The promoter of a controversial Canadian pair accused of hate speech has cancelled their tour of New Zealand after Auckland Mayor Phil Goff denied them access to city venues.
Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux hold far-right views on topics ranging from feminism and immigration to Islam.
Ms Southern was banned from entering the UK earlier this year for her part “in the distribution of racist material in Luton”, according to the BBC.
The Canadian couple had been due to speak next month at the council-owned Bruce Mason centre on Auckland’s North Shore.
Pressure had been mounting on Immigration NZ to deny the pair entry with members of New Zealand’s Muslim community and the Auckland Peace Action publicly among those expressing concern.
But promoter David Pellowe said the tour was instead cancelled when Goff moved to bar the pair access to Auckland Council venues.
He told Newstalk ZB there were no other venues available at this late stage and that all tickets would have to be refunded.
Goff minutes earlier tweeted that council venues shouldn’t be used to stir up ethnic or religious tensions in a city that’s multicultural, inclusive and embraces people from all faiths and ethnicities.
“Views that divide rather than unite are repugnant, and I have made my views on this very clear. Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux will not be speaking at any council venues.
“Let me be very clear, the right to free speech does not mean the right to be provided with an Auckland Council platform for that speech.”
But Bellowes said Goff’s move to prohibit government property for use for “conservative ideas” was political.
“He has misrepresented the nature of the event the speakers and so on,” he said.
“Far from being willing to engage in a robust contest of ideas, he finds it far simpler to shut down any ideas he disagrees with.”
Bellowes described the decision as very disappointing for “freedom and democracy.”
“I would hope the residents of Auckland - those right of Stalin - remember this come election time,” he said.
Calling Southern and Molyneux “alt-right fascists”, Auckland Peace Action member Valerie Morse earlier promised to confront their supporters on the streets and blockade their speaking venues.
“Lauren Southern was refused entry to the United Kingdom for distributing racist material. She is the mouthpiece for violent anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant actions,” Morse said.
“She even boarded a boat in the Mediterranean that shot flares at medical boats seeking to rescue refugees who were drowning in the water.”
Morse said she was concerned right-wing extremism was reaching into “our communities through sophisticated propaganda and subversive strategies” in a way that could ultimately lead to acts of violence.
“It is imperative that this type of racism is given no room to be promoted and encouraged in Aotearoa.”
If this makes you angry we encourage you to leave a comment on Nazi Goff’s Facebook page : https://www.facebook.com/phil.goff.akld
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=12084381
Tags: Fascism, free speech, Lauren Southern, Phil Goff, Stefan Molyneux, Valerie Morse
Tags: Fascism, free speech, Lauren Southern, Phil Goff, Stefan Molyneux, Valerie Morse
July 6th, 2018 at 7:40 pm
I really wanted to say something on this but am too f*cking angry at the moment so will refrain from doing so …. Freedom of Speech is gone in NZ !!
July 6th, 2018 at 9:20 pm
It is really good that we do not have to think for ourselves any more. Mayor Geoff will make the important decisions for us. Such as, ’should I go and listen to a couple of ‘activists’ and make up my own mind about what they are talking about’.
NO! Thankfully Mayor Geoff has made the decision for me.
I do not want to have any thoughts not approved by Chairman Geoff.
So Kind of you, Geoff. You have saved me thinking.
By the way, what ever happened to the schools and hospitals the army were going to build in Afghanistan under the benevolent Geoff?
July 6th, 2018 at 10:53 pm
Good picture of Phil Goff. The modern Auckland city and its council are a disgusting abomination! I was right to leave, clearly there’s no room left for sane Whites in the hellhole Auckland has become. They’ll impose a petrol tax on actual New Zealanders to cover the additional transportation/roading costs required to accommodate the masses of immigrants putting a strain on the current infrastructure. And they’ll keep importing more immigrants and instead of giving them the bill for the additional infrastructure everyone has to pay for it, yet we cannot even use a venue. Awesome how New Zealanders constantly get the bill for everything, yet we now have no rights. I’m so done with Auckland, it was a nice place, but Phil Goff, his Muslims and mass immigration has destroyed it. This really is the nail in the coffin. DIEversity.
“Lauren Southern and Stefan Molyneux hold far-right views on topics ranging from feminism and immigration to Islam.”
Yeah change that “far-right” to sane, centrist or logical then you might have something.
Normies need to wake the f up and consider how low our Muslim population is now and they are already destroying our freedom of speech and liberties. What do they think will happen as the Muslim population increases?
Seriously considering learning Polish right now! I wonder how much Polish blood you need to have to move there. New Zealand is committing suicide.
Good bye New Zealand, I will never forget how great you once were. Now we’re just a globalist shithole.
July 7th, 2018 at 3:07 pm
Celtic Chic , you have a way with words . You have put into words exactly how I feel things are going in the shithole . I never thought this country would go down the toilet ; not at the speed it is happening . Irish blooded I am but not even my homeland is safe . Maybe we both might end up meeting in Warsaw . I’ll shout you a cuppa .
July 7th, 2018 at 3:26 pm
So Lauren Southern and Stephen Molyneux are allowed on YouTube but not in New Zealand? LOL
July 7th, 2018 at 5:38 pm
Hate speech -
I HATE FILTH GOFF
July 8th, 2018 at 9:08 am
Yeah it’s inclusive all right, just strole down central Auckland… Replacement