Report concludes state sheltered soldiers from prosecution for Troubles-era crimes, as amnesty legislation comes into force
Britain’s reputation will be severely damaged by the Northern Ireland “legacy” act, an international panel of human rights experts has warned while calling for the government to scrap moves to grant conditional amnesties for Troubles-era crimes.
The warning is being made as the legislation comes into force on Wednesday, offering soldiers and paramilitaries a limited form of immunity from prosecution for Troubles-related offences for those who cooperate with a new body aimed at truth recovery.
A score of Palestine solidarity protesters draped themselves in white shrouds with mock blood in a sombre “die-in” demonstration at Te Komitanga Square — the heart of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city — today as speakers urged people to take a stronger boycott against Israeli products.
The rally by hundreds of protesters marked Israel’s killing of more than 34,000 Palestinians — mostly women and children — and wounding more than 77,000 in its genocidal war on Gaza.
The war has lasted 205 days so far with no let-up in the deadly assault on the besieged enclave and protesters staged 35 events around New Zealand this week as global demonstrations continue to grow.
Opposition MPs took part in the rally, including Labour’s Shanan Halbert and Green Party’s Steve Abel and Ricardo Menéndez March.
Activist and educator Maryam Perreira called on Palestine supporters to step up their boycott and divestments pressure — “it’s working, sanctions brought down apartheid South Africa and this will bring down the Israeli genocidal regime”.
“Food not bombs for Gaza”. Video: Café Pacific
She said the courage and commitment of the Palestinian resistance had become an inspiration to the world.
Send Israeli ambassador home
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) secretary Neil Scott called for sanctions action by the New Zealand government.
He urged Palestine supporters to call on the government to:
• Send the Israeli ambassador home, and
• End the working holiday visa for 200 Israelis who come to New Zealand to rest and relax “after committing genocide in Gaza”.
Scott called on New Zealanders to email Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters and Immigration Minister Erica Stanford to take action.
“Try just one email and see how it goes. Then another on another topic. Then another. That’s how I started a while ago,” Scott said.
“We need a tide of emails to get them to understand that Kiwis don’t want the Israeli ambassador here.
“Neither do we want the young Israelis committing genocide today and to walk among us tomorrow.”
More than 13,000 people have signed a petition calling for the closure of the Israeli embassy in Welington.
“They can’t demonise an entire nation.” Video: Café Pacific
He spoke about the NZ government’s Superfund which has investments all over the world.
“A few years ago, they invested in Israeli banks which were investing in the building of illegal settlements in the Occupied Palestine Territories. They were involved in investing and enabling crimes against humanity,” Scott said.
He called on people with KiwiSaver fund accounts to check them out for investments in “Israeli companies who are in any way involved in the occupation”.
“We’re now calling for everyone to boycott Israeli products — or those companies which are complicit in Israeli crimes against humanity or the illegal occupation, land theft, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and now genocide.”
Scott cited the boycott target list of the global BDS movement — Ahava (“Dead Sea mineral skin care products”), BP and Caltex, Hewlett-Packard, McDonalds, Obela Hummus and SodaStream.
“The key is for all of us to take action today. Remember — boycott, divest, sanction.”
Palestinian flags in Auckland’s Te Komititanga Square today. Image: APR
Meanwhile, 1News reports that three New Zealand doctors planning to sail with an independent flotilla carrying aid to Gaza have had their mission “scuppered at the last minute”. They blame Israel for the delay.
The doctors — Dr Ali Al-Kenani, Dr Wasfi Shahin and Dr Faiez Idais — left for Istanbul 10 days ago where they joined other international volunteers in the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, said 1News.
US President Joe Biden has spoken at the annual White House Correspondents’ dinner in Washington in spite of protests over alleged “complicity” of media about Israel’s war on Gaza, offering a toast to “press freedom and democracy” but ignoring the death toll of Palestinian journalists.
Demonstrators targeted the Washington Hilton hotel which hosted the dinner, denouncing the Biden administration’s handling of the war and urging guests — especially media — to boycott the event.
Media freedom watchdogs have cited varying death toll figures for Palestinian journalists killed since October 7 although Al Jazeera network news today reported 142 dead — more than double the number of journalists killed in each of the Second World War and the Vietnam War.
“It’s astonishing. We’ve never seen a White House correspondents’ dinner like this,” reported Al Jazeera’s Washington correspondent Shihab Rattansi.
“The President is here to speak while being warmly applauded by the national US press core.
“But these VIPs are all dressed up in the evening finery, and they have to run the gauntlet of hundreds of protesters out here who are shouting, ‘Shame on you’.
“‘Shame on you’ for breaking bread when there are [142] journalists dead as a result of, as far as they say, Biden’s complicity in their murder.”
Code Pink flag protest
Members of the feminist organisation Code Pink dropped a huge Palestinian flag from a top floor window of the Washington Hilton hotel.
The group said members involved in the action managed “to get out quickly and without arrest”.
The protesters were gathered outside the hotel to express solidarity with the dozens of Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza.
NOW: Protestors have dropped a Palestinian flag out of the window of the Washington Hilton, where the White House Correspondents’ Dinner is being held tonight. pic.twitter.com/v8womcm8QP
The protest outside the White House correspondents’ dinner hotel. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR
More than two dozen Palestinian journalists had called for a boycott of the dinner, writing an open letter urging their American colleagues not to attend.
“You have a unique responsibility to speak truth to power and uphold journalistic integrity,” said the letter from the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate.
“It is unacceptable to stay silent out of fear or professional concern while journalists in Gaza continue to be detained, tortured, and killed for doing our jobs.”
‘It hurts our souls’
Al Jazeera’s Hind Khoudary was one of the signatories of the letter calling for the boycott.
“This isn’t something that has been ending. It has been continuous every single day for more than 200 days.
“We have been killed, displaced and homeless, and we’re not only reporting on this, but we’re also living it with every single detail.
Gaza journalist Hind Khoudary . . . Palestinian press plea to boycott the White House dinner. Image: @Hind_Gaza
“We’re living this war in all aspects of life. We have not seen our families as journalists. We have not been able to eat well. We have been dehydrated.
“We have been reporting in one of the harshest conditions any reporter can go through despite losing a lot of colleagues, and it hurts our souls and our hearts every single day.
“We have been constantly targeted by the Israeli air strikes and shelling.
“All of these daily things we have been living as journalists are overwhelming [and] exhausting, but we still continue because there have been at least 100 Palestinian journalists whom I personally know that have been killed since October 7.
“If they were here today with us, they would be reporting, and they would be raising the voice of the voiceless Palestinians.”
Protesters pose as Palestinian media casualties in Gaza surrounded by blue press protective jackets. The death toll of Gaza journalists since October 7 is 142. Image: Anatolu video screenshot APR
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by Pacific Media Watch.
From France to Australia, university pro-Palestine protests in the United States have now spread to several countries with students pitching on-campus camps.
And students at Columbia and other US universities remain defiant as campuses have witnessed the biggest protests since the anti-Vietnam war and anti-apartheid eras in the 1960s and 1980s.
But authorities have cracked down at some institutions against the peaceful demonstrations with at least 550 being arrested in the US, reports Al Jazeera.
Clashes between students and police officers have been reported across the US during intensifying university protests with encampments in at at least 20 institutions.
Ali Harb, a Washington-based commentator on US foreign policy, Arab-American issues, civil rights and politics, says the Gaza-focused campus protest movement “highlights a generational divide over Israel” in the US.
Young people are willing to challenge politicians and college administrators across the country, he says.
“The opinion gap — with younger Americans generally more supportive of Palestinians than the generations that came before them — poses a risk to 81-year-old Democratic President Joe Biden’s re-election chances,” says Harb.
“It could also threaten the bipartisan backing that Israel enjoys in Washington.”
Divestment from Israel
What started as the Gaza solidarity encampment at Columbia University, where students camped inside campus to push their institute to divest from companies linked to Israel, has since spread to campuses in California, Texas and other states.
The students are protesting against Israel’s war on Gaza, where Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 34,000 people and its blockade has caused starvation.
Students have been demonstrating worldwide in support of Gaza since the outbreak of the war on October 7.
Following the Columbia encampments, the protests have further spread to universities from France to Australia. Here is a summary:
In Paris, France, Sorbonne University students have taken to the streets. Additionally, the Palestine Committee from Sciences Po, is organising a protest where students set up about 10 tents on Wednesday. Despite a police crackdown, the protesters regathered on Thursday.
In Australia, students from the University of Sydney set up pro-Palestine encampments on Tuesday, and they were continuing to protest yesterday. Also, University of Melbourne students have pitched tents on the south lawn of their main campus.
In Rome, Italy, students from Sapienza University organised demonstrations, sit-ins and hunger strikes on April 17 and April 18.
Investigating Israeli ties In the United Kingdom, students from the University of Warwick’s group Warwick Stands With Palestine have occupied the campus piazza. In Leicester, a protest broke out on Monday in which students from the University of Leicester Palestine Society also participated.
Last month, students from the University of Leeds occupied a campus building in protest against the university’s involvement with Israel.
Hicham, a student protesting at Sciences Po, which is also called the Paris Institute of Political Studies, told Al Jazeera, “We have a few demands but one of them is to start investigating all of the ties they [Sciences Po] have with the state of Israel, which [are] academic and financial”.
The students are calling on the French government to provide more help to the Palestinians.
Safeguard Gaza universities plea
Meanwhile, nearly 30 Palestinian academics in the UK have called for “swift” action to safeguard universities in Gaza.
The statement, whose signatories include Ghassan Abu Sittah, who has worked at al-Shifa and Alhi Arab hospitals in Gaza during the war, urged “friends and colleagues to take immediate steps to defend the integrity of Palestinian universities in occupied Palestine against the current plans and measures seeking to destroy them”.
It added: “Having turned the universities of Gaza into detention centres before demolishing them, forcibly rendering Palestinian scholars, scientists, researchers and students homeless once again, Israel’s campaign of scholasticide has turned its attention to eliminating future independent Palestinian educational life in Gaza.”
