Anarchia

A feature I wrote for Indy…yesterday at E Tu was fun, incredible weather…

Thousands gather in solidarity with October 15th arrestees and against the Terrorism Supression Act

Over 2000 people gathered today in Wellington for E Tu, an all day event with bands and speakers, in solidarity with those arrested and raided on October 15th, and against the Terrorism Supression Act. Speakers included someone from Tuhoe, one of those arrested and imprisoned on October 15th, an MP, and other Tino Rangatiratanga and social justice activists. Bands like Little Bushman, Olmecha Supreme and the Klezmer Rebs entertained the diverse crowd for the 7 hours of the event. [ Photos ]

Protests also took place today in Auckland and Hamilton - if you attended one of these, please post reports and photos here on Aotearoa Indymedia.

A new website has been launched “in solidarity those affected by the recent ‘anti-terror’ raids in Aotearoa/New Zealand.” October 15th Solidarity offers news and analysis of the raids and aftermath, support groups across Aotearoa and more.

The cases under the Arms Act for all 16 arrestees will be back in court on Monday 3rd, where matters such as continuing name and image supression for some of the arrestees will be discussed. There will be a rally outside the Auckland District Court from 10am.

Links: October 15th Solidarity | E Tu | Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe | Civil Rights Defence

If you don’t see the embedded video below, click here.

In late April 2007, two Save Happy Valley activists locked on to train tracks in Christchurch to stop a coal train from reaching Lytellton Port. After several hours, they were removed and arrested, and a third activist was also arrested and charged with “communicating with a prisoner”.

On Friday September 14th they appeared in court, and this is what happened. If you can’t see the embedded video below, click here. Hi-res version coming soon.

For more info, see www.savehappyvalley.org.nz

Below are links to three short videos from the US-NZ Partnership Forum protest on Monday September 10th. Links to Hi-Res versions of these clips will be added tomorrow.

I will also be putting out a longer edited video on the protest soon, probably on Sunday, which I’ll post here. Sorry these 3 clips took so long to get online - the first time they were uploaded they didn’t work (there was audio but no video) and this is the first chance I’ve had since then.

If you can’t see the embedded videos, then use the links

Video 1: A banner held at the entrance to the Hilton (the Forum venue) in the morning.

Video 2: A clip from the march down to the Hilton from Aotea Square, with a flare burning.

Video 3: Two protesters getting arrested near the end of the demonstration. A third was arrested shortly afterwards.

And a feature on the protests I helped write from Aotearoa Indymedia:

Actions in Auckland against NZ-US Partnership Forum

Around 100 people marched down Queen Street to the Hilton Hotel to protest against the NZ-US Partnership Forum. The forum, which brings together representatives of the two governments as well as from major US and NZ corporations to work on tightening the economic and political links between the two nations, was moved in the last minute from the Auckland Museum to the Hilton Hotel.

The protests had begun earlier in the day with a picket at the road corner by approximately 20 people, during the time Prime Minister Helen Clark arrived at the forum. The main march began at Aotea Square at 12 noon, with protesters taking the street, setting off flares and chanting all the way to the Hilton. Upon arrival at the Forum venue, a stand-off began with the police. After a short period, a scuffle erupted when the police attempted to open one lane to allow vehicles to enter and exit the area, an attempt which succeeded despite some resistance from a number of people. Some time later the police made a decision to open the remaining lane and force the protesters onto the footpath behind plastic barriers. In the ensuing altercation, three people were arrested and several injured.

The protests highlighted a number of issues. Our World Is Not For Sale spokesperson Ryan Bodman stated that the results of a free trade agreement between the US and Australia have included “the degradation of environmental protection, particularly in relation to genetic engineering of food, the degredation of quarantine laws, an economic nightmare for small farmers and businesses, a huge increase in australia’s trade defecit with the us, reduced access to affordable Australian pharmaceuticals and threats to australian manufacturing jobs.” The same results and others can be expected if an NZ/US agreement is signed.

