With 90 per cent of the eligible population now fully vaccinated against Covid-19, New Zealanders have not been this unified about a cause since the anti-nuclear movement of the 1980s. However, it’s a paradox of public opinion. New Zealand has always been perceived to be unified in our anti-nuclear stance when in fact there were a number of differing, strongly held perspectives, and we currently face a perception of being divided in our stance on Covid-19 when the data suggests we are more unified than ever. Why is that?
As Covid-19 starts to seep out of Tāmaki Makaurau and into other regions around Aotearoa, as we move from the four-step lockdown levels that kept us safe pre-Delta to the Covid protection framework – a traffic light system that differentiates between those vaccinated and those who are not, as we see protests taking place in our country, and reports of riots overseas, there seems to be a perception that New Zealanders are divided over Covid-19. However, if we look more closely, New Zealanders are actually more unified in our anti-Covid-19 approach than we were in our anti-nuclear stance in the 1980s.
There are similarities between our anti-nuclear and our anti-Covid-19 views. Like our anti-nuclear stance, Aotearoa has differentiated ourselves with our approach to Covid-19 compared to most of the rest of the world, with a clear approach by a Labour-led government. If they go pear shaped, both nuclear weapons and Covid-19 have the potential to pose threats to our community, to our personal health, and to overwhelm our health system. Being anti-nuclear and Covid-19 have had significant impact on our international relations. And both seem to elicit strong opinions which spilled into public protests.
There are also a number of differences. Both being anti-nuclear and Covid-19 have their roots in fear, however, being anti-nuclear came from a fear of nuclear war – a very real fear but something big and unknown. While Covid-19 started like that, the fear is based on more personal and tangible consequences, with the impact felt on our home and family lives, our professional lives and our lifestyles including fear of losing jobs or businesses and people having to work during lockdown on the ‘frontline’, a military term used to describe soldiers closest to the enemy. The rise of social media and digital technology means there is greater access to information, as well as mis- and dis-information on Covid-19 (inaccurate and deliberately misleading information) than in the 1980s. With being nuclear free, New Zealanders did not need to do anything specific, declaring being nuclear free was the biggest step Kiwis had to make, relying on the government and legislation for protection, compared with Covid-19 where every person has been asked to be vaccinated as a form of protection. And Covid-19 does not have a clear enemy – the virus is invisible and inflicting havoc but there is no one to blame.
The anti-nuclear movement
In the lead up to the introduction of New Zealand’s nuclear free zone legislation in 1987, which bans nuclear and biological weapons from a 22-mile zone around Aotearoa (but not nuclear energy), there were several high-profile events linked to the anti-nuclear movement. In July 1984, David Lange’s Labour party defeated the sitting National Party government in a snap election called by then-Prime Minister Robert Muldoon. Labour’s nuclear free position was part of their election campaign.
At the time, New Zealand was a member of ANZUS, a formal security alliance with Australia and the United States signed in 1951. Within months of being elected, the loyalty of the new government to ANZUS was tested when the United States announced in late 1984 it planned to send the USS Buchanan to visit in 1985, as part of the ANZUS pact. Although the Buchanan was commissioned in 1962 and unlikely to be nuclear-armed, there was still ambiguity with the United States not budging from their policy to neither confirm nor deny the defence capability of their ships. On 4 February 1985, the New Zealand government declined the request. Consequently, the United States announced New Zealand had moved from ally to friend, irrevocably severing the ANZUS relationship.
A month later was Prime Minister David Lange’s televised speech at the Oxford Union debate, where he successfully argued the proposition that ‘nuclear weapons are morally indefensible’, famously proclaiming, “I can smell the uranium on your breath”.
Also key was the bombing of the Greenpeace ship the Rainbow Warrior on 10 July 1985, while docked at Waitematā Harbour in Tāmaki Makaurau, killing Portuguese photographer Fernando Pereira. The act of violence was carried out by two French Secret Service agents to prevent Greenpeace from protesting French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll in our South Pacific backyard.
All these events supported a widely held anti-nuclear stance. However, what many do not realise is that, like Covid-19, there were many different perspectives that made up our anti-nuclear sentiment.
Opinion polls in the 1980s suggested New Zealanders wanted to be nuclear free and also wanted to remain in ANZUS. In a 1984 Heylen Research Centre opinion poll, 76 percent of New Zealanders supported banning nuclear weapons and 57 percent were against visits to New Zealand ports by nuclear-armed warships. In December 1984, a poll of 2000 New Zealanders by the National Research Bureau found that 66 percent wanted to remain a member of the ANZUS alliance.
Further evidence of this came from a Heylen poll in March 1985, where results were split evenly, with 45 percent saying they would prefer to remain in ANZUS and allowing nuclear ship visits and 45 percent wanted to break defence ties with the United States. In another poll in October 1985, the evenly split sentiment had not significantly changed, even though this poll came after the bombing of the Rainbow Warrior. In May 1986, a National Research Bureau poll, which stated if being nuclear free and remaining in ANZUS was not possible, was again evenly split, where 52 percent of New Zealanders preferred staying in ANZUS and allowing nuclear capable ship visits, and 44 percent preferred leaving ANZUS and banning nuclear capable ships.