The academics also said they demand the institutions created by Palestinians in the face of “immense challenges” are not destroyed “but instead are rebuilt”.
“They serve as a symbol of resilience and hope for the Palestinian people as a whole.”
STATEMENT: Palestinian academics in the UK are urging swift action to safeguard Gaza’s universities and are calling for public commitments to aid in their rebuilding efforts. pic.twitter.com/NEtz2mFqUW
— British Palestinian Committee (@BritPalCommitt) April 26, 2024
All the required paperwork has been submitted to the port authority, and the cargo has been loaded and prepared for the humanitarian trip to the besieged enclave.
However, organisers received word of an “administrative roadblock” initiated by Israel in an attempt to prevent the departure.
Israel is reportedly pressuring the Republic of Guinea Bissau to withdraw its flag from the flotilla’s lead ship — Akdeniz (“Mediterranean”).
This triggered a request for an additional inspection, this one by the flag state, that delayed yesterday’s planned departure.
“This is another example of Israel obstructing the delivery of life-saving aid to the people in Gaza who face a deliberately created famine,” said a Freedom Flotilla statement.
“How many more children will die of malnutrition and dehydration because of this delay and an ongoing siege which must be broken?”
Israeli tactics
This is not the first time that Israel has used such tactics to stop Freedom Flotilla ships from sailing.
“We have overcome them before and are diligently working to overcome this latest attempt,” said the flotilla statement.
“Our vessels have already passed all required inspections and we are confident that the Akdeniz will pass this inspection provided there is no political interference.
“We expect this to be no more than a few days delay. Israel will not break our resolve to reach the people of Gaza.”
‘Freedom flotilla’ defying Israel’s Gaza blockade. Video: Al Jazeera
Al Jazeera reports that lawyers, aid workers and activists are on board the ship in preparation for efforts by the flotilla to break the Israeli air, land and sea blockade of Gaza.
About 100 media people are on board as well, hoping to provide a more global eye on what is happening in Gaza.
Chief Mandla Mandela, the grandson of former South African President Nelson Mandela, is part of the flotilla that plans to soon set off for Gaza.
“For us South Africans, the Palestinian issue has always been close and dear to our hearts,” Mandela said, noting that this grandfather had also said, “Our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinian people.”
The signing of a controversial memorandum of cooperation between New Caledonia’s Congress and the National Assembly of Azerbaijan has fuelled more tension — and demands from anti-independence parties that the deal be scrapped altogether.
The memorandum was signed on New Caledonia’s part by one pro-independence member of the Congress, Omayra Naisseline, on behalf of Congress Chair Roch Wamytan, and by Azerbaijan’s Milli Mejtis, the National Assembly Chair Sahibé Gafarova.
It was presented as paving the way for “interparliamentary cooperation and strengthening friendly ties between the peoples of Azerbaijan and New Caledonia”.
Speaking to Azeri media after the signing, Naisseline officially thanked the Bakou Initiative Group, the non-aligned movement, for their “support to the struggle of the Kanak people”.
She said the agreement would cover such topics as “youth, culture, economics, environment and politics”.
During the official signing of the document on April 18, Azerbaijan’s flag was placed on a desk near the Kanak flag which represents New Caledonia’s pro-independence movement.
Pro-France parties were up in arms upon learning of the signing leading to Congress Chairman and pro-independence leader Wamytan held a media conference on Tuesday.
Against French colonialism Wamytan told local media that since he could not travel in person, he had asked Naisseline to sign the agreement on his behalf while she was travelling to Azerbaijan to attend a conference upon the invitation of the Bakou Initiative Group.
The “Bakou Initiative Group Against French Colonialism” was set up in July 2023, on the margins of a meeting of the non-aligned movement held at the time in the Azerbaijan capital.
New Caledonia’s Congress Chair Roch Wamytan speaking at a press conference this week in Nouméa. Image: RRB
Wamytan said the travel expenses were taken care of by the host country, and that Naisseline travelled there in her capacity as FLNKS representative.
But referring to New Caledonia’s current tense negotiations on its political future status and a French move to modify voters eligibility at New Caledonia’s local polls, Wamytan also said on Tuesday that “we need to find external backing since (French) President Macron is no longer impartial”.
“Azerbaijan has shown it has the capacity to help the (pro-independence) FLNKS, and those countries that help us can take initiatives vis-à-vis France, and this is what we need so that our voice can be heard,” he said, referring to New Caledonia’s indigenous Kanak people’s right to self-determination.
Both Wamytan and Naisseline belong to the Union Calédonienne (UC), a major component of the pro-independence front FLNKS.
Other FLNKS components such as the PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) and the UPM (Union of Melanesian Parties) have yet to comment on the fresh controversy.
‘Inappropriate’ and ‘shameful’ This has since prompted an open row between pro-France parties within the Congress, who are denouncing the move as “inappropriate” and “shameful”.
Les Loyalistes Congress caucus head Françoise Suvé told local media: “For Omayra Naisseline to go there and claim that she is representing the people of New Caledonia and its Congress is just unacceptable.”
Pro-France Calédonie Ensemble MP, Philippe Dunoyer said this was shameful.
“There is a confusion, an instrumentalisation and behind all this, a political will.
“If the FLNKS wants to travel there, it has the right to do so, but not the Congress.”
Signing up . . . Azerbaijian’s National Assembly Chair Sahiba Gafarova (left) and pro-independence Congress member Omayra Naisseline signing a memorandum of cooperation in Bakou. Image: Bakou Initiative Group
It is also understood that Nicolas Metzdorf, another pro-French MP who is New Caledonia’s representative at the French National Assembly, officially wrote last week to French Foreign Affairs Minister Sébastien Séjourné, asking France to provide a “strong diplomatic response” in reaction to “Azerbaijan’s flagrant interference”.
Relations between Paris and Bakou have been particularly tense over the past months.
In December 2023, a journalist from that country was denied entry and later deported on her arrival at Nouméa-La Tontouta international airport.
She claimed to be there to cover the French-hosted South Pacific defence ministers’ meeting in Nouméa, where hard-line members of the FLNKS were also holding protest marches against alleged French “re-militarisation” in New Caledonia.
In a joint release on Tuesday, pro-France parties Les Loyalistes and Rassemblement said New Caledonia’s Congress (including their MPs) were at no stage informed or consulted on this memorandum.
They said Naisseline had never been given the Congress’s endorsement to sign such a document on behalf of the Congress.
“In keeping with the Nouméa Accord which you signed (in 1998), local political institutions do not have powers in terms of international relations outside the Pacific region,”, the release added.
‘Shared powers’ Under the current Nouméa framework Accord (1998), which has been initiating a process of gradual transfer of powers from France to New Caledonia, the notion of “shared powers” applies to “international and regional relations”.
“International relations remain the responsibility of the [French] state, which will) take New Caledonia’s specific interests into account in international relations conducted by France and will associate [New Caledonia] to the discussions,” it says.
“New Caledonia may have representations in Pacific countries (and may) enter into agreements with these countries within its areas of responsibility.”
The pro-France parties also claim in the same document that the document signed with Azerbaijan “solely serves the aims of the pro-independence movement which is now becoming an instrument of Bakou regime’s will to destabilise France”.
“New Caledonia’s Congress cannot be seen as a partisan instrument serving foreign powers confronting France.”
They are calling for a Congress extraordinary sitting so that the accord with Azerbaijan can be declared “null and void”.
They also denounced the signing with “a country that is guilty of horrible crimes against its own population”.
Meanwhile, they have officially lodged a legal complaint for possible “misuse of public funds” associated with the trip to Azerbaijan.
The French High Commissioner in New Caledonia, Louis Le Franc, has indicated he would also challenge the legality of such a document.
Wamytan told media on Tuesday he would not nullify the pact with Azerbaijan “unless a court ruling compels [him] to do so”.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province.
The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War II unfolded along the Kokoda Trail in 1942.
The ceremony, marked by deep reflection and remembrance, was attended by notable dignitaries including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.
Wreath laying at the Battle of Isurava memorial site, Papua New Guinea’s Northern Province. Image: PNG Post-Courier
The presence of both leaders underscored the enduring camaraderie and shared history between the two nations, as participants paid homage to the valour and sacrifices of those who fought on these grounds.
This year’s ANZAC Day observances at Isurava not only commemorated the past but also reinforced the bonds of friendship and mutual respect that continue to flourish between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Paying homage at the Battle of Isurava memorial site. Image: PNG Post-Courier
Marape commends Biage people over WWII
Prime Minister James Marape commended the Biage people of Northern Province for the significant role they played in World War II until today.
He said this at an emotional ANZAC Day dawn service at Isurava along the Kokoda Trail attended by the Biage people, Australian Prime Minister Albanese, Northern Governor Garry Juffa, Australian High Commissioner John Feakes, members of the Australian and Papua New Guinea defence forces, Australian and PNG officials, alongside 200 Australian trekkers making a pilgrimage and their porters.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australian Prime Minister Albanese walking the Kokoda Trail. Image: PNG Post-Courier
The dawn service was the highlight of a two-day trek by the two prime ministers from Kokoda to Isurava and was the first time ever for the Biage people to see two prime ministers together at the same time.
Prime Minister Marape said the Biage people were a peaceful people forced into a war that was not their doing and greatly assisted Australia forces during the dark days of WWII.
Governor Juffa also spoke about the remarkable role of the Biage people, who he said formed the bulk of the “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels”, during WWII.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australian Prime Minister Albanese shake hands on the Kokoda Trail. Image: PNG Post-Courier
The Biage people continue to show their peacefulness and hospitality by being guides and porters in the lucrative Kokoda trekking industry, PNG’s biggest tourism product.
In the early hours of ANZAC Day, aerial photographs captured an impressive gathering of Australians and Papua New Guineans at Isurava in the Northern (Oro) Province.
