Apr 27, 2011

Terror raids in Te Whanau a Apanui 2

In a follow up to my previous post on potential police raids in Whanau a Apanui. Tangatawhenua.com reports:

“The (police) are planning a raid on Te Whanau a Apanui. The Police are currently recruiting as many Maori within the Police Force to ‘soften’ the impact of the raid on this small Maori community.

Make no mistake this is a repeat of the brutal scare mongering tactics that were applied to the Tuhoe raids October 2007 and remeber the shambles of that operation? Taxpayers money has been spent and is still being spent on an unfounded and unjustified case that is yet to produce any hard evidence or results.

The proposed raids on Te Whanau a Apanui are a direct response to a community who are trying to stand up for their own rights. They oppose oil drilling off their coast and this is how they are being treated! Their concern is for all New Zealanders, they know if Petrobas is granted permission they are the first in a line of many who will ravage much more than the East Coast.  We need to show our support.
Our source is very reliable as they were approached by the police force to join the mission but refused as they whakapapa to Te Whanau a Apanui. This is serious.

All phones to the east coast community are tapped and people are being marked.

This is outrageous and unnecessary.”

A raid would be a naked political act. This issue is politically charged and will, inevitably, attract a political response. When Maori interests and mainstream political interests clash the police are always willing to do their duty and suppress rangatiratanga. The Tuhoe raids made it clear that fantasy forms a sufficient cause for action – concrete evidence counts for nothing when political interests are at play.

A few weeks ago I speculated that we may see a repeat of the raids in this post:  

“Without doubt the surveillance capabilities of the state have been activated. If the protests continue in to the medium term we can probably expect to see a repeat of the Urewera raids. Te Whanau a Apanui will not back down and the rhetoric will only harden. Of course Te Whanau a Apanui and Greenpeace will never turn to militancy, but the Police and SIS will construe some narrative indicating planned militant action.” 

I guess the Police just love playing James Bond. Never mind knocking on some doors in Te Whanau a Apanui and having a chat with some of the ‘suspects’. No… The police would rather get out their guns and play silly buggers. If the police suspect something untoward is going on then the sensible step is to engage with Te Whanau a Apanui on reasonable basis – i.e. face to face in a non-threatening situation. There is no reason to blow this issue to Mars. But the police just love the “us and them” storyline and the “white vs. black” dichotomy. They’re stuck “deep in the forest”.

Pass this story on. Keep it going and launch it into the mainstream consciousness. Let’s blow the lid on this thing.  

8 comments:

  1. This is an example of the sort of state behaviour we will see more of once New Zealand has become a signatory to the Trans Pacific Partnership Free Trade Agreement in November of this year. Under the Investor-State Disputes Process embedded in the agreement, the NZ Government will be open to being sued by any corporation that can accuse NZ of being engaged in activity that constitutes 'an impediment to trade'. The government won't want that, so presumably it will come down hard on any protest action that threatens the "free" trade transaction. I would not be surprised if Petrobas is pressuring the Key government on this matter and pressuring him to 'remove barriers' to this corporate relationship. We are today looking at the future.Scary.

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  2. How are they playing James Bond, do they like donning tuxedos and throwing down martinis?

    More like delta force.

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  3. Too true, Kate. The TPPT agreement is a scary document and will launch NZ in a dangerous direction.

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  4. Good stuff Morgan - I hope it is all a rumour and that their terror raids aren't repeated - they underestimate the reaction which will be severe IMO.

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  5. Cheers Marty. Yup, I hope so too. The key is to stay calm and reasoned.

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  6. Thing is with so many maori in the army, and with a maori GG it is stupid causing rifts between the different communities of Aotearoa. If people want to play rambo they should go big hunting or become an actor. The world needs state resources to go towards dealing with poverty and issues like peak oil and climate change.

    New Zealand needs to really clean up its act, and get its act together. I hope NZ doesn't do something stupid that would require the UN and Amnesty International etc to intervene. The state should be to protect people, not to inflict damage on its peoples.

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  7. I have read your comments re a proposed terror raid in Te Whanau A Apanui. However I would appreciate more hard and verifiable info. How do you know that ALL phones in that region are tapped? Also how many Maori policemen have turned down involvement in the raid? In order to dig deeper get your MP to ask qustions in Parliament of the Min. of Police. If they deny or refuse to answer questions because of security
    then you know that there's something in it. Until then we may not know.

    AM Johns

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