19 August 2008, Australia will respond to Pacific Islands' governments request on taking short term labour supply from Pacific countries. There is the view that there is a need for seasonal labour supply to meet unmet demand for labour in certain Australian industries. Some proponents of the idea view this as the right gesture in encouraging concrete trade (labour) as opposed to the overdependence on aid in the Pacific. Others are legitimately concerned that such undertaking need be framed within a human rights framework, protecting the workers involved and help nurture best practices for the Australian industry for sustainable outcomes. The symposium will address key issues and cover responses from key stakeholder groups.

Hon. Duncan Kerr, SC MP Parliamentary Secretary for Pacific Islands Affairs, will give the keynote address. This will be followed by a group of panellists, and a session for questions and discussion. The panellists are:

Professor Hurriyet Babacan, Professor of Social and Cultural Development, ICEPA, Victoria University
Mr. Nic Maclellan, International Research Associate, Institute for Research, Swinburne University
Ms Alison Tate, International Officer, Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)
Dr. Fei' iloakitau Kaho Tevi, Secretary for the Pacific Council of Churches, World Council of Churches Pacific Desk, Suva, Fiji
Mr. Mosese Waqa, Pacific Research & Development Officer, ICEPA, Victoria University

When: 9.15am (seated at 9.30am) - 12.45pm, Wednesday 6th August 2008
Where: Room T142 (Building T, on the first floor), Footscray Nicholson Campus, Victoria University, Corner of Nicholson & Buckley Streets, Footscray (Melways street directory, map ref. 2S E10; enlargement map on Melway map 583) For a detailed map of the campus go to: http://www.vu.edu.au/library/scripts/objectifyMedia.aspx?file=pdf/580/99.pdf&siteID=4&str_title=Footscray%20Nicholson%20campus.pdf
You can also view actual satellite photo of the campus at:
http://www.vu.edu.au/About_VU/Campus_Maps/Footscray_Nicholson/index.aspx

Public Transport: 5-10 minute walk from Footscray station - walk to Irvin St, left into Nicholson St, then to Buckley St. Buses to the campus connecting with suburbs including the City are Routes 220, 223, 409, 411 and 412. For bus timetable go to http://www.metlinkmelbourne.com.au/ and insert the route number on the transport "search options".

RSVP: Morning tea will be provided. Please contact Sue Butterworth by Monday, 4 August at 9919 5478 or sue.butterworth@vu.edu.au

http://www.vu.edu.au/Research/Institutes/ICEPA/Events/Pacific/Labour/indexdl_92559.aspx

Anti Terrorism and the Criminalisation of Dissent-Lou Thatcher

2008-07-24T18:05:00.005+10:00

This is the unedited version of a speech by Lou Thatcher, thanks Lou edited version here.

This is a speech given at the ‘Putting the Terror Laws on Trial’ forum organised by the Stop the War Coalition, June 23, 2008. The other speakers were Peter Russo, a lawyer who acted for Mohammed Haneef, and Frank, the uncle of one of the Goulburn 9 – a group of Muslim men from Sydney who have been held since November 2005 under anti-terror laws.

I had input from others in writing this speech, but I take responsibility for the opinions expressed in it: they’re not necessarily those of the arrestees or others in the solidarity campaign.
- Lou Thatcher

I’m from a group organising political solidarity and practical support for people facing charges after the G20 protests in 2006. One of the reasons we do this is because we see these cases as connected to, and as part of, broader struggles, so I’m grateful to Stop the War and to the other speakers for the chance to be part of this forum tonight.

We are here tonight because there has been a sustained offensive against people who represent any kind of threat to the conservative political agenda. The anti-terror legislation has been part of a sustained, racist campaign against Muslim communities and part of a justification for the government’s ongoing involvement in the occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan. In a different but not unconnected way, we have seen some serious attacks on protests and protestors over the past few years.

So I’ll talk briefly about what has happened, the legal situation, and why we think this is important.

In November 2006 the G20, which is the finance ministers from the 20 biggest economies in the world plus a few representatives from bodies like the World Bank, met in Melbourne. They were met with protests.

