October 15th Solidarity

Tena koutou,

we send out irregular updates on the campaign to support the people
arrested in the state terror raids in Aotearoa (New Zealand) on 15th
October 2007. Although charges under the Terrorism Suppression Act
were never laid, 18 people are still facing charges under the Arms Act
and 5 are charged with being members of an organised criminal group.
DROP THE CHARGES!


:: UPCOMING EVENTS

1. David Rovics Tour: 13th - 20th August 2009 (with a October 15th
Solidarity fundraiser on 15th August in Wellington)
2. Explosive Expression: Creative Resistance to the State Terror Raids of Oct
2007 - Exhibition and auction - 13th - 18th October 2009 at Thistle
Hall, Wellington
3. Court Hearings in Auckland (the week starting on 17th August 2009
and 14th September 2009)

*********

1. Rousing, rebellious and downright rocking: David Rovics!

Riot-folk musician David Rovics is headed downunder for a series of
rousing, rebellious, and downright rocking shows. Described as the
musical voice of the US progressive movement, Rovics has spent most of
his time on the road since the mid-90s, playing hundreds of shows
every year throughout North America, Europe, Latin America, the Middle
East and Japan. Regularly sharing the stage with the likes of Billy
Bragg and the Indigo Girls, Rovics has been called "a great gale of
invigorating fresh air." Over a hundred of his uniquely provocative
and satirical songs are available for free download via his website -
www.davidrovics.com. There's even something special for the
ankle-biters, a full album of Rovics' 'Pirate Songs for Kids' is also
available for free download. David Rovics will make you laugh, he will
make you cry, and he will make the revolution irresistible.In the
words of folk music legend Pete Seeger, "Listen to David Rovics."

DAVID ROVICS - NEW ZEALAND TOUR DATES 2009
Thurs 13 Aug, 8pm - Bailies Bar, 50 Cathderal Square, Christchurch
Fri 14 Aug, 7.30pm - Riverside Community & Cultural Centre, Motueka
Sat 15 Aug, 8pm - Newtown Community & Cultural Centre, Wellington
(All Ages), playing with the Klezmer Rebs featuring Op 8 defendant Urs
Signer - October 15th Solidarity fundraiser!
Sun 16 Aug, 3pm - Newtown Community & Cultural Centre, Wellington
(Kids Show!)
Tues 18 Aug, 8pm - Poverty Bay Club, Gisborne
Wed 19 Aug, 7pm - Mosiac Church, Newton Rd, Mt Maunganui, Tauranga
Thurs 20 Aug, 8pm - Wine Cellar, St. Kevins Arcade, K Rd, Auckland

*********

2. Explosive Expression: Creative Resistance to the State Terror Raids of Oct
2007 - Exhibition and auction

You are invited to share in a week of events commemorating the 2007
?terror raids? of communities around Aotearoa. We will acknowledge
the on-going struggle for justice and celebrate the power of creative
resistance. October 15th Solidarity is hosting an art exhibition and
auction at Thistle Hall Gallery in Wellington during the week of
October 13-18, 2009. The exhibition is an opportunity for discussion
and debate about the issues surrounding the raids including the 'war
on terrorism', colonisation and resistance. The auction is also an
opportunity for the community to support creative resistance and
assistance with funds for people affected by the raids. All works for
the auction will be listed on the October 15th Solidarity for sale on
the night of the auction. You can view an image gallery of the
artworks at http://october15thsolidarity.info/artauction :: Bids can
be made by emailing info at October15thSolidarity.info

-- WEEK OF EVENTS --
Tues 13 Oct, 6pm: Exhibition Opening with Tame Iti at Thistle Hall Gallery.
Wed 14 Oct, 7:30pm: A celebration of political music featuring the
works of Urs Signer, composer, clarinetist and ?Operation 8? defendant
with others at the Adam Concert Room, VUW, Fairlie Terrace.
Thurs 15 Oct, 7pm: Film screening of ?Tuhoe: a history of resistance?
and short films about the October 15th raids at the New Zealand Film
Archive.
Fri 16 Oct, 6pm: Meet the artists and hear about their creative resistance
at Thistle Hall Gallery.
Exhibition hours Wed-Sat 12-6pm
COMMUNITY WORKSHOPS:
Sat 17 Oct, 12-4pm: Political screenprinting workshop at 128 Abel
Smith St. Bring ideas and images to turn into works of art
Sun 18 a, 1-5pm: Documenting our communities workshop with local
filmmakers at Aro Valley Community Hall. Bring along your ideas for
film projects and questions about how to bring them to life. Admission
to both workshops is free. Please register by email to:
info at October15thSolidarity.info

*********

3. Court Hearings

17th August 2009: Pre-trial hearings are starting in the Auckland High
Court for one week
14th September 2009: Another week of pre-trial hearings in the
Auckland High Court.

