Activists in Aotearoa New Zealand marked International Women’s Day today and the start of Ramadan this week with solidarity rallies across the country, calling for justice and peace for Palestinian women and the territories occupied illegally by Israel.

The theme this year for IWD is “For all women and girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment” and this was the 74th week of Palestinian solidarity protests.

First speaker at the Auckland rally today, Del Abcede of the Aotearoa section of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), said the protest was “timely given how women have suffered the brunt of Israel’s war on Palestine and the Gaza ceasefire in limbo”.

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“Women are the backbone of families and communities. They provide care, support and nurturing to their families and the development of children,” she said.

“Women also play a significant role in community building and often take on leadership roles in community organisations. Empowered women empower the world.”

Abcede explained how the non-government organisation WILPF had national sections in 37 countries, including the Palestine branch which was founded in 1988. WILPF works close with its Palestinian partners, Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) and General Union of Palestinian Women (GUPW).

“This catastrophe is playing out on our TV screens every day. The majority of feminists in Britain — and in the West — seem to have nothing to say about it,” Abcede said, quoting gender researcher Dr Maryam Aldosarri, to cries of shame.

‘There can be no neutrality’
“In the face of such overwhelming terror, there can be no neutrality.”

Dr Aldosarri said in an article published earlier in the war on Gaza last year that the “siege and indiscriminate bombardment” had already “killed, maimed and disappeared under the rubble tens of thousands of Palestinian women and children”.

“Many more have been displaced and left to survive the harsh winter without appropriate shelter and supplies. The almost complete breakdown of the healthcare system, coupled with the lack of food and clean water, means that some 45,000 pregnant women and 68,000 breastfeeding mothers in Gaza are facing the risk of anaemia, bleeding, and death.

“Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinian women and children in the occupied West Bank are still imprisoned, many without trial, and trying to survive in abominable conditions.”

The death toll in the war — with killings still happening in spite of the precarious ceasefire — is now more than 50,000 — mostly women and children.

Abcede read out a statement from WILPF International welcoming the ceasefire, but adding that it “was only a step”.

“Achieving durable and equitable peace demands addressing the root causes of violence and oppression. This means adhering to the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 advisory opinion by dismantling the foundational structures of colonial violence and ensuring Palestinians’ rights to self-determination, dignity and freedom.”

Action for justice and peace
Abcede also spoke about what action to take for “justice and peace” — such as countering disinformation and influencing the narrative; amplifying Palstinian voices and demands; joining rallies — “like what we do every Saturday”; supporting the global BDS (boycott, divestment and sanctions) campaign against Israel; writing letters to the government calling for special visas for Palestinians who have families in New Zealand; and donating to campaigns supporting the victims.

Gaza’s hospitals had been “reduced to rubble by Israeli bombs”, she said.

“UN reports that over 60,000 women would give birth this year in Gaza. But Israel has destroyed every maternity hospital.

“Women will be delivered in tents, corridors, or bombed out homes without anasthesia, without doctors, without clean water.

“When Israel killed Gaza’s only foetal medicine specialist, Dr Muhammad Obeid, it wasn’t collateral damage — it was calculated reproductive terror.”

“Now, miscarriages have spiked by 300 percent, and mothers stitch their own C-sections with sewing thread.”

‘Femicide – a war crime’
Babies who survived birth entered a world where Israel blocked food aid — 1 in 10 infants would die of starvation, 335,000 children faced starvation, and their mothers forced to watch, according to UNICEF.

“This is femicide — this is a war crime.”

Eugene Velasco, of the Filipino feminist action group Gabriela Aotearoa, said Israel’s violence in Gaza was a “clear reminder of the injustice that transcends geographical borders”.

“The injustice is magnified in Gaza where the US-funded genocide and ethnic cleansing against the Palestinian people has resulted in the deaths of more than 61,000.”

‘Pernicious’ Regulatory Standards Bill
Dr Jane Kelsey, a retired law professor and justice advocate, spoke of an issue that connected the “scourge of colonisation in Palestine and Aotearoa with the same lethal logic and goals”.

The parallels between both colonised territories included theft of land and the creation of private property rights, and the denial of sovereign authority and self-determination.

She spoke of how international treaties that had been entered in good faith were disrespected, disregarded and “rewritten as it suits the colonising power”.

Dr Kelsey said an issue that had “gone under the radar” needed to be put on the radar and for action.

She said that while the controversial Treaty Principles Bill would not proceed because of the massive mobilisations such as the hikoi, it had served ACT’s purpose.

