150 People Protest Labour Conference in Tamaki Makaurau

THE POLICE NEED TO STOP STEALING OUR MATES!! What a disgrace today shown not only by the NZ Police but also for the SFWU having Len act violently and hit not only a young man but also a woman in her 60's, what the fuck is our country coming to?

Former Alliance Party members Richards and Ovens show their true blue colours! I agree with Strypey - the police are racist dogs of the state.

At least National stabs you in the front I say.

So I guess what this is saying is you can assault someone and get away with it as long as you are a member of the Labour Party.....

http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NationalNews/ProtestersclashwithpoliceoutsideL...

Jared, an organiser with UNITE and a WP member.
Bronwyn, A Green party member and John Minto's partner
Jen, an organiser with the SFWU

Police express regret for their provocative action at Labour Party Conference protest
Submitted by gpja on Sat, 11/03/2007 - 01:53.

3 November 2007

Media Release:

No charges to be laid against three arrested

GPJA is pleased the police indicated regret for provocative action on their part which led to rising tension and ultimately the arrest of two people outside the Labour Party conference in Auckland today.

Three arrests were made altogether and we are pleased no charges are to be laid. The three were instead detained on breach of the peace and processed without charges being laid.

The tension rose when police, without warning, began to push people away from the centre.

We were pleased that several Labour Party members spoke privately with protestors to express deep concern at the use of so-called “anti-terror laws” under Labour’s watch. This included a member of the Labour Party Maori Policy Council who addressed the crowd.

A complaint of assault has been laid with the police against a conference attendee who assaulted a female protestor.

The protest called for the repeal of the Terrorism Suppression Act of 2002 and its various off-shoots which have resulted in drastically increased powers of surveillance for the police and Security Intelligence Service as well as big increases in resourcing.

These are George Bush’s laws imposed on New Zealand by the Labour government over the past six years.

Some of those arrested in the so-called anti-terror raids three weeks ago were at the protest along with family members.

John Minto
Spokesperson
Ph (09) 8463173 (H)
(09) 8452132 (W)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QV6T6lRQYY0

cool, go the pigs

http://www.unityaotearoa.blogspot.com

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0711/S00069.htm

Kia kaha whanau!

Inspector Les Paterson, commander of the North Shore Police, said it was extremely disappointing that some members of the protest groups had claimed police had been provocative or heavy-handed.

"Police were incredibly tolerant and part of their role is to facilitate the right to free speech," he said.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4260752a11.html

Yeah right!

what also doesnt seem to have been said was that while we were at the protest today, which was very orderly although noisy,was that the assault and arrests happened in the final minutes. basically John minto called out that we would be there for another 5 minutes and then about 4 minutes later Richards whacks somone in the face and the two people, who I wont name here, who verbally confronted him as he was permitted to cross back over the police lines were arrested. it was nuts. then those who sat on the footpath in protest at the arrests were manhandled by the police. Also i personally saw some of the labour party delegates inside giving the finger to the protesters. What a freaking joke. the street theatre was great tho disagree with what stuff said re "some were dressed in combat gear" There was one guy, who noone seemed to know who was dressed in military gear and was going on about fake terrorists. funny how as usually they ignore the many "normal" people who were there. inluding me and my two blond kids

Richards should be held to account by the unions concerned and by the protest movement, not the police who represent the ruling class.
We want working class justice not bosses' justice!

"It would be nice if people actually took a deep breath on all sides and ease up.",,,,, that is precisely what would NOT be nice. that is about theee weakest thing done right now, the opposite is what is called for, dramatically. Why aren't there major traffic jams yet? (very effectice activism), why aren't there some serious punches being thrown back? because they speak one language, violence, and when you(Aotearoans) learn to speak it, they(filthy british pigs) will then listen.

show police showed respect or perhaps support. would be interesting to see if ever there was vocal support. there was as usual a leader who is disconnected from reality and where people are at.

Kia Kaha,
False Charges, police protect Coal Barges

"show police showed respect",,, what a laugh. Respect is earned.

Yes, Len Richards is a unpleasent dick-head, but he is against the Terrorism Suppression Act, I am sick to death of all this squabbling amongst the left.

The orange jump-suits and street theatre were inspired, but hysterical screaming is not. You hard-core lot are turning people off coming out, i know because I am one of the people who almost get there, but never do, because I find some protestors all so histrionic.

So far in terms of the battle for the opinions of middle nz, Marama Mayrick being so beautifully bewildered and normal upon her release, and the piece done by Mihinarangi Forbes on Campbell Live, with the brother of the accused from Ruatoki have done far more than any of you to expose the ridiculousness of these charges, and the proposed legislation.

