Peace, Power and Politics: How New Zealand Became Nuclear Free.

• Author: Hensley, Gerald
• Position: Book review

PEACE, POWER AND POLITICS: How New Zealand Became Nuclear Free

Author. Maire Leadbeater

Published by: Otago University Press, Dunedin, 2013, 292pp, $35.

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If you were a member of Visual Artists against Nuclear War, the Free Kindergarten Association, the pharmacists who were also against nuclear war, or the numerous bodies of uncertain size which sprang up in the 1980s to oppose New Zealand's military links with the United States, this book will bring those exciting days flooding back.

Maire Leadbeater's detailed history of the struggle is the account of an active participant. It is clear, even-handed in tone and, as far as an outsider can tell, accurate. The story she recounts is of a peace movement which was in 1975 'not large and regarded by many as well outside the mainstream' but which grew in a decade to the point where 'politicians were forced to take it into account'.

This was accomplished by a brilliant and sustained publicity campaign which might be and perhaps is the subject of close study by corporate public relations consultants. The heady mix of strong convictions, youth and high energy was hard for more conservative forces to combat. The tactics were the familiar ones of protest--letters, marches, banners and eye-catching stunts extending to 'provocative demonstrations involving full nudity', which always has a radar-like attraction for the media. Like the devil, the protesters always seemed to have the best lines. This and a formidable network of supporters meant that a quick response could always be mounted to dominate the headlines.

The culmination was the 1984 election (the result of which she plausibly believes was influenced by the movement) and the battle over the proposed visit of the US destroyer USS Buchanan some six months later. She gives a good account of this as far as her chosen sources go, but, as befits a supporter of action on the street, ignores the failure to consult Cabinet or ministers about the decision. The rejection of Buchanan and the consequent end of ANZUS is seen as a victory for 'the little people who wrote letters, marched, sang'.

There is a touch of understandable triumphalism in this. There are breathless accounts of the great demonstrations against the intelligence centres at Tangimoana and Waihopai and against American warships entering our harbours, and 'millions of Europeans' are said to have been exposed to Kiwi anti-nuclear fervour. The momentary halting of USS...