“Behind the scenes is ACT’s more systemic and pernicious Regulatory Standards Bill,” she said. ACT had tried three times to get the bill adopted and failed, but it was now in the coalition government’s agreement.

A ‘stain on humanity’
Meanwhile, Hamas has reacted to a Gaza government tally of the number of women who were killed by Israel’s war, reports Al Jazeera.

“The killing of 12,000 women in Gaza, the injury and arrest of thousands, and the displacement of hundreds of thousands are a stain on humanity,” the group said.

“Palestinian female prisoners are subjected to psychological and physical torture in flagrant violation of all international norms and conventions.”

Hamas added the suffering endured by Palestinian female prisoners revealed the “double standards” of Western countries, including the United States, in dealing with Palestinians.

Women from Aotearoa, Philippines, Palestine and South Africa today called for justice and peace for the people of Gaza and the West Bank, currently under a genocidal siege and attacks being waged by Israel for the past 16 months.

Marking International Women’s Day, the rally highlighted the theme: “For all women and girls – Rights, equality and empowerment.”

Speakers outlined how women are the “backbone of families and communities” and how they have borne the brunt of the crimes against humanity in occupied Palestine with the “Israeli war machine” having killed more than 50,000 people, mostly women and children, since 7 October 2023.

The speakers included Del Abcede and Lorri Mackness of the International Women’s League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF), Gabriela’s Eugene Velasco, and retired law professor Jane Kelsey.

• Images by Asia Pacific Report’s David Robie
• More photos and videos at: https://bit.ly/3F5HVxF

International Women's Day and Palestine

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The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Aotearoa, the longest running women’s peace group in New Zealand, has called on the Japanese government to change its plan to release treated nuclear wastewater from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power station into the Pacific Ocean.

The protest comes as Pacific leaders remain undecided over the controversial — and widely condemned — Japanese move as reports suggest the start of the wastewater release could begin in the next few days.

“Releasing more radioactive materials is a wilful act of harm that will spread further radioactive contamination into the global environment,”said WILPF in its protest letter sent to Japanese Ambassador Ito Koichi last weekend.

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“The treated water contains tritium, which cannot be removed. Tritium will be dumped into the ocean for several decades.

“There has been no assessment of future biological impacts. Nor has there been a review of less expensive and safer alternatives.”

An RNZ Pacific report said today that the past, present and future Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) chairs — known as “the Troika” — had not decided if they were for or against the imminent discharge.

The Melanesian Spearhead Group (MSG) meeting in Port Vila, Vanuatu, this week has been urged to call on Japan to drop plans for the wastewater release.

Accident reminder
WILPF reminded the Japanese government in its protest letter that after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami which caused the accident at the power station, the radioactive contaminated water was treated by a multi-nuclide removal system (ALPS) and stored in more than 1000 tanks on the power plant site.

It also reminded Tokyo of its pledge about Fukushima at the time.

The Japanese government and the operating company, TEPCO, stated that this water would not be disposed of in any way without the understanding of the concerned parties and would be stored on land.

The London Convention, which Japan ratified in 1980, strictly regulates the dumping of radioactive waste into the ocean.

“Therefore,” said the protest letter, “the release of treated water is a violation of international law.

“Such an action would also damage the trust between Japan and its neighbours and the Pacific Islands.”

This week marks the 74th anniversary of the United States atomic bombings of Japan, bringing with it the annual renewed debate over the morality of the decision to force the country’s unconditional surrender by unleashing the Allies’ terrible new weapon on two heavily populated cities that were critical to the Japanese war effort.

Hiroshima was chosen first due to its compact topography, strategic port, and hosting of two major Army headquarters. It was bombed on 6 August 1945.

The city was devastated with between 90,000 and 150,000 deaths.

Three days later, on August 9, a second port city of Nagasaki was bombed with up to 80,000 deaths. About half the death tolls in both cities was within the first day.

The Pacific Media Centre’s Del Abcede visited Nagasaki in January this year. Her portfolio of images – prepared for a display at the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) commemoration of Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombing in Auckland on 11 August 2019 – showing the past and the modern City of Peace.

• WILPF Aotearoa

Nagasaki Day 2019

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As international talks at the United Nations on the ban of nuclear weapons draw closer, New Zealand nuclear free and peace activists warn there is a lot of work to be done before the world will be safe from a nuclear war.

“We’ve still got a lot of work to do in the world,” Auckland Mayor Phil Goff reflected at Devonport’s Depot Artspace during a weekend event organised by the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) Aotearoa and Devonport Peace Group.