Links: Our World Is Not For Sale campaign | Protest Timeline | Our World Is Not For Sale Press Release | Pre-Protest Feature | Pre-Protest police repression | Protest Reports: 1 | 2 | 3

Images : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Video : 1 | 2

In October 2005, the New Zealand Defence Industry Association held a conference at Te Papa, the national museum of New Zealand. The NZDIA conference was an opportunity for weapons manufacturers to promote and sell their killing machines to the New Zealand army and other militaries. The Aotearoa Revolutionary Clown Army and friends joined together to blockade the conference.

And now, almost two years later, I finally got all the video footage from that day, and so I’ve made a movie about it. It’s the first bit of editing I’ve done, so hopefully it’s not too bad

Low quality version below from YouTube. If you can’t see the embedded film, click here to view. If you’re on broadband, you can download a high quality version (131MB) from EngageMedia by clicking here. The high quality version is obviously much better - you can even read the subtitles

Below is an article I just wrote for the next issue of Auckland Animal Action’s newsletter/zine.

As the campaign to save Happy Valley, on the West Coast of the South Island, from being turned into a destructive opencast coal mine by state-owned Solid Energy enters its fourth year, the Save Happy Valley Coalition (SHVC) is continuing to take action around the country.

In Happy Valley itself, SHVC maintains the country’s longest lasting environmental occupation in history. On January 28th, 2006, 75 people made the three hour tramp into Happy Valley to begin the occupation and now, more than 15 months later, the occupation camp is looking beautiful and is ready to withstand its second harsh West Coast winter with snow, seemingly endless rain and biting cold. The Roa/Great Spotted Kiwi in the Valley call out to us every night and Western Weka roam around the campsite in a potent reminder of what stands to be lost if Solid Energy is allowed to destroy the precious ecosystem to mine climate changing coal.

Meanwhile, in Auckland, Wellington, the top of the South Island, Christchurch, Dunedin and the West Coast itself, local SHV groups are running stalls, public talks and film screenings, putting up posters and stickers, protesting and engaging in direct action.

On Sunday April 29th, two SHV activists in Christchurch locked themselves onto train tracks to prevent a coal train from Solid Energy’s Stockton mine arriving in the port of Lyttelton. At the same time, other SHV activists swarmed the coal train (which had stopped upon being informed of the locked on activists) hanging a 22 metre long banner reading “Solid Energy = Govt Sponsored Climate Change – www.savehappyvalley.org.nz”. The two activists, secured by metal pipes inside concrete laid under the tracks, remained there for several hours until fire rescue crew were able to remove them after jack hammering, grinding and digging away at the concrete. Both activists were charged with “interferes with railway line”, while their support person was arrested and charged with “communicating with a prisoner” after passing a bottle of water to the locked-on activists. In solidarity with this action, the Wellington SHV group hung a 10 metre long banner reading “Coal Mining = Climate Chaos – www.savehappyvalley.org.nz” from a motorway overbridge on the morning of Monday 30th.

SHVC needs your help! Join (or start) a local group and get involved in the campaign, or come and join our occupation (for 3 days, 3 weeks or 3 months). We aim to provide food and transport costs for longer-term occupiers, so money shouldn’t be an obstacle. If you are interested, or want to find out more, visit our website at http://www.savehappyvalley.org.nz or email occupation@savehappyvalley.org.nz for occupation related questions.

Don’t see the embedded video? Click here to watch it.

From Infoshop.org:

Basel Street, one of Tel Aviv’s hippest coffee shop centers, was blocked by 20 anarchists, using razor wire from the wall itself today at around 14:00.

The two rolls of razor wire were stretched across the street parallel to each other, in a formation reminding that of the wall, and red signs reading: “Mortal Danger-Military Zone. Any person who passes or damages the fence endangers his life”, also from the wall itself, were hanged on it. Flyers explaining Israel’s policy of restrictions on movement land-grab were passed around.

