With the exception of Mr Tait’s crowd estimate, all the other quotations were sourced from the speeches.
Just over a month ago, Jacinda Ardern said that the thousands of people who were protesting for freedom outside Parliament were “not representative of the vast bulk of New Zealanders.” The public response was unmistakable: an estimated 20,000 people braving the Wellington rain to cram into the Parliament grounds to protest the Labour government.
Protesters arrived early with well over 2,000 arriving at Te Ngakau Civic Square an hour before the protest was due to start, holding signs decrying Ardern’s style of governance, calling for her to “dial down the tyranny” and comparing her to various dictators, including Hitler and Soviet mass-murderer Joseph Stalin.
The demonstrators certainly weren’t short of things to protest about: Labour’s SNA “land-grab” policy, the government’s lack of transparency, anti-democratic behaviour and the way it has mandated compulsory vaccinations for certain sectors of society all featuring in the protest.
After a brief karakia (prayer) Dr Emanuel Garcia took the stage to express his misgivings about how New Zealander’s were “given choices that weren’t choices,” that if we chose wrong, “we lost our jobs, our livelihoods, and our careers,” and spoke of his “fears that our precious liberties could at any moment be snatched away by a government that has had the audacity to portray itself to be the single source of truth.”
It would be easy to dismiss this as hyperbole from an over-caffeinated conspiracy theorist, had not Jacinda Ardern used that exact term to refer to her government: one which has collectively undermined even the most basic of freedoms in the name of safety and seems intent on enforcing the most draconian restrictions possible, irrespective of the science. Those familiar with George Orwell’s 1984 will immediately recognise the term as being eerily similar, both in name and arguably also in function, to the “Ministry of Truth”.
“Since when have segregation, discrimination, and exclusion been good for anyone’s health?” Dr Garcia asked.
“We are now being told all the time … that there is only one science: and those of us who have dared to ask questions and wish for debate, those of us who have tried to inquire, for example, about natural immunity, … about the adverse effects of lockdowns and restrictions; about the ingredients and the safety and efficacy, and the deleterious effects of the inoculations: we are vilified, harassed, and persecuted.”
Dr Garcia has been suspended and may lose his medical license for expressing reservations about Pfizer’s Comirnaty vaccine.
Tane Webster spoke on behalf of Voices for Freedom and stated that Labour’s policies have directly contributed to “national division and national decline”: the crowd strongly agreeing with him that “this is not the Kiwi way”.
“In New Zealand, dogs now have more freedom than those who chose not to take an experimental vaccine,” he said. “This government has undermined the way of life and values that once held this country together. It’s time to face the fact that it’s not accidental or incompetent, the way some people like to say it: it’s deliberate, they know exactly what they’re doing.”
Addressing the vaccine mandates, Webster stated, “This is a highly politicised, Labour Government response and the self-introduction of Chinese Communist Party-style social credit control system”, drawing loud cheers of agreement from the crowd.
Webster was one of several speakers to touch on the potential for the vaccine passports to be weaponised as part of a Chinese Communist Party-style social credit system, with one echoing a sentiment oft-attributed to Thomas Jefferson, warning, “If we know everything about our government, this is known as democracy; if our government knows everything about us, this is known as tyranny.”
Led by a contingent of about 60 motorcyclists, the protesters made their way down Lambton Quay to pro-freedom chants. The march drew a generally favourable reaction from bystanders, with most seeming to enjoy the atmosphere and some shouting encouragement to the protesters.
On arriving in Parliament grounds the protesters sang the national anthem and Ashleigh Wilson spoke about the shock of losing her fiancée, Rory Nairn, 12 days after receiving his first dose of the Pfizer vaccine highlighting the need for accurate and easy-to-understand information: “If we had truthful information, and were told about these side effects, he [Rory] could still be alive,” she said. “If we weren’t forced into making a choice between our jobs, incomes, and livelihoods, he could still be alive.”
Whilst Human Rights Commissioner Paul Hunt was unable to attend, he did provide a written statement, encouraging protesters to express their frustrations appropriately and stating that he regrets “any legislation passing through Parliament under urgency” and “people being excluded from vital parts of society.” Hunt urged the crowd to “call for all human rights: the rights to healthcare, health protection, work, association, and assembly, in this country and beyond.”
Brian Tamaki, founder of the Freedoms and Rights Coalition, was conspicuously absent, having been informed that he would be arrested on sight if he attended the protest. Brian Tamaki’s daughter, Jamie Warren, left the attendees in no doubt as to the reason for the protest: “This is not an anti-vax protest: we are pro-choice, we are [protesting] about our freedoms and having that choice.”
The protest was originally scheduled to coincide with Parliament’s last sitting day this year with Parliament’s decision to rise the day before the protest causing speculation it was done on purpose to avoid confrontation by the protesters. “If Jacinda, our Prime Minister, says we are a minority, why are they scrambling to change dates?” Warren asked. “They think they’ve outsmarted us, but they’ve just shown us how cowardly they are.”
It has become obvious that Ardern thrives on adulation and does not deal well with criticism, lending credence to the idea that, rather than face the people, Parliament ran away. In her 2020 General Election victory speech, Ardern promised to lead a “party that governs for every New Zealander.” To use her own words, “They are us” – unless, apparently, they’ve made a personal medical decision, in which case they should be excluded from society.
“We must not lose sight of why we are here,” said Derek Tait, leader of the South Island branch of the Freedoms and Rights Coalition. “We are not your enemy”, he stated, addressing the Police: “we are your people, and you serve us.”
The main themes clearly were unity and medical freedom: “There’s vaxxed and unvaxxed here: we love them the same.” Tait endorsed “Peaceful civil disobedience” as being “the most powerful way to bring about change in our country”.
The organisers were happy with the turnout, considering the weather and the fact that their social media pages were shut down in the lead-up to the protest, drastically limiting their ability to communicate. Mr Tait estimated the crowd at Parliament to be “at least 20,000” people.
“Nobody marched when I was elected,” was Ardern’s insult of choice when meeting then-President Trump in 2017: maybe we didn’t march then – but we certainly are now.
The saddest part of the story is that a fair portion of the available medical science suggests that, in the long run, the protesters may well be proven right.
**Images provided by Mags Media NZ.