Cancelled talk ‘brutal censorship’
A controversial talk was cancelled for ‘‘health and safety’’ concerns, leading the speaker to believe he has been censored.
Bruce Moon was invited by the Nelson Institute to speak and he chose to present on what he calls the ‘‘fake history’’ of New Zealand, focusing on the Treaty of Waitangi, its interpretation and its implementation.
Days before his April 8 talk he was contacted by a Nelson Institute representative Paul Lunberg saying it would not be going ahead.
Moon says the cancellation is ‘‘brutal censorship’’ and leading Maori historian John Mitchell, while disagreeing with Moon’s views, is also outraged the talk was cancelled.
In an email to Moon, Lunberg explained that the talk would be cancelled due to complaints.
‘‘Both the Nelson City Council and the library felt a talk could disturb the peace and become a health and safety issue.’’
Moon said he wasn’t directly told what the nature of the complaints were, but he said he interpreted ‘‘health and safety’’ as ‘‘code for a threat of violence’’.
‘‘I was invited to give this talk ... It wasn’t me pushing my views on anybody,’’ he said.
He said ultimately, cancelling the talk was ‘‘brutal censorship’’, which he had even predicted in his talk, which said values like ‘‘truth, fairness and democracy’’ were ‘‘under threat’’.
‘‘To me, it’s a signal that there are people who don’t want the truth to be known, and are prepared to use violence to prevent it.
‘‘I find the truth in my research, and I say so,’’ he said.
He said not only was the cancel- lation of his speech censorship of him, it also meant no one else could engage with his views, regardless of if they agreed or not.
‘‘I will defend what I say, but if someone proves me wrong, I will change my views,’’ he said.
‘‘That’s happened before ... I thought ‘ka mate’ meant ‘kill him’, but it means ‘tis death’. That was a mistake.’’
Moon worked as a physicist before his retirement and now dedicates his time to studying New Zealand’s history.
Dr John Mitchell, former chair of the Ngati Tama Trust and a Ma¯ori historian, said cancelling the talk was ‘‘an abrogation of our democracy’’.
‘‘I disagree with everything you say, but I will put my life on the line to defend your right to say it,’’ he said, paraphrasing the famous saying and outlining his stance on Moon’s talk.
Mitchell was adamant that no one in the local Ma¯ori community would have made the ‘‘insinuated’’ threats.
‘‘I’m affronted at the prospect that some of the people that I am honoured to represent might be thought to have lodged these threats, and I can’t believe that they did,’’ he said.
‘‘I for the life of me can’t imagine who in this community would make such dire threats that that’s [violence] what the Nelson Institute or the library came to believe was the risk involved.’’
He said most iwi had no time for the ‘‘jaundiced view of the treaty’’ that Moon had, ‘‘but that’s neither here nor there — he still has the right to say it’’.
‘‘I disagree vehemently with most of what Bruce Moon has to offer ... I still would defend his right to say what he wants to say, and the right of those who want to make a rejoinder to make a rejoinder.
‘‘It’s a basic, fundamental principle of our democracy,’’ Mitchell said.
NCC communications manager Paul Shattock said the group organising the talk raised concerns ‘‘due to threats ... which potentially would put the speaker and library staff at risk’’.
Shattock said the council ‘‘did not endorse Mr Moon’s point of view’’, but that was not the reason for the talk’s cancellation.
‘‘The council does not restrict the freedom of speech.
‘‘It does however value the health and safety of its staff, and actively works to ensure the workplace is safe,’’ he said.