Police Raid Maori and Environmental Groups for Suspicion of Terrorism

[chilli]

Various voices around New Zealand are today criticising the police anti-terrorism raids yesterday as being over-the-top.

The Council for Civil Liberties is concerned that police still do not know whether they can charge people arrested in raids yesterday under anti-terrorism laws.

17 people were arrested and thousands of items seized after police swooped on properties around the country in their crackdown on military-style camps operating in the Eastern Bay of Plenty.

Police say they have evidence of napalm bomb tests in the Urewera bush.

Among those to be arrested and charged under the Arms Act were Maori activist Tame Iti and members of environmental and "peace" groups.

Tame Iti's lawyer Annette Sykes says the whole operation was overkill by police and that the residents of Ruatoki were shocked to have their community effectively cut off with armed officers walking around in combat gear.

The Council for Civil Liberties Auckland president Barry Wilson says police have to review their evidence to see if they can press charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act and should have instead done their homework.

A Maori Party MP says rural communities throughout the Urewera Valley felt like they were under siege during the police raids.

Waiariki MP Te Ururoa Flavell says Maori families living in his electorate feel unduly harassed by the number of search warrants and intimidation they believe they experienced yesterday.

Police chiefs say the operation will continue today.

http://www.tv3.co.nz/News/NationalNews/Pol...14/Default.aspx

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4238903a8153.html

http://www.stuff.co.nz/stuff/4238835a25364.html

Edited October 16, 2007 by IllegalBrain

[devance]

Maori.

They should get their legal rights to the terrority[land] and build casinos.

Same as the abo Aus.

Then with international develpment of the casinos they can tell the Socialist state too go straight to hell.

England is the best example of how not to anything as a socialist state. based on terrorist alerts.

But no legal rights for native tribes.

Not any left, The Irish and Scotch are are all thats left and they had to seperated by the sea.

But we will see how well the English do.

Money talks but bullshit walks, and in the the area of the law very expensive legal attorneys are necessary.

[chilli]

Well apparently some of these groups had never acknowledged the colonial state in the first place, and lived in communities that considered themselves to be not under New Zealand law. BTW, the term "abo" is considered highly offensive to many people.

[Sparkster]

Tame Iti & the Maori Party are an absolute fucking joke.

Everytime I fly back to NZ to visit family I'm glad I got the hell out of there.

[chilli]

Tame Iti & the Maori Party are an absolute fucking joke.

Everytime I fly back to NZ to visit family I'm glad I got the hell out of there.

Care to elaborate, or was that just supposed to be a sweeping statement?

[Sparkster]

Sweeping statement...

I get angry hearing about the political situation in NZ, and the government trying to do the appease a bunch of douche bags.

I'm sick of aggressive thugs who think the government is being rascist by not letting them do whatever the hell they want. (e.g: attack trees which are national icons with a chainsaw, attack americas cup with an axe)

When I was in whakatane a few years ago I saw Tame Iti outside the Warehouse intimidating people and being a dickhead, he only got away with doing his random shit for so long because he tried to convince people he was "carrying the plight of his oppressed people" Its interesting how theres a certain of person who cries about being downtrodden when you know that given half the chance they'd turn into little dictators....

[devance]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C4%81ori_Party

'According to some:

1. Māori owned the foreshore and seabed before British colonization;

2. the Treaty of Waitangi made no specific mention of foreshore or seabed;

3. no-one has subsequently purchased or otherwise acquired the foreshore or the seabed; and

4. Māori should therefore still own the seabed and the foreshore today.

A court judgment stated that some Māori appeared to have the right to seek formal ownership of a specific portion of seabed in the Marlborough Sounds. This prospect alarmed many sectors of New Zealand society, however, and the Labour Party foreshadowed legislation in favour of state ownership instead. This angered many Māori, including many of Labour's Māori MPs. Two MPs representing Māori seats, Tariana Turia and Nanaia Mahuta, announced an intent to vote against the legislation.

Turia, a junior minister, once informed that voting against the government would appear "incompatible" with holding ministerial rank, announced on April 30, 2004 her intention to resign from the Labour Party. Her resignation took effect on May 17, and she left parliament until she won a by-election in her Te Tai Hauauru seat two months later.

After leaving the Labour Party, Turia, subsequently joined by Sharples, began organizing a new political party. They and their supporters agreed that the new organization would simply use the name of "the Māori Party". They chose a logo of black and red — traditional Māori colours — incorporating a koru design, also traditional.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The leaders of the Māori Party have indicated that they wish to unite "all Māori" into a single political movement.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I wonder just what the 'Māori' will have to give up economic union.

Fish, oil exploration, but casinos in mountains will always be available because they are tax cows.

The reason the is as theres no oil in mountains, no farmland.

But a good spot for casinos.

But the expensive bannister as called[attorneys are the only way to go.

[chilli]

Sweeping statement...

I get angry hearing about the political situation in NZ, and the government trying to do the appease a bunch of douche bags.

