Escaping the Winston bubble

While the NZ media and political blogosphere has been focusing on the drama of the Winston Peters bustup, other things have been happening:

• The police have decided they want tasers, so they can "induce compliance" by routinely threatening members of the public with electric torture-weapons.
• The government signed an FTA with ASEAN, which includes Burma. So, we rightly isolate Fiji for being a dictatorship, while we sign up to trade with an even worse dictatorship, murderous regime which massacres its own people (to the extent that they use chemical weapons against rebels). So much for consistent (let alone moral) foreign policy.
• Former All Black coach Brian Lochore reminded everyone of why we should hate rugby thug culture
• Barack Obama was officially nominated as Democratic candidate for President, showing that the American dream does still mean something.
• And finally, John McCain picked Alaska governor Sarah Palin as his running-mate, so whichever way the election goes it will result in a historic first. I'm tempted to snark about how it has only taken the Republicans 24 years to catch up to the Democrats on this, but that would gloss over a deeper failure: while the Democrats were indeed the first major US party to nominate a woman for the Vice-Presidency, it a) took too long, and b) was a one-off - every Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidate since then has been a man. I'm hoping Palin's candidacy will change that (in the same way I'm hoping Obama's will usher in greater equality on race) - but given that US politics is so overwhelmingly white, male, and aristocratic, it may be expecting too much.

Update: Added Brian Lochore's little outburst.

Ten thousand dead

Cyclone Nargis, which hit Burma on Saturday, is now estimated to have killed ten thousand people.

If you'd like to help, you can make an online donation to the red Cross here.

Our hands are not tied on Burma

Since last year's protests and the resulting crackdown and human rights abuses, the Greens have been asking the government why they haven't yet imposed trade sanctions on Burma. The government's response has been to plead that their hands are tied, and that as much as they might like to impose sanctions, they cannot. For example, here's Helen Clark responding to Keith Locke during Question Time on 10 October last year:

I am advised that New Zealand has not traditionally imposed economic sanctions other than those agreed to by the Security Council. Currently, we do not have a legislative basis for imposing sanctions unilaterally.

The first statement is dubious - for example, sanctions were imposed on Argentina in 1982 without any UN authorisation. The second is simply a lie. Section 54 of the Customs and Excise Act 1996 allows the government to unilaterally prohibit imports from a specific country:

(2) The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, prohibit the importation into New Zealand of—
(a) Any specified goods; or
(b) Goods of a specified class or classes,—

if, in the opinion of the Governor-General, the prohibition is necessary in the public interest.

(3) A prohibition imposed under this section—
(a) May be general; or
(b) May be limited to the importation of goods from a specified place or by or from a specified person or class of persons; or
(c) May, whether general or limited, be absolute or conditional.

A similar ability to prohibit exports exists in s56.

So, despite the government's protests, our hands are not tied. The reason we have not imposed trade sanctions upon the Burmese junta is because our government has chosen not to do so. Their reasons for doing so may be good or bad, but regardless, we should not allow them to escape scrutiny by hiding behind false pleas of helplessness.

No Freedom of speech in Burma

Nay Phone Latt is a Burmese blogger. During last year's protests against the military regime, he helped get the news out to the world and inform Burmese citizens of what was happening in their own country. But on January 29, he was disappeared from the internet cafe he owned and operated, and has now been charged under s5 (j) Burma's draconian Emergency Provision Act, which outlaws

affect[ing] the morality or conduct of the public or a group of people in a way that would undermine the security of the Union or the restoration of law and order;

If convicted of this rather vague "crime", he faces at least seven years imprisonment.

If you'd like to protest about this, you can email the Burmese representative to New Zealand (who sadly lives in Australia) here.

What's National's policy?

With the National Party rightly criticising the government for allowing an SOE to do business in Burma, it's a fair question to ask what National's policy on business links with dictatorships is. Sean Plunkett tried asking exactly that question of Murray McCully on Morning Report [audio] this morning; unfortunately, he didn't get a response:

Sean Plunket: What would be a National government's policy on business with Myanmar?

Murray McCully: We've tried to inject a strong note of bipartisanship into foreign policy. We've supported the sanctions...

SP: Really want to know what your position is, Mr McCully.

MM: My view is that if you're going to tell the state airline that they're not allowed to carry Australian troops to Kuwait...

SP: What would a National government's policy be on doing business with Myanmar?

MM: If you're going to tell Air New Zealand they can't carry Australian troops to Kuwait...

SP: I want to know what your policy is on Myanmar. Do you have one?

MM: ...then you have to tell a state-owned engineering company that they can't do business with ...

SP: So that is the National Party's position?

MM: That is my position, and I'll certainly take it to my colleagues.

SP: But it's not National Party policy yet?