The solemn dawn service yesterday was held at a site steeped in history, where some of the fiercest battles of World War II unfolded along the Kokoda Trail in 1942.
The ceremony, marked by deep reflection and remembrance, was attended by notable dignitaries including Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and Papua New Guinea Prime Minister James Marape.
Wreath laying at the Battle of Isurava memorial site, Papua New Guinea’s Northern Province. Image: PNG Post-Courier
The presence of both leaders underscored the enduring camaraderie and shared history between the two nations, as participants paid homage to the valour and sacrifices of those who fought on these grounds.
This year’s ANZAC Day observances at Isurava not only commemorated the past but also reinforced the bonds of friendship and mutual respect that continue to flourish between Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Paying homage at the Battle of Isurava memorial site. Image: PNG Post-Courier
Marape commends Biage people over WWII
Prime Minister James Marape commended the Biage people of Northern Province for the significant role they played in World War II until today.
He said this at an emotional ANZAC Day dawn service at Isurava along the Kokoda Trail attended by the Biage people, Australian Prime Minister Albanese, Northern Governor Garry Juffa, Australian High Commissioner John Feakes, members of the Australian and Papua New Guinea defence forces, Australian and PNG officials, alongside 200 Australian trekkers making a pilgrimage and their porters.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australian Prime Minister Albanese walking the Kokoda Trail. Image: PNG Post-Courier
The dawn service was the highlight of a two-day trek by the two prime ministers from Kokoda to Isurava and was the first time ever for the Biage people to see two prime ministers together at the same time.
Prime Minister Marape said the Biage people were a peaceful people forced into a war that was not their doing and greatly assisted Australia forces during the dark days of WWII.
Governor Juffa also spoke about the remarkable role of the Biage people, who he said formed the bulk of the “Fuzzy Wuzzy Angels”, during WWII.
PNG Prime Minister James Marape and Australian Prime Minister Albanese shake hands on the Kokoda Trail. Image: PNG Post-Courier
The Biage people continue to show their peacefulness and hospitality by being guides and porters in the lucrative Kokoda trekking industry, PNG’s biggest tourism product.
Chief Mandla Mandela, a member of the National Assembly of South Africa and Nelson Mandela’s grandson, has joined the Freedom Flotilla in istanbul as the ships prepare to sail for Gaza, reports Kia Ora Gaza.
Mandela is also the ambassador for the Global Campaign to Return to Palestine.
When he met with flotilla participants yesterday, including the Kia Ora Gaza team from Aotearoa New Zealand, he said: “It was not only our efforts in South Africa that defeated the apartheid regime, but it was also efforts in every corner of the world through international solidarity of the anti-apartheid campaign.”
Chief Mandla Mandela talks to the Freedom Flotilla. Video: Freedom Flotilla/Palestine Human Rights
Mandela said that while his grandfather was incarcerated for life imprisonment on Robben Island, he drew “immense inspiration” from the Palestinian struggle.
He added that Palestine “was the greatest moral issue of our time, yet many governments choose to remain silent and look away”.
“Many have been complicit in the genocide, the ethnic cleansing, the war crimes, and crimes against humanity that have been meted out on a daily basis against our Palestinian brothers and sisters — not just the 7th of October, but for the past 76 years.”
— Chief Mandla Mandela
Incredible to see Mandla Mandela address Gaza Freedom Flotilla participants in Istanbul today.
He spoke of his grandfather Nelson Mandela’s deep love for the Palestinian struggle and how Palestine inspired generations of South Africans in their fight for freedom. pic.twitter.com/6aVwwB4fIu
Journalists who report on environmental issues are encountering growing difficulties in many parts of the world, reports Reporters Without Borders.
According to the tally kept by RSF, 200 journalists have been subjected to threats and physical violence, including murder, in the past 10 years because they were working on stories linked to the environment.
Twenty four were murdered in Latin America and Asia — including the Pacific, which makes these two regions the most dangerous ones for environmental reporters.
From restrictions on access to information and gag suits to physical attacks, the work of environmental journalists and their safety are increasingly threatened.
RSF has denounced the obstacles to the right to information about ecological and climate issues and calls on all countries to recognise the vital nature of the work of environmental journalists, and to guarantee their safety.
Nearly half of the journalists killed in India in the past 10 years — 13 of 28 — were working on environmental stories that often also involved corruption and organised crime, especially the so-called “sand mafia,” which illegally excavates millions of tons of this precious resource for the construction industry.
Amazon deforestation
Journalists covering the challenges of deforestation in the Amazon are also constantly subjected to threats and harassment that prevent them from working freely.
The scale of the problem was highlighted in 2022 by the murder of Dom Phillips, a British reporter specialised in environmental issues.
“Regarding the environmental and climate challenges we face, the freedom to cover these issues is essential,” said RSF’s editorial director Anne Bocandé.
When New Zealanders commemorate Anzac Day today on April 25, it’s not only to honour the soldiers who lost their lives in World War I and subsequent conflicts, but also to mark a defining event for national identity.
The battle of Gallipoli against the Ottoman Empire, the story goes, was where the young nation passed its first test of courage and determination.
The question of why New Zealand soldiers ended up on Turkish beaches in April 1915 is typically not part of these commemorations. Rather, our collective memories begin with the moment of the early morning landing.
Consider, for example, the timing of the Anzac Day dawn service, or the Museum of New Zealand-Te Papa Tongarewa’s exhibition, Gallipoli: The Scale of Our War, which plunges visitors straight into the action.
This selective retelling of history is necessary for the “coming of age” narrative to work. It helps conceal that Britain was pursuing its own colonial ambitions against the Ottomans, and that New Zealand took part in World War I as “a member of the British club”, as historian Ian McGibbon puts it, loyally devoted to the imperial cause.
Against the background of the recent horrors and escalating tensions in the Middle East, however, it seems more important than ever to make these silences speak in our commemorations of Gallipoli.
Where collective memory begins . . . dawn service at the Auckland War Memorial Museum cenotaph. Image: Getty Images
Britain’s colonial interests While the causes of World War I are complex and multifaceted, historians have extensively documented that Britain had long seen parts of the decaying Ottoman Empire as prey for colonial expansion.
Already, in the late 1800s, Britain had taken control of Cyprus and Egypt.
Turkey’s Middle Eastern possessions were of interest to the government in London because they provided not only a land route to the colony in India, but also rich oil reserves.
Hence, when the Ottoman Empire signed an alliance with Germany — mainly to guard against Russian territorial aspirations – and somewhat reluctantly entered World War I, the British did not lament this as a diplomatic defeat.
“The decrepit Ottoman Empire was more useful to them as a victim than as a dependent ally,” as the late historian Michael Howard explained.
The day after Britain declared war on the Ottomans on November 5, 1914, British troops attacked Basra (in today’s southern Iraq) to secure nearby oil facilities.
In the following months, the Triple Entente of Britain, France and Russia won a number of easy victories, which fuelled the belief the Turkish military was weak. This in turn led Britain to devise a plan to launch a direct strike on Constantinople, the Ottoman capital.
First, however, they had to clear the Gallipoli peninsula of enemy defences. And who better suited to this task than the first convoy of Anzac troops, just a short distance away in Egypt after passing through the Suez Canal?
Australian, British, New Zealand and Indian cameliers in Palestine during World War I.
Palestine: a complex tangle of pledges As is well known, war planners in London had underestimated the enemy’s military strength. The battle of Gallipoli ended in a Turkish victory over Britain and its allies.
Nevertheless, fortunes eventually turned against the Ottoman Empire.
Although a whole century has gone by, British diplomatic efforts and secret agreements that were meant to accelerate the collapse of the Ottoman Empire still shape the Middle East today.
Most significantly, it is the violent conflict over Palestine that can be traced back to colonial power dealings during World War I. The crux of the problem is that Britain affirmed three irreconcilable wartime commitments in relation to Palestine.
First, in the hope of initiating an Arab revolt against Ottoman rule, the British made promises to Sharif Husayn, the emir of Mecca, about the creation of an independent Arab kingdom.
Second, in the Sykes-Picot Agreement, which divided the Ottomans’ Arab lands into British and French spheres of interest, Palestine was designated for international administration.
Third, in the Balfour Declaration of November 1917, the British government pledged support for a “Jewish national home” in Palestine — a move motivated by a mixture of realpolitik and Biblical romanticism.
In the end, it was the third commitment that turned out to be the most enduring.
Lord Balfour inspecting troops at York Cathedral during World War I. Image: Getty Images
How should we remember Gallipoli? Amid this complex history, we must not forget the thousands of New Zealand soldiers who died in World War I — men who had either volunteered, expecting a quick and heroic war, or served as draftees.
However, we need to have a public discussion about whether it is still appropriate for our commemorations to skip over the question of why these men fought in Europe and the Mediterranean.
Facing up to this question not only makes us aware of our responsibilities towards the Middle East problem, but it can also serve as a lesson for the future — not to blindly follow great powers into their military adventures.
Students and activist staff at Australia’s University of Sydney (USyd) have set up a Gaza solidarity encampment in support of Palestinians and similar student-led protests in the United States.
The camp was pitched as mass graves, crippled hospitals, thousands of civilian deaths and the near-total destruction of infrastructure haunted Gaza with Israel’s war on the besieged Palestinian coastal enclave passing the 200 days milestone.
Nearly 85 percent of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have been displaced and more than 14,500 children killed in the attack, which critics have dubbed a war of vengeance.
In Sydney, according to the university’s student newspaper, Honi Soit, the camp was established on the campus when tents were pitched “emblazoned with graffiti reading ‘Free Palestine’ and ‘from the river to the sea’”.
Students form several Australian universities were in attendance for the launch of the encampment, which was inaugurated with a student activist “speak out” on the subject of the war on Gaza and the demand for USyd management to drop any ties to the state of Israel.
According to the student newspaper: “Many chants that were used on US campuses in the past week were repeated at the encampment tonight like “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest” followed by “Albanese/Sydney Uni you will see, Palestine will be free”.
