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Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 10. May 16 1977

P.B.E.C - An Un welcome Visitor

P.B.E.C - An Un welcome Visitor

"Uncle Sam" gets arrested.

"Uncle Sam" gets arrested.

Geoff Mason of CAFCINZ addresses the crowd.

Geoff Mason of CAFCINZ addresses the crowd.

The front line before the scuffles started.

The front line before the scuffles started.

Christchurch was the venue for this year's Pacific Basin Economic Council. P.B.E.C. is a get together of representatives of major private enterprise in the Pacific basin. They discuss plans and problems for the coming year or two — such things as avoiding clashes of interests in developing countries. This is the second time since the creation of P.B.E.C. that the conference has been held in New Zealand. The first time being in 1972 when it was held in the Union Building of this very University. The fiery reception they received on that occasion made them wary — thus the elaborate security for this year's conference.

The Build-up.

The demonstration against P.B.E.C. (organised by the Campaign Against Foreign Control in New Zealand, CAFCINZ) was held outside the Christ church Town Hall at 5.30p.m. on Sunday May 8. It was timed for the opening dinner of the conference.

Christchurch is the place where most of CAFCINZ's activities take place. Wellington CAFCINZ had travelled down for the demonstration and the AGM was held on Saturday. It came as no shock to find P.B.E.C. featuring fairly prominently during the AGM. Jeff Mason (CHCH) gave a talk on the nature of P.B.E.C., and there was a slide show and discussion on foreign Investment at present in New Zealand.

It is worth mentioning that CAFCINZ is not a campus based or student organised movement. Although students are amongst their supporters, CAFCINZ support is largely worker based, and the wide variety of groups represented over the weekend bore this out.

Although the question of neo-colonialism — foreign investment in the Pacific basin is one of great importance, few people (thanks to our news services) could have been aware of the relation between P.B.E.C. and the exploitation of the Pacific basin or the horrible nature of that exploitation.

An example of this is the supplements put out in all the daily papers, the first of which appeared at the week leading up to the conference. On Monday May 9, a 15 page supplement appeared, filled with the same cosmetic facade proclaiming P.B.E.C. a benevolent society and suggesting that colonialism (and neocolonialism) are dead in the Pacific basin! Absent from the supplements were the P.B.E.C. drives for low wages and the smashing of Trade Unions.

Had it not been for the 200 people who turned out and protested, the only "information" the average New Zealander would have received would have been the P.B.E.C. propaganda. These people are the vicious exploiters of the Third World, not philanthropists as the supplements suggests. The active nature of the demonstration (the police must take a bow too) brought coverage to the opposition to P.B.E.C. and the solidarity of those people with the Third World. It also gave people a glimmer of the true motives behind the Pacific Basin Economic Council, when otherwise — if people had been left to the supplements alone — people would have got an entirely incorrect image of P.B.E.C.

The time approaches.

From 4p.m. on Sunday afternoon, the Town Hall was under surveillance, to make sure that 'the delegates and their wives' didn't sneak in early. Shortly after 4p.m. police vans, trucks and cars began arriving. The barricades were set up at 4.45 far enough away from the main entrance to make identification of guests difficult. A squad or two of police played 'ring a ring a rosie' around the building while others spread out through the surrounding streets. They were mainly the older type although a few young faces were chucked in for variety and violence.

Stray boots and uniforms.

The demonstration got moving fairly quickly. There was what could be described as a demarcation dispute over the positioning of the barricades. When the first of the guests arrived the situation intensified. The delegates must have felt unsure of whether people would be throwing flowers at their feet or eggs at their heads because they stooped to the almost proletarian level of coming in buses or the odd taxi. Their arrival set off a surge on to the streets by the demonstrators. The genuine rage at having This Pbec scum' in New Zealand was apparent.

The police almost in scrumming fashion tried to push back the people. The situation grew increasingly electric especially when the police tried out some of their legendary 'reasonable amount of force' to contain the situation. This included the odd kick and punch, an attempt to throw a person in front of a moving car, as well as various exploits by the plain clothed police present. The plain clothed police [unclear: numbered] approximately 30, needless to say they were conspicuous to all. The most serious incident was when Kevin Swann (VUWSA Secretary) received a blow to the stomach. He was forced to lie down on the pavement while an ambulance was called for. The hospital discharged him later that evening.

The evening had five arrests. The first to go was Don Archer, a Trade Union representative. His offence being "in possession of a missile" it was not stated whether it was a cruise missile or not but one would suspect an egg or the likes. However it turned out Don was not in fact "in possession of a missile." The boys in blue thought about it for a while and came up with obstruction of a police officer. Second to go (this was inevitable, I guess) was "Uncle Sam' from the guerilla theatre. In New Zealand playing 'Uncle Sam' is almost as treasonous as burning the flag in the U.S. When they appeared in court the next morning the only one of the group to be remanded in custody was Uncle Sam.' All will re-appear on May 16.

The pushing starts - Denis Rockell standing far right beside policeman was later arrested.

The pushing starts - Denis Rockell standing far right beside policeman was later arrested.

Kevin Swann laid out by a vicious blow.

Kevin Swann laid out by a vicious blow.

Demonstrators gather before guests a...

Demonstrators gather before guests a...