On the Friday, a couple of smallish groups occupied the offices of Defence Force recruiting, Tenix – a major military contractor, and branches of ANZ bank, which is profiteering from the war in Iraq, among others. For these occupations – which lasted no more than 15 minutes and involved nothing more than red glitter and water pistols – people have been charged with ‘Aggravated Burglary’. This is a new and very serious charge for what is a fairly common action.
On the Friday night, in what I can only think of as an exercise in pre-emptive policing, a squatted warehouse that was the home to a counter-conference, and was providing accommodation for people from out of town, was busted and evicted by police, as was a residential squat which had hosted a fundraiser party but was otherwise unconnected to any protest action.

On the Saturday that the G20 was in town, as was standard for any meeting of the powerful these days, the city was blocked off. Barricades and police prevented anyone from going anywhere near where the G20 were meeting. In fact, the cops handed out little cards suggesting that everyone go and protest in a park. Thousands of people defied this to protest the G20 in the streets of central Melbourne, and a few hundred people diverged from the main rally, dismantled some barricades – which, again, shouldn’t have been there in the first place – and smashed the windows of a police van.

Now, personally, I’m happy to say that I think it was a good thing that the police van was smashed. I think what we’ve heard from other speakers tonight can go a little way towards explaining some of the reasons why people might be justifiably angry at law enforcement institutions. That’s not to say that the protest was a perfect model to be repeated, but I’m broadly in sympathy with the politics of confronting the barricades.

That being said, I also want to say that there are people who have been working in the solidarity campaign from the start who didn’t agree with the tactics on the day but who have been outspoken in their solidarity because they recognise, as I do, that the police response is out of proportion and that it is an attack on progressive movements generally and on all of our abilities to protest, whatever tactics we chose.

We also have to remember what it was that people were protesting about. People came with a variety of politics against the G20 - but whether it was opposition to the wars in Iraq in Afghanistan, or opposition to neoliberalism or to neocolonialism, people were saying that they oppose the policies of the G20 member states because those policies create war and poverty - that the states are violent.

And this violence puts a couple of broken windows into perspective. Arrests began the day after these protests and continued for months – the most recent arrest was made in December last year, over a year after the alleged offences. The charges are unprecendented and very serious - people are charged with things like riot, aggravated burglary and conduct endangering life; and the severity of the charges are part of the attack.

Akin Sari

Currently a man called Akin Sari is in Barwon prison serving a 28 month prison sentence, which he’s in the process of appealing. Amongst the general media hype around the G20 protests, Akin has been singled out for special condemnation & racist vilification. All of the Children’s Court cases are finished. For the people going through adult court, 10 people agreed to plead guilty to reduced charges, which leaves 13 people who will go to trial to fight the charges. The dates for these hearings were recently set for mid next year.

There has also been an absolutely unprecedented media crackdown on those facing charges. The mass media is not generally a friend of the left, but this new campaign has taken things to another level. There has been the “dob in a thug” newspaper photos, photos of “persons of interest” – trying to isolate and demonise individuals.

corporate media hacks

What happened when people were arrested in Sydney is worth looking at more closely – because these raids are an interesting example of how the attack on protests after the G20, and before APEC, come together with the climate and infrastructure of the ‘war on terror.’

taskforce slaver

The cops responsible for APEC policing worked very closely with the Victorian police – some of them went down to monitor the G20 protests, and later, when demonstrations were held outside court, Melbourne police sent up footage to the APEC taskforce. We know all this from reading the notes of Taskforce Salver, which was the taskforce set up to catch people after the G20- many of their notes were released during the committal hearing, with some bits blacked out.
From the notes we also know that Taskforce Salver had a list of five people to arrest in Sydney. When they had this list they called up a man in the APEC taskforce called Christopher Charles Nicholson. He suggested that the Sydney arrests be coordinated through either the serious crime unit or the counter-terrorism squad.

detective hill

So Detective Hill from Taskforce Salver called up the NSW counter-terrorism squad, but the cop he talked to said that he didn’t think that those arrests fell under their brief. But, when the cops knocked on – or kicked in – our friends’ doors at 6am in March last year, officers from Taskforce Salver, the APEC taskforce and the counter terrorism squad were present. So it’s clear that someone - & I’m guessing the APEC taskforce – were able to convince the counter terrorism unit that this was an appropriate way to spend their time.

The other big connection with the APEC securitisation is the fact that all of the G20 arrestees – along with one lone Sydney anti-war activist – were the first people to be put on the APEC “excluded persons” list. Now, as all except the 5 living in Sydney were prohibited at the time from leaving Victoria because of their bail conditions – that is, they were already banned from coming within hundreds of kilometres of the “restricted zone” in the CBD – this didn’t make any sense at all. Except, of course to provide a media scapegoat.

