Hi Keith
I read this in the Herald, attributed to you:
“We are proud of the good peacekeeping and reconstruction work that our Provincial Reconstruction Team has done in Bamian Province, and we mourn the loss of one of its members.”
If those words are not misquoted, then I’m really angry at your misrepresentation.
What’s going on here?
You’ve read all the books and been constantly active in the anti imperialist movement for literally half a century. You must be much more acutely aware than most people that the so called Provincial Reconstruction Team that the New Zealand state sent to Afghanistan is not about peacekeeping, or reconstruction , or is, in any way, “ours”.
You must similarly know that unless someone belongs to or chooses to identify with the New Zealand ruling classes, or is a bought hack journalist, or has not had access to the most rudimentary understanding of class politics, that: “our Provincial Reconstruction Team” is not based in Afghanistan for peacekeeping, good or otherwise.
Death in war is an understandable trigger for human emotions. So lets get the whole picture here. How many Afghanistan people have been killed by New Zealand invaders of their country? When do we mourn and how do we begin to try and make amends?
People die every day in the course of their calling. The NZ army officer killed by Afghanistan people trying to evict invaders from their land is the first invading New Zealand trooper to die there since 2003. How many industrial deaths have there been in New Zealand since that time? How many flags were lowered, how many media voices theatrically quavered and how many Prime ministers broke routine for those working class victims of the class war?
Let the ruling classes do their barbarous inhuman dirty work alone and unaided.
Our little time on this earth has more urgent and honorable calls on it; to revive the antimperialist antiwar movement in this country.
Don Franks
New WP pamphlet on Afghanistan
New Zealand’s involvement in the occupation of Afghanistan has been commonly perceived as a humanitarian role. John Edmundson demolishes that myth and looks at what the occupation is really about.
The Situation so far
On 10 August 2009, Prime Minister John Key announced that the SAS (Special Air Service) would return to Afghanistan. This announcement had been predicted for some time so came as no surprise. The troops are being deployed in three rotations over 18 months and the full deployment involves 70 soldiers over that time period. At the same time, over that 18 months the NZ Army’s Provincial Reconstruction Team – NZ’s major commitment to the war – are being gradually reduced and eventually withdrawn, their work to be replaced by civilian work on agriculture, health and education. But the SAS deployment may in fact last much longer. The war in Afghanistan is going badly for the US -led coalition and few military people or civilian analysts are prepared to go public with an estimate of how much longer it could go on. A time frame as short as 18 months seems unlikely and if the war continues for years, there will be further requests for extensions to the troop commitment. With the Obama administration massively expanding the war effort, not just through increased troop numbers in Afghanistan, but an increasing involvement in Pakistan also, the war could well drag on for years. read more
Get out of Iraq and Afghanistan
Activists gathered in Auckland today outside the US consulate to protest the occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan. 
Marking the anniversary of the Iraq invasion 7 years ago the protesters demand the immediate and unconditional withdrawal of all foreign troops, including and especially the NZ SAS and other military in Afghanistan.
The Workers Party had a PFLP banner, as part of a solidarity campaign with the Palestinian liberation movement
The protested ended on a fitting note, with old shoes being hurled at the Consulate.
It is 8 years since NZ troops joined the US led invasion of Afghanistan
The SPARK interviews long serving anti-imperialist activist and Workers Party secretary Daphna Whitmore
Spark: It’s been 8 years since New Zealand troops were sent to Afghanistan – why did the Labour-Alliance government send them in the first place?
It needs to be understood in the context of New Zealand’s involvement with US and British imperialism. New Zealand is a partner in this bloc, and Labour enthusiastically signed up to the so-called War on Terror. When it comes to involvement in military adventures Labour governments have been just as warmongering as National.
The Alliance Party split over the issue of support for the invasion of Afghanistan, with the majority of its members rejecting the war. It highlighted the problem of being in government with an outright capitalist party like Labour.
Spark: New Zealand companies aren’t trying to make major sales in Afghanistan – why all the risk and expense over such a long period of time?
