CAMPAIGN AGAINST FOREIGN CONTROL OF AOTEAROA

NumberS8

January 1988

, " '

ISSN 01110896. Registered at Wellington P.O. as a magazine. Published by CAFCA, RO. Box 2258

Christchurch, New Zealand. (Aotearoa.) The material in this issue may be reprinted provided the source is acknowledged. A copy would be appreciated.

Contents

A criminal by any other narne

Concluding the saga of CAFCAaecretary Murray Horton', police -noting- file 2

A question of balance

The special way TVNZ chooses frHIance documentaries of 8. pOlitical nature 4

CAFCA Annual General Meeting in Christchurch 6

Battling for OfffcIallnformatlon on 0verHas Investment

CAFCA's three year attempt to obtain information on foreign Investment

from the 0Verseu investment Commlulon 7

Obituary: Brigadier Gilbert: SIS director for 20 years 11

Bookrevtew.

RiQht Wing Vigilant .. and US Involvement

Kaaama: A Colfectlon of Photographs ofth8 New Peoplels Army Death Squads !n the PhUlppln"

Depth of Field: Photographs of Poverty. Repression and Struggle

Books obtalnad by Murray Horton on his September trip to the Phlllppln. 12

Half Left: The Challenges of Growing up -not quite normal*

Roger Moody. our london cOn"uwt, writes with his brother Peter

about their relationship. 13

The Book of L.eaks. Exposes In Defence of the Public's Right to Know,

by Brian Toohey and Marian Wilkinson 14

Australia'. War In VIetnam, by Frank Frost 15

SaW! Our Hoapltal .. Hokitlka Fights Back. by Pater Neame 16

The Great Tin Crash: Bolivia and the world tin market 17

The saege of Pine Gap

Our I'8pt'eMntative, Murray Horton. gives an account of his trip

to Pine Gap, Allee Springs, for the Antl-Bues Campaign. 20

CAFCA 18 currently debaUng buying a minimum parcel of ahar.. In fletcher Challenge ltd to get a proxy vote for the campaign. agalnlt Felt. South African &!lnd ChUean actlvltl.~. FCL Is the biggest transnational owned In New Zeatan<:t It is exporting jobs through Its overseas activities, so we are oonfident that these campaigns are consistent with CAFCA's objectives. We have enough money on hand (we can sell the shares when necessary). 00 you have any obj&dlons? Please teU us by the end of January.

! qR,IMINAL BY ANY OTHER lAME

Previ.ous If Watchdogs It have detailed the saga of the police "noting II file held on CAFCA Secretary Murray ,Horton. It was revealed inadvertently by

a 1986 auction of a surplus filing cabinet and its 800 index cards on people from the letters H - M incl, in Christchurch from 1970-75 incl. These

were "not Lnga II of people who were, or who were bel1eved to be t criminals.

Or !lUkel)' to engage in unlawful acts I! • '

Horton p;rO~l#sted about it: to the Commissioner of Police and was told he had been "noced" for 5 years because of his "activities and associations". He was assured that no current "noting" file was held on him.

In earlier corresponcie!'l(:ethe Ombudsman had told Horton to officially·complain to the police - that he could only get involved after such a complaint

had been dealt with. In Apr:Ll. 1987 Horton duly asked the Ombudsman to invesdgate the matter under the Ombudsman Act. He said that the Police response railed to show "dueparticularity" and that the "noting" file (reproduced in full Oft the; Jr.-ant page of the "NZ Sunday Ti.mes" 24/8/86)

was H ••• almost ludicrously banal, consist:lng !ll8inlyof 'sighti,ngs' of me riding my bike. I was seen w::tth i a crowd of simila.r types I. I was seen

at the af.r-por t meeting an ! anti-"ap8rthei~ vt stt.or f. Where is the evidence

in this file of potential unla~ .. f'ul, act t .. vt.t.t es via my aasocf.atLona or activities'?"

The Ombudsman delivered his decisiclfI in September. He relayed the information from Deput.y Commissioner .Jarrlieson that in the late '60s and early t 70s I

bef'or e the c.reat Ion of die Criminal Intelligence Section. two Christchurch detectives vere deployed as the Consorting Squad e Their job was to "note" people suspected of breaching the s.i.nce repealed consor-t Ing rLaws , Since

1980 Cenare l Inst.ructt.cn .346.,.49 "specifically discourages the collect:ton

of information about organisations 9 indlviduals or groups who advocate

change unless t.here are reasonahlegrounds for suspecting they have been

or are l:i.k.ely to become :i .. nvolved in unlawful pursuits."

"The Deputy Commissioner .1>eheves there was justificati.Qn for compiling

a record of stghtings of you. It was considered there was a likelihood that you would become involved in unlawful activities following your two convt.ctn.ons in 19'70 - in January you were convicted of disorderly behaviour and in June, wilful trE~~lpfJtilS.. As a result your name was entered on the "noting'! system in August 1970. The Deputy Commissioner claims this was warranted becaus.e. ,you vere supSequently convf.ct ed of five. further offences. These he has g:lven as fol1ow's:(Jun~~ 1971 .. ; res:istingpolice, June 1972

- two convictionsrelati'ng'to Nat1.onal Military Service, May 1975 - obstructing police. September 1981 ~. ·oflstruc.ttng CarrIageway."

!iInreplyto your statement that the repcrt.ad 'noted' sightings of you clearly indicaU," nopotential.for unlawful actions. rhe DeputyComtnissioner says this represents a misunderstanding on your part of· the putpose·of 'noUngs', The fact that you were not placed on the 'noting' system until after your second convtctaon voul.d tend .to indicate that your entry was

not made haphazardly or at random, The police were obviously of the view

that there was a posai bf.Ht y that you may become involved Ln unlawful activity and as the Deputy Commissioner states, this helief was confirmed by your subsequent conv Lct tons , I am unabLe to say what the police's position

would be if you had not Lncurr ed subsequent convact Lons I but the fact remains

,YOU ver e convicted and thi.s gives weight to the po.Hce ' s decision. I am also prepared to accept that the object of the 'noting' system was to build LntelLf.gence and not necessarf.Ly to deree t an unlawful activity. The innocuous nature of the majority of 'notings' in your case, would support this vie\v."

"The laws of 1 consorting' no longer apply today. but in the period 1970-}S

gr eat.er attention was gf.ven to it as a criminal offence. At the time therefore I accept the system of 'noting' was seen as an effective form of policing. Accordingly I have formed the view that the decision of the police to place

you on the 'noting' system was a reasonable. decision and justified at the

time. Therefore I am unable to sustain your complaint ••••.••.. "

Horton was not prepared to accept that and replied withindays. "Thank you for supplying my cr immal. record. It saves me from retrieving it from the Wanganu:L computer myself. I don f t dispute my criminal record and am certainly nota$l1amed of it. I regard it as old soldiers regard campaign medal s". He then itemised it, from the 1970 Agnew demo to the '81 Tour, via Vietnam and Nati.onal Servf.ce ,

"There Is one . exception - the .1975 convicti.ons were the result of a pub Lnc.Ldent and d1.dn it take place Ln the context of a political demonstration", He tackled the Ombudsman's acceptance of the consorting laws being used

to keep a'not:tngl file on him.

"I find that extremely alarming. Nearly all my convictions arose out of demonstrations, involving greater or smaller numbers of people. I was

one of over 120 people arrested in the 1981 Tour incident, for: example. Does this mean that the police regard demonstrations which will inevitably include people with f criminal! records to be a gathering of criminals? There is (me exception in my record -, no amount of pol tee noting would have prevented or detected my national service 'crime'."

He pointed out that the great bulk of 'notings' of the 800 people took

place in pubs • 'whereas his recorded his bicycle journeys. I1How can consort:lng Lavs used to detect covert criminal act Ivft.Les planned or executed in pubs

be used for the surveillance of someone whose 'criminal' activities took

place in public, in a group, and were completely overt. Once again the quest.Lon - dtd the police equate a protestor with a criminal1"

In. response to the August '86 !fNZ Sunday Times" story ~ the then Minister of Police~ Mrs Herc~s, defended the 'notings' hecause of the context of

the t'tmes, specifically citing graffiti and the firebombing of Christchurch's US consulate,

"I repeat my origi.nal point ~. neither my 'criminal' record nor the police 'noting' files di.sclose any covert unlawful/.activity whatsoever on ,my part. No thargesof Ul"ebombing or painting graffiti, no notings of me being suspected ofdoitlg these things. I can only conclude that the police caSE:lt accepted by YbU, was to regard protestors as c.riminals, citing the selfjustify:i.ng . and self-perpetuating ground that a cr imfna I record gained via overt and very public protest activities. warrants beifl8 placed\under observat.f.on-es a bona fide criminaL II

The Ombusdman replied in October, upholding his decision. He repeated

the view that "not Ing f ftles were to build up intelligence, not necessarily detect spec if'Lc offences.

"You bel.Leve that convf.cta.ons and actlvities arising from demonstrations were not relevant in terms of the I noting , poli.cy. Breaking the law when one :tEI involved in demonstrations appears to come under the category of unLavful actd vf.t Les , Freedom to demonat rat.e Ln a democrat Lc scc i.ety is

an una LfenabLe right and people who demonstrate are not a I gathering of criminals. I. I believe :tmpl1citly in the righ.tto dissent I including the right to demonstrate. It is not generally accepted however, that freedom to demonat.raue also gives freedom to break the law while you are exercising that right. One of the reasons for the noting process ·appea'red . to be a means by which the police could keep track of those who were·likely to engage in 'unlawful activities' at such demonstrations as you refer to,

and I beli.eve that to he reasonab Ie , I have now confirmed my preliminary view and closed the f:l.le."

