[R-G] Land of the Long White Lie: The New Zealand Terror Raids

[Anthony Fenton]

February 19, 2008
Land of the Long White Lie
The New Zealand Terror Raids
http://www.counterpunch.org/morse02192008.html

By VALERIE MORSE

On October 15 2007, the New Zealand police carried out unprecedented  
nation-wide raids arresting 17 indigenous rights activists and  
anarchists and raiding some 60 different locations. The arrests were  
based on surveillance and interception warrants obtained under the  
Terrorism Suppression Act. This was the first time that the police  
used this Act, a law passed immediately after 9/11 and a direct  
result of it.

The raids were staged on a Monday morning starting at approximately  
5am. At 5:45 am, the Police knocked on my door. Then they nearly  
broke it down. When I opened it, 15 officers swarmed in, waving an 80- 
page search warrant in my face. When I said, 'this isn't signed,' the  
detective responded 'here, here's the signed copy.' Then they  
ransacked my room, pulling my plants out of their containers,  
removing the back of my refrigerator and collecting a raft of  
documents, photographs, electronic gear and clothing. Finally, they  
arrested me and told me that I was going to be charged with  
participating in a terrorist group.

The raids came as a huge shock to me, to most of the country and to  
the world that follow such events. New Zealand, also known as  
Aotearoa-the 'land of the long white cloud' in the indigenous  
language of the M_ori people-has a reputation for amicable race  
relations, a progressive government and an enviable settlement  
process for indigenous claims against breaches of the Treaty of  
Waitangi, the founding treaty between Maori and the British Crown,  
signed in 1840 by some 500 chiefs.

What is actually happening in Aotearoa beneath the government's  
clever 'clean, green, 100 per cent pure' marketing campaign is not at  
all what they would lead you to believe.

On day one of the raids, there was a media frenzy as the police  
carefully leaked tantalizing nuggets of evidence including reports of  
napalm bombs, assassination plots against Prime Minister Helen Clark  
and President George W Bush, and an 'IRA-style war plan.' The 17  
arrestees were brought before District Court judges in four different  
cities to respond to the charges. One was dealt with immediately by  
the courts and dismissed, the remaining 16 all went to prison that  
night, remanded in custody as bail was vigorously opposed by the  
Crown prosecution.

We were deemed a threat to 'national security.' In the cloud of  
terrorism hysteria and secret evidence, our lawyers would not even  
attempt an application for bail.

The New Zealand Government has signed up for all of Bush's post-9/11  
terrorism requirements. At the same time, it imported the US  
Government's brutal tactics of repression, surveillance technologies  
and police hyper-paranoia about political activity, particularly when  
it comes from indigenous activists who dare to speak of aspirations  
of sovereignty.

Of the 17 arrested on 15 October, 12 were Maori, many from the Tuhoe  
iwi (tribe). Tuhoe is known for its long history of resistance to  
colonization. They never signed the Treaty of Waitangi. There is a  
story that the Crown agent was advised that he would be eaten if he  
attempted to come into Tuhoe land in order to get the Treaty signed.  
Today, Tuhoe have the one of the highest ratios of native speakers of  
the Maori language (called 'te reo') among tribal groups and have a  
strong cultural identity that is intimately linked to the land in an  
area that they call 'Te Urewera,' land of the mist. There are about  
20,000 people who claim Tuhoe ancestry, many of whom are still living  
in relatively isolated communities within Te Urewera.

The raids and arrests were the culmination of an $8 million dollar,  
two-year long operation dubbed 'Operation Eight'. On the day of the  
raids, some 300 police were involved. Most had little knowledge of  
the investigation or the suspects; none it seems had any knowledge of  
the history of the Crown's scorched earth policy, murder, and land  
theft which prompted fierce resistance by Tuhoe more than 100 years ago.

The forces of the state have a convenient way of forgetting things  
that don't suit the current narrative. Such was the case on October  
15. In a spectacular display of force, armed, balaclava-clad police  
known as the 'armed offenders squad' quite literally invaded the  
small Tuhoe town of Ruatoki and blockaded the entire community. On an  
elaborate quest for terrorists and evidence, they stopped all  
vehicles coming in or out of the community and photographed the  
drivers and occupants. In the process of conducting house raids, they  
severely traumatized many people, including locking a woman and five  
children in a shed for six hours while the man of the family was  
questioned, taking a woman's underwear as evidence, and boarding a  
local school bus.

In one South Auckland raid, the police held an entire family,  
including a 12 year old girl, on their knees with hands behind their  
heads for some 5 hours, asking the young woman if she was a  
terrorist. This was the pattern for raids in the Maori communities.