This site is now being regularly visited and commented on by a multitude of Labour party hacks, Helen's Stasi and the likes of Chris Traitor, Bomber and Len Richards...

Their puerile attempts to define themselves as Left are pathetic. There will be civil war in the Left over these terror Laws, and these scabs have chosen their side. Into the dustbin of history with them all.

May they drink alone in Galbraith's with their yuppy mates, whilst Omar languishes in Mount Eden Prison. No Left Turn, indeed, Chris...

'... part of their role is to facilitate the right to free speech.'

I would like to show the police some respect by speaking some home truths,

It was wrong to arrest a young man for doing a haka.
It was wrong to kill a man with a hammer in Otautahi only four short weeks ago.
The racist, sexiest attitudes I have witnessed in police contributes to the violence we experience everyday living in an elected dictorship.
You are being given money to crack skulls to maintain a corrupt power structure.
Each of you is individually responsible for all your actions. They have tried to dehumanise you with a uniform, to deflect responsibility. It doesn't work.
Please consider the wider context of your actions, of Tino Rangatiratanga, of the global movement for change. What will you tell your great grandchildren?

At the end of the day,
Those who do it for love will win.

I walked into the Labour Party conference as a worker and a union delegate. I've been a union member for the last 16 years and while I don't always agree with Labour I think we need to use every avenue we have to make people's lives better. National would not have raised the minimum wage by more than 60%. National would not have extended annual leave to four weeks. National would not worked to halve unemployment to 3.4%. It's not perfect, but when you're a working person you realise spitting at union delegates and calling them scabs is not going to improve anything.

I walked into the conference having 'shame' and 'scab' yelled at me, and then went straight into a meeting where we discussed what mechanisms to implement to help improve the lot of low paid workers like myself and my workmates.

But I suppose that isn't important when you're a middle class university student waiting for the revolution.

'
I walked into the Labour Party conference as a worker and a union delegate. I've been a union member for the last 16 years and while I don't always agree with Labour I think we need to use every avenue we have to make people's lives better. National would not have raised the minimum wage by more than 60%. National would not have extended annual leave to four weeks. National would not worked to halve unemployment to 3.4%. It's not perfect, but when you're a working person you realise spitting at union delegates and calling them scabs is not going to improve anything.

I walked into the conference having 'shame' and 'scab' yelled at me, and then went straight into a meeting where we discussed what mechanisms to implement to help improve the lot of low paid workers like myself and my workmates.

But I suppose that isn't important when you're a middle class university student waiting for the revolution. '

or a middle class university student sitting in mt eden.

fuck off state apologist!

All political parties [and their scab apologists] eventually die from swallowing their own lies.
- J. Arbuthnot

I think we can agree that everyone who opposes the terror raids and laws should be working together. I don't think anyone sane will be happy about last Saturday's bust-up. I think that the last commenter and everyone else with strong views about this issue should come to the meeting tonight at the Methodist mission and sort things out.

It is very positive that the SFWU wanted to take a stand on this issue. We don't want to get in a position where the union leadership has an excuse to backtrack. We want them coming to planing meetings and contributing to events.

Jill should have come to the planning meeting for last Saturday's protest and discussed her intervention. And she and other delegates should have raised the issue inside the conference, instead of giving Helen a standing ovation.

Maybe protesters do need to ask questions about slogans. I think John Minto's approach was better than the branding of everyone in Labour as scabs.
But it's easy to say that in retrospect. To be fair, there were Labour delegates insulting the protesters from behind the police lines. A group of them gave Tuhoe protesters the finger. Some laughed when protesters were arrested. Labour leaders like Michael Cullen went out of their way to mock the protesters. The deployment of 60 aggressive cops also turned the mood ugly. Let's remember that the protesters in many cases have friends who are in jail. They've a right to be angry.

But do we all agree that there needs to be a United Front of all opposed to the terror laws and raids, whether they're in Labour or not?

'I agree with you entirely. I just fear it might be too late'

There's no reason why this has to be. This issue is not going to go away and, except last Saturday's incident, the left had been working very well together over it. At last week's Defence Cmtee meeting a lot of people talked about the spirit of unity on the march to Mt Eden. Apparently SFWU staff are petitioning Jill to patch things up with GPJA/CRDC and not just end contact with them. Len has apologised, as of course he needed to do. I think that leading members of GPJA/CRDC realise the importance of unity. There may be a handful of people who have the view that there should be no contact with Labour Party members, but theirs is an ultra-left position, and I think it'll be marginalised.

