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Jeff wrote: >The main thing I wanted to point out is that when activists engage in illegal or clandestine activities in which they are truly concerned with repercussions by the state, then they don't go out of their way to advertise their flouting of the law. For obvious reasons." Not so, Jeff. As John E noted, one of the points of the campaign was to challenge the government and the state and their 'right' to make certain activities illegal. The campaign was thus a public one. It wasn't like a campaign of sabotage during the Vietnam War or something like the 1981 Springbok Tour, where illegal activities took place and were done clandestinely by some of the activists of that time. This was a public campaign, it aimed to raise public awareness and public opposition to the state's 'anti-terrorist' nonsense and win people to the idea of providing material assistance to people who were fighting the Zionist state. It organised public stalls in the streets of the main cities and there was also a gig organised in Christchurch that David Rovics played at, as did one of our own leading comrades who is a talented musician. The state position on raising funds for an organisation like the PFLP which is engaged in armed struggle, is pretty clear. Here's what the official NZ Police site says: "A designation under New Zealand legislation freezes the assets of terrorist entities and makes it a criminal offence to participate in or support the activities of the designated terrorist entity. This includes in particular dealing with the property of the designated terrorist entity or making property or financial services available to the entity. Other support for terrorist activities such as fundraising and recruiting or harbouring terrorists is a criminal offence *whether a group is designated or not*." (my emphasis) As I noted near the start of this discussion a group didn't have to be on the official NZ state's list of designated terrorist groups in order for it to be illegal to fundraise for them. The NZ imperialist state is, in my view, one of the most politically sophisticated states in the world - which is also hwy we have one of the most politically passive populations in the world (the state here is incredibly adept at managing things). The campaign lasted in real terms about 18 months; it ended with the effective demise of the WP, which also happened to be accompanied by a period of about nine months of relentless earthquakes in Christchurch (including over 180 deaths and many thousands of homes destroyed and many thousands of people displaced; the centre of Christchurch still largely consists of rubble, nearly five years on from the start of the quakes). Hopes this clarifies things for you. Phil _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: http://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