MM: Well I haven't had the chance yet Sean to take this to my colleagues...

SP: Any other countries or regimes which the National Party would implement a very very clear ban on doing business with around the world?

MM: No, I think that this is a particular case...

So, no straight answer, no policy, and no consistency. It's hard to escape the conclusion that this is just policy on the hoof and an attack of opportunity without any commitment to do anything differently (in fact, it seems more aimed at allowing Air New Zealand to support Bush's war in Iraq than anything else). While the government deserves the criticism it is receiving over this, I don't think we can expect National to behave any differently, or commit to a more ethical foreign policy framework.

Supporting dictatorship in Burma

Six months ago the people of Burma took to the streets in massive protests against their government. The military junta replied as it always has: with tear gas, bullets, disappearances, and torture. Hundreds of people were killed and thousands detained for the "crime" of demanding a democratic government.

Now, we learn that a New Zeland SOE has been doing business with the military regime. Kordia - previously known as BCL - has been working with a Thai company to install cell-phone towers in Burma. Helen Clark thinks this is "probably an aid to democracy", but what it is doing is helping to prop up a despotic regime. And that is simply not something any New Zealand company should be doing, let alone one owned by the government. Instead, we should be listening to the Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and imposing sanctions on Burma.

Supporting theocracy in Afghanistan and now supporting dictatorship in Burma. It looks like Labour has lost its way.

Burma demos

Scoop has photos from Saturday's "free Burma!" rallies in Christchurch and Wellington. Wellington's one looks particularly impressive, with about five hundred people assembled in red.

Palmerston North's protest was rather quiet, with 150 people assembling in The Square to hear from the mayor, local MP Steve Maharey, the CTU, and representatives of the local Burmese community.

NZSF supports oppression in Burma

Back in February, we learned that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund was investing in companies that manufacture nuclear weapons. Today, we learn that they're also investing in oppression in Burma. The Dominion-Post reports that the fund has admitted having investments in Total Oil named by the Burma Campaign UK as "the main supporter of the Burmese military regime":

TOTAL Oil is the fourth largest oil company in the world and one of the biggest foreign investors in Burma. Its joint venture with Burma’s dictatorship earns the military regime hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Widespread systematic human rights abuses have been associated with the TOTAL pipeline, including forced labour, torture and rape.

Based on the latter alone, this is not a company anyone should be investing in, if only for the naked financial reason that one day they will be sued by one of their victims in a US court and bankrupted. And it is certainly not a company the New Zealand government (which remember "stand[s] up for the rule of law and the human rights upheld by the United Nations") should be goign near.

The NZSF also admits to investing in China's Sinopec and Malaysia's Petronas, but its worse than that. Comparing their 2006 equity portfolio to the Burma Campaign's dirty list turns up quite a list:

Company	Investment
Alcatel	$521,984
Baker-Hughes	$870,674
BJ Services	$9,750,411
Chevron	$12,753,174
DBS Group Holdings	$956,721
GAIL India	$856,567
Hutchison Whampoa	$1,316,554
Ivanhoe Mines	$56,320
Keppel Co	$350,414
Kajima	$278,641
Marubeni	$4,512,730
Mitsui	$4,309,373
Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance	$2,326,065
Nippon Oil	$2,650,055
OCBC	$699,087
Rolls Royce	$537,715
Siemens	$1,637,570
Sompo Japan	$1,720,446
Sumitomo	$3,569,711
Sumitomo Mitsui Financial	$12,160,830
Suzuki	$177,421
Taisei	$269,680
United Overseas Bank	$759,904

That's $63 million of our money which is helping to prop up the Burmese regime.

Not investing in companies which torture and not investing in Burma are two fundamentals of any ethical investment policy. But clearly, our superannuation fund doesn't give a shit.

Free Burma

Today is the International Bloggers' Day for Burma. More than three thousand bloggers around the world are participating to raise awareness of the Burmese junta and its oppression of Burma's people. The protests may have been stamped out, and the monks murdered or imprisoned, but the international community must continue to pressure the Burmese regime to improve its human rights record and restore democracy.

If you haven't already, I suggest you sign the Avaaz petition calling on the UN Security Council and the Chinese government to take action. It has half a million signatures already, and they're aiming for a million. If you want to take more concrete action, Amnesty International will be holding protests in Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin this Saturday as part of the Global Day of Action for Burma. Alternatively, you could also email the Burmese embassy expressing your disapproval, or write to or email members of the Burmese regime urging them to respect human rights and release political prisoners. But if you're reading this, please do something. We can't do a lot from so far away, but every email, letter, and voice raised helps.

