PUBLIC ACTION:LET THE CHALK TALK
By Elliot Taylor
The sun bore down on Civic Square at high noon on 20 February 2008 as members of the public, diplomatic representatives, and civil society activists joined forces on the warmed cobblestones, their frames outlined in chalk as a visual protest organised by the Aotearoa New Zealand Cluster Munition Coalition. 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 – Portuguese, 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 kinds 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 this 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.”
On the evening following the public stunt, 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 picked up one of the signed cluster bomb flyers and said, “If every one of these petitions was a vote for the cluster munitions treaty we’ll be on track to get a good result.” And the chalk echoes his call.
This article originally appeared in Cluster Ban News, Vol 1 Issue 4, 21 February 2008.
LEARN MORE:
Websites:
Oxfam campaigns against Cluster Bombs
Aotearoa New Zealand Stop Cluster Munition Coalition site
Wikipedia entry on Cluster bombs
Human Right Watch collection of documents on Cluster bombs
Heaps of info on http://www.stopclustermunitions.org/
Factsheet on cluster bombs on BBC news site
Videos:
Cluster Bombs: A Weapon out of Control - Human Rights Watch video on YouTube A short film documenting the lethal effects of the use of cluster munitions worldwide, with commentary, new statistics and analysis from military experts at Human Rights Watch. The footage shows how cluster munitions have endangered civilian populations from the Vietnam era through current conflicts in Iraq and Lebanon.
Watch a video report on how thousands of unexploded cluster munitions still cover the battlefields and are wounding many unintended victims (civilians) in Lebanon.
TAKE ACTION:
Write a letter (you can simply adapt the example one on the Cluster Munition coalition site) asking that the New Zealand Superannuation Fund stops investing in companies that produce cluster bombs such as weapons manufacturers Lockheed Martin and Raytheon.
Sign up for updates from Peace Movement Aotearoa at www.converge.org.nz/pma and receive CMC campaign bulletins by contacting laura@stopclustermunitions.org
Sign the petition on the Handicap International site calling for a ban on Cluster Bombs
