Dr Lindsay already creating a stir!
Ultimately, without a culture of free speech in our nation, the law alone won’t be enough to protect it. So we’re in the business of shaping hearts and minds.
That's why we host the biggest free speech advocates, and tour them around the country, to make the case for this crucial freedom. Our tour with Dr. James Lindsay kicks off next week (details and tickets here!), but once again we’re up against booking rejections and cancellations.
Christchurch, we're looking at you (again). ?
It’s a bold (or ignorant?) move to cancel a booking for the Free Speech Union because you disagree with what a speaker might say... don’t you think? ?
These are private venues. That means ultimately they can choose who they do business with (whereas, ratepayer-owned venues must respect the Bill of Rights Act.)
But my question for you is this: when an events venue starts picking and choosing the topics that can be discussed on its premises, who really wins?
Venue management falls into the censorship trap and now suddenly every event they run must align with their views. And we are all poorer as the range of topics and events Kiwis have access to starts to dwindle.
The censorship trap is one Papa Hou almost fell into.
Papa Hou, an events center in Christchurch, has been a go-to for our tours. We’ve had fantastic sell-out evenings there with Jonathan Rauch, Prof. Nigel Biggar, and Dr. Peter Boghossian. Each event a success with no problems to report. So, it was an obvious choice for our upcoming tour with Dr. James Lindsay.
But this time, upon returning our booking agreement to Papa Hou, we were told that they could no longer accept our booking. Why?
They had “grave concerns” that Dr. Lindsay would share views “which are in significant conflict to the purpose, values and Kaupapa of our organisation”.
And the cherry on top: “Having this sort of event in our premises is therefore of significant risk to us.”
Again: this is a private venue. They can do what they like. But get this:
Papa Hou is managed by The Kind Foundation. (Yes, you read that right).
The Kind Foundation say they work to “search for a deeper understanding of humanitarian values” and “work together in searching for justice, freedom and peace”.
You don’t need me to draw out the irony. And in a cost of living crisis, you'd think a venue that exists to host meetings would be more, you know, willing to actually host meetings.
We pushed back, arguing that if they didn’t host us, that would also be a significant risk as we have over 100,000 free speech champions behind us who would also not be happy with their decision. We also discovered that the policy they used to try and cancel our contract with them had been written several hours earlier- literally making up the rules as they go!
When we pointed out the policy had been drafted specifically for this case, you won't be surprised, the CEO was not very happy we'd caught her at her own game!
Papa Hou eventually backtracked, albeit reluctantly. It wasn’t without a fight though, and frankly, we decided we'd rather spend our donor's generous money with outfits that recognise their role to maintain world class venues - not decide which opinions you and I get to hear.
The would-be-censors aren’t slowing us down.
As usual we have a jam-packed tour schedule with public events, media interviews (including on Q+A on Sunday, 16th March), and engagements with donors and politicians.
Will we see you at an event with Dr. Lindsay? A leading voice on the dangers of critical theories and rising authoritarianism, Dr. Lindsay is an author, the founder of New Discourses, and one of the three behind the infamous 'Grievance Studies' hoax, alongside Dr. Peter Boghossian.
Dr. Lindsay’s ability to identify and comment on dangerous trends early means he is often ahead of public discourse, and his insights have shaped much of the critical and common-sense thinking that is transforming the culture war around the globe.
We’re thrilled to have him contribute to the fight for free speech in New Zealand. You won’t want to miss it.
Can’t make it to an event? Keep an eye on our social media for updates!
Together, let’s continue shaping hearts and minds for a freer future.