— USyd SFP | Join the Gaza Solidarity Camp! (@SFP_USyd) April 24, 2024
Pro-Palestinian protests are gaining momentum at colleges and universities across the United States with street protests outside campuses as police have cracked down on the demonstrators.
Students at New York University, Columbia, Harvard and Yale are among those standing in solidarity with Palestinians and demanding an end to the war on Gaza.
Tensions flare at US universities over Gaza protests.
Tensions between pro-Palestinian student protesters and school administrators flared at several US universities Monday, as in-person classes were cancelled and demonstrators arrestedhttps://t.co/ByWzL8ZWhNpic.twitter.com/W5I08JqoBg
Al Jazeera’s Kristen Saloomey, reporting from New York, said student demonstrators from New York University (NYU) gathered for hours in a park just off the campus to protest against the genocide.
The protest moved to the park following the mass arrest of 133 students and academic staff who had participated in a protest on the NYU campus the night before.
“As news spread of their arrests, so have demonstrations around the country — at other colleges and universities,” Saloomey said.
Columbia announced that it was introducing online classes for the the rest of the year to cope with the protests.
Watch Saloomey’s AJ report:
Columbia protests: Chants of ‘Azaadi’. Video: Al Jazeera
The Al Jazeera Explainers team have put together a comprehensive report detailing the numbers that highlight the unprecedented level of violence unleashed by Israel on Gaza in the 200 days of war.
The massive infrastructure damage caused by the Israeli war on Gaza . . . . making the strip “unlivable”.
A North Korean delegation led by the cabinet minister for international trade is visiting Iran, the North’s state-run media reported on Wednesday, amid suspicion Tehran used North Korean weapons technology for its attack on Israel.
The minister for external economic relations, Yun Jong Ho, left Pyongyang on Tuesday by air leading a ministry delegation to Iran, the Korean Central News Agency said, without providing further details.
Yun, who previously worked on ties with Syria, has been active in North Korea’s increasing exchanges with Russia, this month leading a delegation on a visit to Moscow, KCNA added.
The North’s announcement comes after some experts raised the possibility that North Korean parts or military technology could have been used by Iran against Israel, following the launch of more than 300 drones and missiles on April 13. The experts cited close military cooperation between Pyongyang and Tehran.
South Korea’s spy agency, the National Intelligence Service, said last Wednesday it was looking into whether the North’s weapons technology was used in the ballistic missiles that Iran launched against Israel.
“We are keeping tabs on whether the North Korean technology was included in Iran’s ballistic missiles launched against Israel, given the North and Iran’s missile cooperation in the past,” the NIS said.
Separately, Matthew Miller, a U.S. State Department spokesperson, said last Tuesday that the United States was “incredibly concerned” about long-suspected military cooperation between North Korea and Iran.
Having established diplomatic ties in 1973, North Korea and Iran have long been suspected of cooperating on ballistic missile programs, possibly exchanging technical expertise and components for their manufacture.
A 2019 report by the U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency showed Iran’s Shahab-3 ballistic missiles were developed based on North Korea’s midrange Rodong missiles.
The Khorramshahr missile that Iran has developed is also believed to be technically linked to North Korea’s Musudan missiles.
North Korea has also been suspected of involvement in arms trade with Russia, although the two countries have denied that transfers have taken place.
The NIS has said that since August, North Korea has made 10 weapons transfers of an estimated one million shells to Russia, according to the NIS, which is widely seen as an attempt by North Korea to boost its sagging economy amid aftermath of COVID-19 and international sanctions.
Other reports have suggested North Korea has delivered ballistic missiles to Russia’s military, citing U.S. satellite images.
Edited by Mike Firn.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By RFA Staff.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has arrived at Kokoda Station, Northern province, at the start of his state visit to Papua New Guinea.
Both Albanese and Prime Minister James Marape will meet with the locals and the Northern Provincial government before they begin their walk along the historic 96km Kokoda Trail.
Both men were “excited” with Marape saying “he was there to lend a hand to his brother PM”.
Meanwhile, the heroism of Australian soldier Private Bruce Steel Kingsbury is being remembered in advance of ANZAC Day.
Knowing his platoon would not last long with the continuous attack by the Japanese and suffering severe losses during World War Two, Private Kingsbury made the heroic decision to move against the continuous firing and attacked the enemy which cost his life on 29 August 1942.
The battle took place at Isurava, Kokoda. Where Private Kingsbury fell is a memorial which is known as “Kingsbury Rock” beside the Isurava Memorial which Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will visit for the ANZAC Dawn service.
Private Kingsbury’s sacrifice earned him a Victoria Cross. He is buried at the Bomana War Cemetery outside Port Moresby and is one of 625 Australians who were killed in action along the Kokoda track, another 1055 were wounded.
Battle for PNG
The battle to protect Papua and New Guinea, as it was known back then, took about 9000 lives and the remnants of war still remain in the jungles of PNG with more men still missing in action.
Private Bruce Kingsbury . . . a memorial known as “Kingsbury Rock” stands where he fell in battle against the Japanese in 1942. Image: PNG Post-Courier
Prime ministers Marape and Albanese will walk a section of the Kokoda track to honour the shared history and enduring bond between the two nations.
“The visit of Prime Minister Albanese underscores the close relationships between our countries,” said Prime Minister Marape.
“I’ll be joining him for a walk along the Kokoda Trail.”
Albanese is set to be the first sitting prime minister to walk part of the famous 96km track.
Kevin Rudd walked the Kokoda Track in 2006 while he was opposition leader while former prime minister Scott Morrison also hiked the track in 2009 during his time as a backbench MP.
Miriam Zarrigais a PNG Post-Courier reporter. Republished with permission.
A video of tanks being transported has been shared repeatedly in Burmese-language social media posts that claim it was taken in Myanmar’s Rakhine state in March 2024.
But this is false. The video was in fact filmed at a market in the southwestern part of Cambodia and began to circulate online as early as January.
The video was shared by several Facebook users on March 10, 2024, and shows what appears to be a convoy of large trucks transporting tanks adorned in camouflage patterns along a roadway.
“10/3/2024 Rakhine,” reads the headline in Burmese.
A screenshot of the Facebook post, taken on April 8, 2024. (Screenshot/Facebook)
Rakhine, formerly known as Arakan, is a state situated on Myanmar’s western coast. It has witnessed a series of violent clashes between local militant organizations such as the Arakan Army, or AA, and the Myanmar military.
Following the launch of a new offensive in November 2023, the AA has captured six of Rakhine’s 17 townships, several smaller settlements, around 170 junta camps and numerous military facilities.
As of early April, the AA is still advancing across the state and pursuing ongoing offensives against several towns in the region still defended by Myanmar’s military junta.
Filmed in Cambodia, not Myanmar
The video of the purported military convoy features a TikTok user handle named “@heachhay007” first seen in the lower left and then in the lower right corner of the clip.
A keyword search of this username turned up a video published on Jan. 26 by a TikTok user who regularly uploads videos in Khmer, the national language of Cambodia.
The location in the video features multiple billboards written in Khmer, which utilizes a script distinct from Myanmar’s official language.
A combination of keyword and reverse image searches found the video was in fact filmed at Tram Kak market in Cambodia’s Takeo province, a location from which the user has previously published multiple videos.
Below are two screenshots comparing the video in the false post (left) and the Google Street View image of Cambodia’s Tram Kak market (right). The corresponding features are circled in red.
A screenshot comparison of the video in the false post (left) and the Google Street View image of Cambodia’s Tram Kak market (right) with corresponding features highlighted in red circles. (Screenshots/ Facebook & Google Image)
Edited by Shen Ke and Matt Reed.
Asia Fact Check Lab (AFCL) was established to counter disinformation in today’s complex media environment. We publish fact-checks, media-watches and in-depth reports that aim to sharpen and deepen our readers’ understanding of current affairs and public issues. If you like our content, you can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram and X.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by By Taejun Kang for RFA.
New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Winston Peters is putting off recognition of Palestine as a state, despite opposition Labour’s formal request that he make the move.
Peters said diplomatic recognition of Palestine was a matter of “when not if”, but doing so now could impede progress towards a two-state solution — and the focus should be on aid for civilians.
Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson David Parker had written to Peters, calling for New Zealand to take “meaningful action” by recognising Palestine as a state.
He noted this did not mean a recognition of Hamas, “which is one political party in the Palestinian territories”.
“There can be no lasting peace without Palestinian statehood,” Parker wrote, pointing to 139 of the 193 member states of the United Nations having already recognised it.
“Recognition signals this. It doesn’t matter that the state is yet to be fully established, with agreed borders. Many states and much of the Western world recognised Israel well before it was established as a state. Similarly with Kosovo.”
Parker said New Zealand should do this by inviting the Palestinian Authority to send an ambassador to present their credentials to New Zealand, a role which could be performed by the Head of the General Delegation of Palestine based in Canberra Izzat Abdulhadi.
‘Immediate ceasefire’ needed
Peters, however, said the “immediate and urgent need is for an immediate ceasefire and the provision of aid to help alleviate the desperate plight of an innocent civilian population”.
“The government supports the establishment of a Palestinian state and has done so for decades. We must see momentum towards this goal and it’s a matter of ‘when not if’ we see Palestinian statehood,” he wrote.
However, he said they could not afford to take focus away from the current crisis.
“Bluntly asserting statehood unilaterally at this point, however well intentioned, would do nothing to alleviate the current plight of the Palestinian people. Indeed, it might impede progress.
“We would need to be sure that any change in our current settings would contribute credibly to a serious diplomatic push to achieve a two-state solution. We do not believe we are currently at that point.
“We are realistic that achieving this will require serious negotiations, including over the territory and political authority of a future Palestinian state. Statehood is neither a prerequisite for renewed negotiations, nor is it a guarantee they will progress faster.