All these connections make it clear that these cases – like other political trials – are about far more than the fate of the individuals caught up in them. In some ways, this criminalisation of dissent isn’t that new - but we are also seeing a general intensification and militarisation of policing, whether it’s the APEC security zone, the anti-terror arrests the previous speakers have detailed, or cops and troops being sent into Aboriginal communities or our Pacific neighbours to deal with alleged social problems.

The G20 arrests are part of a climate of fear and a crackdown on anything perceived of as dissent – and so, the outcome will effect all of our abilities to resist this climate and to take action for what we believe in – whether through direct action, civil disobedience, or marching in the streets.

That’s why we need a vigorous, public, political defence campaign.

The entire campaign against the arrestees – the charges, the media campaign, the hype – is geared towards intimidating people out of speaking, out of being active, out of dissenting. We need a public response to this intimidation or otherwise the isolation of activists becomes endemic. Unless we are prepared to speak up in defence of protestors, we leave individuals isolated and alone.

9 of the 13 G20 defendants

We have started to see some support from activists, organisations and unions. We need to continue building the political campaign against the charges. We have a petition to drop the charges that we would like people to sign, and take away to their workplaces and collect signatures. We would like unions and organisations to pass a motion of support for the campaign – we have a model motion – and of course to donate to our solidarity fund.
Alongside this, of course, people need a legal campaign. And that’s why they need practical and financial support as well as political solidarity – lawyers cost money, as does travel, as does not being able to work because you’re in court for months.

And the people fighting the charges in court are, in many ways, fighting for the rest of us as well as for themselves, so any help you can give will be appreciated. For more information and updates, and to download the petition, see http://www.afterG20.org. You can email afterG20@gmail.com.

Funds are needed urgently for legal and other support expenses. If you can help, the solidarity campaign has a bank account: Melbourne University Credit Union Limited Account name: G20 Arrestee Solidarity Network cuscau2sxxx (only if transferring from overseas) BSB 803-143 A/C number: 13291 (all transfers)

War Criminal Welcoming Reception - Protest Condoleezza Rice this Saturday

2008-07-23T22:28:00.002+10:00

23 Jul 2008

by AIMC

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is arriving in Auckland this Friday night and will be having meetings in Auckland on Saturday with Winston Peters, Helen Clarke and John Keys among other friends. A protest will be held to tell her that she is NOT welcome here.

She provides the soft public face for a host of aggressive, immoral policies to expand the US empire. For example she has fronted policies resulting in the death of one million Iraqi civilians in return for US control of Iraq's oil resources. She should be indicted for war crimes.

When: 1.30pm Saturday 26th July (this Saturday)
Where: Meet at the corner of Carlton Gore Road and Parks Road (Auckland Domain)
What: Rally and march to Government House, Mountain Road to give Rice a VERY cold welcome
Bring noise makers, banners and placards

Rice's Itinerary:
Friday 25/7, 10:45pm - Arrives in Auckland
Saturday 26/7, 11am - Powhiri at Government House followed by meetings with Winston Peters and Helen Clark. Finishes with a 3pm Press Conference
3:15pm Leaves Government House for a 3:30pm meeting with John Keys at Langham Hotel, corner Symonds Street and K'rd
5-7pm NZ/US Council Meeting at War Memorial Museum

SUNDAY:

Off to Samoa with Winnie Peters

Pacific NGO's Shut out of Forum meeting

2008-07-23T12:42:00.000+10:00

Wednesday, 23 July 2008, 1:48 pm
Press Release: PRINGO

PRINGO'S ALLIANCE PRESS RELEASE
Pacific NGO's Shut out of Forum meeting

Suva, Fiji Islands, July 2008: Regional NGO’s (1) were not able to take part in discussions that involved the future of Pacific people after they were shut out of the preparatory meetings (2) in the lead up to the Pacific Islands 39th Leaders Summit.

In expressing their grave concern, Pacific Regional Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC) head Tupou Vere said this is the second time PIANGO has been approved Pacific Regional Non-State Actor (PRNSA) consultative status with forum processes, but has been declined accreditation to forum meetings. Their application for accreditation was declined at the eleventh hour.