(Time tweaked to keep this at the top of the page all day)

Burma protests

Amnesty International is organising protests in Christchurch, Wellington and Dunedin this Saturday to protest against the Burmese regime's crackdown on protest. Details below:

Christchurch: 12:00 - 15:00, Saturday 6 October, Victoria Square (cnr Colombo and Armagh Sts).

Wellington: 12:00 - 14:00, Saturday 6 October, Civic Square. Wear red!

Dunedin: 12:00 - 14:00, Saturday 6 October, Upper Octagon.

Palmerston North: 14:00 onwards, Saturday 6 October, Cenotaph in The Square.

Please go along if you can.

Update: added Dunedin and PN details, changed time to push it to the top.

Impose sanctions on Burma

In her address to the Oxford Union this morning, Helen Clark highlighted human rights as a core interest of New Zealand's foreign policy:

As one of the world’s oldest continuous democracies, with our first Parliament elected in 1854, we do stand up for the rule of law and the human rights upheld by the United Nations. Many of us in our current government cut our teeth in politics on the issue of South African apartheid. Sadly too few people around the world enjoy the personal freedoms we in western democracies take for granted.

It's a nice motherhood statement which will appeal to many New Zealanders' sense of national identity. Unfortunately, our government is failing to live up to it. While Clark was giving that speech, her government was refusing to impose sanctions on Burma. Her foreign minister obediently trotted out exactly the same excuses used by those opposing sanctions against South Africa all those years ago - that sanctions don't work, and that they hurt ordinary people. But as the case of South Africa shows, sanctions are a good way of increasing pressure on a government. And as for the people of Burma, according to a report from the Burma Campaign UK, the fact that the formal economy is small and dominated by the regime and its cronies, while most Burmese are in the informal economy means that

sanctions targeting foreign investments and international trade will impact on the regime while having a minimal impact on the majority of ordinary civilians.

Furthermore, the NLD and its leader Aung San Suu Kyi have been calling for sanctions since the mid 1990's.

Our government has a clear mandate for sanctions, from an unquestionably legitimate source. While we have only a small amount of trade with Burma, it would be a strong statement of our country's values and commitment to human rights, and the best means within our power of supporting Burmese democracy. The government should walk its talk, live up to its rhetoric for once, and impose sanctions.

Sticking up for dictatorship

With Burma coming under intense international criticism for its heavy-handed treatment of demonstrators, it's nice to know they have friends in the Australian government...

Support freedom and democracy in Burma!

There will be a rally in support of freedom and democracy in Burma in Auckland on Saturday:

When: Saturday, 29 September, 14:00
Where: Aotea Square, Auckland.

The main speaker will be Naing Ko Ko, a trade union and democracy activist who was jailed and tortured for six years by the military dictatorship.

Burma

Burma is one of the world's shittier dictatorships. A totalitarian military regime, it practices censorship, surveillance, arbitrary detention, torture, and ethnic cleansing (using chemical weapons to boot). Public protests in support of democracy in 1988 were violently put down by the military, with over 3,000 people massacred, and the winner of the 1990 elections, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest ever since. But today, Burma may be on the verge of a democratic revolution - or another massacre. Protests against increases in fuel prices five weeks ago have turned into a more general movement against the regime, and this has been backed in the past week by a growing number of Buddhist monks. The monks have tremendous moral authority in Burma, which has been boosted by a symbolic linkup with Aung San Suu Kyi, and this has pushed things to the stage where the regime has to make some sort of move, either towards compromise or a crackdown. unfortunately, it seems they've chosen the latter, declaring a curfew and surronding the monasteries with troops. As I write this, they're beating protestors for daring to speak up against the regime, and things could very well get worse.

If you'd like to show your support, then Avaaz, the global civic activism group, has an online petition calling for the UN security council (and in particular the Chinese government, who support the Burmese regime) to oppose a violent crackdown, which you can sign here. But other than that, there's little we can do. Burma has no embassy in New Zealand to protest outside, or even an honorary consul to write to (though they do have an ambassador in Australia, who can be emailed here), so all we can really do down here is raise our voices in support, cross our fingers, and hope for the best.

Myanmar's military regime uses chemical weapons

From BBC:

According to accounts from Karen fighters, who have been engaged in a long-running war with Burma's military government, the attack took place just inside the Burmese border, around 16km (10 miles) from the Thai town of Mae Hong Son.

They claim that clouds of yellow vapour began pouring from shells fired at their positions and soon after this many of them felt sick, vomited blood and were unable to walk.

Some later suffered from blisters and acute diarrhoea.

The president of Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Australian physician Dr Martin Panter, has since flown to the area and examined five of the men.

He concluded that their symptoms are synonymous with exposure to some form of chemical attack.

At the moment, the government is pursuing a free trade deal with Myanmar as part of a package deal with ASEAN. I think it's time they stopped.