The public face of New Zealand role as an American ally is the NZ military presence in Afghanistan. But New Zealand most significant contribution to that, and other American wars, including the one in Iraq, is the Waihopai spybase. Waihopai is controlled by the US , with New Zealand (including Parliament and the Prime Minister) having little or no idea what goes on there (let alone any control).
The Philippine government has been complicit with the US in its occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan by allowing it to use the Philippines as a staging ground of its troops and as part of the US global military presence. US troops are also present in and intervening in Mindanao, site of a long-running war for self- determination.
Thus, the Stop the War Coalition – Philippines, a broad coalition of social movements and civil society organizations in the Philippines, was started a protest action at the US embassy in Manila, on January 23, with the following calls: Stop US-led wars of aggression! Philippines out of US war machinery! US troops out of Mindanao!
Apart from this, the Stop the War Coalition will also participate in other events and actions planned by various groups in the Philippines as part of the Global Week of Action and Mobilization. This will include events at a People’s Camp to be held on January 24-25 and a mobilization on January 26.
The organizators also invite people from around the country to join them for the weekend of anti-war protest at this spybase. It`s necessary to be prepared for roughing it and camping out. “We provide the food (note: we cater for vegetarians but vegans will have to bring their own). Bring sleeping bag, groundsheet, a tent, torch, water bottle, eating utensils, clothing for all weather, and $40 (or $20 unwaged) to cover costs. Absolutely no open fires”, they explain.
The Waihopai electronic intelligence gathering base is located in the Waihopai Valley, near Blenheim. First announced in 1987, it is operated by New Zealand’s Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB) in the interests of the foreign Powers grouped together in the super-secret UKUSA Agreement (which shares global electronic and signals intelligence among the intelligence agencies of the US, UK, Canada, Australia and NZ). Its two satellite interception dishes (shielded from public view by giant domes) intercept a huge volume of telephone calls, telexes, faxes, e-mail and computer data communications. It spies on our Asia/Pacific neighbours, and forwards the material on to the major partners in the UKUSA Agreement, specifically the US National Security Agency (NSA). Its targets are international communications involving New Zealanders, including the interception of international phone calls. The codename for this – Echelon – has become notorious worldwide as the vast scope of its spying has become public. New Zealand is an integral, albeit junior, part of a global spying network, a network that is ultimately accountable only to its own constituent agencies, not governments, and certainly not to citizens.