"When our region is striving for good governance and transparency, here we have regional NGOs shut out of important meetings that will determine the future and destinies of our peoples and Governments are making decisions without community input" added Rex Horoi, Executive Director of the Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI).

"We are not enemies of the Pacific nor of its governments but have a common vision and goal - that is the prosperous future of our peoples and the sustained preservation of our environment." said Nilesh Goundar of Greenpeace Australia Pacific.

"We call upon all Governments to ensure they draw on wider views and experience when discussing the Pacific Plan which is supposed to benefit citizens of this region," said Mrs Susana Tuisawau of Pacific Foundation for the Advancement of Women.

“We call upon Pacific Forum leaders and officials to be sincere in their commitments in engaging civil society in forum policy processes as was decided by the leaders in Auckland 2004, ” said Setareki Macanawai of Pacific Disability Forum.

The regional week-long meeting is being held at the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat is the Pacific Plan Action Committee (PPAC), comprising senior government representatives from 16 Forum Members, Associate Members, and heads of the Council of Regional Organisations in the Pacific (CROP) agencies and Pacific Territories.

Key issues to be discussed by the Committee include progress to date on implementation of the Forum Leaders' "2007 Vava'u Decisions on the Pacific Plan" and proposed future priorities for the region.

Notes to Editors:
(1) Concerned PRINGO (Pacific Regional NGO’s) Alliance members are: Pacific Concerns Resource Centre (PCRC), Pacific Islands News Association (PINA), Fiji Women’s Crisis Centre (FWCC), Greenpeace, Pacific Foundation for the Advancement of Women (PACFAW), Pacific Disability Forum (PDF), Foundation of the Peoples of the South Pacific International (FSPI), Pacific Islands Association of Non Government Organisations (PIANGO).

(2) Pacific Plan Advisory Committee and Forum Officials Committee meetings

ENDS

Put the heat on the Superfund - Divestment NOW from Freeport McMoran

2008-07-22T17:30:00.000+10:00

Everyday ordinary West Papuans stare ecocide and genocide in the face with nothing more than their commitment to freedom. Surely we can back them up with a little commitment of our own.

Join the picket of the Superfund office on August 1 and tell the Superfund that our future and the future of the Papuan people is not in Freeport.

Where: NZ Superannuation Fund office, outside the AMP building, on the corner of Custom Street West and Albert Street, Auckland CBD.
When: Friday 1 August at 4.30pm -5.30pm
Organised by: Investment Watch Aotearoa New Zealand | investmentwatch.wordpress.com | nowarpnospamxtra.co.nz

Click on image for a larger version

Action against Superfund Investment in Freeport McMoran

After growing public and political pressure the NZ Superfund has confirmed that it will divest from corporations involved in the production of cluster munitions and is currently reviewing its investments in corporations with ties to the production and maintenance of nuclear weapons. So the campaign for ethical pension fund investment has now turned its attention to a corporation that for many is synonymous with the most ruthless, bloodthirsty form of colonialism and the most repugnant destruction of rainforest, river and ocean currently happening in the South Pacific.

They have been killed, raped and tortured. Life is hard for them. All we are asking for is the freedoms that you enjoy every day - the freedom to speak your mind, to live without fear and to choose your own government." Benny Wenda, West Papuan independence leader

For the past forty-five years, the people of West Papua have been subjected to cultural genocide and gross human rights violations including rape, torture, murder and massacre inflicted by the Indonesian armed forces. Since 1963 more than 100,000 West Papuans have been killed; around 15,000 West Papuans are currently living in camps in Papua New Guinea; and others are forced to live in exile around the world because it is not safe for them to go home. The Indonesian government's transmigration programme has resulted in around one million non-Papuan transmigrants being moved into West Papua.

Multi-national corporations in cahoots with the Indonesian authorities have exploited West Papua's natural resources to an extraordinary degree. This has caused massive social dislocation, devastation of rainforests, and pollution of streams and rivers on which the local people depend for their survival. These rainforests contain up to 7% of all the world's biodiversity.

Papuan people's resistance is a last bastion of defence against the Indonesian military and the American corporation that runs the Freeport McMoran mine, the world's largest copper and gold mine. Freeport "has an unparalleled record of human rights and environmental abuse" in relation to that mine - it has created a 230 square kilometre barren wasteland of dumped mine tailings, and the destruction of the local environment is visible from space. The impact of the mine is particularly devastating for the indigenous Amungme and Kamoro people who have lost the traditional lands and aquatic resources that they rely on for survival, as well as being forcibly displaced from their homes and villages.