For the non-indigenous arrestees (referred to herein as 'pakeha' a  
word that means white New Zealander), the situation was starkly  
different. In my case, I was not even handcuffed as I was walked to  
the car. No white neighborhoods were blockaded, nor were white  
bystanders stopped and photographed as they went about their daily  
business that cool Monday morning in October. It was only Maori.

The institutional racism of the police and justice system came as no  
surprise to Maori people and particularly to Tuhoe who have been  
subject to its arbitrary acts for some 160 years. For pakeha  
throughout the country, it was a wake-up call. Unfortunately, it was  
less a wake-up call about racism than it was about the growing power  
of the state against political dissidents. I say it was unfortunate  
because it is clear from the nearly 10,000 pages of evidence I have  
now seen, that it is Maori sovereignty that they fear. It is the  
political force of unified indigeneity that scares the ruling class  
of New Zealand.

For Maori in Aotearoa New Zealand, the 'war on terrorism' and these  
raids are part of a long history of colonization in Aotearoa New  
Zealand, and they have not been forgotten.

In the 1860s, the Suppression of Rebellion Act was passed with  
strikingly similar language to the Terrorism Suppression Act of 2002.  
This earlier Act was used by the fledgling New Zealand State to  
launch a series of vicious attacks on Maori communities in order to  
appropriate their land for settlement. People and whole tribes were  
defined as 'in rebellion' in order that the State could then exercise  
a range of repressive and exploitative measures against them.

I was arrested, I believe, to provide a cloak for the racist nature  
of the operation.

By arresting some pakeha activists, the government could deflect  
criticism that this was an operation against Maori. I was also  
arrested because I am associates with the Maori accused in the case,  
and because as an anarchist I have caused enough problems and  
embarrassments for the state that they would like to put me out of  
their misery. In June of last year, I published a book detailing the  
New Zealand government's involvement in the 'war on terrorism.' In  
it, I suggested that both dissidents and Maori were targets of the  
war, along with refugees and migrants. It was not without a sense of  
bizarre irony and a certain grim satisfaction that I sat in my prison  
cell and congratulated myself on being right.

Needless to say, in a country of 4 million people, there are not six  
degrees of separation, but usually only one or two. There most  
certainly is a connection between anarchists, environmentalists, anti- 
war and indigenous rights activists: most of them know each other and  
work together regularly. One would have to exist in a state of utter  
delusion not to make the connections between these issues,  
particularly in New Zealand where the effects of the self-imposed neo- 
liberal structural adjustment of the 1980s is being felt more acutely  
everyday.

The New Zealand Parliament is Westminster-style with mixed-member  
proportional representation. At present, the governing Labor party  
maintains power through a delicate balance of negotiated agreements,  
some formal, some informal, with other smaller parties that give  
support on vital confidence and supply votes.

As with the British Labor Party, the New Zealand Labor party long ago  
shed any resemblance to a working-class based party and has  
wholeheartedly embraced neo-liberal economics. This has had major  
implications for Maori who in the main reject its ubiquitous  
commodification, particularly with regard to flora, fauna, land and  
intellectual property. Nevertheless, up until very recently Maori had  
continued to support Labor generally, and all of the Maori electorate  
seats in Parliament were held by the Labour Party.

In 2004, the Government passed the Foreshore and Seabed Act, which  
had the effect of extinguishing Maori rights to claim customary  
ownership of the land between the high tide and low tide marks, and  
to the seabed. In contravention of international law and despite  
condemnation by the UN, the Government pressed ahead with the law,  
with near unanimous support in parliament. The following year the  
Treasury began to include a line-item in the annual financial  
accounts for these newly acquired Crown assets. This grotesque  
confiscation was considered a declaration of war by some Maori. It  
ruptured the Labor Party and brought about the formation of the Maori  
Party. This now presents a significant threat to Labor's hold on the  
Maori vote, and more importantly, to their hold on power.

Politically, this is one of the primary factors behind the raids. In  
the lead up to the 2008 election, it is crucial that Labour cast  
radical Maori as a dangerous threat to the stability of New Zealand.  
This was a gamble by Prime Minister Helen Clark and her cabal to  
secure a third term through a tactic of divide and conquer. In the  
media Clark repeatedly stated that the raids were 'an operational  
matter for the police,' but behind the scenes in Wellington, every  
politico knows that nothing of consequence happens without her direct  
and explicit nod.