An very noble, but it seems to somewhat m:l.ss the point. The police view, endorsed by the Ombudsman, equated protestors with criminals to be kept under ,survei11anc.e;and one became a. ! criminal' by acquiring a I criminal' record in the cent ext of protest activities. This is the way that I'Western democraticll countries can deny that they hold any political prisoners.

The auction of a police filing cabinet and Lt s files has thrown a spotlight

on arnoatunap pet i.sang can. of worms. Nor there any reason to believe

these practices ceased in 1975 - now they're computerised and more sophist:i.cat ed , Remember , Big Brother Is Watching You. But the innocent have not.hf.ng to fear. \fuere have we heard that before?

A\l\l'eHington. reader. sent us two fascinating letters from TVNZ in Avalon, reprinted on the following page, that seem to have thrown the Deputy Head of Acquisitions into a tizz. Some lesser mortal in that great big TV highrise apprently overstepped the mark when showing undue enthusiasm for the doco "Islands of the Empire", Fortunately whenDeputy Head Sam Fairhall saw to his horror what the author of the first letter had thoughtlessly offered, he was able to rescind the invitation promptly.But ~ outside of TVNZ is wielding this proxy power over programmes that they disapprove of~l Is the material in the film too sensitive, or perhaps it's going to raise too many blood pressures and fire us Kiwis into political action? Remember the British film "'Var Gamel! made by Peter Watkins? That film was kept from the British public for 20 years seemingly because material in it may have proved a bit much for British sensibilities.

Ills lands o{the Empire" is available for hire.or purchase fr()m CAFCA (South Island sales) and the makers, Vanguard Films, P.O. Box 3563, Wellington.

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r..INOOU~ EFF'ORI)I:W"{, vIORIJ~RS ' EOOCArITONAL ASSOCIATION 10 SEPl"EMBER 1987

~_._._. ~'"_g_>'"._~_,, __ " .w, • • _.=.£.....:;:.;;;.....;;;;..;;;:;;;;..;;===-,;;;;..;;. .......

1, Read the 1986 AGl'<1. minutes.

2. Treasurer "s repcrt from Terry lioon. 261 fi.nancial members. Over

$1700 i.n current hank account, A lot of our cheques have not been cleared.

We made 8. profit on Philip Agee's non-tour. Raised over $2200 in loans

and donat Lona , Refunded $1800 of that of which a Tur+her 15% was rer ef'unded

to us.

3. Chairperson's report from Christine Bird. Listed our acquisition

of resources on intelligence eg , complete sets of "Lobster" and "Count.erspy/ National Reporter" magazines, John Stockwell audio tapes, Australian videotapes, constant updating of US computer database.

She reported on our 1986/87 acttvtties ego the secretary's Australian tour, promoting links there, the saga of his police file, the use of the policeman's thesis to' secure the Mt .John demo police files (plus Resistance Ride ones). Planning for the Age{~ tour (and its cancal.LatLonj ; our involvement in puhl.Lc mf.~~~tings on the Hono Lu lu loans scam and Deep Freeze; the neverend Ing attempt to get tnformatIon from the Overseas Investment Commiss:i..on; our insert

in the June 1987 "New Int.ernat.Lona.l Lst;" a. great success in attracting new member's and subscrLbere ,

COlIU1l1.tte!"') meetings; production of

4" Eh;ction

Secretary - Murray Moon and Ann Currie,

Chaf.rper son - Christine Bird (unchanged). (unchanged). Treasurer"- split between Terry

.5. Cf.t.Lzena tl~1(;; Dem:tlita.:r:i.sation of Harewood annual, report; by Bob

Leonard. Cover-ed 1986/87

6. Cenera.l business:

a)

Resolve:d

annual

be voI uut.ar y fo.r commi.t.tee members.

b) October 1987 Pi.ne Gap ties. Nurray Horton representIng CDH/CAFCA

CA.FCA will make up the dHference between what is raised by CDn appeal cost of Sydney/Alice Springs return air fare ($520).

c) Ow,:::n \"i1k~~s det af.Led his proposal for a national anti-bases campaign.

as a m~w focus for peace movement . Resolved to revert to previous

pattern of nat i onal demos at each of the three - 'I'angdmoana, Black

Birch, Har'ewood , CAFCA ENDORSES THIS CAMPAIGN •. WITH ALL THREE NATIONAL DEM!X-; TAKING PLACE ~JITHIN 12 HONTHS, STAHTING WITH OCTOBER 18TH ACTIVITIES AT HAREWOOD (IN SOLIDARITY WITH PINE GAP).

d)

Bill Willmott ._ tab l,e of contents

theft future issues of t'Watchdog!! have a clearer

Total by Dr \Alil1iam

AGN followed by pub Lf,c meeting on' Fiji coup addressed and

BattUng ifor Official Information on Overseas Investors

For almost thre'J y~srs, CAFCA has been trying to extract regular reports from the Overseas Investment Commis,slon (OIC) oflappllcations to It for foreign Investment. All Substantial foreign investment In New ZfJa!and must bIJ approved by .this Commission, though It rarely rejects an application. Tf;orefofe it is - potentially ~ a unique and up~to-dste source of detailed Information on who is Investing. how mUCh, find in what.

It was two and ill {Mal! ;yesrs fJitifilf the Official lnfotmatlon Act came into effect that we thought of applying. More than two and ti ha!f years Ia.tor we're stili trying ....

. What f()IIOW$ .'$ asumm8ry of only me most significant parts of the resulting correspondence.

A diary of Official Obstruction

february 18th, 1985

CAFCA writes to ole asking It to Inform us on a monthly baSis of all applications received by the Commission, and their outcomes, from January 1 at, 1985,

Februl\ry 2t3t~ 1985

ole replies. InthrGo pages they give six reasons for saying 00:

Our reque~t was IInotspaolfled with due particuisritylll;

The Official Information Act doesn't allow for applications for future Information;

Re:lease of soma of the Information would. prejuduoo future supply of Information from Investors;

Much of the Information was supplied in confidence and "we wore unable to discern any other conSiderations which render it deslrabli!} In the public Interest to release thelnformatlon" - andlnformsticm flOt in that t1iltegory was too .difficult io ldentlfyj

Much of the InfOffl'Ult!on woUld soon be publically avaUabie through the Registrar of Companies; ·800

"The information cannot bfJ made available without substantial ooUatlon or research. II

The first and last of these were to become tha battlecl'ies of what was to follow.

April 22ndt 1985

CAFCA appeals to the Ombudsman, Wa point out that the ole should have a regular newsletter or bulletin to publish the information we are requesting. In specific reply. we argue that

If "future Information" is not r;overad by the act we would simply send an Identical letter every month;

Since lnvsstornlu.lvea vested Interest In applying to the OIC. tnere is no risk of prejudicing the future supply of InformaUonfrom tham;

To be protected under confidentiality provisions. Information must be explicitly supplied In confIdence, not merely "treated" as confidential under an "implied undertaking";

AvallablUty of the Information !n the Companias Office and newspapers does not supply It In the form we require it;

The 010 had already suppn~Jd information of the type we sought tQ National Business Review (on a CIA front company) with nona of the aoove problems.

Aprn, 30th, 1985

Ombudsman replies. He suggests Wfl raply again with more "particularity" and indicate If we are willing to pay Ill, "reasonabl€! cha.rga" ,.

MI y21th ,1985

CAFCA writes again to the OIC. We specify in considerable detail the Informat.ion we require from each application, We ieli the CommiSSion we would be prepared to pay the equivalent of a reasonable journal subscription: they should be publishing a bulletin anyway.

June 10iht H~a~

OIC replies. Nothing W~ llt,a!d changed their minds;, estimate they would neoo to employ

an ~8xscutlvG" 'fulHirm~ tocoliats the .!nformatlcm - costing $25pOOO 8nnuallyln salary alon~,

June 24thj 1985

CAFCA appeals to tha Ombudsman again,

[Severti'd "plaase walt'" lettars follow: The Ol(~ $ecu~tary has changed, there are delays In tha OIC',r~po!1ing tothsOmblJ$man. etc.}

March 5th~ 1986

Ombudsman. replies. He understands, after talks with the ole. that Information on. each application Is extractoo and collated by tha secretariat for consideration by the Commission. The Ombudsman suggests that we should ask for that collated material as a basis for further rli)qu9stS. He mentlons that the OIC estimates the cost of our request to be $39.000 per year.

April 5th, 1966

CAFCAmakes a new requestttl the ole In the terms suggested by tha Ombudsma.n~

May 21th ~ 19ae

ole replies: ,jour" (t.e, the Ombudsman's) unders~anding of procedures was Incorreot Our request would stili ('squire ~ubstantlal conation, !!lnd was stili not specific enough,

Jun@ 27t.h, 1986

We try a new tack: we write to Rogar DouOla~e Minister in chargaof the 010, asking him to intsNflne and g~le us some "basic, deregulated, economic lnfom\stlon".

Auguet .1 st, 1986

Douglas replies. "Notwithstanding the raquest made In t.he last paragraph of your letter It appaarsyou fll'asst:llKing dailtaUs .,. relating to particular cases ... rather than generaleoon6mlc informatk;)i'l:' He offers "general tSt~~ti5tica! data14 by country of origin, but refuses to help on the

I .~' . .

raa, [I Ml(J.

