UPDATES FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CHAPTERS
OF THE COMMITTEE TO SUPPORT THE ITNJ
Aotearoa (New Zealand) Council
• New Zealand is hosting an American war ship in
its harbour for the first time in over 40 years. It
was invited by the NZ navy as part of its 70-year
celebrations. However New Zealand has been
proudly nuclear-free for over 30 years and the
US has a non-declare policy where it will not say
whether this ship is nuclear-powered or conventional. This has caused great concern in Aotearoa,
as kiwis have a proud history of protesting both
on the water and the land, yet a new law instituted
via the new terrorism act, which itself has been
imported from the US, will now deem any form
of protest on the seas a terrorist threat, and politicians have made it clear that anyone involved will
be dealt with severely as a terrorist.
• A weapons of mass destruction conference is
also being held at the same time as the US war
ship visit, and many are alarmed. Auckland, New
Zealand's largest city, was declared a City of Peace
in 2011. Protests are to be held and we have made
our presence known.
• Talks are underway with a core group of people
regarding bringing a case against the New
Zealand government for its use of Sodium
Fluoroacetate, commonly known as 1080. Independent scientists along with farmers and other
affected people have challenged the government's
Department of Conservation about the effects of
this pesticide and its use. The use of 1080 causes
the death of many native bird species along with
the targeted animals: rats, possums, stoats, etc.
It’s a cruel death by a deadly toxin that kills even
the maggots that are part of nature's cycle to
break down the bodies of dead creatures. This
substance is indiscriminately dropped by helicopter into water-ways that feed into human drinking
sources. Trout has also been found to have traces
of this substance now in their tissues. The practise has been on going for over 50 years, with little
beneficial results or reduction in pest numbers,
but an audible decrease in native bird song is in
evidence wherever this substance is dropped. We
are anticipating a case being brought to the ITNJ
very shortly.
Jenese James
Council Administrator: Aotearoa
[email protected]
Eastern European Chapter
• The Eastern Europe Chapter of the Committee to
Support the ITNJ has not been focused on choosing and preparing a case for the ITNJ because
Lina Helstein, Chapter Chair, and several of her
colleagues were very busy standing for parliamentary elections in Lithuania this past October 2016.
• It is now time to evaluate and shape further strategies to keep the activism going in the best possible
way. Hearts and minds have been a