West Papuans living near the mine have suffered massive human rights abuses at the hands of the Indonesian Military. In the late 1970s, after a group of Papuans cut Freeport's copper pipeline the Indonesian Military launched 'Operation Annihilation'. Troops went from village to village shooting men, women and children and villages were bombarded by the airforce with cluster bombs. 3000 civilians were killed. Killings and arrests of civilians continue today. In 2006 many Papuan students were imprisoned and tortured for protesting against Freeport.

In 2005, the New York Times revealed that from 1998 through to 2004, Freeport gave Indonesian "military and police generals, colonels, majors and captains, and military units, nearly $20 million (US). Individual commanders received tens of thousands of dollars, in one case up to $150,000, according to the documents." That included payments to the Mobile Brigade which has been associated with "numerous serious human rights violations, including extrajudicial killings, torture, rape, and arbitrary detention".

Even after significant pressure from peace and solidarity groups in Aotearoa/New Zealand, the New Zealand Superannuation Fund, a Government-run pension set up to pay for our retirement, has investments totaling $1,600,548 in Freeport McMoran. Plus an investment of $23,846,105 in the Rio Tinto Group ($9,780,671 in Rio Tinto Plc, Britain, and $14,065,434 in Rio Tinto Ltd, Australia) - Rio Tinto has a 40 per cent joint venture interest in the Freeport McMoRan mine.

Everyday ordinary West Papuans stare ecocide and genocide in the face with nothing more than their commitment to freedom. Surely we can back them up with a little commitment of our own.

Join the picket of the Superfund office on August 1 and tell the Superfund that our future and the future of the Papuan people is not in Freeport.

Where: NZ Superannuation Fund office, outside the AMP building, on the corner of Custom Street West and Albert Street, Auckland CBD.
When: Friday 1 August at 4.30pm -5.30pm
Organised by: Investment Watch Aotearoa New Zealand | investmentwatch.wordpress.com | nowarp(nospam)xtra.co.nz

More Information

- Superfund investments

Act now! NZ Superannuation Fund investments in death and destruction,

Investing in whose future? NZ Super Fund invests in cluster munitions, nuclear weapons and human rights violations

- West Papua and Freeport

West Papua: the forgotten Pacific country - Peace Movement Aotearoa primer leaflet on West Papua (PDF)

Below a Mountain of Wealth, a River of Waste - December 2005, New York Times article on the Freeport McMoran mine

IHRC letter to the Superfund about Freeport - Auckland based West Papua solidarity group asks for divestment

Summary of Freeport and Papuas history - Solidarity South Pacific resource on the long and terrible legacy of the mine

Summary of 2006 Papuan student protests - Thousands demand closure of Freeport and the Indonesian military violently represses the movement

Tamils Around the World to Mark Black July

2008-07-22T14:02:00.000+10:00

22 Jul 2008 (Updated)

by AIMC

"Motorists were dragged from their cars to be stoned and beaten with sticks… Others were cut down with knives and axes.". Description of massacres of Tamils by racist Sinhalese mobs. London Daily Telegraph 26 July 1983

This week Tamils around the World are holding events to remember the victims of the vicious anti-Tamil pogroms that spread throughout Sri Lanka in July 1983. After a group of Sri Lankan soldiers were ambushed and killed by the armed Tamil nationalist group, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mobs of chauvinist Sinhalese (the majority ethnic group in Sri Lanka) burned down Tamil homes and businesses, beat, murdered, burned and raped Tamil civilians. It is estimated between 1000 and 3000 people were killed, with many more injured. Tamils fled to other countries, such as New Zealand, to seek refuge and a full scale civil war, that continues to this day, broke out between the LTTE and the Sinhalese dominated Sri Lankan government. The events are now known as Black July

This year the Sri Lankan government has told foreign governments to prevent their Tamil immigrant communities from marking Black July because the commemorations are a 'front' for 'terrorism' and glorifying the LTTE. [Lanka wants blackout on Black July]

The Wellington Tamil Society is holding a public meeting this Friday on the role New Zealand can play in bringing peace to Sri Lanka. [More]

In Auckland this Saturday the Tamil Community are holding a remembanrance service from 5:00 PM to 8:00 PM at the Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Road, Three Kings. Members of the public are welcome to attend.