“It is important for any Palestinian state that it does not contain elements that threaten Israel’s security, and that the Palestinian Authority can govern effectively. That is why we have said an organisation like Hamas — which commits terrorism — cannot be part of future governance in Palestine.”
Case for recognition Parker had laid out his case for recognition, saying Israel had ignored two resolutions of the UN General Assembly backed by an overwhelming majority of the world’s nations, including “its closest ally, the United States, which has repeatedly said the loss of civilian life in Gaza is an unacceptable price to pay for Israel’s pursuit of Hamas”.
“The international community, including New Zealand, should not stand by and watch Israel breach international law and ignore entreaties without taking meaningful action,” he wrote.
“The absence of progress for many years, and the current war, make the status quo ever more untenable.
“The occupying Israeli government forces cannot legitimately continue to deprive Palestinians of basic rights to govern themselves.
“We believe it is time now for New Zealand to reinforce our opposition to the war and our support for a lasting peace including Palestinian independence.”
Parker said Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong’s recent statements also contemplating recognition was coincidental, and Labour had already decided to make the proposal to Peters.
He accepted it was unlikely Peters would be able to give an immediate response, other than to say no.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
Asia Pacific Report says that in the UN Security Council vote last week, only the US voted against Palestine becoming a full member of the United Nations by using its veto. But an overwhelming majority of 12 nations out of the 15 voted in favour of admission, including three of the permanent members (China, France and Russia). Only the fifth permanent member, UK, and Switzerland abstained.
Palestine solidarity activists are preparing a flotilla to deliver urgently needed humanitarian aid to Gaza, vowing to break Israel’s blockade of the Palestinian territory on board the Akdeniz, a seven-deck passenger ship.
Currently docked in Istanbul, the ship will carry 800 people from more than 30 nations, from Indonesia to the US state of Hawai’i, and is expected to transport 5500 tonnes of aid to Gaza once it sets sail from Turkey in the coming days.
On Friday, reports in Israel media suggested the Israeli authorities are preparing to intercept it. The activists joining the Akdeniz will be mindful of a previous fatal attempt by a vessel of comparable size to set sail from Turkey to Gaza.
The Mavi Marmara was a Turkish aid ship, part of a flotilla attempting to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip in May 2010. Israeli commandos intercepted the flotilla in international waters, boarded the Mavi Marmara and killed nine Turkish activists, injuring several others.
The incident sparked international condemnation and strained relations between Turkey and Israel.
The acquisition of the Akdeniz was made possible through the support of four million donors worldwide.
Organised by the Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), a coalition of 12 countries including Turkey — and New Zealand through Kia Ora Gaza — in partnership with İnsani Yardım Vakfı (IHH), the mission aims to break the deadly siege that has severely impacted the lives of the people of Gaza for years amid Israel’s genocidal war that has killed more than 34,000 Palestinians since October 7.
Pro-Palestinian activist and human rights lawyer Huwaida Arraf, who was on the Mavi Marmara in 2010, announced she would also join the flotilla.
“While we recognise Israel’s potential for intercepting the mission, we hope for a peaceful outcome. If they choose to attack, those on board are prepared to engage in nonviolent resistance,” she told reporters.
Redemption and hope Former US diplomat and retired US Army Colonel Ann Wright is one of the primary organisers of the FFC. In 2003, she resigned from the US government in protest against the Iraq War.
Speaking to The New Arab, Wright said the mission of the flotilla was to bring humanitarian aid to Gaza’s starved population.
“When you witness genocide, you can’t stand back. I’m 77, but even if I were 100, I’d still be on this ship,” said Wright.
Wright and her fellow activists are also determined to shine a spotlight on the dire humanitarian crisis unfolding in Gaza, bringing international human rights observers to the territory to witness the unfolding genocide.
“Our message to the people of Gaza is that we love you and are trying desperately to stop this genocide . . . To the Israeli people, I say you have a responsibility to stop your government’s genocide of Palestinians,” she said.
“I know the propaganda that comes from governments at war, having been a former US diplomat. But what’s happening in Gaza is genocide, and when you see what your government has done, you’ll be horrified.
“But now, I am older, and as I watch what is happening to the people of Gaza, I am appalled. It is not only the children, although that is what hits me the most.
‘Object to the US’
“But now, it is the time to object to what my country, the US is doing. This is what conscientious objection is about. I am putting my body, my money, my time, my everything on the line to say, ‘I object to what my country is doing, we should not be doing this’.
An activist called Michael said: “I want to stand up for those people in the US who agree with what I am doing and represent my country on this journey.”
Michael said he drew courage from the people of Gaza.
“The people of Palestine have lived under occupation for so long that it impresses me how a people like that can still have that courage and continue to stand for what they believe is right. I am guided by the bravery and courage of the people of Gaza in particular but all of Palestinians.”
On board the Akdenix . . . preparing for the humanitarian aid voyage to Gaza. Image: Salwa Amor/The New Arab
Solidarity without borders Argentinian surgeon Dr Carlos Tortta, a member of Doctors Without Borders, will also be on the ship.
“In all those places I saw a lot of pain but in no place I found such an amount of people killed and wounded and suffering like in Gaza when I worked in Al Shifa hospital in 2009,” he told The New Arab.
“When people ask me why I am going, the answer is why not? We are health workers, so it is natural to want to be with those injured,” he added.
Lee Patten, a 63-year-old former merchant navy officer from Liverpool, told The New Arab he felt compelled to join the voyage.
“When I see those poor children, I cannot simply turn away and leave them with no one to care for them,” he said.
The harrowing images emanating from Gaza have left an indelible mark on Lee.
“The sight of defenceless, innocent children is deeply distressing. It’s unfathomable to comprehend that such suffering is deliberate,” Lee explained.
Gaza ‘a stark warning’
“There seems to be a prevailing notion that what is happening in Gaza is confined to Palestinians and could never happen to Europeans. It’s astounding. Gaza serves as a stark warning to us all.”
As the onslaught continues with Israeli strikes devastating Gaza’s infrastructure, some participants on the boat say they are not going solely to help people but are determined to initiate the rebuilding process after the war.
Among them are several architects who have joined the mission to help in rebuilding Gaza.
Dilara Karasakiz, a 28-year-old Turkish architect among the almost 300 Turkish citizens participating, said she was taking this perilous journey for this very reason.
“I am going on this journey to help rebuild Gaza. We will rebuild everything Israel has destroyed.
“Gazans deserve a good standard of life, and we’re asking for their suffering to end and for them to be free. I’m not afraid because this ship is just a symbol of humanity.
“Why would I be afraid? I hope we’ll arrive in Gaza and bring some hope.”
Salwa Amor is an independent documentary maker. Most recently she was one of the producers of the award-winning BBC Panorama Children of Syria two-part series. This article was first published by The New Arab.
An Australian author and advocate, Jim Aubrey, today led a national symbolic one minute’s silence to mark the “blood debt” owed to Papuan allies during the Second World War indigenous resistance against the invading Japanese forces.
“A promise to most people is a promise,” Aubrey said in his open letter marking the debt protest — “unless that promise is made by the Australian government.”
After the successes of Australian and US troops against the Japanese in New Guinea, the Allies continued the advance through what was then Dutch New Guinea then on to the Philippines.
The first landing was at Hollandia (now Jayapura) in April 1944, which involved the Australian navy and air force.
Aubrey said in his letter:
“The Australian government’s WWII remembrance oath to Papuan and Timorese allies by the RAAF in flyers dropped over East Timor and the island of New Guinea — ‘FRIENDS, WE WILL NEVER FORGET YOU!’ — is in reality one of history’s most heinous bastard acts in war
and diplomacy.
“Betrayal is the reality of this blood debt and includes consecutive Australian governments’ treachery and culpability as a criminal accomplice and accessory to six decades of the Indonesian government’s crimes against humanity.
“Barbarity that shames us! Genocide, ethnocide, infanticide, and relentless ethnic cleansing.
Aubrey, spokesperson for Genocide Rebellion and the Free West Papua International Coalition, said that he and supporters were commemorating the Second World War “Papuan sacrifice for us” — Australian and American servicemen and women — four days before ANZAC Day without inviting Prime Minister Anthony Albanese or any government minister [and] without inviting US President Biden.
“To have them with us on this special solemn occasion, while honouring the fact that many of us — children and grandchildren – would not be here if it were not for Papuan courage, loyalty, and sacrifice so steadfastly given to our forebears, would be dishonourable.
‘Heartless complicity’
“We condemn outright their heartless complicity and premeditated exploitation of Papuans in their time of peril. A blood debt not honoured by a single Australian government or US administration!
Author Jim Aubrey salutes the Morning Star flag of West Papuan independence earlier today . . . “A blood debt not honoured by a single Australian government or US administration.” Image: Genocide Rebellion
“Lest We Forget . . . six decades of providing the Republic of Indonesia with an environment of impunity for crimes against humanity — 500,000 victims in Western New Guinea, 250,000 in East Timor [now Timor-Leste after the 1999 liberation].
“Future historians will teach their undergraduates that Australian governments did forget! That Australian governments also contravened Commonwealth and State criminal codes by helping the Indonesian government prevent the legal decolonisation of Western New Guinea and achieve their subsequent unlawful annexation; and by concealing and destroying evidence of the 1998 Biak Island Massacre.
“It is not only a matter of honour and truth, it’s personal. I have only just discovered that my father and my uncle were Australian servicemen in the Pacific Theatre campaigns across New Guinea.
“Honourable Australians and Americans, however, only need to know our duty of care and our international obligations cannot be compromised for political and economic plunder. The victims of crimes against humanity deserve the support and the protection they are by law, by right, and decency entitled to.
“Pacific Island nations look to the East for a relationship of integrity in their international affairs. Who can blame them with Australian governments track record of treachery, dishonour, and their demeaning elitism and history in the genocide of indigenous peoples.”
