650 attend New Zealand peace conference
By Ciaron O'Reilly
Some 650 New Zealand activists gathered in Wellington for the "Peace, Power and Politics" conference on the queen's birthday long weekend.
The conference was held on the 25th anniversary of a significant gathering for the anti-Vietnam War movement in Aotearoa (NZ). A number of those who had participated in the original 1968 conference were present, as well as World War II draft resisters who had preceded them and anti-weapons activists who had followed in the 1980s, bringing about the banning of nuclear warships and the end of the ANZUS alliance.
A healthy contingent of high school and university peace activists testified that resistance is continuing.
The conference was opened by Aroha Mead reflecting on the ongoing Maori struggle for peace and justice. This was complemented by Filipino speaker Walden Bello's analysis of the new face of imperialism in the 1990s — the New World Order. Bello outlined how the World Bank and International Monetary Fund, far from spreading altruism, are the cornerstone for imperial control.
The conference was peppered with 10-minute statements from a variety of New Zealand activists, from the 80-
year-old veteran Elsie Locke to the recently released and deported Plowshares activist Moana Cole, who participated in the disarmament of a B-52 bomber in the United States prior to the Gulf massacre and served over a year in prison.
Analysis of the current situation was enhanced by two films, the Noam Chomsky epic, Manufacturing Consent, and a video interview with John Pilger in London produced especially for the conference. Pilger was able to explain how the Gulf massacre had secured the New World Order.
Former prime minister David Lange addressed the conference, warning of the dangers of the continued
unquestioned military alliance with Australia. He pointed out that Australia's growing aggressive military activity in the region and its desire for New Zealand defence forces to be tailored for such interventionist purposes was not in the best interests of New Zealanders. This speech was heavily attacked by present Labour leader, Mike Moore, in the press.
Lange's speech indicates how far to the left the agenda of the defence debate has been pushed in New Zealand since the United States over-reacted to the 1984 decision to ban nuclear warships.
[Ciaron O'Reilly was a Plowshares activist arrested with Moana Cole in the U.S. while trying to disarm a B-52 bomber shortly before the Gulf war. They both spent a year in prison for their activities.]