In its last term the Labour government did scale back the involvement, recalling the SAS and sending instead “reconstruction” forces. This tended to obscure the reality – that these are military forces, participating in an occupation. It dressed it up to look like it was simply a humanitarian mission. Continue reading “It is 8 years since NZ troops joined the US led invasion of Afghanistan”
Christchurch Forum: Oppose NZ intervention in Afghanistan
New Zealand soldiers have been deployed in Afghanistan for longer than in any other overseas deployment in the army’s history. Now the government is sending in the SAS again. Whereas most people in NZ opposed the invasion of Iraq by Western powers, many still see Afghanistan as the “good war” and there is little public debate about what is really happening in that country and how Western intervention, including the role played by NZ, has brought new misery to the people of Afghanistan.
Come along and hear what has really been happening in Afghanistan since the invasion at the end of 2001 and why NZ armed forces, along with all other Western armed forces, should be withdrawn.
Monday August 31 7:30pm
WEA, 59 Gloucester St
(map)
Troops out now!
Around 50 people protested outside Auckland’s Papakura army base, against the deployment of SAS troops to Afghanistan.
The protest was organised by Global Peace and Justice Auckland
Stop the SAS return to Afghanistan
Picket outside of the Court of Appeal, corner of Molesworth and Aitken St WELLINGTON 8AM – 9.30 AM
The picket coincides with the Court of Appeal hearing for an anti-war
protester convicted of burning the NZ flag at anti-war protest in 2007. It also coincides with the government’s announcement of the return of the SAS to combat in Afghanistan. All welcome…and please pass it on…
Organised by Peace Action Wellington
The flag is symbolic, imperialism is real
Victoria university members of the Workers Party are facing charges of serious misconduct after burning the New Zealand flag. This leaflet explains the political background to the act.
Why burn the New Zealand flag?
The New Zealand flag is a symbol of imperialism. This is most obvious in its design, a tribute to the British Empire. This design was adopted after the Second Boer War, which devastated South Africa but resulted in a surge of Kiwi patriotism.
A simple re-design, while reflecting our emergence from the shadow of the British Empire, would not change the imperialist nature of the flag. It’s a tool of the ruling class, inseparably linked with militarism. From the Boer War through WWI and II, right through to armed involvement in Vietnam and Afghanistan, the flag has marked New Zealand’s presence. Flags mark military conquest, the subjugation of nations.
Flags and borders divide the working majority. ANZAC soldiers had more in common with their Turkish counterparts than with the bureaucrats who sent them to Gallipoli. The working majority has interests in common worldwide, including an end to imperial war. Ruling class nationalism is a barrier to recognising this.
What purpose does ANZAC day serve? Continue reading “The flag is symbolic, imperialism is real”
Obama – managing the US war effort
John Edmundson
During the lead-up to the 2008 US election, Barack Obama made much of his plans to end the war in Iraq. His bold declaration – that “on my first day in office, I would give the military a new mission: ending this war”. Across the world, many people pinned their hopes on this promise.
Obama’s policy was never really about ending America’s imperialist war policy. It was always about managing the US war effort more effectively. Continue reading “Obama – managing the US war effort”
Middle East politics
For indepth background analysis of the conflicts in the Middle East check out back issues from our MidEast Solidarity and Liberation journals:
MidEast Solidarity Spring 2001 mideast17
No to West’s war of terror
The West’s mass murder in Iraq
Israel’s war on the Palestinians
From Zionism to socialism
One year of the new intifada
Fear of fundamentalism
How the West made Bin Laden
Labour wages war on workers and poor
The problem is capitalism
Towards an anti-imperialist movement
MidEast Solidarity Autumn 2002 mideast22
Black Hawk Down actor speaks out
United Nations – friend or foe?
Peace is not good enough – against the invasion of Afghanistan
Palestine – solidarity urgently needed
Behind the wars on the Palestinians
Deir Yassin massacre
Who is in Palestine?
Liberation Spring 2002 liberation11
Liberating ideas and the movement we need to oppose the war on Iraq
Depleted uranium – another weapon of Western terror
How the West strangles the Middle East
One year on in Afghanistan
Represssion and resistance in Turkish jails