When former prime minister Helen Clark spoke out against New Zealand potentially compromising its independent foreign policy by joining pillar two of the AUKUS security pact, Foreign Minister Winston Peters responded bluntly:
On what could she have possibly based that statement? […] And I’m saying to people, including Helen Clark, please don’t mislead New Zealanders with your suspicions without any facts – let us find out what we’re talking about.
Pillar one of AUKUS involves the delivery of nuclear submarines to Australia, making New Zealand membership impossible under its nuclear-free policy.
But pillar two envisages the development of advanced military technology in areas such as artificial intelligence, hypersonic missiles and cyber warfare. By some reckonings, New Zealand could benefit from joining at that level.
Peters denies the National-led coalition government has committed to joining pillar two. He says exploratory talks with AUKUS members are “to find out all the facts, all the aspects of what we’re talking about and then as a country to make a decision.”
But while the previous Labour government expressed a willingness to explore pillar two membership, the current government appears to view it as integral to its broader foreign policy objective of aligning New Zealand more closely with “traditional partners”.
Official enthusiasm During his visit to Washington earlier this month, Peters said New Zealand and the Biden administration had pledged “to work ever more closely together in support of shared values and interests” in a strategic environment “considerably more challenging now than even a decade ago”.
In particular, he and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken agreed there were “powerful reasons” for New Zealand to engage practically with arrangements like AUKUS “as and when all parties deem it appropriate”.
Former New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark warns a “profoundly undemocratic” shift in New Zealand’s foreign policy is taking place — warning the coalition Government off a geopolitical shift which Kiwis didn’t vote for. https://t.co/2E2aKOpf2w
Declassified documents reveal the official enthusiasm behind such statements and the tightly-curated public messaging it has produced.
A series of joint-agency briefings provided to the New Zealand government characterise AUKUS pillar two as a “non-nuclear” technology-sharing partnership that would elevate New Zealand’s longstanding cooperation with traditional partners and bring opportunities for the aerospace and tech sectors.
But any assessment of New Zealand’s strategic interests must be clear-eyed and not clouded by partial truths or wishful thinking.
Traditional allies . . . NZ Foreign Minister Winston Peters meets US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for talks in Washington on April 11. Image: Getty Images/The Conversation
Beyond great power rivalry First, the current government inherited strong bilateral relations with traditional security partners Australia, the US and UK, as well as a consistent and cooperative relationship with China.
Second, while the contemporary global security environment poses threats to New Zealand’s interests, these challenges extend beyond great power rivalry between the US and China.
The multilateral system, on which New Zealand relies, is paralysed by the weakening of institutions such as the UN Security Council, Russian expansionism in Ukraine and a growing array of problems which do not respect borders.
Those include climate change, pandemics and wealth inequality — problems that cannot be fixed unilaterally by great powers.
Third, it is evident New Zealand sometimes disagrees with its traditional partners over respect for international law.
In 2003, for example, New Zealand broke ranks with the US (and the UK and Australia) over the invasion of Iraq. More recently, it was the only member of the Five Eyes network to vote in the UN General Assembly for an immediate humanitarian truce in Gaza.
China’s man in Wellington has a warning for the NZ Govt that joining Pillar II of AUKUS won’t make the region safer, in an exclusive commentary for Newsroom. https://t.co/xgXNwbWRSv
Role of the US In a robust speech to the UN General Assembly on April 7, Peters said the world must halt the “utter catastrophe” in Gaza.
He said the use of the veto — which New Zealand had always opposed — prevented the Security Council from fulfilling its primary function of maintaining global peace and security.
However, the government has been unwilling to publicly admit a crucial point: it was a traditional ally — the US — whose Security Council veto and unconditional support of Israel have led to systematic and plausibly genocidal violations of international law in Gaza, and a strategic windfall for rival states China, Russia and Iran.
Rather than being a consistent voice for justice and de-escalation, the New Zealand government has joined the US in countering Houthi rebels, which have been targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
A done deal? The world has become a more complex and conflicted place for New Zealand. But it would be naive to believe the US has played no part in this and that salvation lies in aligning with AUKUS, which lacks a coherent strategy for addressing multifaceted challenges.
There are alternatives to pillar two of AUKUS more consistent with a principled, independent foreign policy, centred in the Pacific, and which deserve to be seriously considered.
On balance, New Zealand involvement in pillar two of AUKUS would represent a seismic shift in the country’s geopolitical stance. The current government seems bullish about this prospect, which has fuelled concerns membership may be almost a done deal.
If true, it would be the government facing questions about transparency.
Hours ago, the news media reported that Israel has attacked Iran. The Freedom Flotilla Coalition publicly declared that it is reminding the world that with all the escalation between Israel and Iran, the killing is still going on in Gaza.
“While those two countries go back and forth, we cannot let Israel distract the world from what is causing far more death, disease, and destruction — Israel’s policies of starving and continued bombardment of unarmed Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children,” said the Freedom Flotilla.
Hundreds of civilians from dozens of countries — including Aotearoa/New Zealand — have been meeting in Istanbul, Turkiye, to prepare to sail soon for Gaza, carrying thousands of tonnes of life-saving food and medicine, said Kia Ora Gaza, one of the flotilla coalition members, in a statement.
Three New Zealand doctors are among the international participants.
The flotilla aims to break Israel’s unlawful siege of Gaza and demand an immediate ceasefire to save the lives of thousands of Palestinians.
Participants from 30 countries will be on board, including 40 Americans.
Elliot Adams, former president of Veterans for Peace and a former US paratrooper, called out the complicity of his own government in supporting Israel’s genocidal aggression:
“Israel is trying to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza, with US support, through starvation as well as direct violence.
“This is a humanitarian crisis and we have got to try to stop it by breaking the siege.”
Israeli ‘bombs, bullets killing’
Former Barcelona mayor Ada Colau said: “Israeli bombs and bullets are killing Palestinians in Gaza every day and their illegal siege is deliberately starving everybody else.”
She said she was joining the nonviolent flotilla “because our governments are not listening to the people’s demand to stop Israel’s barbaric crimes against humanity.”
Argentinian surgeon Carlos Trotta, who has worked with Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) across the world, including in Gaza, said that the health situation for Palestinians in the besieged Strip was at a crisis point:
“It’s an emergency. Children are dying of malnutrition, patients have their limbs amputated without anesthesia, and thousands are at risk of dying from the spread of infectious disease, all because of Israel’s arbitrary restrictions on aid arriving in Gaza.
“It is critically important for this flotilla to act right now to help prevent even more loss of life.”
Participants will undergo non-violence training for the next three days.
During that time they will review potential scenarios and learn various strategies and tactics to protect themselves and each other in the event of any attacks.
Departing next week
The flotilla will depart next week carrying more than 5000 tonnes of humanitarian aid on a cargo ship, accompanied by two passenger ships.
Huwaida Arraf, a human rights lawyer and Freedom Flotilla organiser, said: “Israel’s current siege on Gaza, as well as its 17-year-long blockade are forms of collective punishment, which is a war crime.
“As the siege and blockade are illegal, Israel has no right to attack or stop our ships.
“We call on our governments, which have thus far done nothing to protect the Palestinian people or compel Israel to abide by international law, to start living up to their obligations and demand our flotilla have safe passage to Gaza.
“We ask people around the world to join us in this call.”
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The U.S. Army, the country’s largest military branch, will no longer allow military commanders to decide on their own whether soldiers accused of certain serious crimes can leave the service rather than go on trial.
Under the new rule, which goes into effect Saturday, military commanders will no longer have the sole authority to grant a soldier’s request for what is known as a discharge in lieu of court martial, or Chapter 10, in certain cases. Instead, the newly created Office of Special Trial Counsel, a group of military attorneys who specialize in handling cases involving violent crimes, must also approve the decision. Without the attorneys’ approval, charges against a soldier can’t be dismissed.
The Office of Special Trial Counsel will have the final say, the Army told the news organizations.
The new rule will apply only to cases that fall under the purview of the Office of Special Trial Counsel, including sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse, kidnapping and murder. In 2021, Congress authorized creation of the new legal office — one for each military branch except the U.S. Coast Guard — in response to yearslong pressure to change how the military responds to violent crimes, specifically sexual assault, and reduce commanders’ control over that process. As of December, attorneys with this special office, and not commanders, now decide whether to prosecute cases related to those serious offenses.
Army officials told the news organizations that the change in discharge authority was made in response to the creation of the Office of Special Trial Counsel.
As far back as 1978, a federal watchdog agency called for the U.S. Department of Defense to end its policy of allowing service members accused of crimes to leave the military to avoid going to court. Armed forces leaders continued the practice anyway.
Last year, ProPublica, the Tribune and Military Times found that more than half of the 900 soldiers who were allowed to leave the Army in the previous decade rather than go to trial had been accused of violent crimes, including sexual assault and domestic violence, according to an analysis of roughly 8,000 Army courts-martial cases that reached arraignment. These soldiers had to acknowledge that they committed an offense that could be punishable under military law but did not have to admit guilt to a specific crime or face any other consequences that can come with a conviction, like registering as a sex offender.
The Army did not dispute the news organizations’ findings that the discharges in lieu of trial, also known as separations, were increasingly being used for violent crimes. An Army official said separations are a good alternative if commanders believe wrongdoing occurred but don’t have the evidence for a conviction, or if a victim prefers not to pursue a case.
Military law experts contacted by the news organizations called the Army’s change a step in the right direction.
“It’s good to see the Army has closed the loophole,” said former Air Force chief prosecutor Col. Don Christensen, who is now in private practice.
However, the Office of Special Trial Counsel’s decisions are not absolute. If the attorneys want to drop a charge, the commander still has the option to impose a range of other administrative punishments, Army officials said.
Christensen said he believes commanders should be removed from the judicial process entirely, a shift he said that the military has continued to fight. Commanders often have little to no legal experience. The military has long maintained that commanders are an important part of its justice system.
“They just can’t break away from commanders making these decisions,” said Christensen, who’s been a vocal critic of commanders’ outsize role in the military justice system. “They’re too wedded to that process.”
