Fitzsimons to PM: This is our Vietnam
Green Co-Leader Jeanette Fitzsimons said Prime Minister Helen Clark is fooling herself if she dismisses yesterday's
nationwide protests as "relatively small".
Large protest rallies were held in New Zealand cities and rural townships, drawing tens of thousands of people to speak
out against a US led invasion of Iraq.
Helen Clark was reported to downplay the protests as minor because they did not draw the same numbers as the Springbok
and Vietnam War protests, two actions the Prime Minister readily boasts to have took part in.
"How many people must it take before the Prime Minister takes notice?" asked Ms Fitzsimons. "The fact is thousands of
New Zealanders all over the country made the effort to make themselves heard against this invasion for oil and Helen
Clark seems oblivious to this."
"It is clear: New Zealanders don't want a war, we don't want to support any action against a third world country, and we
don't want our troops dying on the foreign policy whims of George Bush.
"Helen Clark would do well to remember how Keith Holyoake dismissed Vietnam War protests as irrelevant. Make no mistake
about it: to the people of this generation, this is our Vietnam."
Ms Fitzsimons calls on the Prime Minister to show her commitment to the will of New Zealanders by demonstrating
independence in New Zealand's foreign policy.
"Diplomatic options open to Helen Clark are clear and effective: She can call in the US ambassador to convey our
abhorrence of American belligerence in the face of global opinion, while instructing our UN ambassador to speak loudly
in that forum of our people's desire to avoid.
"Thirdly, Helen Clark should send a strong signal to the US by immediately withdrawing our Navy and Air Force from
active cooperation in the war zone. She should strongly support French and German proposals to double the numbers of
inspectors and send in UN peacekeeping troops to ensure they get the access they need.
"Any inaction or unwillingness to take heed of this huge groundswell of public opinion against the war in Iraq will
confirm for New Zealanders that the Prime Minster is locked in an ivory tower with a window that looks out only to US
foreign policy, and not to the people that put her there."