Another significant political factor prompting the raids is the  
government's relationship with the US and its other close defense  
partners. As a member of the exclusive five-nation UKUSA intelligence  
network (along with the US, UK, Canada and Australia), New Zealand's  
security and police are intimately tied to a distinctive post-War  
relationship with the US. This relationship, and the resultant  
organizational links, has played a significant role in New Zealand's  
response to US terrorism hysteria. Further, the New Zealand  
government has separate, internal reasons for adopting much of the  
new terrorism legislation.

Prior to 9/11, the Terrorism Suppression Bill was before the Select  
Committee and was simply intended to ratify two existing UN  
conventions against terrorism. After 9/11, the law was radically re- 
written, kept secret from the public, while the Government and the  
opposition rushed to appear resolute in support of the US.

Fortunately, the changes were leaked and there was significant public  
opposition that eventually mitigated the worst aspects of the Act.  
Unfortunately, there were many more Acts that followed. These Acts  
mirror changes to US law and include the Border Security Act, the  
Maritime Security Act, the Telecommunications (Interception  
Capability) Act, the Identity (Citizenship and Passports) Act, the  
Security Intelligence Act and amendments to both the Immigration Act  
and the Crimes Act.

Along with these legislative changes, the state's security and  
surveillance services received massive funding injections and  
personnel increases  all in the name of fighting terrorism. Given  
this environment with all their new toys, eventually, the police and  
spooks had to find a terrorist. They tried desperately to pin that  
label on exiled Algerian politician Ahmed Zaoui who came to New  
Zealand at the end of 2001 on a false passport. When that failed, as  
it did in 2006 when the security risk certificate against him was  
revoked, they set to work finding others to fill the 'terrorist'  
role. The culture of these agencies is such that they view ex- 
parliamentary political activity as dangerous; they view Maori  
politically activity as particularly dangerous.

So the stage was set and the roles cast when some 300 police mounted  
the first ever 'terror raids' late last year.

The Terrorism Suppression Act was the tool to obtain extensive  
interception warrants for bugging cell phones and cars, but the  
people who were arrested were initially charged only for joint  
possession of firearms and restricted weapons under the Arms Act. In  
order for the Terrorism charges to be laid, the police first had to  
get the approval of the Attorney General.

In the first week following the raids, I sat in solitary confinement  
with no access to news or information. I was in shock. I have been  
arrested several times in the past for political activity, but have  
never been to prison. I was scared. I was also lucky because one of  
my dearest friends had been arrested that morning and was there with  
me. We had adjoining cells and could communicate by yelling over a 25  
foot concrete wall in the yard outside between our cells. After the  
third day, I got a book to read: Kurt Vonnegut's Jailbird. It made me  
laugh so hard I had tears in my eyes.

When they finally moved us to the general population at the end of  
the first week, it felt like a glorious place - which just goes to  
demonstrate how quickly and easily solitary confinement breaks down  
your resistance and your tether on reality. It was beautiful to hear  
voices, to hear music, to go outside and to be able to see the hills  
and sky.

By the end of that first week, our lawyers managed to put forward an  
application for bail. We arrived at the Wellington District Court to  
a mass of supporters and media. Within minutes of the start of the  
hearing, everyone except the media was excluded from the courtroom.  
It was an ominous beginning to one of the most disturbing and  
difficult days of my life.

In the hours that followed, the Crown prosecutor painted a picture of  
us as a group of people who had been training to commit terrorist  
acts. We were accused of attending camps in the Urewera area where we  
used guns, Molotov cocktails and napalm. The fact that my three  
immediate co-accused had no convictions of any kind, and I had very  
minor ones, was used to prove our ill intention to get out of prison  
and carry out that which we had been planning. Once the terror label  
was used, no judge in the country, or indeed the world, would bail  
us. We went back to prison that Friday evening and I felt very, very  
dark.

On Monday 29 October, the police finally put their evidence to the  
Solicitor General in order that the charge of 'participating in a  
terrorist group' could be brought against us. That night, I was  
interned in my new cell with no one to talk to or to question about  
what might happen next. I had been moved 500 miles north to the  
Auckland women's correctional facility in a secretive mission worthy  
of bin Laden or at least his best mate.

By Wednesday, Prime Minister Helen Clark could no longer hold her  
tongue and waded into the debate. She arrogantly breached the sub  
judice standard  the term used for the right to a fair trial   
commenting that those arrested 'at the very least had been training  
with firearms and napalm'. The media circus continued.

