Free Speech Union (FSU) General Secretary Toby Young is currently on a speaking tour in New Zealand, where FSU New Zealand member Damien Grant caught up with him for Stuff.
“I’d become aware of Young because he writes for the Spectator, a conservative-leaning British publication,” Grant says. “It was through his own commentary that I knew of his cancellation in 2018 when a few ill-considered drunk tweets forced him out of polite society and into penury.” He continues:
“In reaction Young established Britain’s FSU because, in part, when he found himself having to work out how to respond to the outrage archaeologists he was forced to wing it. ‘And I didn’t wing it very well,’ he tells me.
“The New Zealand FSU, inspired by its British parent, came into being in response to Auckland Council cancelling a venue for controversial speakers, Stefan Molyneux and Lauren Southern in 2018, on the premise that there was a risk of violent disruption. The FSU took the matter to the Supreme Court. We lost.
“At the time, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, said: ‘I think you’ll see from the reaction that they have had from New Zealanders that their views are not those that are shared by this country and I’m quite proud of that.’
“She is at least consistent in believing that lawful speech is sometimes tantamount to violence.
“In response to the 2019 Christchurch Mosque attack, the then Prime Minister advocated strengthening hate speech laws to prohibit speech intended to ‘incite/stir up, maintain or normalise hatred’ against religious groups and LGBTQI communities – where of course terms like ‘hatred’ remained ill-defined and dependent on subjective criteria.
“Since leaving office she has continued her work with the ‘Christchurch Call’, a group of 130 countries, online service providers and civil society organisations that advocate legislation to tackle what in their view constitutes ‘online hate’.
“A revealing moment was Ardern’s 2022 address to the United Nations: ‘After all, how do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble?,’ she asked. ‘How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists?’
“The problem is that she (Ardern) has defined the objective,” Grant writes. “How do you achieve the correct outcomes if people do not agree with her starting premise? She does not consider that her prior assumptions could be wrong, and that is the foundation of the worst form of censorship, where it is being done for our own good.”
“Legislation follows culture, which is why organisations and individuals like the Free Speech Union and Toby Young are important.
“Young is visiting the Antipodes on behalf of the FSU, which is how I was able to corner him for an hour.
“He is an articulate advocate against the restrictions Ardern and others had sought. He believes that what the nascent regulators really object to is the ideas and values being expressed, and they know better than you or I what we should be allowed to say, and to hear.”
