‘Hate speech is not free speech’
In the hours after the Christchurch mosque attacks, the country’s new human rights commissioner saw the best and worst of New Zealand.
Professor Paul Hunt had been in the role for just weeks, when a gunman stormed into two mosques – killing 50 and injuring dozens more.
Any complacency about his new role ‘‘evaporated’’ in that moment, he told a packed audience at the University of Otago yesterday.
He recalled seeing a large swastika dabbed on a Christchurch road in the hours after the attack, but that was overshadowed by those dealing with the aftermath of the rampage.
Hunt spoke of the communities, particularly the city’s Muslim community, as having a ‘‘sense of unity’’ when faced with such tragedy.
No-one, including those with ‘‘unspeakably harrowing’’ stories, had a bad word to say about New Zealand.
However, that dignity and resolve did not mean New Zealand was immune to unspeakable acts of terror.
It did mean that New Zealand could change, and become a ‘‘global champion of anti-racism and anti-Islamaphobia’’.
‘‘In this way we will honour the victims,’’ Hunt said.
He praised his adopted country for its human rights record, but that did not mean it wasn’t immune from racism.
And the country’s geographical isolation did not mean it wasn’t immune to the rise of the alt-right.
He urged people not to adopt the viewpoint that the ‘‘coward killer’’ was not from New Zealand. That was pointless, he said.
He urged public figures not to use the language of divisiveness, and not disparage other groups such as Maori and Muslim.
‘‘This is not political correctness gone mad. This is a matter of life and death.’’
New Zealand also needed to hold a mature conversation about social media platforms which published hate speech.
‘‘Hate speech is speech.’’ not free