Open letter to the Director of the NZ Security Intelligence Service
Re: the NZ visit of WTO Director-General Mike Moore
Mr Richard Woods
Director of Security
New Zealand Security Intelligence Service
PO Box 600
WELLINGTON
3 August 2000
Dear Mr Woods,
We write to draw the attention of the New Zealand Security Intelligence
Service to the upcoming New Zealand visit of Mr Mike Moore,
Director-General of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and to urge your
Service to act swiftly to protect New Zealand's international and economic
wellbeing from the impact of the foreign-influenced capabilities,
intentions or activities generated by Mr Moore and the WTO. We believe
that Mr Moore and the WTO constitute "a range of new and emerging external
threats to New Zealand's security" (Security In New Zealand Today;
NZSIS;1998; p13).
We understand that New Zealand's small intelligence and security community
aims to "protect and promote New Zealand's defence, foreign policy and
national economic interests". Being an intelligence organisation, the
NZSIS must know all about the devastating impacts that trade and investment
liberalisation is having on communities throughout New Zealand. Beginning
with the job losses caused by tariff cuts, the frighteningly high level of
transnational corporate ownership of vital infrastructure, the land sold to
infamous criminals like the Suharto family, increasing income disparities
between rich and poor, and so on. These kinds of things are often
justified in the name of New Zealand's commitments to the global free
market economy which the WTO maintains and promotes.
In Parliament, Mr Moore was a strong supporter of the NZSIS. But he has
now gone on to ther things. He is the figurehead for a powerful
international organisation which operates in a clandestine, unaccountable
manner, which makes enforceable decisions that can undermine existing
national laws and which could well constrain future governments from
charting their own course of economic, political and social development.
The WTO claims to operate by consensus. Yet really it is dominated by a
"quad" of powerful governments (USA, Japan, the EU, and Canada) who then
try to impose their decisions on other WTO members. Negotiating positions
and the contents of agreements at the WTO are closely guarded secrets until
they have been signed when it is far too late for any of us to do anything
about them.
Indeed even former Director-General of the GATT Secretariat, Arthur Dunkel,
at a seminar of prominent WTO supporters last year, raised the question
regarding the WTO "who is driving the process in trade policy - governments
or the business community?"
The NZSIS takes an active interest in "the threat to New Zealand's security
from extremist groups dedicated to overthrowing or undermining
parliamentary democracy" (p13 Security In New Zealand Today). The WTO,
along with other vehicles which promote the global free market economy
clearly threatens "parliamentary democracy". It is hardly surprising that
the Clerk of the House, David McGee, said that "international agreements
are driving domestic law to a far greater extent than they were before".
The WTO is clearly a subversive organisation. This has been corroborated
internationally. We note that last week in Islamabad, Pakistani
organisations concerned about the impact of WTO agreements on Pakistan
described Mr Moore as a "terrorist", and the WTO as a "terrorist organisation".
The WTO acknowledges that it undermines Parliamentary democracy. For
example, last year it published "The 10 benefits of the WTO Trading System"
(available on its Website) which conclude: "Quite often, governments use
the WTO as a welcome external constraint on their policies: "we can't do
this because it would violate the WTO agreements.""
Given that the WTO operates in "clandestine ways to achieve their
objectives" (p17, Security In New Zealand Today) we presume you will seek a
warrant to intercept Mr Moore's communications now and in the future. We
would however suggest some prior training in the art of breaking and
entering as we are a little concerned at the level of skill level displayed
by some of your officers in the past.
Besides his involvement in a very shadowy organisation, in his role as
Director-General of the WTO, Mr Moore's appearance incites trouble. We are
sure that the Service will have noted the mass mobilisations of many
thousands of people in Seattle at last year's WTO Ministerial Meeting and
perhaps similar events surrounding his various international fixtures since
becoming WTO Director-General.
We realise we have not always seen eye to eye with your Service. But as
your predecessor Don McIver states, the NZSIS relies "on the support and
assistance of other ordinary New Zealanders to do our work effectively"
(Security In New Zealand Today, p6), and we are just trying to do our bit.
We attach a copy of GATT Watchdog's factsheet on the WTO to help you and
your organisation plan your operations against Mr Moore and the WTO.
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you need further information about
Mr Moore and his dangerous organisation.
Sincerely,
Aziz Choudry
GATT Watchdog, PO Box 1905, Christchurch, Aotearoa / New Zealand
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