A.u;tJllt HUh, ~98t!

A subpiot begln~: CAFe/", writes to the OIC asking for the "general statistical data" suggested by Douglas, wh!le noting that this eoes not SfJUsfy our previous requests,

Auguai18thj 1D35

Cf;\FCA acytlGals to ttl€! Ombusmi:lrl on tha main lequest refused on May 21th,

September 10U'h 1

OmbudfSman r\(i$plis~,*;'lJl'lds som~wht~t Utchy that the 010 had rubbishad his suggested procedure. He Is now going to gat soma sample documents from the Commission to test their reasons for wlthholdlnl';! 1h~Hl.

Septombtr).r 21th. '1~S6

CAFCA writes to thanl" ombudsman for nts actions, enclosing a copy of an article· by Garry Arthur in tl'is<fi'rass, fe.aturing tllQ story to date.

Ocloblllr 9th~ HJ~6

Ombudsman replies: thtmk YOli to{) • stili hasn't heard from tha 0101 but will remind them.

Octcb@f 26th~ 1"· CAFCA writes to the OmblHj(~man pointing out that the ole may be delaying deliberateJy to take advantage of forthcoming amendments to the Official information Act which will mako it easier for'ti1am to re,jact our rsquest

October, 29th, 1986

Ombudsman adds to his latter of October 9th: the 010 has taken legal advlca. That «Ivloe "Is not yet to hand," Surprise I (Obviously our letters have crossed In the mali.)

November.3rd, 1986

Ombudsman replies to our concern about the delays. He acknowledges our concern. says he'll go as fast as possible, suggests we make submisSions on the amendment to the Act. [We do.}

November 11th, 1986

Ombudsman has. received the OIO'sreport. Needs time to study It.

[The Chief Ombudsman. Lester Castle.wUh whom our corresporldencehad been up to now, dles.r December 4th, 1986

CAFCA conveys its condolences to the acting Chief Ombudsman (John Robertson). remInds him of the likelihood of delaying tactics by the OIC. and encloses a oopy of our submission on the amendmenLto the Official lnformatl()n Act.,.

December 19th, 1986

The Ombudsman replies. The OIC apparently persists In Its view that our request does not have Ifdue particularity" and has legal advice to that effect. He has suggested .the OIC's· and the Ombudsman's legatcoun8ellu~houldget together. He has Indicated to the ole !haPthe approach baing adopted by the Commission does not in my viewaccordwlth the' spirit 0lth80ffl61al Information Act."

Janua,~y .". 18th, ' 1981

C~FOA. writes to the 010: we stili haven't received thestatisticallnformatlon promised back In

September. '

[In February. the Amendment to the Official Information Act was passed by Parliament, Incorporating none of our submissions.]

April 4th. 1981

CAFCA writes to the Ombudsman. We think It's obvious the 010 Is stili deliberately delaying. And W$ still,h$v,n'Lfecelved, those statistics: we appeal that as a separate matter.

[Durlngthl$ PG~lod.anew,Ombudsmant Nadja ToUemach&, takes over our Case. She Informs us of me.etlngs. which,ate taklngpJace between Ombudsman and OICofficers and legal advisors.]

July 1 st, 1981

At lasU A substantive reply trom the Ombudsman. ~,Jt Is ,olear from your ,correspondence with this office over the last two years that you have a sense of frustration abouftheabllltyofyour organisation to obtain information from the 010 .... Well spottac:(1 Sha tells us th'at the 010 has given ·careful detailed conslderancn to the Issues" raIsed by our request. In January It had Instituted new procedures for dealing with applications: It now produced a Ifdecislon sheetlf for each application, which supplied most of the Information we had specified. She suggests we accept these sheets on a monthly basis. and diSCUSS charges for them with the 010.

f

July 9th, 1987

The summary statistics arrive from theOlC4 Only ~1~\'\I~m months aftar they were first requested, The statistics themselves are rather disappointing: they cover only the period to 1985. But this Is the first general release of statlst!cs from the ole s,ince ·1981, so they are a tr$8suredfarity.

Julv 11th, 1987

CAFCA formally requests the "deCision sheet.s" from the Ole. We also write totne Ombudsman $uggesting she doesn'tJhrow the file away. just yet.

July 21st, 1981

OIC replies. Monthly. starting from August 1st, thay wm "test" t:'61 month's decision sheats'in terms of the OfflcJal Information Act They wili release them to IJS within 20 days (the amended Act's new provision) of the month end. "There Is another matter .r Thay pro mis a to . keep c~arges lias IoW8!achlevabie", although they may vary' montl1to month~ They II/ant an assurance that we will pay each month 8S the Informatlo~ i$ provided. One conoesslon: we don't have to write an Identical fettar ovanj month.

'; <~.

July 26th. 1981

CAFCA replies to the 010. "Thank you for your latter of Jufy21. In the context ofa two and a·tiaJf year long correspondence, It was an astonishingly rapid reply." We. ast<. them to send us a bUl, which we agree to pay ~ and to negotiate what Is fA "reasonable" chal'QG.

. f

S,spts",ber22nd.1987

O{C,writ~s. They have collated. tho 'deciSion sheets for AugustHha cost will be$363~OO, for August onlyl They expect charges to be $400 .. $450 per month,

October 6th, 1981

CAFCA writes to the Ombudsman. appealing the charge. The charge Is prohibitive: Its Janot the "re~nablelt charge the· Act and Oablnet GlJ'ideUns$ onche:rglTIg provide for. And the ole appears

to be charging for labour that Is not part of meeting our request ... .

. . .' . . , .

A,'the time of the WatchdoQ deadline ~ two ole sscrets,rles, thrfie OmbUdsmen, an Ame'ndrnenl,ta the Official Informat/ort Act, and two and thff1?ltli qUihrtl!1f YS.r1l.fS from the first request ~ that was where matters stood: the story Is still far from over.

Whileih~ beh~lIiourfJf. the. ole has b6e~, 'by any-standards. of:open goV9mrrUJnt. outrageous, we should make It clear that we In no way blame the Ombudsman's Office for the obstruction we hsvI/!- eJtRS~41nC8d •. While the Ombudsmen cotJkiha.ve dane;;mom topfe~nFth90lCfrom contJnu~/Jy .. (JelfJylng.they h8V9 bfJenofgrflatissslstsnce In flndlngJormsibf information Watthe ole could and should make available: forms which we would never have dlscav9fed If we had had

to rely on the OIC's assistance, I

ri 'Y!c;;:o

The tNl,ttI9C(j.ntlnues .• <,

OBITUARY - BRIGADIER GILBERT

""-........"'~ ~~

Brigadier Gilhert was one of those splendid one dimensional characters

of the 60s'andearly 70s. Founding director of the SISt he held the job for 20 years (from 1956·-76 Lnc.l}, He belonged t() an age of dyed in the wool react.tonat res - Kiwi Ked th , Sir Hamilton Mitchell, JCiCK Sullivan,

Ron Guthrey. His views were suitably prehistoric -/1 late 60s feature described him as regarding Col'l'.IDunism as a green slime that was, even then, oozing under the- door. Predictably he was reviled by the protest movement.

Demonstrations resounded with chants of "'I'he Brig f s a pig".. '

He presided over all the SIS fiascos of Lt s first 20 years - David Godfrey t the unmasked Auckland campus spy; the long list of bungles and ballsups reveated, in underground magazines lil<e "Cock", Gilbert t s finest hour came with the.197.4arrf:lst of Dr.W 13 Sutch, tlle only person ever charged under

New Zeal,~n.d';ssi:nce-rep~al,ed Official Secrets Act. SIS leaks to trusted media hacks set up the scenario of Sutch .• the economist. writer and great nationalist, as a traitor peddling unspecified secrets to Soviet diplomats. What those secret;s.might have been was never stated in court, which featured anonYl1lousagents turgidly reciting their survlllanceof Sutch •. He made

no attempttp rebut .the "evfdence", simply calling character witnesses.

He was acquitted. There is mtlch left. to uncover on that case - the role

of the CIA. what happened to the SoyJet diplomat? (He was believed to

have beel1.~nstructed to setup Sutchaa the price for def8ction).

So the Stitch case was a crowning fiasco for Gilbert. Or was it? Within months of his acquittalr Bill Sutch was dead, his weak heart giving way under the .st;;:r:a.in. An SIS photographer was. chased from his funeral. The SIS houndedButch to his grave - Gilbert has blood on M,s hands.

His finslrear in office saw the SIS tangled up 1.n the strange events leading up to th~1975 election - the Rohan Jays/Paul Freeman/Gerald O'Brien/Bill Rawling affair. 1976 saw the Pot«les Repott~ whi.ch led to much of the current legislat;i,gn governing the SIS, and . has actually strengthened it (eg indivi.dual agents c~'tnot be l~gal1y identified).

In ret Lreeent t Gilbert headed the NZ branch of the\llorld I.fildlife Fund.

In the 70s this wastainedwith'the the corruption of being used as a front for arms dea~s •. particularly the Lockheed bribery scandal featuring the WWF's world head, the corrupt Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands~ Former Japanese PM Kakuei. Tanaka is still fighting the gaol sentence imposed for his part in it. The WWF was a very appropriate pasture for an old spy

like Gilbert ~o retire to. .

Long may he rot.

**********

d_ Murrsy Horton

New People's Army

Al1 enquiries to

J Repression and Struggle

Solida.rity Network of AoteaToa, Box 68.523. Auck.land.