The defendants have been excused from attending these hearings.
However, several of them are still going to these hearings. Come along
and support!


:: ARTICLES and UPDATES

1. 'Operation 8' court update: a victory and the next struggle
2. Operation 8 defendant can now visit family
3. 50 days of Muppet Show - and the phantom dissolves
4. French investigators leave empty handed

*********

1. 'Operation 8' court update: a victory and the next struggle

Starting on Monday 17 August, there will be a week of ?pre-trial?
applications by defence lawyers for the Operation 8 accused in the
Auckland High Court.

High court judge Justice Lang has suppressed the details of the
particular applications to be filed by defendants in the case, however,
in broad terms, these applications relate to matters of evidence that the
Crown would like to use.

Applications will be made both on behalf of individual defendants and
challenges presented on behalf of all of the accused.

On 23 July, defendants won another victory in the long road to freedom
when Justice Lang appointed a special counsel (a friend of the court) who
will act as an advocate for the defendants. This is a very rare occurrence
in New Zealand; the most famous case recently was that of Ahmed Zaoui, the
Algerian asylum seeker who was deemed to be a threat to national security.

In that case, the Security Intelligence Service (NZSIS) said that he was
a risk, but would not provide him with the substance of those allegations,
nor even a summary of the evidence being held against him.

This special 'friend of the court? is a laywer who will have access to all
of the material from police which has not been disclosed to the
defendants, in particular the unredacted (uncensored) versions of the
various police affidavits to obtain search warrants. This lawyer will
advise all of the lawyers for the accused following his review of this
material. While some 30,000 pages of disclosure (material collected by the
police relating to the investigation) was given to defendants, this only
represents a fraction of the total held by the police. Frequently, police
have cited it a compromise to ?police surveillance and investigation
techniques? if this material was disclosed to defendants. However, from
the perspective of a defendant, it is difficult, if not impossible to
defend oneself without knowing the full extent of the information held
against you.

This week of pre-trial applications is the first opportunity that the
defence will have to shape the case. Up until now, the Crown has largely
been defining the terms of the court battle. The depositions hearing?a
preliminary hearing to decide if the case should go ahead?in September
2008 was limited to Crown witnesses. Defence lawyers did cross examine
some witnesses and made closing submissions on the ridiculous nature of
the case. That hearing, however, was really a foregone conclusion given
the massive expenditure of police resources and the State?s desire to shut
down genuine political dissent.

These court proceedings are open to the public and we would welcome
supporters during the week. There will be a subsequent week of ?pre-trial?
applications starting 14 September in the Auckland High Court.
In other news, many of the defendants have had their personal belongings
returned by police after nearly two years. Various police detectives have
been making the rounds and returning beloved items to the defendants
including tramping gear, notebooks, diaries, personal letters, pictures,
books and clothing. When Detective Mark Lewis of the Special Investigation
group was asked if he really thought that the people arrested in
'Operation 8' were terrorists, he said, 'I have my opinions, but my
opinion doesn't really count here.' Seems even the police don't understand
the police.

*********

2. Operation 8 defendant can now visit family

A defendant in the 'Operation 8' fiasco was granted a bail variation in
the Wellington High Court on July 17 allowing him to travel overseas to
visit his family. All defendants have had to hand in their passports after
being released from custody in November 2007 and can't leave New Zealand.
The hearing was scheduled to start at 9.30am. However, the Crown
prosecutor was nowhere to be seen (a defence lawyer offered to fill the
role). Finally, Mr J Webber showed up: "Sorry for being late. I actually
thought I was early."

The defendant had applied for a bail variation to allow him to travel
overseas to visit his family while on bail. His grandparents are not well,
and he wanted to see them. The Crown was still opposed, and argued that
there was a flight risk.
"The variation is opposed but we have almost nothing to say about it" said
Webber, who was appearing for Ross Burns (the Crown prosecutor for
'Operation 8'). "The sole reason is because the defendant is a foreign
national."
Justice Simon France had already read the affidavits filed for the defence
and did not want to hear from the defence lawyer nor from the defendant.
Instead he granted the bail variation.

"I'm glad I can visit my family, especially my grandparents, again. It's
just a shame that the Crown had to be so difficult about it and waste my
time, my lawyer's time and the court's time by not consenting to my
request in the first place" said the defendant.

*********

3. 50 days of Muppet Show - and the phantom dissolves

On July 15, the 50th day of trial against three German activists took
place. The three are accused of arson attacks against military vehicles in
2007 and they are also charged with membership in a criminal organisation
- the Militant Group ('mg'). The original terrorism charges were dropped
before the trial.