Their warning comes as New Zealand celebrates 30 years since the country’s Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act came into force on 8 June 1987.

Described as a “David versus Goliath” stand by Pacific Media Centre director Professor David Robie, the Act and the “grassroots, groundswell” movement behind it, saw New Zealand become the first Western nation to legislate to be nuclear free.

Goff said: “The Lange Labour government came along with the courage and the commitment, first of all to say to a powerful ally: ‘No, we are not going to go along with the nuclear umbrella. No, we are not going to support your possession of nuclear weapons.

“We are a small nation, but we are a proud and independent nation and we are going to make our country nuclear free’. And we did,” Goff said.

Maire Leadbeater of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament said: “Everything was against us, but we did it.”

‘Ahead of the game’
However, it was also important to remember the Pacific’s contribution to New Zealand’s anti-nuclear campaign, said Dr Robie.

Not only did this come through the fact that the Pacific was “ahead of the game” – Palau, Vanuatu, and Tahiti’s largest municipality, the airport suburb of Fa’aa, declaring themselves nuclear free – but also through opposition to French nuclear testing.

As revealed in John Pilger’s latest documentary The Coming War On China, Dr Robie said, the “total yield of the nuclear experiments on and around the Marshall Islands was equal to 7200 Hiroshima bombs, meaning the equivalent of more than one Hiroshima bomb was exploded in the area every day for 12 years.”

He also said: “The French committed shameful acts in defence of nuclear colonialism” — such as the 1985 assassination of Kanak leader Eloi Machoro and the 1988 Ouvea cave massacre of 19 young militants.

But the “reunion”, as Goff himself described it, of many of the activists who were on the frontlines of New Zealand’s nuclear free movement, was ultimately overshadowed by apparent inaction by “nuclear states” over nuclear disarmament.

“We fought the battle in New Zealand, we made a mark on the international stage, we told the powerful and the strong that we would stand up for ourselves and we would stand by our values. But our world has not become a safer place. If anything, it has become a less safe place,” he said.

Leadbeater said: “Things really haven’t changed in terms of the international scene.”

‘Still much work to be done’
WILPF Aotearoa’s president Megan Hutching also reflected:

“We should not rest on the laurels of the 1987 Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament and Arms Control Act because there is still much work to be done before we can live in a safe, nuclear weapons free world.”

This is due to the fact there are currently 15,000 nuclear warheads in the world, Goff said.

Of greater concern still, he said, was countries such as North Korea joining the nuclear arms race.

“Alongside the five nuclear weapon states we’ve had India, Pakistan, Israel and North Korea all gain possession of nuclear weapons and the missile systems to launch them.”

Leadbeater said the world was still living in fear of a “nuclear war by accident”.

“We still live in a very dangerous world… The world is crying out for so many other important needs. It’s a shameful thing and a dangerous, dangerous thing.”

Youth involvement needed
In light of this, many of the activists reflected it was time for New Zealand’s youth to pick up the baton, although it would be a challenge, they acknowledged.

“The greatest challenge is trying to get the youth to continue with the struggles so that we can pass on the baton to them, especially in the nuclear movement” said Fijian peace activist and researcher Ema Tagicakibau from the Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific (NFIP) movement.

“In that, the challenge remains and the struggle continues.”

“Things are just as serious as they ever were, but we don’t unfortunately have that same sort of momentum among the community,” Leadbeater said.

Visual Artists Against Nuclear Arms (VAANA) member Margaret Lawlor Bartlett reflected: “We need a group of young, dedicated anti-nuclear people.”

The youth of today, however, do provide a sense of hope for the future, Leadbeater concluded, reflecting the general feeling of many in the room.

“In remembering these great times and the wonderful excitement of so many other people, let us hope that it does strengthen us to carry on and to perhaps now take our leadership from the young and find ways to carry on.”

A former WILPF Aotearoa president, Pauline Tangiora, a kuia of the Rongomaiwahine from Mahia, cut the 30th nuclear-free anniversary cake. She was nominated in 2005 among 1000 peace women activists globally for a “collective” Nobel Peace Prize.

The United Nations conference to negotiate a nuclear weapons ban will continue on June 15 until July 7.

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The Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (WIPLF) and the Devonport Peace Group organised the event, marking the 30th anniversary of the NZ Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act. This came into force on 8 June 1987.

The pictures were taken by the Pacific Media Centre’s Dr David Robie and Pacific Media Watch editor Kendall Hutt.

• Flashback to NZ’s nuclear-free law in 1987 — Challenging Goliath

Devonport and WILPF Aotearoa celebrate N-free NZ

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