A murmur of protest

Press, 18 March 1982, Page 20

A murmur of protest

It should be safe to assume that those councillors of the. Lyttelton Borough and Christchurch City who voted to have Lyttelton and Christchurch join Devonport as nuclear-weapon-free zones were under no illusions about the practical effects of the gestures they were making. No-one, surely, believes that the passing of such resolutions will cause any enemy to forbear from bombing either of the two towns if that is what its global strategy requires. Equally, no-one, surely, believes that the resolutions, will prompt the New Zealand Government to prevent any ally from deploying nuclear weapons in either Christchurch or Lyttelton if that ally insists its global strategy requires such deployment.

Those who objected to or have since ridiculed the resolutions appear to be reading more into the resolutions than their authors intended — to express abhorrence about the manufacture, stockpiling and possible use of nuclear weapons. The scientist who suggested there was confusion about what the resolutions were directed against was setting up a straw man, creating confusion where there had been none before. The resolutions were certainly not intended to give officers of the city or borough council power to impound luminous watches or to interfere with scientists using radioactive substances

for beneficial scientific or medical purposes. Some critics of the- resolutions might be tempted to read anti-American sentiments into them, since only the Americans would be likely ever to attempt to base nuclear weapons here. It is, fair to assume that the authors and supporters of the resolutions are as vehemently opposed to being blown up by a Soviet nuclear weapon as they are to the basing of American nuclear weapons in either Christchurch or Lyttelton supposedly for the defence of New Zealand. A scientist at the National Radiation Laboratory in Christchurch, questioning the value of declaring the borough and city nuclear-weapon-free zones, described the passing of the resolutions as “a murmur of democratic protest” which in practical terms “doesn’t mean anything.” Even supporters of the resolutions would probably be happy to concur with this judgment. The important thing to them was to make the point that the world would be a happier place if nations pursued the goals of security and defence without relying on nuclear weapons. There is no harm in making the point. Even if the actions of the borough and city councils were futile, both councils have wasted time before on less commendable causes than this.