These four puhl.Lcat fons are an.onget a '(leIter of materitll I brought home from

a. three week exposure tour of the Philippines in September/October 1987. '"

They are essential reading (or viewing) for anyone wanting to understand

the pa.st. present and future of that country.

"Depth of Field" isa book of superb and harrowing photos - stal:'ting with the beggars, street kids, prostitutes servicing the US bases, the thousands livtng onStnokey Mountain, Manila's rubbish dump. It progresses through the mass repression in the streets of the Marcos years. with the public

and private massacres continuing unabated under Aquino. indeed wor sendng , It ends GEl an optim:tstic note - the ceaseless struggle for change, from

the "People Power" that overthrew ~rcos, to the 20 year old armed struggle that is intensifying by the day.

!!R:l.ght~Wing V:tgHantes" and "Death Squads" document the desperate reaction of Aquino to the success of the armed struggle. The nationwide creation

of death squads, a la El Salvador. given a licence to kill by the Government, armed and. directed by the military. They l'llurderanybody deemed to support the New People's Army (NPA). anybody they deem to be lis. Communist". In practice this means the decimation of all legal community groups ... unions, health workers, educators, womans groups, church workers. peasants, even priests and bf.shops , It:i.s all part of the US strategy of Low Intensity

Conf LLct; (LIC) first used in Central Ameri.ca. "Right-Wing Vigilantes"

is the report of a May 1987 fact finding mission headed by former US Attorney General. Ramsey Clark and int1uding former CIA ageJit Ralph McGehee. The latter had specialised in.cotlnter-i.nsurgency in Vietnam- he saw many

simila.rHies. :

"Kasma" (Comrades) is a fascinating book of photos of dai1y life in the

NPA, the only Communist guerilla army in the world to be expanding and gaining more ground by the day. What is lOOt'e valuable is the brief text

- not the turgid propaganda one might expect I but astonishingly honest assessments of what it Ls s like to be a "sparrow" (urban assassin of soldiers, po.l Ice , etA:::); the eff ect of underground life on marriage and families; lingerin.g Catbol::l.c guilt on sexual ii'.atters;.and confessions of mistakes

- eg killing civiHans in an ambush I a commander who turned traitor. If

yeu like picking "J'irmers ~ then read thi.s about the ft,tture winners in the Philippines. The other three wtll shm." fOU vhy ,

- Murray Borton

t' I;

_tU l' '.~" 11 .s 1fltl'li!', '1i" C"~ 1 f"'" I' t 1i~ fl..! '1;1 l'

UJi1.Jl.l~ .I_liA" .11 '£llC :,I1£l.i,.f;UlgtlS 1:)' ul:'OW:JL!11g (pl'ilot '{"'. ee llOl'mf,'I: .

By Roger and Peter Hondy. Dreyer's For Iag , 159pp. Hardback. AU inquiries to Roger I 218 11 verpoo l Road, London NI 1L£. III<.

Roger fofoody has beene CAFCA coneecr for a long time. He deals wi th us primarily via PARTIZANS (People Against Rio Tinto Zinc and its Subsid:J.ari,fU$)' so he has 8. p.u:ticular interest in Comalco' e Bluff smel ter (partially owned by RTZ). He organised Bill Rosenberg's 1981 UK tour. He:1s also involved with CIMRA (Colonia.1ism and Indigenous llfinorities Research and Action) which produces "Native Peoples' News". 1'10!;;: recently he was arrested pr.otesting the departure of Australia '.'3 Bicen tennisl. Fleet frolD Portsmouth.

Na, this book 1185 Li.ttle to do with ,,;foreigll control. It!'has (fl' lotto doW'1th the po.1:i. tics of mfmtaJ heal th. It: shed~1:i8ht on the ~ife of one of our

most valued internat.iorui/l contacts and it is an extraorclimu."y book in its

own right ~

In 198/t I \>l8f:lprivilegedto spend some time vlith Roger and Petfilin their extraordinary north London home~ a house that completely defines the phrase 'organised chaos'. Roger is a political conta.ctfrom years ago and a fascinating per-son in his own right. Peter.' is u:tntellectually handicapped"~' "subnormal", a "mongo.l " t and all those other derogatory words. I was: intrigued by the relat.ionsh:fpbetween these brethers , a relationship based

on trust al'ldmutual love and when I learned this book was out. I· jumped

at the chanc.e to learn more.

Unlike other\'~orks ona.spects of mental health, it is not by an academic expert. Not" it by one Ilnormal" brother about his "subnormal" sibling. They both wrote :tt. It does not treat Pete with the cutesy pie preciOUsness of cal.Hng Mma "special person II • He "s ana,dult human being (nearly SOh warts and a1:1. He' approaches1ife with boxing gloves, not kid gloves. vJhentold not::toworry about someone taunting him. he replies: 1I1'm not worried. I'11tell'nimto fuck off",

I wellremltmher Petew:lth his'extraord.ina.ry routinesinvolv:lng hfs watchi tranSistor. talctlln po./der anclld8 encyckopaedaaa of movies. Hi!!! is an expert on horror movies and many of ... self-titled, photo captions of him are headed "Frankenstein and his BrideHt etc. Pete has a finely tuned sense

of humour~ R.ogerts an internationally known poli.ti~al activist, but the book's tHleis nothingt.o do with politics. "Areyou all right, Pete?

No i I I·m half left!'.

Pete t 8 ext;raordiAary ff:tl1uminated lfuanuscripts" are reproduced and there

are lel1gthyentries from his voluminou.sdiaries. 'rlley all include detailed deSCriptions; of what particular booze he drankth(!!t day. Guinness is his

favourite are smile BI'm not

copy is Lnscr tbed "L<w€>; fr om Guinness Pete". There funny lines. intentional or not, Pete, the vegetarian: 'I'hey! re made from ani.malsH•

Roger and lived together aince their mother diedt either as a twosome; or in a. small group. They t VEl separated when Roger I s travelled overseas and they have extensively travelled together. Pete has not been institutionalised since his teens.

They don't claim to be anything special. But they are proof that the "normal" and. "subnormal." can life together perfectly well. Roger offers proof that Pete has alternativE: intelligence, not lesser. This is a unique book about two brothers . living life to the full. in fact living a much

more fulfilling life than most of us.

~1t~_.9~:"'L"FA[S kposes In ·1lefenc:e of the Pu.blic~a Right to Inow By Brian .Toohey and ~1arian ~Ji1kinson. Angus & Robert sort. 268pp.

Toohey and ~J:Uktn8on are two of Australia I stop :!nvestigativejournalists. Both have worked for that gem of the Fairfax crown "The National Times" (now "The Times on Sunday"), Indeed Toohey was its editor. He now edits a small mit:tric:al magazine, "'The Eye II , and recently caused a furore in New Zealand with· a throwaway line in 8 lengthy IlListene:r" article stating that Hayden and Hawke study intercepted New Zealand diplomatic cables £or evidence ofLange f s foibles.

The seven chapter headings and subhea.dings of this book succinctly sum it up. "The Bogl.e-Chand l.er mystery. Does xbe FlU know what happened 1" ; "The Loam~AfJa:b;. \vas the Labor Party. set up?"; "The 1975' Dismissal. Was Whitlam a secur i.ty risk'll!; "The Intelligence Services. A law unto themselves o;P!; "The Timor Papers. Did Australia condone the invasion 1"; liThe NuganHand Swindle. A CIA 'd:lrty tricks' operation?"; "The Defence Strategies. Fraser or Hawke?".

The Bog Ia-Chand murdermY~1tery chapt er is the most fascinating in an

individual.seose, but also the weakest and most unconnected one. Most

of the rest form a seamless pattern. Several were happening Simultaneously _, the loans affair(s) led to 'the 'w'h:t.tlam dismissal. in t75, the same year Indonesia invaded East; Timor! with Whitlam' s tac:tt approval (and overt

US support). I lived in Sydney 19T5/76and this brought back to me what

a hectic year it was, not only Australia but worldwide - the final liberation of V:letnam. the superpovera' proxy war in Angola.

, .

Not surp:t:':l..s.::l.ngl.y, most·of the exposes :tnvolve security agencies •. domestic and international. Australia crawls w:tth sp1.es. The NSA monitored Labor government comaunfcat i.ons to tip off the Tories about the highly irregular loans negotiations; Australian and- American agencies were deeply disturbed by Whitlauf st:art:ing to lift the veil off Pdne Gap; the eKiatence of ASIS was kept top secret for: many ~ many yean,.q Nugan Hand (which included Mr Asia. amongst:tts ae.l.ect; clientelE:) was run as a money launderingope:ration and Hnandal front for the CIA,

The leaks have corne r1.ght from the top - tapes of personal phone calls

by Whitlam I s: Treasury Secretary ~·alerting fellow senior bureaucrats of

the loans fiasco; daily CIA bdefi.ngs for President Ford. proving that Indonesia was ac.tivelyintervening. in East Ti,mor months before its outright invasion, a.ndthatthe US knew a:ndapproved.

It has material relevant to New Zealand - Whitlam, without fanfare, wouldn't allowanyUSnuc.lear warships into AuSltral:1.8· during his term. TheAmericans were thoroughly alarmed but didn't behave in the same ptiblic.andcounter productive way as they have towards Lange. The just made sure they: got

rid of him. (Incidentallysomebodyca1led Dunning Idle could .only .be a

CIA agent).

