International Socialists

In the middle of the summer holidays, activists in Auckland protested the participation of Israeli Shahar Peer in a tennis tournament. Police arrested some of the activists on charges of disorderly conduct and the activists - especially veteran anti-apartheid activist John Minto - were lambasted in the media for dragging a political controversy into sports. In this interview, Socialist Review asks John Minto about the protests.

1)   In the middle of the summer holidays when you were protesting the presence of Shahar Pe'er, an Israeli tennis player, at the ASB Classic. What has she got to do with politics?
It has everything to do with politics. When sportspeople such as Shahar Peer play overseas they are unofficial representatives of their country just as Michael Campbell as a professional sportsperson carries NZ hopes in international golf. In Peer’s case we should protest because she is part of the growing BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel called by a full spectrum of Palestinian organisations in 2005. It is slowly gaining momentum here and around the world as the best way to bring pressure on Israel alongside building understanding and support for the Palestinian struggle.

2)   The Bill of Rights Act 1990 guarantees the freedom of speech and right to protest. Why were you arrested? Isn’t New Zealand a ‘free’ country?
The police claim we were breaching the peace and have laid charges of disorderly behaviour and obstruction on those arrested. (They underlined their anti-democratic, anti free speech attitudes with a request to the courts for destruction orders for the five loudhailers they seized from protestors)
The legal situation is that we believe we have a very strong case for having the charges dismissed because causing annoyance, which was the most we were doing, is not grounds for the interference of the criminal law. There needs to be a significant outbreak of disorder before the police can act and the Supreme Court says the bar is even higher in cases where people are exercising their rights under the Bill of Rights Act. We are appearing to argue this on 1 April and if unsuccessful the hearing is on 1 September.
3)   Several media commentators in New Zealand criticised your activism. Yet rarely is Israel criticised in our media. Why is this?
Because Israel has run a very successful blackmail operation for many decades. Many Jewish groups simply accuse anyone of anti-Semitism if they criticize Israeli policies. This has kept the media in a constant state of self-censorship since 1948. This is breaking down and huge progress has been made in the past 5 years here particularly. I was very encouraged by the reaction to the tennis protests. Yes we were roundly criticized but people we saying “I don’t agree with the way Israel treats the Palestinians but…” This is big progress.
4)   You were a prominent leader of the anti-apartheid struggle, in 1981.  Do you think there are similarities to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?
Yes there are and this has been commented on by so many people such as Bishop Desmond Tutu, Nelson Mandela and even Jimmy Carter as well as a former Israeli PM [Ehud Olmert - ed], whose name escapes me at present who said unless Israeli settled on the pre 1967 borders it would be accused of running an apartheid state and would lose legitimacy.
5)   Many Jews have criticised Israeli’s brutalisation of the Palestinian People (including Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, Naomi Klein, and Richard Goldstone). How do you respond when you are called anti-Semitic?
It’s very important to simply make the point we are NOT anti-semitic but anti the policies of the Israeli government. I point to the 10,000 who marched in Tel  Aviv against the invasion of Gaza as well as the Refuseniks (young Israeli’s who refuse to fight in the Zionist army) and the many Jewish groups around the world who oppose Zionism and join the protests.
6)   What can ordinary New Zealanders do if they are concerned about what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank? Aren’t we too far away to have an impact?
No we are small but have often punched above our weight internationally. Personally people can visit www.big.org.nz to support the boycott or join groups around the country working to isolate Israel.