Earlier this week TUC (Trade Union Congress) in the UK voted for an extensive boycott of everything Israel. The motion was submitted by Artists’ Union England. One of the keynote speakers at the congress and sounding like a real TUC groupie was Jacinda Ardern via video.
She says in the video that she applied for a job as a Women’s Officer with the TUC but missed out. “You set a high bar”. Leader of the Labour Party is obviously a much lower bar.
She talks about the importance of tackling far right rhetoric (whatever that is?), racism and Xenophobia. She refers to the Christchurch terror attack and talks about a “White Supremacist extremist” and then confusingly says that his views motivated a gunman to kill the people at the mosque. I have no idea who she is referring to. Perhaps some readers can help me out. It appears that she is saying that the terrorist was influenced to act by a particular person who she does not name.
She then takes a Trump line and complains about a world that contains fake news. She talks about fragmented interest groups and multiple sources of information that the public distrust. She claims that it is an environment that is ripe for “shock politics.” She claims that this means that democratic institutions are now under threat. She talks to her audience as if they are small children that she is explaining the world to. Why free speech and new media represent a threat to democracy is not explained.
She talks about freedom of expression being challenged ignoring the fact that it is the Left who are leading the charge against free speech in New Zealand with their boner for Hate Speech laws.
She paints Nationalism as dangerous and Globalism as the answer to all the world’s ills. I watched it so you don’t have to but if you have a strong stomach and can handle the Pollyanna rountine knock yourselves out.
