Will the Greens deplatform Winston?
Liam Hehir writes:
Nigel Farage, former leader of Britain’s UKIP, came to this country recently. His presence was, unsurprisingly, the subject of protests. One of the protestors was Golriz Ghahraman, a Green Party MP.
According to Newstalk ZB, her reason for speaking out was that “it’s really important that we stand here and say: we are against race hate, we are against religious division, and we stand with minorities.”
So the Greens think speakers who pick on minorities and do religious division should be deplatformed. Well Liam gives an example of someone they have missed:
- In 2003 put out a flyer called “Whose Country Is it Anyway?
- In 2004 said New Zealand was “being dragged into the status of an Asian colony
- In 2005 did a press release entitled “New Zealand – the Last Asian Colony”
- Demanded a referendum on same sex marriage in 2012, a stance Tony Abbott was condemned for
- Had a colleague blaming a “sorry pack of misogynist troglodytes from Wogistan”
- Launched his 2014 election campaign saying “As they say in Beijing, two Wongs don’t make a white,”
- Signed a poster of alt-right mascot Pepe the Frog
- Attacked a NZ herald story as it was written by “two Asian immigrant reporters”.
So will Green MPs be picketing the next time this MP is invited to speak?