This tells us is there were key differing opinions that eventually became enveloped in the collective anti-nuclear movement. Further details of the sentiments captured in the opinion polls were revealed in letters from the New Zealand public, sent to the Foreign Affairs and Defence Select Committee in 1982. Originally named the Disarmament and Arms Control Select Committee, it was set up in 1982 initially for a year, at the insistence of then-National MP Dame Marilyn Waring to investigate the issues raised by the nuclear free zone bill introduced by MP Richard Prebble, particularly around ANZUS and ship visits.
The committee was re-formed after the 1984 election as the Foreign Affairs and Defence Committee, chaired by then-MP Helen Clark. The committee received 131 letters in June and July 1982 which revealed Aotearoa’s strong anti-nuclear stance was rooted in a fear of nuclear war. Very few letters discussed visits by nuclear capable ships, even though this is often touted as being the main concern of our anti-nuclear sentiment.
So why is it, that we are perceived to be unified in our anti-nuclear stance, but not anti-Covid-19?
Covid-19 factors
Around 90 percent of eligible New Zealanders have had their first vaccine jab, and over 80 percent have had both vaccination jabs. This suggests we are more unified against Covid-19 than we are against all things nuclear. While being vaccinated does not mean we all feel the same way about other Covid-19 issues, according to a recent 1News Colmar Brunton poll, 74 percent of New Zealanders supported the move by the government to mandate vaccinations in certain workforces. Only 20 percent were opposed.
However, like with our anti-nuclear sentiment, there are a range of ideas collated under one umbrella movement. Also like the anti-nuclear sentiment, there is fear at the heart for both those who support vaccinations and those who do not. However, while New Zealanders come together despite different perspectives when it comes to being anti-nuclear, there does not seem to be the same camaraderie with Covid-19. But I think we want to.
In the same Colmar Brunton poll, New Zealanders were asked if they approve or disapprove of the approach by former National Party leader Judith Collins. So far, the National Party have maintained a typical opposition stance using negative, divisive rhetoric, even regarding Covid-19. Tellingly, the Colmar Brunton poll shows that New Zealanders support for this approach has fallen steadily from 50 percent in July 2020 to only 25 percent in November 2021. This suggests that a divisive approach is not what New Zealanders want. In contrast, it is reported that rival gangs are coming together to help encourage people in their community to get vaccinated.
With Covid-19, it feels like we are under attack but from something we cannot physically see and there is no clear enemy to blame. Instead, it has highlighted social inequities and injustices, which in themselves are more tangible and where people can be held accountable, making them easier to focus on instead of Covid-19 directly. Some of these issues include racial discrimination in our health system particularly for Māori and Pacific people, and our housing crisis, from homelessness, emergency housing, and overcrowding potentially leading to faster spread of the virus amongst the more vulnerable members of our community. These are big issues which will not be solved instantly, especially while simultaneously tackling a pandemic. However, there are steps being taken to address these issues where we can come together and collectively focus our energy and time, rather than being divisive.
Coming together
There is a quote from United States/British television show, Ted Lasso, that comes to mind.
“I’ve been hearing this phrase y’all got over here that I ain’t too crazy about. “It’s the hope that kills you.” Y’all know that? I disagree, you know? I think it’s the lack of hope that comes and gets you. See, I believe in hope. I believe in belief.”
For some reason, we have hope and belief in being anti-nuclear. However, that same hope and belief does not seem to exist for tackling Covid-19. We may all have different beliefs in what approaches to Covid-19 are best, just like we did on what approaches to being nuclear-free should look like. However, one of the challenges with Covid-19 is that our stance has been reduced to being either for or against – vaccination, wearing masks, or lockdowns. As Brené Brown writes in her book Braving the Wilderness, a person’s perspective is never simply for or against, but this happens when we have dehumanised people to their stance, in this case on Covid-19.
Brown’s research shows that belonging is not something we achieve or accomplish with others, it is something that is personal to us. In addition, a sense of belonging cannot be fostered or sought through a collective cause that is based on being against something. Fear and hate just fosters more fear and hate. On the other hand, shared trust, respect, and civility, even if we disagree on what that might look like, creates connection.
Change is scary and unsettling. Moving away from our status quo is not something many of us choose to do, but the advancement of nuclear weapons and the spread of Covid-19 has nudged us into a place where we talk about a ‘new normal’. Here are four tips to re-humanise each other to foster that connection and our sense of belonging through the discomfort:
1. Stay committed to being present and seeing people based on our in-person experience with them.
2. Keep personal boundaries. It is important to respect your own boundaries and respect other people’s boundaries, and I don’t just mean 2-metre social distancing. This may mean you decide to not see friends or family related to your vaccination choices. This may be hard, but it is okay to make this decision if this aligns with your values. This is not a forever decision, but a what’s right for now decision.
3. Practice gratitude for what you have. No matter what your perspective is on Covid-19 and how the New Zealand government has responded, it has been a challenging time. There are plenty of people who will point out what has gone wrong, but to get through today focus on what you have.
4. And to end, another quote via Ted Lasso, this time from Walt Whitman; be curious, not judgemental.
Alida Shanks 