This book is a fascinating revelation about the. secret elites who manipulate, ignore or actively oppose elected governmenca,» It 'salsoabout governments who deceive and destabilise other gbvernments,and;governmentswho lie

to their own people. It doesn't tell us anything we don't already know.

But it proves it.

:./ .-

AUSTRALIA'S WAR IN llImfM_!

By Frank Frost. Allen & Unwin. 21lpp.

Australi.a is follOWing America in rewriting the history of its involvement

in Vietnam. In October 1987 250tOOO Sydneysiders watched a parade of Vietnam vets (including New Zealanders). Bob Hawke was prominent in the audience

and it had all the trimmings. including Aussie veterans of usa shows in Vietnam, such as Normie Rowe and Little Patti (who?).

This book is part of the re-evaluation. rtis exclusively amilittaitlyhistory: thus is concerns itself only with the one province "assigned" to Austral1aPhuoc 'fuy (the New Zealand cont:i.ngent was lumped in with the Aussies and doesn't rate more than·smention). This is the book's major weakness -

it has no overall context. The war is described only in so far ~s it affects Australia. You'dlea.rnmore about the 1968Tet offensive from viewing Stanley Kubrick t s"FullMetal Jacket.". This most political of wars is presented in purely military terms,shorn of politics.

There is nothing on the wider political context at home or in the US, nothing on the'massive protest movement in Australia against the war, complete

with! illlptison~d.dtaft resisters (unlike New Zealand, Australia sent conscripts to Vietnam). . For' a wat' that evoked such sw:~eping passia,fis, it's a curiously bloodless book -<it vety much has the feel of the academic thesis about it.

,

This bUnkered approach also has advantages - it en~bles Australia's war in Vietnam to be examined, free of all distractions. 47,000 Aussies fought there in a 11', with 8000 plus <being there at anyone time. It covers their inability" co wOrk· together with the. US mHitary; their failure • over 5! years, to crack the National Liberation Front political struc:ture. let alone defeat the NLF militarily; itdescr:i.bes one proven case of torture

of a prisOner by Aussies; their involvement in the CIA's Phoenix Program assasatnat torrsj vthe Agent Orangs cngofng saga.

It explodes the myth that. left to themse'lves , the military could have won the war. 'The Aussies t biggeF.!t baUsupwas ttln their own work - they laid a big minefield,. wh:tch tha Bouth Vietm,unese d.idn f t; patrof., So the NLF dug up thousands of the mines and used them to kill OX' wound lars€; numbers of Diggers.

Apart from analysing the structure of the :h"LF politico-military organisations, there is no attE:mptto explain or understand the Vietnamese at all. Like

all the current movies on the subject, they are ju~t "the enemy", or part

of the scenery. There is no attempt. to expla.in· just why AilEilkralians were

in Vietnam in the first place. The book concludes - tiThe Australian forces operated with cohesion and withstood the many diffi.culties involved but profess;i.ol).al military,skills could not transcent the political problems

and dilemmas of. operations in the environment of Phyoc Tuy. UltimatelYt

the only ccncl.usd.ve way of avoiding these problems would have been not

to have deployed the forces :in the; first place.1t

The great bulk of Aussies were withdrawn in 1971 t as part of "Vietnamisetion" (read "a.dm:tssion of defeat"). A few Australian and New Zealand instructors stayed for squalid jobs like tra:bd.ng Lon Nol f IS Cambodfan boy sold:ters. Whitlam and Kirk came to power Ln '72 and wl.ti1drew the last Anzacs. Whitlam pardoned and rel.eased the draft resistE':lnil.

The whole rotten edifice was swept away in 6 tumultuous weeks in 1975. Then the Vietnamese were finally able to say to America, Australia and all the other. sat.e Ll.f tes - Phuoc you Tuy.

**********

Save Our Hospital·· Hokitika FightliJ Back

By Peter Neam, Caxt.on Press, 150p $29.50. Distributed by Peter Nea.lll, ., Camerona Road ,. Greyruouth,Westland.

This book iiSNeam's account of t;heattempt to stop down grading of hea.lth servi.ces, on;;th,e West Coast and In. partLcul.ar the closing of the Mandl. Ward

of Westland Hosp:i.tal. TI!I fight.j:hec1osure of Mandl,many hundr~s of Hokit::l.ka and West CoastresidentS.:i.nclud:lng mothers with babies, unemployed, old people and workers stood together at numerous rallies in a most unexpected display of public. defiance,

This actfon .... um.que in New Zaal.and I s history ,consisted of a. 66 day long protest of ci.vil disobedience in anendeevour to save the Westland Hospitel from. furt.her downgrading. 800 individuals played their part over and over again at a roat ered .. sit-in at the actu&l rA .. euldl Ward and for the "funeral procession" .~ hundreds of locals drove their car s Ercm Hokitika to Greymouth so that theycQuld pr.esen t thei r case ,,

Peter. Neam, a t::l:reless activist and man.of great involvematlj:.: on the Coast f was the driving farce behiJ?d the whole protest. The book aJ.Eio .contains

lots about: Pet er jlfeBm and why he does what he does. ..

It is worth noting here that Pet.er pl;}id h:1s own money to get this book published at a. coat of $17 ~O·OO. Peter Neam is our spokesperson for the West Coast.

17

- Paul Bruce.

i .t

Latin America Bureau, 1 Amwell Street, LondonEGIRIUL t 1::.2.95 or $US5.

The Latin. America Bureau has produced another timely book (published April 1987) which not only brings us up to date on the continued exploitation

of another 1.atin American nation, but gives us an insight into the workings of the commodity markets, and the irrat:i.onality of the present world economic order.

The greaftin crash, not to be confused with the recent Wall Streetcrasht took place in 1985 and saw prices fall to less than half the peak of that year. In Bolivia, the effect has been particularly harsh, not only because this country t or to be more correct its peopf.e, are some of the most impoverished of the worldt but because their Government has used the opportunity to destroy their unions, and sell up to prtvate enterprise. More about that later.

The. authors have devoted the major part of their 101 page reader to explaining the histor'y of the InternattonalTin ,Council (ITC) t its Agreements (ITA),

and how mineral commodity markets work. The TlnCouncil consisted of

both producers and consumers - an unholy alli.ance designed to lead to a

crisis at: some·time or Other (GNP's ranged from $US540 for Bolivia as a producer to $US15.390 for United States a consumer). This conflict of interest sharpened. as the world economy entered a period of recession

in the 1970s. Major consumer nations elected right wing governments primarily interested in reducing inflation and cutting their domestic deficits.

Indeed. low commodity prices played a major part in their battle with inflation. These right wing governments were opposed to UNCTAD's (United Nations Con.ference on Trade and Develbpooent) objective of using commodity agreements to redistribute income from the rich to the poor nations. The example of OPEC reinforced their hostility.

The United States jointed the ITe in 1976, but according to the Latin America Bureau (LAB) they used their presence to prevent action which might raise prices about market levels as a means of transferring resourceS to the producer countries. l.AB reports a statement from the International Tin symposium in 1985 •.• 'United States has had a. strong and largely ~istuptive influence over the world tin market for the last forty years.' This was through occasional sales from the USstockpHe of tin (obtained from Bolivia stvery low prices during WI!). The I Buffer Stock Managert (BSM) was

forced to buy greater and greatet' volumes of tin for the stockpiledn otderto maintain the floor price- the SSM complained publicly in 1979

about the failure of theconsumingnatipns to make adequate contributions.

In 1985 the production and consumption of tin was broadly in balance. but due to a sudden fall in the value of the Am"r1can dollar, the sterling

value of the stockpile dropped and the banks and financiers refused to

lend further oh what had become a: poor security. Tht: resultt was that the marketalsocolapsed. As the immediate causeo£ the 'collapse can be attributed to' shifts in exchange rates, it can be seen ase sort of accident. However many of the rich nat tens of the ITC were fun<iamental.lyopposed

to the idea of intervention in the 1'Il8.rkett and allowed the crisiS to develop, and refused to honour the debts of the ITC for which. many deem them responsible.

Pr Lor ,to the crash , samest.abil ity was achieved. end the I beggar my neighbour I situation now existi.ng was avoided for many years. In spite of this, those that would like to lea~e every~hing to the market, have used the collapse

of the. International Tm Councl.l Agreement to attempt to discr~dit all commodl.ty agreements.

A number of are d.1"V(lted ro a look at; BoHv:ta its economy,

its heavy on mining, 95% expor t s in 1950, and ita decline

from 34% in 1984 to about 15% today • (The tin foundary :1.11 Orvro ceased production altogether in January 1987). Th:Ls chage has not been accompanied by tncreasfng prodi.acthrity in. other sectors .~ Ln fact the GNP has decreased in a paralielfashlon for the last 6 consecutive years. (Gold has increased in import'l'Ulce~, hilt Bol:i.via' s ch:i.ef expor t , gas f Ls now also declining in va.lue)'; ,

Until 1952 ~ control of Bolivia I s tin mining business vas in tne hands of a group ofloca:lcapital:lsts knowrtcollectively as the 'tin barons' J' or

the rosca, 'The wealthiest and most powerful, of these \o'!;;~S the Patino family who became' one iof the r+chest; families in the world (TIHE ma~szine). Patino's empireev0utual1y dominated thetl.n 1:msim.;s~ in mining, processing. transport, banking and smelting and owns the world's major tin foundry~ Willia.m.s Harvey near Liverpool. The family also becene involved with many other multinationals and even in the sale of a fmnr.H1;!;" tl.aori artefact.

