Young people these days… Hang on! Not so fast!
Young people these days… am I right?
Hang on! Not so fast!
After three days at the University of Auckland orientation week (o-week) with the four Auckland-based team members of the Free Speech Union, I’ve walked away with enormous reason to hope!
Thousands of students stopped to talk to our team, and over 1,000 of them signed up to hear more about our work, join us at events, and to educate themselves about our society’s fundamental need for free speech. Auckland Uni students – you’ve done us proud!
We’ve no doubt now that free speech can have a future in NZ, even if we have to rebuild that culture from the ground up.
Countless conversations, invigorating debate, and curious minds – we’re engaging with the brave nucleus of a new generation of free speech champions in-the-making.
Don’t believe us? Watch some of our student interviews here.
Not only that, but I had the privilege of meeting about a dozen first year Uni students who attended our inaugural Speak Up! high school workshops last year!
Last year, we made an investment for free speech in these students’ lives, and this year, we get to build on that.
I’ve no doubt you’ll agree, educating and inspiring our young people is the key to long-term success in the free speech fight. This is why our Speak Up! program in NZ high schools is so vital.
On the back of our successful student workshops last year (we’ve been invited back to all of them this year), we want to also expand our reach in 2025. Your support this year will help us achieve even greater in-roads into NZ secondary education.
(If you’re interested in hearing more about our school’s Speak Up! Programme, or possibly having us visit a school in your local area, please don’t hesitate to reach out.)
One student newly arrived from Whangarei even exclaimed, “I’m so relieved I found you guys! I was worried FSU wouldn’t be allowed on campus!”
Well, Auckland Uni let us. But only because an enlightened Auckland Uni staff member bravely stood firm in the face of criticisms from some of his colleagues.
The seven other NZ Universities we applied to didn’t let us participate in their O-Weeks around the country. Despite repeatedly asking Massey University well ahead of time, Nathan Seiuli, our tireless and determined events manager received a belated confirmation that FSU could attend Massey’s O-Week….a week after their O-Week was over!
The Free Speech Union may well be gaining a reputation for achieving what many naysayers said would be impossible in this country, but even we can’t travel back in time! At least we know that they won’t have any objection to us attending the Massey mid-year O-week. Right, Massey?!
Did we encounter opposition? You bet, although I only had one student scream in my face! Don’t worry, our team are thick-skinned 😉
It’s also important to note that most resistance is actually coming from certain vocal staff members.
Free speech, as you can imagine, is regarded as a direct threat to the ideological conformity imposed in so many of our tertiary institutions. Another reason we’re so determined to succeed in this cause.
Speaking of institutions, have you heard the news that FSU will be going into Taupo District Council later this month to run free speech training for Council staff? Like Marlborough District Council who we worked with in the same way last year, TDC has acknowledged that it needs to ensure it honours the fundamental principles of the Bill of Rights Act.
This is only good news for local councils, their staff and most importantly the people they must answer to – the public!
Rather than fall short of safeguarding this most basic democratic freedom, we strongly urge other councils around the country to take up the initiative and invite us in to help upskill their staff too.
But we’re not just in schools, at universities, and working at educating institutions. As we all know, adults should never stop learning.
For this reason, we’re introducing the FSU Autumn Book Club to our paid members. We’ll be exploring a recent novel from courageous, free-thinking American writer Lionel Shriver, a long-time resolute champion of free speech, conscience and intellectual inquiry.
Her wit and perceptive cultural analysis allows her storytelling to hold up a mirror to the world we live in.
If you need any further encouragement, John Cleese writes of Shriver’s novel, “Seldom is a book as funny, important and timely….I was laughing out loud at the same time as my blood was running cold.”
To express interest in taking part in the FSU Autumn Book Club, please reply to this email noting this. We’ll be in touch with the start date, live zoom conversations, a WhatsApp channel to follow, and (we’re hoping), a chance to have a live, remote, Q+A with Shriver himself. If you’re not a paid-up member, join now! We’d love to have you.
Nick Hanne
P.S. Don’t forget, next week we have another national speaking tour coming to Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, and Christchurch. Dr. James Lindsay will be doing live events, interviews with opponents, media, and much more.
