March for Peace

I mentioned in my post of yesterday that I would share what my sis and I got up to on Sunday morning before we visited the art gallery.

Click on the logo above to go to the New Zealand website.

You may have heard about the World March For Peace And Non-Violence which is starting in Wellington, NZ on October 2 and travelling around the globe for 90 days ending in the Andes Mountains in Argentina on January 2, 2010. The march is about raising awareness of how much better life could be if some of the international arms budget went toward improving people’s lives instead of for destruction. It is also about denouncing the dangerous world situation that is leading us frighteningly closer to nuclear war.

In Auckland yesterday morning, a precursor event was planned to help welcome the international contingent of marchers. The event kicked off in QEII square at 10am with a walk around the city’s peace heritage sites to be followed by a rally with music and speeches until mid afternoon. At one stage I was marching beside a famous Aucklander Lucy Lawless – she’s tall and friendly. She’s hot too, even without the Xena costume. 

Though my sister and I weren’t sure what route was planned  around the city, we knew we wanted to be involved but without staying for the whole thing (we care but just not enough to march all day). Thankfully just before lunch time the march was at Albert Park, a block away from the art gallery so we discretely slipped off to indulge in some Rita Angus.

Check out the international website for more information about the March for Peace. Join in if any events are close to you.

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I was chatting to an American friend the other night on the phone and I mentioned that New Zealand is an avowedly nuclear free zone. My friend hadn’t known this and was surprised – maybe there are others who weren’t aware of this?

It all started with the dastardly French who were testing their nukes in our backyard in the south Pacific. They conducted 41 atmospheric nuclear tests at Mururoa atoll between 1966 and 1974 before they moved underground for a further 147 tests until the early 90s. In a symbolic act of protest in 1973 the New Zealand government sent two navy frigates, HMNZS Canterbury and Otago, into the test zone area to disrupt the testing. Huge impromptu flotillas of what became known as peace yachts accompanied the frigates. These protests were supported by large contingents of environmental groups such as Greenpeace.

In 1985 in an act of retaliation for all the hassle over the years, French saboteurs entered NZ and blew up the Greenpeace vessel Rainbow Warrior which was berthed at an Auckland wharf. A man sleeping on board was killed.

We were horrified. This act of international terrorism served to galvanise the views of ordinary New Zealanders and resulted in the passing of the New Zealand Nuclear Free Zone, Disarmament, and Arms Control Act of 1987.  All forms of nuclear generation were disallowed and nuclear powered or armed vessels were no longer permitted to enter our 22 kilometre (12 mile) zone.

Over the years it has certainly made for some very uncomfortable conversations with the US as their policy of neither confirming nor denying any vessel is nuclear powered and/or armed means that we disallow them all. It’s a weird situation and it puts us on the outer with our ‘friends’ though a referendum here a few years ago showed that for better or worse the large majority of kiwis want to keep the status quo. A nuclear free zone we remain after 22 years.

Solicitation

I don’t know about where you live dear reader, but here In New Zealand it’s perfectly legal to ‘cold’ call private residential land lines and tout for work or solicit charitable donations.

Then, to add insult to injury, if you’re silly enough to agree to donate to a particular charity in this way, you run the very real risk of having your details on sold to other charities.

It has reached the point now where 6 to 8 calls to my fixed line every single week are from various charities looking for support. I would be bankrupt if I made even a small donation at every request but, to my immense frustration, I am a salesperson’s dream – I just can’t say no. I just can’t. The sales pitch works on me because I can’t stand to see anyone go without whether it be new toys for the local kids hospital or accommodation for families of kids with kidney problems through to funding for our local rescue helicopter. I just can’t say no.

My solution is to stop answering the phone.

I haven’t answered my home phone for months without screening first. Rory is well trained – he can pick a cold caller from a thousand yards and says I’m out.  They have to get tired of ringing at some stage. It’s a form of freakin’ terrorism when I can’t answer my own phone for risk of it costing me money.

Now don’t get me wrong, I firmly believe in supporting the charities of your choice. I do and I am more than happy to continue to do so each year.  I am a long term supporter and member of WSPA, Red Cross, Amnesty International, Greenpeace and a couple of other organisations that I believe maximise the use of every dollar I  donate.

I just don’t want to be stalked and hassled at every turn.

Now before you suggest I do the hang up thing or get brutal with them, I don’t blame the actual caller – they’re just trying to make a living. All I want is some sort of ‘no call’ register where I can get my name and phone number recorded and which says that I do not to be called on my home phone number. I understand that the UK has such a thing and I have written (repeatedly) to NZ’s privacy ombudsman about having this option available here. I will not be giving up any time soon as there does not seem to be any light at the end of the tunnel so far.

Is this a problem where you live?

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A big Quiet Life welcome to ‘simple life’: my 40th follower! Thanks for stopping by and joining the crew. Join in and let me know what you think.