Posts by Keith Locke

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  Chogm fails to challenge Sri Lanka on human rights - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Human rights was the loser at this year’s Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ conference (GHOGM). Endorsing Sri Lanka to host the next (2013) conference was a slap in the face for those calling for an independent international investigation into the 2009 massacre in northern Sri Lanka and an end to the ongoing persecution of the Tamils. To [...] read more
  October 31, 2011 12:17 pm - 5 Comments
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  Citizen engagement at Occupy Auckland - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  I got a buzz out of visiting the Occupy Auckland camp again this sunny afternoon. Seventy tents have mushroomed on the grass in Aotea Square  right next to the Town Hall. Hopefully the Auckland Council will continue to tolerate the camp as a venue for citizen engagement with politics. It’s not just the ‘occupiers’ discussing [...] read more
  October 25, 2011 4:43 pm - 17 Comments
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  NZ Defence Force reports dodge most important torture questions - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Yesterday Defence Minister Wayne Mapp released two NZ Defence Force statements on prisoner treatment in Afghanistan which raise more questions than they answer. The two reports largely dodge the issues I raised in last week’s blog “Mapp’s reassurances on torture fall short” following the release of UN report on the Afghan government’s mistreatment of “conflict-related” [...] read more
  October 22, 2011 1:16 pm - 3 Comments
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  Mapp’s reassurances on torture fall short - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  It’s not good enough for Defence Minister Wayne Mapp to say he has “no information” that any of the 58 people arrested on the SAS’s joint operations with the Afghan Crisis Response Unit have been subsequently tortured. He admitted that 15 of them had been sent to facilities run by the Afghan intelligence service, the [...] read more
  October 14, 2011 2:15 pm - 5 Comments
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  Retrospective surveillance laws shouldn’t be rammed through Parliament - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  We should be very worried that the government intends to rush legislation through Parliament next week that could restrict New Zealanders’ ability, under the Bill of Rights, to protect themselves from unreasonable surveillance. To add insult to injury, the legislation will be retrospective, to make legal the behavior of the Police over recent times in [...] read more
  September 20, 2011 2:02 pm - 21 Comments
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  Palmer Panel soft on Israel’s flotilla raid - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  It was seen as a feather in New Zealand’s cap when former Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer was appointed to head the UN Secretary-General’s Panel of Inquiry into the Israeli attack on a flotilla bringing aid to Gaza in May 2010. Unfortunately, the resultant report, released this month, is far from adequate. It supports the [...] read more
  September 12, 2011 2:18 pm - 6 Comments
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  Pacific Islands Forum lets down French Polynesia - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  The final Pacific Island Forum communique was a disappointment for French Polynesia’s president, Oscar Temaru. The president had come here, with a delegation of eight, seeking Forum support for French Polynesia to be inscribed on the UN Decolonisation list, as New Caledonia already is. The Forum communique, however, only asks France to work out with [...] read more
  September 9, 2011 3:03 pm - 3 Comments
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  Book reinforces Green criticism of NZ deployments to Gulf and Basra - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Nicky Hager’s Other People’s Wars, shows that New Zealand was more involved in the Iraq war than most people think. The book’s reinforces the points I was making at the time, that our Orion and frigate in the Gulf, and our army engineers in Basra, were actually assisting the US/UK war effort. Our frigate Te [...] read more
  September 4, 2011 5:21 pm - 12 Comments
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  Mayoral backing for Auckland Harbour Bridge Walkway/Cycleway - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  It looks like there may be a breakthrough in the years long campaign for a bikeway/cycleway over the Auckland Harbour Bridge. Yesterday I attended the launch of the Pathway Working Group”s concept plan in the newly opened waterfront Wynyard Quarter. Auckland Mayor Len Brown spoke very positively about the plan, and it was supported by [...] read more
  August 22, 2011 10:12 am - 2 Comments
