ALL'S WELL THAT NZ WELL

With the trial of the EDO Decommissioners rapidly approaching (see http://decommissioners.co.uk), activists can take heart from news from New Zealand where a teacher, a farmer and a Dominican friar mounted the first successful “for the greater good” defence in the country’s history.

Adrian Leason, Sam Land and Father Peter Murnane freely admitted cutting their way through the fences of a government spybase near Blenheim and slashing the inflatable plastic dome covering a satellite dish with sickles.

But it took a jury just two hours to acquit the Waihopai Ploughshares three, after they accepted the defence that they believed what they were doing would prevent human suffering. Wellington lawyer John Miller said, “If you believe someone’s in grave danger of suffering and you prick a balloon, that seems quite reasonable.” Well, quite. And if you take a hammer to a factory...

* See http://ploughshares.org.nz