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I was away for a week and I was surprised to go back to the question of whether Auckland City Council should allow its sites to promote intolerance and the racial hatred.
Phil Goff at the center of it. Goff does not usually surprise me. He is so neo-liberal that his approach to most issues is easily predictable.
But his support for a prohibition by the Council of using its sites to visit speakers to promote racial bigotry and intolerance is a welcome surprise even though the decision was made apparently by council staff based on security and safety in the premises. (Such reasoning on the part of board staff is not valid if it is a genuine freedom of speech problem, the board should provide the necessary support for such Council Place Event)
"Is used as a blanket to promote denial of freedoms to others based on race and religion.All New Zealanders should enjoy the freedom of fear of freedom and racial or religious denigration, for this reason the council should not provide places for the promotion of racial or religious hatred that infringe the liberties of other citizens.
I was among those who complained to the Broadcasting Standards Tribunal of racist stereotypes in Al Nisbet's cartoon A press report a few years ago Nisbet promoted the view that Maori are lazy bludgeons who waste their blood drink, play and smoke. His drawing was nasty and vicious for which all Maori feel the kickback.
This is not a denial of Nisbet's freedom of speech to say that the drawing should not have been published. Nisbet has many other ways to promote his racist views without receiving a platform to do so by a major daily. The same goes for the "white genocide" alarmists whose story is based on seeing "the enemy" as being that of different races or religions for Europeans. Bringing hatred and resentment based on race or religion is nothing less than promoting fascist ideas.
That said, I am not a fan of the so-called "hate speech" laws. Such laws will be far more likely to be used against progressive people than the opposite. For example, Zionists in different parts of the world are trying to use such laws to close the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaigns against the Israeli state with the absurd assertion that BDS stands for 39; antisemitism.
We are already living in a strongly constrained country. In this context, progressive New Zealanders must fight for freedom of expression in all possible areas, but that does not include defending anyone's "rights" to promote racism or racism. religious hatred that smoothes the path to fascism.
These ideas must be confronted – not appeased.
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