Waihopai Spy Base Protest
Tuesday, 15 October 2002, 3:18 pm
Press Release: Anti Bases Campaign


WAIHOPAI SPYBASE PROTEST
JANUARY 24-26, 2003

New Zealand is one of George Bush’s most enthusiastic allies in his apparently endless and borderless "war on terror". The public face of that is the involvement of the SAS in the war in Afghanistan. But New Zealand’s most significant contribution to that war, and any other wars waged by our Western allies, is the Waihopai spybase. Even though the Government is not so keen on following the US in its plans to wage war on Iraq, Waihopai will play a key role in that too, because it is controlled by the US, with NZ (including Parliament) having little or no idea what goes on there (let alone any control).

The Waihopai electronic intelligence gathering base is located in the Waihopai Valley, near Blenheim. First announced in 1987, it is operated by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in the interests of the foreign Powers grouped together in the super-secret UKUSA Agreement (which shares global electronic and signals intelligence among the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and NZ). Its two satellite interception dishes (shielded from public view by giant domes) intercept a huge volume of telexes, faxes, e-mail and computer data communications. It spies on our Asia/Pacific neighbours, and forwards the material on to the major partners in the UKUSA Agreement, specifically the US National Security Agency (NSA). Its targets are international communications involving New Zealanders, including the interception of international phone calls. The codename for this – Echelon – has become notorious worldwide, as the vast scope of its spying has become public. New Zealand is an integral, albeit junior, part of a global spying network, a network that is ultimately accountable only to its own constituent agencies, not governments, and certainly not to citizens.

Waihopai does not operate in the national interests of New Zealand or our neighbours. Basically it is a foreign spybase on NZ soil and directly involves us in America’s wars. Waihopai must be closed.

*We invite people from around the country to join us for the weekend of anti-war protest at this spybase. Come prepared for roughing it and camping out. We’ve hired portaloos and a marquee. We provide the food. Bring sleeping bag, groundsheet, a tent, torch, water bottle, eating utensils, clothing for all weather, and $30 to cover costs. Absolutely no open fires.

*How to find our camp. Take Highway 6 out of Blenheim (the Nelson road); just before Renwick, turn left onto to Highway 63 (the Nelson Lakes road). A few kms down that, turn left down the Waihopai Valley road (winery on corner). The spybase is about 10 kms up the valley (you can’t miss it - 2 huge white domes). Our camp is about 1.5 kms past the base on the left. Look for the Pleiades Vineyard sign.