October 15th Solidarity
On October 15th 2007, the New Zealand police carried out unprecedented nation-wide raids, arresting 17 activists after raiding some 60 different locations. The arrests were based on surveillance and interception warrants obtained under the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. This was the first time that the police used this Act, a law parliament passed immediately after 9/11.
The Solicitor-General refused police permission to lay charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act, but 19 people still face firearms charges.
October 15th last year, around 60 houses were raided at dawn across the country, and an entire community was locked down. An article in The Press gives a first hand account of the tramatic treatment received by residents of Ruatoki and members of the Tūhoe community:
“They searched my daughter,” said Kohu. “She’s only 15 years old. You know, getting woken up with a gun at her head at five o’clock in the bloody morning.”
The raids were remembered one year on by people holding events in New Zealand and Australia.
I marked the day by attending a meeting of the Ngati Ranana London Māori Club at New Zealand House in London. This was one of their regular performance practice meetings, not related to October 15th.
The Ngati Ranana group do Māori cultural performances at official functions and other occasions in the UK, mostly on a volunteer basis. They’ll be celebrating their 50th anniversary next year. To watch them practice on a Wednesday evening at NZ House is an enjoyable experience, especially when you’re a long way from home - they bring some life into NZ House, or “warm the whare” as someone put it. It’s a pity that the New Zealand High Commission don’t arrange a room for them to hold their meetings in. Instead they are offered the lobby as a practice space.
After the powhiri, during the introductions, I took the opportunity to express my solidarity with those people and communities affected by the raids. Green party list candidates, Rawiri Paratene and James Shaw, were also amongst the guests at the Ngati Ranana meeting, there to encourage Māori in London to vote in the coming New Zealand election.
Unfortunately the record of Hansard at parliament.nz doesn’t go back far enough to see which parties voted in favour of the bill that became the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002. However TheyWorkForYou.co.nz does host readings of a bill to amend the Act. You don’t often see the Greens, the Māori Party and ACT on the same side of an issue, but it happened at the third reading of that bill:
A party vote was called for on the question,
That the Terrorism Suppression Amendment Bill be now read a third time.
Ayes 108
- New Zealand Labour 49
- New Zealand National 48
- New Zealand First 7
- United Future 2
- Progressive 1
- Independent 1 (Copeland)
Noes 13
- Green Party 6
- Māori Party 4
- ACT New Zealand 2
- Independent 1 (Field)
Bill read a third time.
