In less than 24 hours,
the Free Speech Coalition has
reached its $50,000 fundraising goal and will be engaging lawyers to bring
judicial proceedings against Auckland Council for its ban on Lauren Southern
and Stefan Molyneux at Council-owned venues.
Chris Trotter, who is supporting the Coalition, says, "Thank you to every New Zealander who has dug deep to support such an important cause."
“We had hoped to raise this money by 5pm Friday. However, within the first day of this campaign we have been completely swamped by people pledging money to the cause – from $5 to $5,000.”
Melissa Derby, another supporter of the Coalition, says, “We look forward to setting a strong legal precedent that shows the use of publicly-owned venue cannot be dictated by the political whims of those in power.”
“For us this is not about helping these particular speakers, but in defending the rights of all New Zealanders to express and hear controversial views.”
Chris Trotter, who is supporting the Coalition, says, "Thank you to every New Zealander who has dug deep to support such an important cause."
“We had hoped to raise this money by 5pm Friday. However, within the first day of this campaign we have been completely swamped by people pledging money to the cause – from $5 to $5,000.”
Melissa Derby, another supporter of the Coalition, says, “We look forward to setting a strong legal precedent that shows the use of publicly-owned venue cannot be dictated by the political whims of those in power.”
“For us this is not about helping these particular speakers, but in defending the rights of all New Zealanders to express and hear controversial views.”
All those who believe in free speech owe a debt of gratitude to Jordan Williams and everyone else who worked to get this campaign up and running so quickly - especially Chris Trotter, who courageously went out on a limb and risked a backlash from fellow leftists (some of whom, to their credit, share Chris's principled commitment to freedom of expression).
Incidentally, the coalition is still accepting donations at nz.free.speech.coalition@gmail.com. You can be confident the money will be put to good use.
3 comments:
Utterly brilliant. Let's do this! Thanks for your leadership Karl.
Hear, hear. Didn't know much about these two before all this but after some homework I'm even more certain this whole schemozzle is a nonsense. Goff might've well as handed them a megaphone & the keys to the city!
I invite your readers to read and absorb Simon Wilson’s piece in the Herald today, Friday. To my mind it’s the very first well reasoned, sane and sensible comment on “free speech” that’s so far been published in the context of the current mini saga.
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