[imc-auckland-video] Protest Against Zimbabwe Cricket Tour Sat. July 16 Leaves Noon QE2 Square Auckland

[Geraldene Peters]

Hi there,
In case anyone can organise write up and coverage of the event.
Please forward through your networks
Cheers, Geraldene 
   
   GLOBAL PEACE & JUSTICE  AUCKLAND  Private Bag 68905, Newton, Auckland.
www.gpja.pl.net  
      
1 July 2005 
 
Media Release:
Protest March Against Zimbabwe Cricket Tour
 
Following the announcement late today from the New Zealand Cricket Council
that they intend to proceed with the Cricket tour to Zimbabwe next month
Global Peace and Justice Auckland are organising a protest march against the
tour.
 
We are appalled at the callous, profit-first attitude of the New Zealand
Cricket Council.  It is an unethical and immoral decision and in the worst
tradition of appalling decisions by New Zealand sportspeople.   They have
learnt nothing from past New Zealand experiences.
 
The suffering in Zimbabwe is palpable.   The abuse of poor communities is
extreme.   The main opposition group the MDC (Movement for Democratic
Change) has supported the call for a sports boycott to bring pressure on the
Mugabe regime.   They believe a boycott by New Zealand cricketers will bring
strong and positive pressure for political change in Zimbabwe.   We agree.
 
However if this tour were to proceed now in the face of widespread calls to
boycott Zimbabwe it will bring a sigh of relief to Mugabe and his cronies
and the green light to continue his oppression.   This is unconscionable.
 
As a whole the people of New Zealand have matured with most opposing this
tour.  However our cricket administrators are as one-eyed as our rugby
administrators once were.
 
The best analogy is the 1976 All Black Tour to South Africa.   The All
Blacks toured against widespread opposition from within New Zealand and
around the world at a time when the South African police and army were
brutally suppressing an uprising by black South African school children.
 
This tour is scheduled to take place against a background of tens of
thousands of Zimbabwe¹s poorest being bulldozed from their homes and
relocated into abject, rural poverty.
 
In 1976 our rugby administrators said ³keep politics out of sport²
In 2005 our cricket administrators are saying ³we¹ll lose money²
 
Both responses are as pathetic as each other.
 
The protest march will take place from the bottom of Queen Street at 12noon
on Saturday July 16th.   It will end with a rally in Myers Park.   The
protest will call for government and Cricket Council action to cancel the
tour.   This anti-tour protest will call for an end to human rights abuses
in Zimbabwe and around the world.
  
Mike Treen ­ (09) 3616989 or 0275254744
John Minto ­ (09) 8463173 (Hm) or (09) 2745764 (Wk)
Geraldene Peters - (09) 3765994
 

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