The trial, started in September 2008, has been marked by prosecution
witnesses lying on the stand. There has also been a revelation that police
themselves wrote a magazine article for a discussion about militancy in
political activism. The authors called themselves 'The Two from the Muppet
Show' and described themselves as having followed the militancy debate
both from the inside and the outside. This had led to speculation that the
state might have had direct involvement in the 'mg' itself.

The Muppet Show article also contained references to material related to
the 'mg' published on the web site of the Federal Criminal Office BKA,
which?as was later revealed?at the time was subject to surveillance: the
identity of every visitor to the site was recorded by tracing their IP
address and retrieving the subscriber details from the internet provider.
This practice, dubbed 'home page surveillance,' has since been declared
unconstitutional by the courts.

What made day 50 of the trial remarkable is the fact that a few days
prior, the latest issue of the underground magazine ?radikal? had been
published, containing a lengthy interview with the 'mg'. In the article
the 'mg' claimed responsibility for three arson attacks earlier this year
(for which no charges have been laid against anyone) and the group
announced their disbandment. Moreover, ?mg? denied having anything to do
with the incident for which the three people are currently on trial.
This leaves the prosecution in a strange state - based on the statement of
an informant who worked for the intelligence service, the prosecution had
previously claimed that the three accused were key members of the 'mg' and
that their arrest had smashed the group?s structure. The spy agency has
refused to reveal the identity of the informant but claimed that they were
'reliable and truthful.' The latest development casts doubt on that
assurance and leaves very little of the prosecution case.

The interview also adds to the argument of the defence that the `mg´ has
never been a group with a defined membership, but rather an umbrella name
under which individuals carried out actions. The defence has been trying
to prove this point by making several applications in court to have the
various communiqués of the 'mg' analysed by experts to prove that they
were written by different people. These applications have so far been
declined, even at the latest court date, which proceeded with business as
usual - the prosecution have so far refused to comment on the 'radikal'
interview altogether.

We hope that the three German accused do not end up like the Guildford 4.
In late 1974 two bombings occurred in Guildford, England, and four people
were arrested and sentenced to life in prison. A year later an IRA active
service unit was captured and confessed to the Guildford bombings, police
evidence supported their claims. However the Guildford 4 still spent 15
years in prison before their convictions were over-turned and they were
freed.

The farce of a trial against the ?mg? 3 must be stopped, all the charges
must be dropped now!

*********

4. French investigators leave empty handed

On November 11th last year, French Anti-Terrorism Police arrested around
twenty people, mostly in Tarnac, a small village in central France. Nine
were subsequently accused of ?criminal association for the purposes of
terrorist activity??these terrorist actions are centred around the
sabotage of train lines.

Very little evidence has been presented against them, but central to the
prosecution is their alleged authorship of a book, ?The Coming
Insurrection?, and their association with what a scare-mongering French
government and media have termed an 'ultra-left' or 'anarcho-autonomous
movement.'

In an attempt to widen the allegations and accuse the Tarnac defendants of
being part of an international terrorist network, three people in Germany
were recently summoned to appear as witnesses in the courts of Berlin and
Hamburg. The prosecution is trying to establish a link to German activists
based on the circumstance that the alleged devices used to disrupt the
French trains?so-called hook claws?were similar to those often used by
German anti-nuclear protesters. Two of the people summoned to court were
charged 10 years ago in connection with disruptions of nuclear cargo
trains. However, back then the prosecution went nowhere and the charges
were dropped before they even got to court.

Last week, the three German supposed ?witnesses? refused to make
statements in court. One of them was found in contempt of court and fined
800 Euro, but the prosecution still didn?t get a single statement and the
five French police investigators who had travelled to Berlin and Hamburg
for the occasion had to return empty handed.

You can read a copy of 'The Coming Insurrection' online at:
http://tarnac9.wordpress.com/texts/the-coming-insurrection


:: DONATIONS

If you would like to make a donation, check out
http://www.october15thsolidarity.info/donate for details of the
various funds.

:: RESOURCES

The www.October15thSolidarity.info website is regularly updated. The
website aims to be multilingual and gives background information
aswell as updates on legal proceedings. There are poster, newsletters
and leaflets available here:
http://october15thsolidarity.info/en/node/236 A new leaflet has just
been printed with a circulation of 2000! It will be available on the
website shortly.

:: LINKS

www.October15thSolidarity.info | www.indymedia.org.nz | www.tuhoe.net
| www.gpja.org.nz | www.civilrightsdefence.org.nz | www.aotearoa.maori.nz


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Solidarity!