I'm sick of aggressive thugs who think the government is being rascist by not letting them do whatever the hell they want. (e.g: attack trees which are national icons with a chainsaw, attack americas cup with an axe)

When I was in whakatane a few years ago I saw Tame Iti outside the Warehouse intimidating people and being a dickhead, he only got away with doing his random shit for so long because he tried to convince people he was "carrying the plight of his oppressed people" Its interesting how theres a certain of person who cries about being downtrodden when you know that given half the chance they'd turn into little dictators....

What do you mean "the government trying to appease"? The police just committed a series of widespread raids against them, and are trying to charge them under the new terrorist laws, hardly appeasement.

Do you actually know anything about the reason the pine tree was "attacked" (lol), or are you just another ignoramus?

I'm sick of conformist racists who try to make their bigotry sound like it is common sense.

[devance]

One can farm oysters in a tidal bay.

The Nz has very good policys and I don't think the M are suddenly go berserk and sell a limited resource.

Similiar to any other animal that moves to feed and breed.

Getting while the breeding population is schooled.

Not a good idea.

Which is why the sea food population is going extinct.

Perhaps not felt in Aus or Nz yet but the English know that they have no longer their favorite fried cod and chips [potatoes] with malted vinegar are know longer available.

[Sparkster]

Do you actually know anything about the reason the pine tree was "attacked" (lol), or are you just another ignoramus?

They reason provided was that it was not a native tree.... so it was attacked by a wanker with a chainsaw who decided he could try and make some money from trying to sell his chainsaw.... hmmm... can't help but wonder if there was possibly a better way of solving the situation if the tree wasn't to ones liking....

I associate this type of behaviour as wankerism, your quick association of racsism with any alternate view means you are resulting to a low common demoninator.

I'm assuming you posted the article because you thought an injustice was somehow being done, or you wanted to discuss.

In short, my conclusion is that no injustice has been done here, and any person or group trying to express their opinion by force and intimidation doesn't deserve a repreive as far as New Zealand is concerned!

Edited October 21, 2007 by Sparkster

[chilli]

They reason provided was that it was not a native tree.... so it was attacked by a wanker with a chainsaw who decided he could try and make some money from trying to sell his chainsaw.... hmmm... can't help but wonder if there was possibly a better way of solving the situation if the tree wasn't to ones liking....

From Wikipedia, to keep it simple:

When Auckland was founded as a colonial town a tree stood near the summit which gave the hill its English name. Two accounts identify it as a pohutukawa (metrosideros excelsa). This tree was cut down by a white settler in 1852, in an act of vandalism in one account, or for firewood in another. It seems likely this was a different tree from the totara (podocarpus totara) which, as a sacred tree, had given the hill one of its Maori names. A radiata pine was planted in the 1870s to replace the previous totara.[4]

Until 2000, the monterey pine tree stood next to the obelisk. This tree (the survivor of a group of pines) had been planted to replace the tree which had given Maungakiekie its English name. However, in the early 1960s during a jamboree, a group of overseas Boy Scouts cut down one of the two newer pines.

How come we never hear people whingeing about those Boy Scouts? As if anyone gives a fuck about a pine tree... it is because it was a Maori that 'attacked' the tree that this is even an issue. This kind of discrimination is one aspect of racism, and by espousing it you are evincing a racist attitude.

Also:

The MÄori name Maungakiekie translates to 'hill of the kiekie vine'. The mountain and its surrounds were home to the Wai o Hua tribe, since the early 1700s and probably before that time. Other MÄori tribes in the Auckland area can also trace their ancestry to the mountain. It is surrounded by the suburbs of Royal Oak to the west, and clockwise, Epsom, Greenlane, Oranga, and Onehunga.

Maungakiekie was the largest and most important MÄori PÄ in pre-European times with a population estimated at up to 3000. At this time, the Nga Marama chief; Kiwi Tamaki held the Pa and used its strategic placement to exact tribute from travellers passing from Northland to the rest of the North Island along the richly soiled isthmus. Its position between the Waitemata Harbour to the East (opening upon the Pacific Ocean) and the Manukau Harbour to the West (opening onto the Tasman Sea) afforded a wide variety of seafood from the two harbours. The volcanic soil of the slopes of the mountain proved highly fertile and easy to defend from raiding parties from other tribes due to its steep sides and imposing palisades. The inhabitants terraced the hill extensively, and it is one of the largest earthwork fortifications in New Zealand, and reputedly world-wide.

I associate this type of behaviour as wankerism, your quick association of racsism with any alternate view means you are resulting to a low common demoninator.

What does the last part of that sentence even mean? Do you mean 'resorting' instead of 'resulting'? Even then, it doesn't make much sense, but no, I don't have a problem with alternate views, I just think you sound like a typically ignorant racist... racists and wankers are the same thing, by the way.

I'm assuming you posted the article because you thought an injustice was somehow being done, or you wanted to discuss.

