Section 14

The Greens reported on Friday that Falun Gong had been kicked out of the Cuba Carnival and Chinese New Year celebrations in Wellington.

[Green Party Wellington City spokesperson Iona] Pannett said “this issue once again raises serious questions about the Council’s commitment to freedom of speech in the city. This decision infringes on Falun Gong’s right to free speech guaranteed by the Bill of Rights and to any other group or individual who wants to speak on issues that the Council does not agree with.”

Greens co-leader Russel Norman, writing on FrogBlog, says

The word is that the Council told them that the Chinese Embassy had paid for the big Chinese New Year celebration and the Chinese Embassy did not want Falun Gong in the parade, so they had to go.

“The word” presumably comes from Falun Gong. Wellington City Council would deny any connection.

Norman rightly continues:

If the story is accurate then the City Council is bending to the will of a foreign government to suppress freedom of expression in return for money.

Regular Section 14 readers will remember that Falun Gong were also excluded from Wellington’s Christmas parade.

One of the biggest upsides of globalisation is that as well as Coca-Cola and Versace, people in dictatorships like China also get a taste for other Western goods like freedom of expression. It would be a travesty if the reverse were to occur and we imported this dictatorship’s repressive policies into New Zealand.

The New Zealand Herald reported today that Buddhists, Hindus, and Muslims were upset with the use of the word “tolerance” in the Human Rights Commission’s Draft National Statement on Religious Diversity, wanting something more - respect and understanding.

Leave aside the question of why we need a National Statement on Religious Diversity - I guess it gives the clipboard-wielders something to fill their days. If we’re going to have such a thing, what should it offer?

The document (Word .doc, 25 kB) begins with some fluff but the meat is in the guidelines. They start off well by assuring us that New Zealand has no state religion and that freedom of religion is to be upheld. Of more concern is

4. The Right of Freedom of Expression

The right to freedom of expression and freedom of the press are vital for democracy, but shall be exercised with responsibility and in an informed manner.

According to the Human Rights Commission, I do not have the right to express myself unless I express myself “with responsibility and in an informed manner”.

This is incredibly dangerous. Who gets to decide whether or not I’m being responsible? Am I responsible if I criticise a “faith community” and members of that “faith community” violently overreact? We cannot allow ourselves to get into the situation that exists in some countries where a deliberately thin-skinned group can hold us to ransom, can force us to censor ourselves under the threat of violence.

Freedom of expression is far too important to be thrown away trying to legislate politeness. Tolerance is all that a free society can offer. To demand respect, or more, for one person’s beliefs is to limit their right of others to express their beliefs.

Hat tip: Kiwiblog.

Auckland City Council has joined Wellington in kicking Falun Gong out of their Santa Parade. Last week, this site reported (Importing Chinese Repression?) that Wellington City Council had excluded the Falun Gong float from the Christmas parade because it was being ’streamlined’. This week, Falun Gong reports (Falun Gong discriminated against in New Zealand) that the same thing has happened in Auckland.

Their 2006 application was initially welcomed as Parade organisers said a 60-piece brass band would be a great addition to the parade. There was also an offer of $250 to help band members as they are all volunteers.

When organisers were subsequently told the band members comprised Falun Gong members, the application was withdrawn on the grounds that the “organization does not ‘fit’ with the Santa Parade,” and would not, “turn children’s fantasies into reality, to delight families staging an annual fantasy Santa Parade to herald the start of the festive season in Auckland.”

As I said in my post on the Wellington decision:

The biggest concern is that city officials have been pressured (either explicitly or implicitly) by China to exclude Falun Gong from council-sponsored events. As a public entity, the city council must ensure that it doesn’t use its sponsorship of cultural events as a way to censor political or religious expression.

I asked Wellington City last week about concerns that they were keeping Falun Gong out of the parade because of pressure from China. I asked for assurance that we weren’t importing Chinese repression into New Zealand. I haven’t had a reply.

Auckland City has a sister city relationship with Guangzhou in China. Presumably Auckland councillors are also willing to censor religious expression to protect their ratepayer funded holidays.

The Dominion Post reports today (p A5) that Wellington City Council has kicked the Falun Gong out of this year’s Christmas Parade. In previous years the religious group has taken part in the parade and won awards for their float featuring Chinese drummers and dancers.

Falun Gong spokesman Chris Thomas said he had tried to register the group in the Wellington Christmas parade but was told by organisers that, as the parade was being “streamlined”, they would not be included.

“When we asked what we could do to make the parade criteria, we were only told that we were not going to be in it. We feel that was an inadequate answer.”

The biggest concern is that city officials have been pressured (either explicitly or implicitly) by China to exclude Falun Gong from council-sponsored events. As a public entity, the city council must ensure that it doesn’t use its sponsorship of cultural events as a way to censor political or religious expression.

Wellington mayor Kerry Prendergast is currently in China on a sister-city jolly and presumably doesn’t want to put the free trips at risk. Others on the trip have said they have no intention of bringing up human rights questions because things aren’t perfect here. This is a disgraceful moral equivalence. In New Zealand when the ruling socialist elite want to vilify a dissident religious group they call them “chinless scarf-wearers” - they don’t shoot them and then cut out their internal organs.

One of the biggest upsides of globalisation is that as well as Coca-Cola and Versace, people in dictatorships also get a taste for other Western goods like freedom of expression. It would be a travesty if the reverse were to occur and we imported this dictatorship’s repressive policies into New Zealand.

UPDATE 22/11/06: Wellington City Council has replied to my enquiry:

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