On Wednesday 20 February 2008, the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition held a stunt in Civic Square, Wellington to protest against cluster bombs. Later that evening, more than 3,000 petitions were delivered to the government. Here is an article on the events from the daily Cluster Ban News.

Public Action: Let the Chalk Talk

The sun bore down on Civic Square at high noon yesterday as members of the public, diplomatic representatives, and civil society activists joined forces on the warmed cobblestones. Delegates rushed to apply sun block after rumours circulated of the depleted ozone layer looming above New Zealand. Placards in many languages were held high – Portugese, Thai, French, Spanish, Sanskrit, and English. Indian and Pakistani stood side by side with one voice. With her equally powerful voice, Jody Williams, 1997 Nobel Peace Laureate, let loose from an invisible soapbox and the media loved every moment.In some respects, it was glorious advocacy. Public action as we wish it always is. Yet what it represented is far less glorious.

“I think it’s disgusting the kind of damage that these cluster bombs do,” said 18-year-old Sam Oldham, after signing his name inside a chalk outline. “I’m definitely hoping that they’ll be banned.”

Lwindi Ellis, PR Director of Draft FCB, whose company dreamt up the public stunt, desires the same. “The more that I’ve learnt about cluster bombs, the more horrified I am that they still exist. I’m hoping that it will be a strong treaty in the end.”

Tania Mead, a 20-year-old student at Victoria University,found the visual aspect of the public stunt especially powerful. “I think this is a really important way of personifying your anger and your frustration that these kind of weapons are still used with impunity. It’s a really great visual gesture in terms of trying to raise people’s awareness about what’s going on and how to prevent it.”

The simple message of yesterday’s action needs to be emphasised:imagine Civic Square littered with victims of cluster munitions. Laura, Ian, Shamim, Becky, Elliot. They may have only been chalk outlines, but the names are real. Imagine the victims of cluster munitions on the streets of your own capital. For some, that exercise may not be that tough. Still, the question remains, how close do the repercussions of deadly weapons have to get before empathy hits home? An ally? A neighbouring country? Our front doorstep?

The ever-effervescent Margaret Taylor of Amnesty International believes the buck stops here. “No exceptions. No outs. The sanest approach is to ensure that cluster munitions are banned full stop,” she stated firmly, with chalk in hand. “We need to stop seeing, 20 years after a war, people injured because of unexploded cluster munitions. And those victims, those survivors, need to be given recompense and a fresh start in life.”

Justin, a New Yorker residing in New Zealand, has seen first hand the effects of cluster munitions and landmines on civilians in South East Asia. For him the event was a timely reminder of these experiences abroad. “Everyone has a family member who’s either died or been maimed… It’s very traumatic.You feel horrible. It’s probably our responsibility. And if we can try to limit that for the future generations, then, well, that’s why we’re here.”

Last night at a parliamentary reception, the delegation of cluster survivors dropped almost 3,000 petition signatures at the feet of New Zealand’s Minister for Disarmament and Arms Control, Phil Goff. Stunned at first, the Minister quickly recovered to thank the campaign for the ringing endorsement of support for his mission to establish the cluster ban treaty. He held up one of the signed cluster bomb flyers to the audience of diplomats, parliamentarians, and campaigners, and said, “If every one of these petitions was a vote for the cluster munitions treaty we’d be on track to get a good result.”

And the chalk echoes his call.

—Elliot Taylor

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