The Army told the newsrooms that additional changes to DOD and Army policy would be required to remove commanders entirely and instead give the Office of Special Trial Counsel full authority over separations in lieu of trial.
The news organizations reached out to several military branches to determine how the creation of the Office of Special Trial Counsel will affect their discharge processes. The U.S. Navy has taken steps similar to the Army’s. In the U.S. Air Force, the Office of Special Trial Counsel now makes recommendations in cases involving officers, and the branch is in the process of changing the rules for enlisted members. The U.S. Marines confirmed to the news organizations that it has not yet changed its discharge system.
A passionate haka reverberated through Auckland International Airport as a medical team of three New Zealand doctors received an emotional farewell from a big crowd of supporters before flying to Turkey to join the international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza.
The doctors, who left Auckland yesterday, hope to be able to reach Gaza and join with other flotilla medics to deliver much-needed humanitarian aid and treat wounded patients in the war-ravaged enclave.
Their participation is facilitated by Kia Ora Gaza.
Kiwi medics, Dr Shahin, Dr Idais and Dr Ali salute the airport gathering. Image: Achmat Eesau/Kia Ora GazaPart of the crowd farewelling the New Zealand doctors at Auckland International Airport yesterday. Image: Jo Currie/Kia Ora Gaza
Kia Ora Gaza organiser Roger Fowler with the three Gaza-bound New Zealand doctors. Image: Tayyaba Khan/Kia Ora Gaza
The doctors being farewelled were Dr Wasfy Shahin and Dr Faiez Idais led by Dr Adnan Ali.
Kia Ora Gaza organiser Roger Fowler anticipated this current flotilla was “shaping up to be an historic event”.
After ignoring six months of horrific genocide in Gaza, he said, the New Zealand government had failed to take a stand.
“They haven’t even lifted a finger,” he said.
The Freedom Flotilla’s solidarity mission “is an international civil society attempt to break through Israel’s illegal siege and end the occupation and slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza”.
And it was also planned to deliver more than 5500 tonnes of urgently needed humanitarian aid.
Other speakers included Green Party co-leader, Marama Davidson, who sailed on the 2016 Women’s Boat to Gaza, PSNA secretary Neil Scott and local Palestinian community leader Maher Nazzel.
Helen Clark, how I miss you. The former New Zealand Prime Minister — the safest pair of hands this country has had in living memory — gave a masterclass on the importance of maintaining an independent foreign policy when she spoke at an AUKUS symposium held in Parliament’s old Legislative Chambers yesterday.
AUKUS (Australia, UK, US) is first and foremost a military alliance aimed at our major trading partner China. It is designed to maintain US primacy in the “Indo-Pacific” region and opponents are sceptical of claims that China represents a threat to New Zealand or Australian security.
The recent proposal to bring New Zealand into the alliance under “Pillar II” would represent a shift in our security and alliance settings that could dismantle our country’s independent foreign policy and potentially undo our nuclear free policy.
Clark’s assessment is that the way the government has approached the proposed alliance lacks transparency. National made no signal of its intentions during the election campaign and yet the move towards AUKUS seems well planned and choreographed.
Voters in the last election “were not sensitised to any changes in the policy settings,” Clark says, “and this raises huge issues of transparency.”
Such a significant shift should first secure a mandate from the electorate.
A key question the speakers addressed at the symposium was: is AUKUS in the best interest of this country and our region?
Highly questionable
“All of these statements made about AUKUS being good for us are highly questionable,” Clark says. “What is good about joining a ratcheting up of tensions in a region? Where is the military threat to New Zealand?”
Clark, PM from 1999-2008, has noticed a serious slippage in our independent position. She contrasted current policy on the Middle East with the decision, under her leadership, of not joining the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.
Sceptical of US claims about weapons of mass destruction, New Zealand made clear it wanted no part of it — a stance that has proven correct. Our powerful allies the US, UK and Australia were wrong both on intelligence and the consequences of military action.
In contrast, New Zealand participating in the current bombardment of Yemen because of the Houthis disruption of Red Sea traffic in response to the Israeli war on Gaza is, says Clark, an indication of this change in fundamental policy stance:
“New Zealand should have demanded the root causes for the shipping route disruptions be addressed rather than enthusiastically joining the bombing.”
“There’s no doubt in my mind that if the drift we see in position continues, we will be positioned in a way we haven’t seen for decades – as a fully-signed-up partner to US strategies in the region.
“And from that, will flow expectations about what is the appropriate level of defence expenditure for New Zealand and expectations of New Zealand contributing to more and more military activities.”
A hugely important interview with Helen Clark about AUKUS
Economic security
Clark addressed another element which should add caution to New Zealand joining an American crusade against China: economic security.
China now takes 26 percent of our exports — twice what we send to Australia and 2.5 times what we send to the US. She questioned the wisdom of taking a hostile stance against our biggest trading partner who continues to pose no security threat to this country.
So what is the alternative to New Zealand siding with the US in its push to contain China and help the US maintain its hegemon status?
“The alternative path is that New Zealand keeps its head while all around are losing theirs — and that we combine with our South Pacific neighbours to advocate for a region which is at peace,” Clark says, echoing sentiments that go right back to the dawn of New Zealand’s nuclear free Pacific, “so that we always pursue dialogue and engagement over confrontation.”
Eugene Doyle is a community organiser and activist in Wellington, New Zealand. He received an Absolutely Positively Wellingtonian award in 2023 for community service. His first demonstration was at the age of 12 against the Vietnam War. This article was first published at his public policy website Solidarity and is republished here with permission.
I came to this evening of short films not sure what to expect.
I have a history with West Papua (here referring to the Indonesian part of the island of New Guinea, which comprises five provinces, one named “West Papua”) from my days fronting the legendary West Papuan band Black Brothers in the early 1990s.
During that time, I was exposed to stories of struggle and pride in the identity of the people of West Papua. From their declaration of self-determination and self-government and the raising of the Morning Star flag on 1 December 1961, to the so-called “Act of Free Choice” referendum in 1969 which saw the fledgling Melanesian state become part of the larger Indonesian state, to the next 40 years of struggle.
However, apart from the occasional ABC or SBS news story and the 1963 ethnographic film Dead Birds, I hadn’t seen much footage on West Papua until now.
The West Papua Mini Film Festival is a touring festival of short films organised by the West Papuan community and their allies and supporters in Australia to raise awareness of the situation in West Papua.
The four films I saw, at the first screening in Sydney, were:
My Name is Pengungsi (Refugee) Pepera 1969, A Democratic Integration? Papuan Hip-Hop: When the Microphone Talks Black Pearl and General of the Field
The first two films were quite harrowing portrayals of internal displacement and coercion in West Papua. My Name is Pengungsi (Refugee) follows the lives and families of two children, both named “refugee”, born and currently being raised in parts of West Papua distant from their families’ places of origin.
Their displacement is clearly correlated with the increased presence of extractive corporate interests backed in and supported by a military presence.
In both children’s cases this has been enabled by the gradual breaking up of the region of West Papua into first two, and now five, separate provinces.
A scene from My Name is Pengungsi (Refugee)
My Name is Pengungsi (Refugee). Video trailer: Jubi TV
The second film, Pepera 1969, A Democratic Integration, deals with the history of oppression and coercion under Indonesian rule and the absurdity of the rubber-stamping process undertaken by Indonesia (the Act of Free Choice, the Indonesian acronym for which is Pepera) which enabled it to annex West Papua under the impotent gaze of the United Nations and the complicit support of countries including the US and Australia.
The film documents the process leading into decolonisation and West Papua’s short-lived period of self-rule.
The second two films were insightful celebrations of Papuan identity in the arts, through hip-hop artists like Ukam Maran and the earlier musical group Mambesak, and in sport, with the incredible story of the Persipura football club of Jayapura.
The latter’s achievements as a football team and subsequent discrimination and suppression in the racially charged Indonesian football league provide an allegory of West Papuan identity.
In both cases, the strength and resilience of West Papuan identity, and West Papuans’ pride in their ancient ties to land and culture, are palpable.
A scene from Papua Hip-Hop: When the microphone talks.
What I liked about the four films was that they presented a montage of West Papua from rural to urban, from the everyday life of internally displaced people to the exciting work of hip-hop artists with their songs of protest; from the big picture and history of West Papua to the smaller microcosm of the Persipura football team and supporters.
All in all, I was surprised how much I came out of the festival better informed about a place, its history and current developments. And this despite having the privilege of knowing more about West Papua than many Australians.
For those who don’t know much about West Papua and would like to know more, attending the West Papua Mini Film Festival is a must. It is on at various locations around Australia until 21 April 2024, with details here.
And to end on a happy note, my evening of film appreciation included meeting one of the festival’s organisers, Victor Mambor. Victor is the nephew of the late Steve Mambor, drummer for the Black Brothers!
West Papua Mini Film Festival 2024, 9-21 April 2024, Wollongong, Sydney, Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Lismore, Hobart, Melbourne, and Darwin.
The films are also available to view with English and Indonesian subtitles on the Jubi TV Youtube channel.
‘Alopi Latukefu is the director of the Edmund Rice Centre. He previously worked for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. This review was first published on ANU Development Policy Centre’s DevPolicyBlog and is republished here under Creative Commons.
Three Palestinian solidarity groups have joined the humanitarian aid charity Kia Ora Gaza in calling on New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters to demand that Israeli authorities “end their inhumane blockade” of Gaza and allow the international Freedom Flotilla “safe and unhindered passage”.
A team of three doctors has been selected to join the flotilla to provide humanitarian medical aid when it sails soon to the besieged Gaza Strip.
They will be joined by hundreds of prominent civilians, human rights advocates and medics from around the world, plus international media people.
The volunteer doctors are Dr Wasfy Shahin and Dr Faiez Idais to be led by Dr Adnan Ali.