At the turn of the century~ tin ores had heen as 15%~ by the time

of the revcdut i.on in 1952, they were only O. ! tin barons I removed

as much capital as they could in the 6 month per-Iod pr Lor to the national1,:", sation decree andes part of an agreement made under US pressu.re,compensation paymentscontribut.ed to thedecapitalisation o:f:·the mines.

The tin fltLi'll!;)rS of played an important role in the course of a revol~ti9n

in 1952,. iiI .~!hicha::lsumed a special status in the newly formed BQlivian .

WorkertJ Congress end won a cert.aan degrfH;: of ~JOrker p£'lt'ticipation"

ill 'CDr'UBOLt follolNl.ng nationalisation. They were also in tne£oref.ront

of the etruggleof all workers in the struggle for democra.cy and basic

human d.ghts - often at considerable cost to thedr ovn lives and Wt;'?ll-be.ing~

Bolivian 'pi5l:i.,dcDl \;iGsdominated by e.eucceaston of military governments

in the per iod 1964 to 19821 most of w/hieh sought to qu.dl the trade unions.

The miners and venel'nently opposed the itrrplementat:Lon of IMP-backed

stabilisatiqn over the years, However in 19D5~ the 'tin cr rsf.s '

book place as gov(~rnl!ientcamt~topower led Vtc-tor Paz Est.enssoro

and SUPPoi'tea.' J3a.n:r.;eh~ I s·extreme.:.,:right ADN • Paz ! f~ rlghtwing opted to ' go for shock :.tn a 'btd toh:j, thert;o elusi v~ support from

the 1M!" f~or

The miner.t3Union (FSTMB) argued that effect:i.vesteps coufd be taken to

reduce th€~year IS r-evenue shcrt.fal.L, byexemptl,ng ComHlol from paying .. taxes and r'oyallt':i.es,'reduc:il1g other charges, and by ending the system ,<{hereby Comibol,xathertbanthe Ministries of Health and Educ:ation, paid :for medical services and schools in the' mining c,ommunities. The miners' planaddresaed

the tssue "of' Bolivia! s pr oducttve haseendthe importance of state intervention to maintain .itt 'whilethegove:rnment only offeredne()-liberal eccnoasc solutions, .. and no strategy fOI' Imaet:tng the basic . needs oft;he .peopl€h

Even w:U::h US 't:ro()l?s 6riBoli vian$oi1 ha:raS,$ing pea:an7ults'who g~ow the .'COC$;

bush, and former mil~iersfbrc.etd intop.rochlcing thsstdph,ate ba'se ·of cocaine,

nei ther the£nlivlaIlgdvetllrnent;()t the lJSedmirdstrittionhaacorne .up !wi th , alternatives for "those If:sft ',destitut(~ (a tt'adeunion inspi:redplen fot,'

. the set~lng 'up ,Me drug 'C'oi'l1panywas stymit'!d 'hY' you· know' ) •.

'Ihousanda-of miners have gf.ven up their

Comlbdl sil::!.cos::ts

(21,000 ) werelllade

t and an est;imat~1d 25,000 1956~··and then Ln 1986, 75%

lit tl~~o!' no compensation.

Health workers in the Potosi province told me that Lnfant mortality has reached levels of 550 per thousand J and Bfa expectancy was droppdng , National average incomes have half the value of a decade ago~ and Bolivians have become the second poorest in Latin America - behind Haiti.

The gold and the silver f enough to build a bd,dge to Spain - and the tin, which comprised 48% of the total world support.in a period after the second world war , have not helped Bolivians improve their standard of living';'; ,.

the Indian movement 'Tupee Keitar:!.' bel:i.eves it was betterpriot to the

arrival of the Sp~niards.· ',.'

n:' .1" ',' . J I: ~ '~ ~:'tt:~.. X\9"! _tr

When one surveys the hundreds of aid projects'- h~alth. agriculture, etc - active in Bolivia and realise that the people.have become poorer, it

is c l ear- that aid is of little consequence compared to the never ending . '" drain of resources away from theeountry. It should be noted that Bolivia is still probably one of the richest 'countries in the world per capita

in pr~ipe agricultural land - and theit lithium deposits have been found

to be'the largest in the world. .

The Latin America Bureau, in this short; butwel1 organised bulletin, did

not really take on die internal situation in BOfivia. The most authoritati.ve historicalreview~f 'Rebellion in the Veins'btJames Dunkerley. published 1984 Verso Editions, GB. However they have addressed aspects of the process of modernisation and change away from certain 'commoditi.es f and technology. "The process of change 1.9 the source of the increasing wealth of the industrialised nations~... Under capitalism~ not only are the benefits not shared but the very process of change itself generates losses and hardship to

its victims. ·National governments in the third world do not have the resources to compensate their dtizens for changes in the international division of labour" - and - "Some argue that higher commodity prices benefit mine owners and not the poor. Aidt however, is not what is at issue, but

a genuine transfer of cononric POWER and wealth. II

LAB conclUdes by acknowledging that thete 'is no. means in place of taxing

the high-productiv5.ty of industrialised countries to help the third world

and the m.ost' that cOll1lllod:ityagreements can do :ts to ensure that adjustment costs are shared between countries. As yet no new international tin agreement

has beerriar ranged, . .,

In July/ Augu$t 198'6,J::spent6 i.rsekstravel1ing AustI;alia by rail, meeting peace activ:ist$~iyetYBt.~ite and .territory except WA and Tasmania. The definite highpoint fdr m,,'!' was the ",eek I spent: with the Alice Springs Peace Group. They "lere the best organised, most imaginative group I'dmet i .. n

a long time. In short~ they had the most go of any of them.

At that stage the· ASPG.was bUilding up to the start of its 12 month long campaign against Pine Gap (CDR expressed its solidarity with its October '86 Spies Picnic at Harewood) •• 1 resolved then to get back to Alice for

the October '87 cHmax.ti national (and int(1rnational) d,emonstration outside, AND INSIDE$ the CIA's biggest and most important electronic spy base outside of the US.

So I fully intended to go as an individuaL The situation changed however when first Owen Wilkes and then Bob Leonard had to decline the invitation to become the featlire(New Zealaudspeaker at the "Austral:l.a Beyond The Bases" forum that \13S P!3rt of the wee.k long acti.vitie!3ill.Alice. I then became the New Zealand speaker.

I had the best of ,'lorIda.! had planned to take part in a 3 week exposure tour ofthe Philippines (including both major US bases there),

and had asked Ph:Uippines Solidarity Network of Aotearoa to time it

so that; I could get to Pine Gap on the way home. Keith Locke ob l Lged , and I'm.deeply grateful to him for that.

The downside of it involved travel. The discount t:tcket deal with Oantas precluded me taking rhe shortest and most direct route from Manila to Alice. There were only 4 days J1etween my arrival in Sydney and the first session

of the forum, half .fi. continent awa.y. Thus there was no tiIlle to take advantage of. the ·perka:liaili>:Jle to. me. as a NZRailways worker - freet firstclass

intersta.te t:redn in Australia (which I'd made ample use of in '86).

I had to fly ~ hi an expensive business there. However, CDR mounted

an appea l t which $200 before I left. '!'he Sydney Close Pine Gap

Action Committee presented me , .... ith $AlOO ov.~,r<the:re and CAFCA was pledged to make up the rest , So finance was no problem.

I was not the only Zealanders there - Nerissa Te Pat.u and Marie Laufiso

of Te Wfumau A (Dunedin) were there to take part in the Pacific

indigenous pecp Les I session of the forum, and to foat.er links with indigenous groups, both :!..H Austrl:1Ha and. around the Pacific. But I was the only representative of the "pakeha peace movement" (their words). An.othe:r New Zealand resident who made a b:tg splash Ln Alice was Jone Dakuvul.e of Wellington, representing th~~ Coalition for the Reatorat::l.tm of Deaccr'acy in Fiji. He

got e lot of deserved roedl.a coverage, loc.ally, nat i .. onally t and inter-

nationally.

"Australia Beyond The Bases" was held over two consecutive nights. P':I.rst

up was the indl,gen{nH~ peopl.es ' session (the ASPG is the most successful group I 've m~:.t 1.11 AUEltrdia as far a~ lntegrating the anti-bases campaign with the struggle Aboriginal rights. Indeed most ASPG activists have jobs working em Aboriginal issues). .It was chaired by Karen Flickt a Sydney based Aborigi.nal land rights activist. The local keynote spea.ker was Marcia

Langton. of the Land Council, a veteran of the land rights movement,

and an ac t.Lve the ASPG. Her paper was entitled "Abori.ginal people

and militar:l.sm: 1.

Nerissa and Narie spoke on behalf of r,lJaori end Pol.ynesran people of Aotearoa. Joy Bal.azo., who r'epr esent.s a large number of Filipino groups from her Philippines Resource Centre in Helopurne, was jotned by an indigenous woman

from the mountainous' Cordillera region of Luaon, The FLNKS sent a represta.tiv(1! from Kanaky; Agio Perreira, the .Dar'win representative of East Timortg Freti1in; and, of course, Jone Dakuvula_, who tackled some of the curly questions concerning Fiji t s coups headon (ea the claim that they were defending indigenous rights). After the second coup, it was not possible for a speaker to come

from Fiji :i.tself.