The action was carried to remind Tel Aviv’s café goers of everyday hardships of Palestinians, resulting from Israel’s apartheid policies and conduct in the Occupied Territories, and from the occupation itself. The activists urged Israelis to take responsibility of what is being done in their names, and force an end to Israeli occupation.

See also: Israel Indymedia.

So, this blog has been quiet of late. Why? Well, I’ve been in Melbourne.

While I was there, I participated in protests against the G20 Conference, and also did a spot of forest blockading in East Gippsland.

Won’t say any more for now, but if you want to know more about the G20 and what went down, I can highly reccomend A Rush And A Push, a collaborative blog that’s been set up to try to expand on thoughts that began with A Space Outside (a conference prior to the G20) and during the G20 itself.

Normal blogging will resume shortly.

Around a dozen people went to the Mexican embassy in Wellington on Monday 30th October to express their disgust at the murder of four people in Oaxaca over the weekend and the continuing repression targeted at the Popular Assembly of the Peoples of Oaxaca (APPO).

The dozen people taped a poster reading “MURDER, RAPE, TORTURE ON YOUR CONSCIENCE” to the glass door of the Embassy, made lots of noise with drums and demanded to get inside, but the Embassy staff kept the doors locked and all but two remained in the lobby.

As those in the lobby decided to leave, the two people inside the embassy attempted to join them, but embassy staff refused to unlock the door until Police arrived.

Around 10 police officers then proceeded to take the details of the two activists inside the embassy and one who had remained in the lobby (a Mexican citizen), before issuing them with verbal trespass notices effective for two years and allowing them to leave.

For more, see Aotearoa Indymedia or Global Indymedia. Or join irc.indymedia.org channel #radioappo for live translation of the APPO radio station broadcasting from Oaxaca.

From Aotearoa Indymedia:

Over 100 anti-fascist protesters chased approximately 20 members of the fascist National Front out of Wellington today when they attempted to hold a rally at the Cenotaph.

The day started when Steve Larsen and George Walters, two members of another fascist group, New Right, were spotted across the road taking photos as antifa were gathering. A group of approximately 12 antifa went over to let them know that their presence was not welcome, and they were soon forced to run away.

The National Front, attempting to hold their third annual rally, had hoped to hold it at the Cenotaph next to Parliament, but anti-fascist activists had already occupied the area, blocking entrances with banners and setting up barricades with large plastic road barriers which were found nearby.

Upon arrival, the Police removed the barricades and attempted to move the antifa off the Cenotaph, but the high number of antifa compared to police meant they soon gave up. Upon arrival, the National Front were redirected by Police to Parliament, where they were surrounded by a ring of police.

Over 100 antifa soon followed up the hill to Parliament, repeatedly forcing the police lines back towards the fascists. Sid Wilson, National Front fuhrer, attempted to read a similar speech to the previous two years but was drowned out by chants of “Follow your leader, shoot yourself!”, “National Front, Nazi fascists!”, “More hair than brains”, “Twenty members nationwide”, “No room for racism/fascism”, “Run, run, Nazi scum!”, “Nazi scum your time has come” and more.

One antifa was arrested for assault at Parliament, but was later released and his charge withdrawn, after spending an hour sitting handcuffed in a paddy wagon.

After a short time, the National Front were forced to leave down the hill, where they were surrounded by antifa, harassed and pelted with dumpstered bagels and other projectiles. This continued all the way to Wellington railway station, where antifa again pushed through the police line trying to keep us out of the station so the fascists could escape.

The fascists ran onto a train, which soon took them to the Hutt, where they are staying at Top 10 Hutt Park Holiday Park, the same location they have used for the previous two years.

You can call Hutt Park Holiday Park on 0800 488 872 or email info@huttpark.co.nz and accom@huttpark.co.nz to let them know how you feel about them hosting fascists.

NO ROOM FOR FASCISM! NO PLATFORM FOR FASCISTS!