Eyewitness report from Waihopai

Eyewitness report from 'close Waihopai' demonstrations

After an uneventful Friday afternoon drive up from Christchurch, the Anti-Bases Campaign (ABC) car pool arrives at 'Camp Waihopai'. The camp is on private land owned by a local grape farmer and producer of the 'Big Balls' anti-spy wine, conveniently located about 5 minutes walk from the immense white domes of the Waihopai Base. After setting up camp and receiving a briefing from ABC's Murray Horton and a meal from ABC's 'foot not bombs subcommittee', activists straggle up to the base and gather around the gate, scouting the area and discussing possible actions.

Saturday morning, muesli, toast and cups of tea. Vegans threaten split due to lack of soy milk but harmony is restored in the 11th hour when someone shares a personal carton. Activists gather their sunscreen, hats and cameras and load placards, banners, sound system and barbeque into the rented vans for the trip into Blenheim. Capital of the Marlborough wine-gowing district, Blenheim is a fairly conservative south island town and the largest population centre near the Waihopai Base. These are the people that will suffer any retaliation against Waihopai's assistance to the US invading Iraq.

10am, this reporter samples public opinion at the local supermarket while buying film and batteries. Staff and shoppers are bemused and seem to have little awareness of Waihopai's presence or its geopolitical function. Back at Blenheim's historic Seymour Square, the rally is kicking off with ABC's Bob Leonard sketching out the connections between the looming US invasion of Iraq and the complicity of the NZ government through its funding and operation of Waihopai. Bob introduces John Craighead, a Marlborough Regional Councillor and the first local to actively support an ABC protest. John's speech is focussed on the prospects of further US attacks on Iraq, making special mention of the Human Shield project to place western observers amongst the Iraqi population.

With around 200 people gathered, the march begins. Winding its way through central Blenheim it sticks to footpaths and pedestrian crossings but still effectively blocks traffic with many locals receiving leaflets through open windows. There is no chanting of slogans but enthusiastic chatter buzzes up and down the march and many afternoon shoppers stop to watch, read the varied placards and talk to the protesters. We circle in a leisurely fashion back to Seymour Square, a pleasant grassy area beside the court house. At this stage Hannah Middleton of the Australian ABC Coalition (AABCC) addresses the crowd, comparing the function of Waihopai to that of the Pine Gap station near Alice Springs in central Australia. She is followed by an Alliance campaigner from Auckland, Mike Treen, who gives a similiarly spirited talk about Waihopai as a key part of the NZ's government's involvement in US militarism and criticises the acceptance of the same immoral war if rubber stamped by the UN which, he reminds us, is strongly influenced if not outright controlled buy the US government.

Formal proceedings being at an end, those who have stuck it out enjoy a sausage sizzle, discuss the issues and chalk messages of peace and opposition to war on the brick paving.

2:30pm After a quick trip back to camp Waihopai to 'touch base', we proceed down the road on foot to the farm gate of the Waihopai station, where Uncle Sam issues us with passports for the Undemocratic Republic of UKUSA which are then stamped at the makeshift customs desk. About 60 people have made the trip out to the base and we gather by the 15 strand electric fence, under the watchful eye of surveillance cameras, 5 Blenheim police with their paddy wagon and the purple-shirted station manager who refuses to come out and talk to us. Further informational speeches from ABC's Murray Horton, AABCC's Dennis Doherty and further rants about the UN from Mike Treen are followed by a rare address from Uncle Sam who thanks us for coming and tells us to bugger off. At this stage the rally falls a little flat. ABC organisers have made it clear that they don't want any direct action interfering with their cosy relationship with the local authorities and short of making thosee assembled listen to more talking they don't really know what to do next. An attempt is made to launch into a chant of "Close Waihopai" but with the wind loud and cold and the crowd's energy and attention span flagging, this fails to carry any conviction. The rally disperses and dribbles back up the farm path to their vehicles and the camp for dinner and debrief.

All in all a fun camping trip and some progress made in educating those present about war and Waihopai and in engaging with the people of Blenheim. However the timidity of the activists and the lack of media coverage (with the exception of the reporter from the Marlborough Times - big ups to him - and the TV3 people who'd buggered off by the time the rally really started) I felt we'd failed to really push the envelope and assert our right as citizens and taxpayers to inspect the installation that is operated in our name. Even to have a spokescouncil-type discussion about the POSSIBILITY of taking further action - such as disobeying the police instructions to stay on the road and marching around the perimeter of the base - would have been more empowering than meekly straggling away. Perhaps an independent group could look at insisting on a 'citizen's inspection' of Waihopai, along the lines of the actions being taken by peace groups around the world to highlight the hypocricy of the US military using the alleged existence of 'weapons of mass destruction' to justify the invasion of Iraq and the murder of civilians.

Rocks'n'Bones,
Strypey