All thesevpeop le presented comprehensive accounts of the str,uggles,intheir countmes against US imperialism, French colol".;ialism, Indonesian, genocide, reactionary coups, and all pervasive European racism. It ad.ds up to a devastation of'.indigenous peoples throughout the Pacific.

I took part in the second session, which examined defence alternatives

for Australia. This was chaired by Senator Jo Vallentine, the Independent anti-nuclear senator ·from WA (both sessions were introduced by BrianDoola~, ,.' spokesperman fot both the ASPG and the Australian Anti-Bases. Campaign Coalition). My fellow speakers were Margaret Clark from Canberra f who lectures in Womens Studies. A leading peace ac t tvf.st , her paper was entitled "Defence - A

Dilemma for the Peace Movement", Iockmg at the implications of Australia t s Dibbi.eport. She also spoke at'length on war and peace from a feminist perspective. Richard Tanter of Melbourne's Monash UniversHy spoke on "Rethinking security issu.es~· econoatc perspectives on nuclear politics"

which ma.de the vital li.nks between m:Uitarisation and the US economic cdsis~ What is. the military for - who and wha.t are they there ,to defend? Mancy

Shelley of Canberra spoke on t!wtlO determines the agenda?fI - how economic

thinking is being manipulated, and the need for people to create an alternative agenda for» ,themselves.

I had the unenvaab l,e job of speaking fir'stand warming up the crowd. They seemed qut.t.e warm by the ttme I'd finished. .Mr paper was enti.tled "The

View From Aocearoa", It dispelled the myth that we are nuc.l.earf'ree , detailing the continued existence of objectionablempitary facilities at Harewood, Black B~rch and Tangimoana. It filled in the history of how Lange was

forced to adhere to his anti-nuclear poHcy by the peace movement. And

Lt canvassed argument.s for and against nuclear free Aotearoa having any

form o,f military alliance or relationship with an Australia thetis a staunch member of ANZUS and a most loyal satellite of .every aspect of US nuclear strategy., It was heartening to receive loud applause when I stated that Aotesros isnucleex free and out of ANZUS. I called for Australians to

help us .finish the job, and for us to help them fight the much bigger a.nd much more entrenched US.rnilitaryand intelligence presence in their country.

The audiencei(t98Veral hundred attended each .ession) appreCiated some humou:r,

and people<lweresurprised to 1e8rntb.at my speech was On behalf of two . "

groups (CAFCA/CDH) and had been clea.red, line by line, by special CDlI meeting!]-

.F'

Anyonewartting a copy can send me $2 at Box 2258, Christchurch, .to cover photocopying and postage.

Bu.t the forum was oulyone of the activities in an action packed week (13-20 October). There were workshops on every day, all day, for the first part of the week - for :i.nstance, I ,attended ones o.n Kanaky, Fiji, and the Philippines. ,Others included cr oee-cul turaf awareness,no.n-1fiolent direct action t'raini'ng, legal b:riefi.ngs (Pine Gapi$! protected by all sorts of very draconian laws). These workshops were either held in private homes all over towns 0.1" in the open air, in the 30°+ temperatures.

One whole day was set, for a meeting of delegates to the Australian

Anti Bases Coalition. This revteved, State by State. the previous

year's activity, and planned for 1988. North West Cape is one of the thtee' major US instal1ationsf and nuclear targets (the others being Pine Gap

and Nurrungar) - its lease falls due in '88. So it will bathe' focus of atten~ionf but there will be ~o comparable national protest there. It's

even more remote. being a good 1500Km north of Perth (I was one of the HZ contingent that took part in the May '74 Long March to the Cape).

,There will however be a national protest in Sydney in October '88/ As . part of the 'vsstlyoverblown Allstra1ianBicentennial celebrations, the

US Navy is sending 74 (yes 74) warShips simUltaneously into Sydney Harbour that month. (It' sworth remembering that Sydney was the only dtyoutside the US to officially celebrate the AM'ERICAN Bicentennial in 176 and that this year, 250,000 people, including Bob Hawke, turned out to cheer a multinationals parade of Vietnam veterans).

S() the AABCC is organising a national protest under the slogsn "No Tall Ships! No Warships!" (the former being the reenactment of the First Fleet

- of convicts). This neatly links the themes of the historical colonisation of AUf;lt:raliaby Europeans - Aboriginals ha.ve no reason to celebrate - and the present coloni.sation by the US. New Z.ealanders are welcome to take part, and1ts much closer and cheaper to get to Sydney that it is to Alice.

There was one 'Very positive result to come out of the AABCC meeting. It

has agreed to estahlish a. regional committee to run a regional campaign against US bases, and to put money towards this. There are three countries invol ved - Australia, New, Zealand. and the Philippines. Austral:i.a' s plans are' ape'l tout above ; they will assist us ~ and send delegates to fOUl' planned actions at Harewoodf Black Birch, and Tangi.moana.. I am the New Zealand representative. The Philippines I anti-baSf::S campaf.gn plans major actions

at both Clark Air Force Base and Subic &yNaval Base in December '88 -

they want 'Australians and New Zealanders to take part.

Overall coordinator is Joy Balazo, of the Philippines Resource Centte.

124 Napier Street, Fitzroy (Melbourne), Victoria 3065, Australia. Telephone 4195718 ;.. work.

There were all sorts of other activities going on in that week - for instance tiThe Journey" was shown i.n 5 digestible sessions. 'The ASPG organised Ii marvellous bus tour of the American Zone of Alice Springs - participants

got to. wear Hickey Mouse ears and wave li.ttle Stars and Stripes while they

t oured Kentucky Frie d Chocks and picn:1.ced on the lawn of the base commander (theCIA/NSA staff have a su.burb to themselves in town). There was an all,..Aus,q:alian barbie, and a little cracker of a concert cum party, featuring a good' 01 ":'sh:i.tkickingband called the Feral'T'oyotas , and some not to excruciatin~runateur turns (egBarbars Flickf of the ASPGt in her white cowgirl bootssingingC & W).

It was great to meet th'ewide variety of peop l.e there - old friends like Brian Doolan of the ASPG (my '86 host) t and Ken ManQlell of the AABCC in ' Melbourne; to meet people I'd corresponded with or spoken to on the phone but never actually met -Liz Denham of Hobart People for Nuclear Disarmament; Denis Doherty of the Sydney Close Pine Gap Action Committee. Plus all

sorts of new friends from Sydney, Melbou'I'ne, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth

and Darwin. Not to' forget Canberra or' the smaller towns 11kl! Tennant Creek. Even people from much closer to home' .;.., ! t d never met Jcne Dakuvul.ebefore , and he Ii yes int.Jellington.

23

OK, so what ac tual.Iy happened? Firstl,. the crgent eatIonal skills of the ASPG were superb. S~veral hundred people C(lll1e from allover Au.stralis, some i~,shartered luxury coaches. Borne. in private buse~, vans, ~rucks and cars. "They all stayed at the lIeavit::ree Tap caravan park, 'Where the AABCC established its campaign office. (As a guest speaker I was spoilt, with

. a private flat at my disposal .. for the week. No burnt sausages over a campfire for me either ,_ .as soon as.::r arrived I was fed oysters. no meanfei!tt when

you consader Alice's d:l,stance from the sea. )

There was a rich and,di verse gatheI'ingof people - Helen Caldicott In her

whit~ hat and pearls, Nancy Shelly in herpith helmet and white gloves; .... . David Bradbury the fi1~ker (,fChile. Hasts Cusndo?H); Mum Shirl from Redfern .' (Sydney) who regaled us with tales of her multitudes of adopted .children

- Aboriginal, Italian, Jewish - and innumerablegrandkids and great grandkids. There were greatly disparate types of people there -.the union delegates

in shorts and tanktops, .theChristian dressed as cockroaches (the only lifeform to survive nuclear war), the Nirubin hippies, the Sydney punks,

a group of women who identified themselves in a paint up oI the road to

the base as "feral lesbians" •. A good mix of vomen, men, young and old.

Not to men~ion tnevarious political groupings (Australia has three rival communist parties, plus Trotskyists, etc, etc). And they all actually

got on. On. the '74 NW Cape Long March there were huge ideological rows.

and .. actual fist fights - the '87 Pine qap people were united in their purpose.

Interestingly, in a town where Pine Gap is the biggest employer,there

was no organised opposition to the protestors, no perceptible hostility.

The only exception was, a taxi conspicuously flying the US flag. The only time~hings got nasty was on the last night when an idiot fired a.flsre

into thescrl,1b overlooking the caravan. park, threatening a fire in a total fire.ban area. The downside of this is that, unlike October '86, very few locals (apart. from ASPG stalwarts) took part. It was very much an out..:. of-towners affair.

But I can ~t fault the ASPG. They arranged superb media coverage - the Pine Gap demo received extensive written and pictoriB;l cover in all major Australian papers; was a lead. item on ABC natipnal TV. and radio news; plus heavy coverage on .thecommercial TV networks.

Actiont; for the two days of protest (October 18!19).were exhaustively planned. People had formed small affinity groups months before,and they went ahea.d

to do their individual actions. ~I8SS actions were planned at daily 2 hour long camp meetings -those not already in affinity groups (such as me)

formed instant ones with the people next t.o them; discussed whether they wanted to get arreste9 or not: elected a spokesperson, The latter then

all n:tet together to hammer out a coherent plan of attack (entering or blocking thebase were the options) • 'Then the mass meeting reconvened to reach

a consen~us.