An open letter, signed by Kia Ora Gaza’s Roger Fowler; John Minto, national chair of the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA); Janfrie Wakim, spokesperson of the Palestine Human Rights Campaign (PHRC); and Maher Nazzal, co-founder of Palestinians in Aotearoa Co-ordinating Committee (PACC), has also called for permanent ceasefire.
The open letter stated:
Dear [Foreign Minister Winston Peters] and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon,
We call on the NZ government to demand the Israeli authorities end their inhumane blockade and siege and allow the international Freedom Flotilla safe and unhindered passage to their destination — Gaza
We are pleased to announce that a team of three New Zealand doctors have been selected to join the international Freedom Flotilla which is due to sail for Gaza very soon.
Our Kiwi team of volunteer doctors are Dr Wasfy Shahin and Dr Faiez Idais to be led by Dr Adnan Ali.
They will be joined by hundreds of prominent civilians, human rights advocates and medics from around the world, plus international media personnel on this peaceful non-governmental, civil-society mission to challenge the illegal and inhumane 17-year Israeli naval blockade and siege of Gaza and to deliver urgently needed humanitarian and medical aid and services.
The team of Kiwi doctors are ready to join the Freedom Flotilla to bring humanitarian and medical aid to Gaza.
Our NZ medical team’s participation in this important humanitarian mission has been facilitated by Kia Ora Gaza and supported by many hundreds of fellow New Zealanders. We expect our government to resolutely uphold their safety and wellbeing.
This mission seeks to bring a message of hope and solidarity with the Palestinian struggle for peace and justice and to highlight demands to end Israel’s illegal siege and deprivation of Gaza, the bombing, and the occupation.
As with previous international humanitarian flotillas to Gaza, the current mission poses no threat whatsoever to Israel.
However, in light of the urgent need for aid, Israel’s non-compliance of ICJ orders, and their illegal interception and seizure of previous Gaza-bound boats in international waters, we call on the NZ government to urgently demand the Israeli (and US) authorities lift the siege, implement a permanent ceasefire and allow the Freedom Flotilla safe and unhindered passage to reach their destination and deliver humanitarian and medical aid.
Yours sincerely,
Roger Fowler QSM Chair, Kia Ora Gaza
John Minto National Chair Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
Janfrie Wakim Spokesperson Palestine Human Rights Campaign
Maher Nazzal Co-founder
Palestinians in Aotearoa Co-ordinating Committee (PACC)
A pro-independence activist in New Caledonia is warning France to immediately halt its planned constitution amendments or face “war”.
The call for a u-turn follows proposed constitutional changes to voting rights which could push the number of eligible anti-independence voters up.
Pacific Independence Movement (le Mouvement des Océaniens indépendantistes) spokesperson Arnaud Chollet-Léakava was one of the thousands who took to the streets in Nouméa in protest last Saturday.
A dog wearing a Kanak flag at the pro-independence rally last Saturday. Image: RNZ Pacific/Lydia Lewis
She feared the indigenous people of New Caledonia — the Kanak people — would lose in their fight for independence:
“They want to make us a minority . . . it will make us a minority!
“The law will make the Kanaky people a minority because it will open the electoral body to other people who are not Kanaky and who will give their opinion on the accession of Caledonia to full sovereignty,” Ponija said.
Security was high last weekened with more than 100 additional security forces sent from France for the protest and counter-protest. Image: RNZ Pacific/Lydia Lewis
‘Heading towards a civil war’ A French man who has lived in New Caledonia for two decades said independence or not, he just wanted peace.
The man — who wanted to remain anonymous out of fear of retribution — said he moved to New Caledonia knowing he would be living on colonised land.
Having experienced violence in 2019, the man begged both sides to be amicable.
“[It’s] very complicated and very serious because if the law is not withdrawn and passed. We are clearly heading towards a civil war,” he said.
“We hope for peace and we hope that we find a common agreement for both parties.
“People want peace and we don’t want to move towards war.”
The constitutional bill was endorsed by the French Senate on April 2.
The next stage is for the bill to be debated, which has been set down for May 13.
Then both the Senate and the National Assembly will gather in June to give the final stamp of approval.
This would allow any citizen who has lived in New Caledonia for at least 10 years to cast their vote at local elections.
The Kanaky New Caledonia pro-independence rally last Saturday. Image: RNZ Pacific/Lydia Lewis
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
This content originally appeared on Asia Pacific Report and was authored by APR editor.
New Caledonia’s capital was on Saturday flooded by two simultaneous waves of French and Kanaky flags with two rival demonstrations in downtown Nouméa, only two streets away from each other and under heavy security surveillance.
The French High Commission in Nouméa provided an official count of the magnitude of the demonstrations.
It said the number of participants to the two marches was about 40,000 — 15 percent of New Caledonia’s population of 270,000.
The total was about equally divided between pro-France and pro-independence marchers.
This was described as the largest crowd since the quasi-civil war that erupted in New Caledonia in the 1980s.
Organisers of the marches claim as many as 58,000 (pro-independence) and 35,000 (pro-France).
One of the marches was organised by a pro-independence field action coordination committee (CCAT) close to Union Calédonienne (UC), one of the components of the pro-independence FLNKS umbrella.
The other was called by two pro-France parties, the Rassemblement and Les Loyalistes, who urged their supporters to make their voices heard.
Controversial constitutional amendment Both marches were over a French proposed constitutional amendment which aims at changing the rules of voters eligibility for New Caledonia and to allow citizens who have been residing the for at least 10 uninterrupted years to cast their votes at local elections — for the three provincial assemblies and for the local Congress.
An estimated 20,000 wave of anti-independence supporters with French flags gathered on Nouméa’s Baie de la Moselle on Saturday. Image: RRB
It is estimated the new system would open the door to about 25,000 more voters.
Until now, and since 1998 as prescribed by the 1998 Nouméa Accord, New Caledonia’s electoral roll for local elections was more restricted, as it only allowed citizens born or who had resided there before 1998 to vote in local elections.
The controversial text was endorsed, with amendments, by the French Senate (Upper House) on April 2.
As part of its legislative process, it is scheduled to be debated in the Lower House (National Assembly) on May 13 and then should again be put to the vote at the French Congress (a special gathering of both Upper and Lower Houses) sometime in June, with a required majority of three fifths.
The constitutional amendment, however, is designed to be interrupted if, at any time, New Caledonia’s leaders can produce an agreement on the French entity’s political future resulting from inclusive bipartisan talks.
But over the past months, those talks have stalled, even though French Home Affairs and Overseas Minister Gérald Darmanin — who initiated the Constitutional process — travelled to New Caledonia half a dozen times over the past 12 months.
The current legislative process also caused the postponement of New Caledonia’s provincial elections from May to mid-December “at the latest”.
‘Paris, hear our voice!’ In a tit-for-tat communications war, organisers on both sides also intended to send a strong message to sway Paris MPs from all sides of the political spectrum ahead of their debates.
New Caledonia’s pro-France parties were marching on Saturday in support of the constitutional amendment project, brandishing French tricolour flags, singing the French national anthem “La Marseillaise” and claiming “one man, one vote” on their banners.
Other banners read “This is our home!”, “No freedom without democracy!”, “Unfreeze is democracy” or “proud to be Caledonians, proud to be French”.
Les Loyalistes pro-France party leader Sonia Backès, in a brief speech, declared :”Paris, hear our voice”.
Nicolas Metzdorf, New Caledonia’s representative MP at the National Assembly, told local media: “It’s probably the largest demonstration that ever took place in New Caledonia . . . this gives us strength to pursue in our efforts to implement this electoral roll unfreezing. And the message I want to send to FLNKS is, ‘Don’t be afraid of us. We want to work with you, we want to build with you, but please stop the threats and the insults, it doesn’t help.”
‘Peace is at threat’ – Wamytan The pro-independence march waved Kanaky flags in opposition to the constitutional amendment, saying this could make indigenous Kanaks a minority on their own land.
They are denouncing the whole process as being “forced” upon them by France and are asking for the constitutional amendment to be scrapped altogether.
Instead, they want a French high-level “dialogue mission” be sent to New Caledonia. It is suggested that speakers of both the National Assembly and the Senate should lead the mission.
“Peace is at threat because the (French) state is no longer impartial. It has touched a taboo and we must resist,” charismatic pro-independence eader and local Congress chair Roch Wamytan told the crowd, referring to the future of the indigenous Kanak people.
“Unfreezing this electoral roll is leading us to death.”
Wamytan is a prominent member of Union Calédonienne, which is one of the components of the multiparty pro-independence umbrella FLNKS.
Other members of the FLNKS group, PALIKA (Kanak Liberation Party) and UPM (Melanesian Progressive Union) parties have often expressed reservations about the UC-led confrontational approach and have consistently taken part in talks with Darmanin and other local parties.
Similarly, on the pro-French side (which did not associate itself with Saturday’s march), leader Philippe Gomès said they were concerned with the current confrontational and escalating atmosphere.
“Where is this going to lead us? Nowhere”, he told a press conference on Friday.
Gomès said the marches were a de facto admission that talks have failed.
He also called on Paris to send a dialogue mission to mediate between New Caledonia’s parties.
Security reinforcements had been sent from Paris to ensure that the two crowds did not come into contact at any stage.
No incident was reported and the two marches took place peacefully.
Darmanin at UN Decolonisation Committee
Meanwhile, on Friday, French minister Darmanin was to appear before the United Nations’ Special Decolonisation Committee as part of the regular monitoring of New Caledonia’s situation.
Before heading to New York UN headquarters, his entourage indicated that he wanted to underline France’s commitment for “respect of international law in New Caledonia” where a “legislative and constitutional process is currently underway to organise local elections under a new system”.
Darmanin maintains that New Caledonia’s electoral roll present restrictions, which were temporarily put in place as part of implementation of the 1998 Nouméa Accord, were no longer tenable under France’s democracy.
The proposed changes, still restrictive, are an attempt to restore “a minimum of democracy” in New Caledonia, he says.
This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.