So you won't work with Labour supporters, despite the fact that a big majority of New Zealand workers still support Labour? I know many Labour supporters who were on the march to Mt Eden Prison - would you have not wanted them there? One of the Ureweras 17 is a member of the Labour Party - should we withdraw support for that person? Labour delegate Shane Te Pou spoke out on national television against the terror
laws - should we reject him as a 'rat'?

And what about the Maori Party, which has some policies to the right of Labour's? Are they to be expelled too? You're going to wind up with a pretty small movement, comrade!

The United Front is not a Stalinist invention. It's the opposite of Stalinism - it aims to unite the left and labour movement, by building unity around a single issue or small number of related issues. We need a United Front of everyone who opposes the terror laws and the raids and wants to help free the prisoners.

You need to explain why it is that you can't possibly work with people who share these goals, just because those people disagree with you on other issues.

No, I said if Labour people want to get involved, great, but that I won't water down my politics for them. and yes, I feel the same about the Maori party and the Greens. I already do work with some of these people, but as I said I'm not going to change my stance for them, as they won't for me. That isn't the same as refusing to work with one another, its setting your mutual boundaries and being honest about it.

I'm not going to stop challenging those in power, i.e. Labour, Greens, Maori party etc If its the tactics you don't like, then thats a different matter entirely.

Expulsion? where did you get that from? Not from my post above I hope. Its a big leap from not watering down politics and not sucking up to labourites etc, to Stalinist dictatorships.

and just to be clear i wasn't at the demo cos I live in a different city

"People can march and speak out all they like. At the end of the day, it's where their votes and party dues go that counts. I'm not planning on expelling anyone or "marginalising" people like the anonymous person above. I'm all for the diversity of tactics. And my support for prisoners does not depend on their affiliation but on facts."

Oh sweet, so what are those facts?

The Police seem to have bent over backwards in the face of extreme provocation. It was simply ugly to see, protesting about people being arrested by being a violent ugly mob does not further anyones cause.

Did the fat ugly guy in the glasses feel like a man trying to intimidate the small female cop or did the hooded half-caste champion all of 5 feet feel powerful screaming and spitting at the real Maori cop?

And then those evil cops released them all without charge?

God you guys look like violent rent a mob thugs.

Its interesting watching the video how the fat ugly guy in glasses starts off his Haka directed at the Maori Cop and then once he realizes that he isn't going to intimidate him switches instantly onto a small female cop standing by him.

Its pathetic.

Some of us are angry. Some of us are scared. Some of us are worried. Some of us are resolute. Many of us are all of the above. It’s not surprising that things get tense.

What I think is important though is that we focus on what we can most usefully do to ensure that a bunch of our whänau and friends don’t end up in prison for a long period of time on fitted up charges. Equally, we must do what we can to roll back these draconian so-called anti terror laws.

Thanks to those posters who have talked about building cooperation across groups and people. Let our anger motivate us, but not lead us. Better IMO to use our minds to plan a coherent and effective strategy. That strategy must include building broad support for these aims.

Demonstrating our anger and determination is one thing. But we fall into a police trap if we allow them to look restrained in the face of provocation. Most people don’t see the other side of the police – the side they don’t usually reveal in public but which many of use have seen first hand. We have to look at our demonstrations from the point of view of what we are demonstrating to the uninformed observer, through a biased media. That’s why I agree the orange boiler suits were great .

On that note, many thanks to the organisers of the demo at the Labour conference – it needed to be done and made the point.

What these arrests have revealed is the true nature of the police as an organisation – a political force used to maintain the status quo. Regardless of what party is in power, the police are there to maintain power itself. That is what they were formed for.

In addition we know that the SIS have been involved in this operation, and so undoubtedly the “intelligence” services of the other Anglo nations. This operation was a local manifestation and extension of the terrorising of the people of the world under the guise of the war on terror which of course has precisely the same aim.

It is vital therefore that we maintain and enhance the public cynicism about these arrests. The police will start to leak stuff over the course of what promises to be a lengthy trial, as they have already done. They will try to contaminate the public debate with inadmissible information and unverified allegations, and the mainstream media will lap them up uncritically.

They will be aiming to move the mass of opinion. They will be trying to generate a mood among people so that they don’t care what happens to the arrested people. We must counter that. That means connecting with ordinary people and showing them how this stuff affects us all, it endangers us all.

It is also an opportunity to articulate possibilities beyond what we have now: what would mana motuhake mean, what would a decentralised political system look like, how do we build a world that actually meets the real needs of people while respecting the integrity of our planet and the other beings we share it with? Most people are justifiably scared of armed insurrection, but not of a better world. Let’s get loud about our love as well as our anger.

Nandor