Throughout the country, protests, rallies, fundraising and awareness  
raising gigs were organized and what remains of the political left in  
New Zealand rallied around the arrestees. The political analysis  
ranged from debate about indigenous sovereignty to civil rights and  
surveillance. The mainstream media continued its tradition of  
sensationalist reporting, ill-informed conclusions and downright  
fabrications. The media concentration in Aotearoa New Zealand is one  
of the highest in the world, with nearly all the major dailies owned  
by two multinational corporations. Everyone was singing from the same  
song sheet, so to speak.

The day before I was due to have another bail hearing, after now  
nearly a month in jail, I had a long conversation with my lawyer. We  
discussed his strategy going into the hearing and the possible Crown  
arguments. At the end of that conversation, he said, 'Oh, there was  
something else I was meaning to tell youoh, that's right, the  
Solicitor-General is about to announce his decision. Valerie, they  
are going to lay the terrorism charges against you.'

I hung up the phone and I found Emily, my co-accused and dear friend.  
I told her that, 'we must prepare ourselves for this because it is  
going to happen'. I was manic, frantic, deeply disturbed and shaken.  
We sat for a little while before I went to my cell and tuned in  
National Radio. The four o'clock news immediately went to a live  
broadcast of the Solicitor-General's press conference. I sat on my  
bed rigid with fear. He announced, 'I cannot authorize the laying of  
charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act.' I ran out of my cell,  
screaming and running around the prison wing, 'they're not going to  
do it; they're not going to do it.' I yelled up to Emily who had  
retreated to her cell. I could hardly get the words out.

Her immediate response, 'for all of us?' and I thought, 'oh no, I  
don't know.' In my excitement I hadn't listened to his whole speech.  
I ran back to my cell where she joined me.

We tuned back in to hear him say that there was 'insufficient  
evidence' that none of us would be charged, and that the terrorism  
law was 'complex, incoherent and unworkable'. I was ecstatic. Moments  
later I got a call from the lawyer saying that the Crown was no  
longer opposing our bail. We would be out tomorrow.

It was surreal. I have never in my life felt the kind of joyous  
relief that I felt that night. I couldn't sleep. I couldn't  
concentrate. I just sat there in wonder at the events of the previous  
month.

On Friday, November 9, we were bailed from the High Court in  
Auckland. We are not free, however. Sixteen of us still face charges  
under the Arms Act. We continue to have onerous bail conditions  
including curfews, reporting conditions and non-association orders.  
They are the State's tactics for control and punishment.

As I have suggested, the evidence indicates that the raids were  
politically motivated by the long-standing fear of indigenous  
assertions of power. In this election year, it suits the Labor  
Government to find 'bad Maori' in order to fulfill the old colonial  
divide and rule strategy. They will assimilate those they can through  
propaganda and persuasion; those that resist will be brutalized and  
criminalized as they have been for more than a century. Maori  
political activists are under State surveillance because they are Maori.

It comes as little surprise that the United Nations has now accepted  
a complaint from indigenous lawyers and will investigate the New  
Zealand Government's conduct over the raids, although it is the first  
time that a complaint by a group against a state (rather than vice  
versa) has been investigated. While this is unlikely to have any  
substantive effect either on the situation for Maori or on the  
arrestees, it is another blow to the idealized utopia of the South Seas.

In the coming months, the case of the 'Urewera 16' will be heard in  
the District Court in Auckland. My great hope for this trial and for  
the future of Aotearoa New Zealand is that the raids will contribute  
to disrupting the false peace of this colonial state and radicalize  
people to struggle for justice and freedom.


*For more information about the Crown's invasion of Tuhoe lands,  
please see:

Tuhoe: A history of resistance at http://october15thsolidarity.info/ 
node/221

Other sources for information about the raids:

Back in the mists of fear: A Primer On The Allegations Of Terrorism  
Made During The Week 15-19 October, 2007. By Moana Jackson.

'Full Coverage: the Terrorists camps on the East Cape.' Scoop.

Other sources of information about tino rangatiratanga and Maori  
struggle:
Aotearoa Café

Conscious collaborations

Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe

Valerie Morse is a Wellington-based anarchist and writer. She spent  
most of her 36 years in and around Tucson Arizona and Washington DC  
but left the US during the Clinton era in disgust. She is currently  
facing three charges under the Arms Act for possession of guns,  
restricted weapons (molotov cocktails) and ammunition resulting from  
the October 15, 2007 raids. As a result of her life as a so-called  
'terrorist', her passports have been confiscated and her life as an  
anarcho-tourist rather severely curtailed. She is a member of Rebel  
Press, an anarchist publishing collective. Her book, 'Against  
Freedom: the war on terrorism in everyday_New Zealand life' and  
prison 'zine 'Can't hear me scream', are available for free download  
on www.rebelpress.org.nz