She didn’t come, but kind of conquered

Generally, you’d say that the minimum requirement for receiving a standing ovation is that you show up. After a great deal of contentious debate, Chelsea Manning couldn’t get a visa in time to speak as scheduled at Sydney Opera House. Turns out that hardly mattered.

After all that discussion – some high-toned, some thuddingly jingoistic – about the desirability or tolerability of Australia providing a platform for this convicted leaker of hundreds of thousands of United States military and diplomatic documents, the event went ahead, essentially, untroubled.

The audience gathered, was able to see, hear, question and react to Manning, courtesy of nothing more clever than a straightforward satellite link.

It’s usually a dismissive term to say that someone phoned in a performance.

But in this case, you have to wonder if the lack of a visa really denied the event anything beyond what might be called the pleasures of the flesh.

Meaning the chance to see Manning in the flesh, to press the flesh, and perhaps enjoy the sense of provocation that her presence would have in making authoritarian flesh creep.

That provocation was probably there anyway. If anything, having her as an on-screen presence may have enhanced a sense of defiant communion, participants in an ‘‘Event They Tried To Stop’’.

Here is proof, if proof were needed, that you can turn people away at the border, but that’s not the same as turning away what they have to say. Not in this age of digital communication.

As things stand, Manning looks likely to be able to set foot in New Zealand. Officials have granted a special direction for her to apply for a work visa, and notwithstanding protestations of former Immigration Minister Michael Woodhouse, indications are that it will be processed as acceptable.

You might even wonder whether Immigration NZ general manager Steve Stuart was aware how odd it sounded when he reported that the likelihood of her offending in New Zealand had been assessed as low.

Chance would be a fine thing, considering that her jail sentence was for using her position as a miliary intelligence analyst to commit a breathtaking act of either pure treachery, or sanctified whistleblowing, by releasing 750,000 emails.

Obviously, Stuart was citing the reliability with which she has complied with the requirements of visas issued by other countries, following her early release from jail as an act of clemency by outgoing US president Barack Obama.

But, just as obviously, the concerns of those unhappy with the prospect of her coming have a lot to do with the message it sends to allies, and to ourselves, that this country does not repudiate Manning’s actions.

In truth, there’s probably more support for the stances that either she’s welcome, or that at least she’s entitled to show up and speak, because that’s the sort of society we choose to be. A secondary concern is that her presence may be a lightning-rod for more whistleblowing, responsible or not.

In any case, the lesson beamed in via Sydney is that separating the person from the idea doesn’t keep the idea at bay.

As things stand, Chelsea Manning looks likely to be able to set foot in New Zealand.