BY TERRY CARSON
AUCKLAND, New Zealand - One hundred people rallied in central Auckland near the U.S. consulate February 13 to protest Washington's plans to bomb Iraq. The protest was called by the Communist League and Young Socialists.

Many of the participants in the protest came from the local Muslim and Mideast communities, including many Iraqis. The South Auckland Muslim Association carried a large banner in Arabic. The president of the association, Gul Zaman, told the rally that Washington "has its own secret agenda - to control the oil wells of the world. The issue of Iraq's weapons is an excuse to get involved." Zaman added, "The U.S. also wants to demonstrate to other countries, if you challenge us, you will be eliminated."

Salman Altaee, who arrived in New Zealand from Iraq a year ago and who helped build the protest action, told the Militant that while UN weapons inspectors remain in Iraq, the sanctions won't be lifted. "Will they be there another 5, 10, 20 years?" he asked. "No one knows. Saddam Hussein is not the perfect man, but the big problem for us is the United States."

Other participants in the protest included representatives of peace and church groups, and students from Auckland University. Three young people came to the action after picking up a leaflet from a Communist League literature table the previous week at Waitangi. The events on February 6, which mark the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi between the British Crown and Maori tribes in 1840, have become an annual forum for discussion on the fight for Maori national rights.

The day of the protest, it was reported that U.S. president William Clinton had phoned New Zealand prime minister Jennifer Shipley canvasing support for Washington's aggression. The main national television channel, TV1, coupled its report of that story with film of the Auckland protest on its evening news broadcasts.

Three days later on February 16, following a Cabinet meeting, Shipley announced that the New Zealand government would despatch 20 Special Air Service combat troops to join the U.S.-led military onslaught, along with two surveillance aircraft and 55 air and ground crew.

The February 17 New Zealand Herald described the deployment as a "notch up" from the 1991 Gulf War, when the New Zealand government sent two transport aircraft and more than 100 air crew and medics. Since the Gulf War, the New Zealand government has sent a succession of frigates and naval personnel to help police Washington's embargo of Iraq. Thirteen New Zealand personnel work for the UN weapons inspection committee in Iraq.

One problem for the New Zealand rulers is their commitment of armed forces to the island of Bougainville, where New Zealand troops head an imperialist intervention force. Bougainville has been the scene of a nine-year independence struggle and war with Papua New Guinea.

Voices in ruling circles have been urging the government to back Washington's war drive on Iraq. An editorial in the February 10 New Zealand Herald, headlined "Time to join the fight," declared, "Should the United States launch an attack on Iraq at any moment, New Zealand should offer support in any way it can. In fact, we should declare support before the event.."

The right-wing party ACT has called on the government to respond quickly and dispatch its new naval frigate, Te Kaha, to the Arab-Persian Gulf.

An editorial in the February 13 National Business Review, the major national business weekly, called for New Zealand support to be conditional "on the job being done properly." It urged Washington to launch an invasion and occupation by ground forces. "If America will nerve itself to that task, then New Zealand should throw itself into the fray," it said.

Meanwhile, the opposition Labour Party is urging military action against Iraq be organized through the UN Security Council.

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand - "We are picketing here today to defend Iraqi sovereignty," Annalucia Vermunt declared at a protest of more than 25 people here February 13. "The government that dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki has no right or moral authority to bomb Iraq." Vermunt was one of the organizers of the action, which was called by the Communist League and Young Socialists. "Not only did 150,000 Iraqis pay with their lives in the bombing campaign of 1991, but the brutal embargo, which has been policed with the participation of New Zealand naval frigates, has led to the deaths of more than a million people," she added.

An interview with Vermunt was run later that night on local television, along with film of the protest.

One woman on the picket told the Militant it was the first time she had participated in a protest. She has family members in Iraq, and did not want a repeat of the indiscriminate bombing unleashed by Washington in 1991. There is no such thing as "surgical strikes," she commented.

Grant Poultney, a young volunteer community worker, said he thought it was important to protest. "The U.S. is not concerned with defending humanity, but defending their own economic interests," he said.

The protest drew a lively and polarized response from the Friday afternoon shopping crowd. A couple of high school students stopping by the picket were interested in finding out more, asking what a demonstration would accomplish and whether the embargo should be lifted. Speakers were generally sympathetically received, including with a few honks from passing motorists. But several individuals attempted to interrupt speakers with abusive shouting.  
 
 
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