I opted not to get .ar reat.ed I for expedient./r(~asons ~ principally that my Qantas cheapo ticket could only be al t ered at cons:1,derableexpense; and

there was no way I'd be back to appear in an Alice court (it might be annoying to bepulled.off anAyers Rock tour buaLo answer an ancient warrant, when

I'm next, there on my post-retirement Golden Age package tour).

The consensus was to enter the base; On til€! two days of protest, the CIA/NSA ground the place to a half .- no workers' buses in or out, no cars at all

in or out. on the 19th (a Monday) some of us went to Alice's (civilian) airport to greet thew-eakly USAF' MAC C"'141 Sta:rlifter from Harewood via

NS·VI' sRichmond RAAF base. It never arrived at any of those a-:l.rports -

at Alice we were told it was delayed "because there's trouble in town".

Someone had .gone to the trouble or painting anti-Pine Gap slogans on the runway. (Apparently it turned up on the Wednesday). This was a tribute

to the protest - it buggered things up for a couple of days. And it _ant there wasnotning for us ,to block. We would have to go on the offensive.

But' ':1:0' the first' few day~()fthe weekl.ong activities, life was business

as usual at the base. with workers' buses and .cars going in and out. On the Thursday, nine people ware arrested for trying to stop one of the buses entering the base-, this provided one of the very rare potentially ugly moments. The'businitiaUy refused to stop. and pushed the protestors

along the gr ound , They were dress.ed as .war victims I with bloodied bandages., wrapped around their limbs, and they'd earlier. begged for money from cars going into the base. ~ this to illustrate the impoverishment caused by the nuclear arms race. They face the quai"t:ly .worded .charge of "failing to cease to loiter". Protestors also attended an official opening of a mall (the weeks other big everninAlice; locals can tell the dates on which eachof the .townls three sets of traffic lights .were erected). This was aimed at the Mayor and her public pro-US policy; and the council t which recently decided that if notified of an imminent Soviet missile strike. theytd ·doorknock the town to suggest people might like to run very fast (believe it or not, that's their policy).

Ob~iously the main focus was the base, outside and in. The invasion started early - on the Wednesday 12 people were arrested after spendf.ng several hours inside the huge prohibited area of the base (there's an outer and

an inner fence, several kilometres apart). Seven of them got right up

to the fence around the actual radomes, where the Christians amongst them prayed, planted seeds and scattered blood (two Christian activists entered Richmond RAAF base in early October and threw blood over the Harewood-Pine. Gap Starlifter). Then those seven superglued themselves to the inner fence - it was only at that point that they were discovered and arrested for trespass.

This sup~rglue business was to exercise a powerful fascination over the media •. 1 was one of a group interviewed for a commercial TV network - their niain interest was did we each carry tubes of the stuff, and did we intend gluing outselves to things? Imag:Lne what a coup it would be to gl1Jeyourself to a CIA agent. In fact two people scaled the surveillance camera tower just.inside the main gate and very publicly glued themselves to it ~. the cops had to use acetone to disconnect them.

The twoofUc1Ell days of mass protest action were a triumph. Hundreds

of people took part each each (remember Pine Gap is thousands of kilometres from the nearest' city in any direction). Each day began with a short march

to the malngate, with a great variety of colourful banners, flats, constant music. Speeches were made, street theatre performed~ the NurembargPrinciples reach. Everyone took photos - the Defence Special Undertakings Act (only

one of the"sp,?cial1aws that protects Pine9ap and other US bases) provides for 7 years gaol for anyone filming in thevicinit:y. Ironically although you;c:an~t·see the.radomes from the gate, you gat an unobstructed.view from the~in road .and railway line •. The authorities decided to nothing about

it - yet when Brian Doolan had taken me and another foreign visitor there

isn t86, we'd soon been shooed away. Indeed the cops were obviously under orders to behave themselves ." they'd, ~ot heavy, with the '83womens camp

and earned opprobrium. So they <;adn t try to defend the outer fence from the outside, only ar:resHng people on the outSide if they were actually cutting it withhacksa.wsol' boltcutters. There was n,o thuggerytowarda

those who jumped the fence, nOr was the boot put :in out of sight ofpfotestors

and ithe media. People were bailed quickly, with nocond:l.tiofi$ attached

to be.ll (such a'S not being 'allowed to return,to the scene). So some people were arreSl:ed 'iOOre'thau'once- I 'metl a Ca.nperrl;l. fellow who W8S. grabbed • 3 times •. Apparently the cops even gave fruit to those arrested. .

Alice I S. localpaper~ the nCentr[ilian Adv ocat e1! r~n a very appropr;Late frontp~8e

le~d, h~ad.line - "Space ,Base Invaders". Because that's what it wa;s, not ..

only on the official mass action, days , 'bu~ throughout theweek •. A mass, non-violent invasioutsnda massive' breach of.thebasetEj. outer securi.ty.

People weren.'tdeterred by dra~onian laws ,. high fenCeS, b,arbed wire or ,; "

masses' of., heavies- Norther~ Territory cops t federal l'?lice t spd the Austra!ihn Protective' Services (the special body that guards US bases) ~They went straight over the fence, cut through the gate, cut the barbed wire. Some mad~,arunfor it, fRrcing.the cops to try stiff arm tackles or flying; . ". dives.!1anyofthose eluded the law anqgot illto the scrub. Others 'simp~x walJ<ed up~p the nearest cop. Som~scaled rocky valltage points inside

the base, .. waying ,fl~gs and banners until the cops. reached them •. ' .. As well asthe Pfli17 whosuperglued thell1selves,to thesurveil~ancecamera towE!r t

one wou14:-b~ k()sls b~arwent straight up a tree ~ and anotherwotnsn chat,ned herself ,to . the ,Jence. (polic;.e had touee boltcutters). . .'

• '. I .• . . "" .'

By October 20. those arrested had reached 213. The vast majority were chat'8,e4wi~,h trespa~~ iundel'~he. COmmsmwe8.1~h Crdmes AI;~t somew~th c:riminal damage'( ie" to t:he f(:lnce) , .. '. }:Ie' .gather~d ,at.the~ll;ckga~eof ~n,e Alice, copshop ; and cheered each individual aatney were released .. ~ the chivalrous pol;ce . let all the women out f1.rst (as they did here during the '81 TourJ saying they could go home to cook tea for their husbands I )

Some affinity groups took a:rrestable acdons that were bot.h daring and dramatic. A group of hardy Victorians (1ncludi.ng my old mate Ken Mansell) spent several hours inside the base. then emerged on a rocky outcrop while we were all gathered outs:i.de the :front gate. They gained out attention

and that of the media and the outflanked cops, by f:i.ring off handheld £lares, waving £lags and banners. It was great; theatre. Several. "anvader-s" were extremely courageous person.ally - more than one person on crutches went through the fence t and ga,v.e.the. cops a run (hop ?Lfor t;he:tr money. It

needs to be explained that, ataSh()ft:distanee either 'side of the main

gate, the secur1.ty fen~e .justbecomes an .ordinary .old barbed wire cattle fence. No need to exett.y~urself climbing it. - just step through:

Nor could those arrestedbe.tahelled the extremists. Somewhere between

a third a.nd half the total number of protestors were arrested. Most of

the ASPG leaders jumped the f?rlce (1 suspect to get a few hours peace from meetings and phones) , Lea\i:i,ri$J' tb~.oreticians .of the Australian peace movement_ such as Richard Bolt and my fellow forum pane11ist;:. Richard Tanter, jumped

the fence ~ The most high profd.Le arrests were those,.,of people trying to present petiUons to the base commander - D:r;: Bill. Williams of Victoriaf arrested in a blaze of media coverage,.trYihg to hand OVE:lr one Oil behalf

of members of IPP~'W. · .. '1 '.

The police were mortified at having to arrest: 13 grandparents or greatgrandparents. These redoubtable .old buggers wanted to present a petition on behalf of over 1100 gr andkkds or great-grandkids. Cops went crimson when old ladies implored them to open the gate - "Come on son, I'd give

you a lolly if r had one". Undaunted, they went through the fenee, several

needing help to do so, and were duly' arrested. .

The highest profile arrest was that of Senator .10 Vallentine. Indeed her arrest kicked off the maes actions. She was also trying to present a petition t

26

the CIA was shy, so she went through the fence, and was arrested. This

was headlines all around Australia - she waS originally electe4 as a Nuclea~ Disarmament Party senator (newsne's an IIldependent) and her hiah prof tIe

in Alice all week matched her high profile nationwide on peace issues.

The whole week was handled wi"th.enormous imaginatl.cm and great good humour. As protestors swarmed over the fence, our compere advised the police to

set a more defensive field. Hek'ept us informed of the score - "Protestors 100. Police 011.. The preciousness that affliCts the peace movement was punctured - thesameMC called for an all-night mens' vigil to back up

the womens' one. Inducements. included "a mini-tankert footy videos, and

as a violent non-arrestable action. you can bash you head on the road all night".

It was the mass arrests that captured the lavish media coverage. But because there was no violence, from either side, no ttincidents" t it did not get sidetracked into a law and order issue. Even Murdoch rags like "The Australian!! had to take notice. As it said, "sur-rounded by secrecy, security fences

and 24 hour guad, Pine Gap is remote both geographically and in the awareness of most Australians". Not any more. In fact it got 80 much coverage that the same paper f.elt compelled to attack us in an editorial headed "Free

World Defence".

The week was a great success ; as indeed •. was the .. whole . camp~isn. The Australian anti-bases movement is going from strength to. strength. We can learns

lot from them.