October 15th Solidarity

The Labour Party and its cabal of ministers including Cullen, Maharey, King, Laban, Goff and Horomia were humiliated at a protest today outside of their election year congress by people holding them responsible for a range of issues. Helen Clark’s speech was interrupted and ministers were forced outside when a fire alarm went off at approximately 2:20pm. Cullen sought refugee behind his mummy as he walked outside, but that didn’t stop him being confronted by people who had been arrested on October 15th. Members of the Labour Party assaulted people in an attempt to protect their ‘co-leader’ from being targeted. The October 15th Solidarity crew along with whanau from Te Urewera organised a march that went through town in advance of their arrival at the Labour Party Conference. Around 100 protestors gathered at 12noon at Te Aro Park and marched through Cuba Mall, Manners and Willis Street. “Ka whawhai tonu matou, ake ake ake!”, “One solution – Revolution!”, “1, 2, 3, 4 – Labour Party out the door” and “When Tuhoe/128/Workers’ Rights are under attack – stand up, fight back” were chanted on the march. Upon arrival, the march was met with a large police presence and a metal barricade. For approximately an hour, there was noisy demonstration with a sit-in blockade at one entrance.

Ministers and members of the Labour Party were forced to walk along the barricaded area while being heckled and shamed for their actions as they walked into the Town Hall. Helen Clark’s speech was supposed to start at 2pm. However, shortly afterwards, we heard news that the fire alarm went off and the Labour Party delegates started streaming out of the building (with Clark nowhere to be seen). Again, they were yelled at by the protest outside.

The Labour party, and Helen Clark in particular, bear primary responsibility for the nation-wide police raids of October 15th 2007, the invasion and lock-down of the township of Ruatoki and the passage of a raft of so-called ‘terrorism laws’. These laws, almost all of which have been directly imported from George W Bush’s ‘war on terrorism’ in the US, demonstrate Labour’s complicity in the oppression of people both in Aotearoa and around the world.

Operation 8 was motivated by the Labour government’s fear about tino rangatiratanga, about Te Mana Motuhake o Tuhoe and about real sovereignty for the indigenous people of Aotearoa. The government is scared of losing power, and of losing access to resources such as freshwater, minerals and oil and gas. It used its violent, coercive wing, the Armed Offenders Squad, to reinforce its power in Te Urewera on 15 October last year. The Labour government wills stop at nothing to retain power this year, including more acts of state violence and brutality against Maori people.

The people of Aotearoa are under attack, its time we stand up and fight back.