Nuh, I posted it because I think it's creepy that even in New Zealand the cops are raiding Maori communities and environmentalist and peace groups under the auspices of a 'War on Terror.' Happy to discuss though, but this is how I tend to discuss things... by pissing people off.

In short, my conclusion is that no injustice has been done here, and any person or group trying to express their opinion by force and intimidation doesn't deserve a repreive as far as New Zealand is concerned!

Don't you realize that the New Zealand government and the police force are expressing their opinion with force and intimidation?

Edited October 21, 2007 by IllegalBrain

[Storm crow]

I get angry hearing about the political situation in NZ

Then do not listen to or engage in discussions about the political situation in NZ

[devance]

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html...755C0A96F948260

'The tree was admitted to the American Forestry Association's Hall of Fame in 1927. It is about 50 feet tall, has a 127-foot limb spread and is 52.5 inches in diameter at chest height.'

And now dead by wankers that can't tell the difference of a tree and politics.

[Sparkster]

Then do not listen to or engage in discussions about the political situation in NZ

Kinda like saying "if you dont agree with something, don't listen to it, talk about it, discuss it with other people"

Good thing you're weren't a foreign diplomat during WW2. Imagine United Nations avoiding topics that they dont agree upon....

I posted it because I think it's creepy that even in New Zealand the cops are raiding Maori communities and environmentalist and peace groups under the auspices of a 'War on Terror.' Happy to discuss though, but this is how I tend to discuss things... by pissing people off.

Nuh, I posted it because I think it's creepy that even in New Zealand the cops are raiding Maori communities and environmentalist and peace groups under the auspices of a 'War on Terror.' Happy to discuss though, but this is how I tend to discuss things... by pissing people off.

From nzoom.com

Iti was among 17 people arrested in connection with Monday's raids on so called terror training camps. The raids followed a year-long surveillance investigation by police in which they say they uncovered military-style training camps deep in the remote Urewera bush in the Bay of Plenty.

Iti had been running training courses to help young people connect with their culture, but it seems the courses included weaponry training.

hhhmmmmm.... somehow doubt that Iti was trainning young Maori to use the Taiaha. Its funny what people decide to find completely acceptable... and what they suddenly decide to term 'creepy behaviour'

IllegalBrain, nothings going to persuade you that these raids were justified, and you seem to be associating these individuals operating military-style training camps as victims of these 'draconian' laws, and accusing people of fascism who don't agree. (which is ironic, because extorting peoples views for personal power is what fascists tend to do)

I'm cynical of any government and its motivations that erode the privacy of its citizens. The fact that a political party (and you) are claiming that raids on hidden training camps with ammunitions are just an excuse to harrass maori (how many years after the anti terror laws came through?) is hard to swallow.

thats my view...

and to be honest, my final say on the matter, as I don't want to start thinking of this forum as a shitfight. obviously were not going to change our stance on the matter.

[chilli]

Kinda like saying "if you dont agree with something, don't listen to it, talk about it, discuss it with other people"

Good thing you're weren't a foreign diplomat during WW2. Imagine United Nations avoiding topics that they dont agree upon....

From nzoom.com

hhhmmmmm.... somehow doubt that Iti was trainning young Maori to use the Taiaha. Its funny what people decide to find completely acceptable... and what they suddenly decide to term 'creepy behaviour'

IllegalBrain, nothings going to persuade you that these raids were justified, and you seem to be associating these individuals operating military-style training camps as victims of these 'draconian' laws, and accusing people of fascism who don't agree. (which is ironic, because extorting peoples views for personal power is what fascists tend to do)

I'm cynical of any government and its motivations that erode the privacy of its citizens. The fact that a political party (and you) are claiming that raids on hidden training camps with ammunitions are just an excuse to harrass maori (how many years after the anti terror laws came through?) is hard to swallow.

thats my view...

and to be honest, my final say on the matter, as I don't want to start thinking of this forum as a shitfight. obviously were not going to change our stance on the matter.

Nah, I didn't accuse anyone of fascism, you just made that up. That 'report' reminds me of the ones that said the police had foiled a napalm bomb plot, because there was some burn marks in the bush.

[Storm crow]

Kinda like saying "if you dont agree with something, don't listen to it, talk about it, discuss it with other people"

Or perhaps it is kinda like saying "if you get angry about something due to disagreement, avoid such discussions until you can deal with your anger positively". An example of using your anger positively is through the use of action

Good thing you're weren't a foreign diplomat during WW2. Imagine United Nations avoiding topics that they dont agree upon....

An ever better reason for me not being a foreign diplomat during WW2 would be that I was not alive then :D

[apothecary]

So the latest update on this story is that not a single person who was raided under the aegis of this anti terror bullshit has been charged under the same act.

i.e. they found absolutely no evidence of any "terroristic" activities from these "terrorists".

Iti is sitting in jail for a gun charge, and the locals around these "terror training camps" claim that there is no such thing taking place.

Surprise!

[The Dude]

Surprise!

What the fuck? the Government Lies!?!?!?!