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  MPs stunned after seeing “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  With some trepidation I helped organise a showing of “Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields” in the Beehive Theatrette last Tuesday.  It is a shocking film, mainly using cell-phone footage to show what it was like for the 300,000 civilians repeatedly bombed and shelled by the Sri Lankan military in the final weeks of the civil war. [...] read more
  August 19, 2011 8:18 am - 23 Comments
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  Paul Reeves the peacemaker - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Sir Paul Reeves is rightly being remembered for his wide-ranging contribution to New Zealand society. I wish to remember him as one of our foremost international peacemakers, particularly because of his work in Fiji and Guyana. Sir Paul’s quiet manner and sense of fairness saw him chosen to head the Fiji Constitution Review Commission in [...] read more
  August 15, 2011 5:21 pm - 1 Comment
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  British riots: addressing the “why” - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  David Cameron’s answer to the British riots seems to be better policing. No doubt there could be improvements, but they shouldn’t be measures that hurt ordinary citizens, like the PM’s suggestion that there could be state controls on social networking. If we really want to prevent such destructive rioting we have to address the “why” [...] read more
  August 12, 2011 4:31 pm - 30 Comments
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  Parliament condemns killings in Syria - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  Yesterday I moved a motion in Parliament on Syria, which was passed unanimously. It read: “That this House condemn the shooting of peaceful demonstrators in Hama and other Syrian cities and call upon the Syrian Government to enter into a serious national dialogue to chart a transition to democratic government.” New Zealand now joins the [...] read more
  August 4, 2011 4:54 pm - 4 Comments
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  Breakdown of Burmese ceasefire - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  On Wednesday, Wellington’s Kachin community arrived in Parliament grounds to protest the increasing violence happening in their home province. Kachin state is the Northern most state in Burma, neighbouring China. The Kachin community told me about the breakdown, last month, of a 17 year ceasefire between the Burmese government and Kachin people. 20,000 people have fled [...] read more
  July 29, 2011 2:02 pm - 6 Comments
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  Blair: Politician for the rich - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  While many New Zealanders are struggling to make ends meet, others could afford a hefty $1000 to hear (and be photographed with) the former British PM Tony Blair when he spoke in Auckland today. Yes, Mr Blair is a politician for the rich. He only became Prime Minister after flying to Australia in 1995 to [...] read more
  July 28, 2011 12:25 pm - 52 Comments
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  Norway massacre: Key points finger in wrong direction - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  I almost fell of my chair when I heard John Key use the Norway massacre to justify New Zealand’s military involvement in Afghanistan. He said the killings were part of global terrorism and why New Zealand is in Afghanistan “trying to make the world a safer place.” The problem is that right-wingers like Anders Breivik [...] read more
  July 24, 2011 11:29 am - 94 Comments
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  Israeli SAR leader had worked in intelligence - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  One bit of information that hasn’t come out yet is that Hilik Magnus, who led the private Israeli search and rescue team which arrived in Christchurch shortly after the February 22 quake had previously worked for Israeli intelligence. read more
  July 22, 2011 10:22 am - 13 Comments
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  More information needed on spy story - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  It’s good that the PM finally backed down on his position that he couldn’t say anything about whether Mossad spies had been operating in New Zealand, for “national security” reasons. Pressure from the Greens, Labour and the media certainly helped the PM shift his stance. However, there are still a lot of unanswered questions. The [...] read more
  July 21, 2011 11:57 am - 2 Comments
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  My conversation with Tevita Mara - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  This morning I had a good talk with Tevita Mara, the Fijian colonel who split from Bainimarama, about how to speed up the return to democracy to Fiji. read more
  July 20, 2011 2:58 pm - 3 Comments
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  The Libyan mess - by Keith Locke

  
  
  
  In March the Greens came out in opposition to the NATO air operations over Libya. We said they would probably prolong Gaddafi’s stay in power by allowing the dictator to present himself as a nationalist, fighting foreign intervention. Four months later we’ve been proved right.   The Western intervention was contrary to the UN Charter and based [...] read more
  July 19, 2011 9:35 am - 12 Comments