Links: Radio Netherlands 25th Anniversary of Black July | Photos of Black July Violence | Sri Lankan State Terror Through the Eyes of A Dissident

Laban Lap Dog for Neo Liberalism in the Pacific

2008-07-22T11:03:00.005+10:00

This was reported on Radio Australia today, I guess that makes Laban a lapdog for neo liberalism in the Pacific, SHAME.

Scoop: Laban to attend PI Forum Trade discussions

True to form, the sellable face of spreading neo liberalism throughout the Pacific is sadly yet again Winnie Laban. She also recently headed a delegation of Pacific Island Businesses to Guam, and with Condalezza Rice visiting Aotearoa soon, what ever the administration NZ is firmly locked into supporting American hegemony in the Pacific. Don't believe the hype that that slave labour settler grubbyment are spreading about Trade in the Pacific, ours cousins across the ocean have told us about NAFTA. Here Jane Kelsey lays out what the implications of PACER & PICTA will be on the peoples of the Pacific. Time to get busy people.

The picture that emerges is deeply disturbing. As one NZ government official confirmed with disarming frankness: when it comes to trade there is no ‘special relationship’ with the Pacific. Effectively, international trade strategy takes priority over the views of Pacific governments and the needs of Pacific peoples.

This is not just a power grab by Australia and NZ for control of the South Pacific. As a World Bank report spelt out in 2002, PACER aims to lock the Pacific Islands irrevocably into the neoliberal paradigm. The link to the Pacific Regional Economic
Partnership (REPA) negotiations with the EU is partly defensive. But PACER and Cotonou are also flip sides of the same coin. Both swap preferential agreements for reciprocal ones that guarantee more extensive market access without having to
make any additional concessions. Both promise sensitivity to the realities of poor, small and vulnerable Pacific Islands, while they treat them as pawns to advance their global strategic game plan. Both reach beyond the rapidly expanding ‘trade’ agenda of goods, services, investment, competition and procurement to advance the Washington Consensus policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank, including labour market ‘flexibility’, fiscal austerity and privatisation of
state assets and services. The broader and deeper the liberalisation, the more ‘structural adjustment’ will be required.

The Pacific was viewed as an inherited millstone - but one they were determined to keep under their control. As the multilateral regimes began to falter and a scramble for regional and bilateral deals accompanied the revival of US imperialism, Australia and NZ focused on securing their own small sphere of influence. The desire to recolonise ‘their lake’ now dominates their economic, political and military relationship with their Pacific neighbours.

The report found the following, that the major impacts of globalization in the Pacific were, number one, rapid increase in extreme poverty; and number two, destabilization of governments. After decades of failed economic development and stagnant private investment, we see now the rapid rise of extreme poverty in the Pacific. 40% of the peoples of Vanuatu live in poverty. 48% in Samoa. Over 50% in Kiribati. “The Island of Hope” documented that the primary cause of poverty in the Pacific relates to globalization, and that this rise in poverty is interlinked with the adoption by national governments of liberal policies promoting investment and competition, and this has operated to the detriment of social services, including health, education, housing, and social welfare.

Native Hawaiian attorney, Mililani Trask, speaking at a forum sponsored by the International Forum on Globalization
Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Economic Globalization: A Celebration of Victories, Rights and Cultures

Whenua Fenua Enua Vanua

Haere Atu Condoleezza

AFP accused of secrecy over Haneef

Should He Stay or Should He Go?

Keetley Expired?

Do YOU support a Free Trade Agreement with the US?

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Parliament has passed legislation which will bring in the Free Trade Agreement with China on October 1 and the Government says it represents a historic advance in New Zealand's trading relationships.

Symposium: Pacific Islands Migration and Labour Mobility: Issues and Responses

Anti Terrorism and the Criminalisation of Dissent-Lou Thatcher

War Criminal Welcoming Reception - Protest Condoleezza Rice this Saturday

Pacific NGO's Shut out of Forum meeting

Put the heat on the Superfund - Divestment NOW from Freeport McMoran

Action against Superfund Investment in Freeport McMoran

More Information

Tamils Around the World to Mark Black July

Laban Lap Dog for Neo Liberalism in the Pacific

Indigenous Peoples’ Resistance to Economic Globalization: A Celebration of Victories, Rights and Cultures