Wellington May 5th 2023
Speak Up for Women (SUFW) strongly object to the use of photographs of our Turn Up for Women event used alongside an article about alleged white supremacist or neo Nazi activity in New Zealand. This deliberate attempt to paint attendees as dangerous far right radicals is flirting with defamation and very offensive to all SUFW members - some of whom are Jewish and many of whom are lesbian.
As noted in an article by Democracy Project 12 April 2023, The Disinformation Project gains media coverage "largely because they make quite extraordinary and colourful statements about what is going on online and it makes for good stories".
At risk of being pulled into the latest Kafka Trap, where denials are treated as evidence of guilt, we repeat, we are a group of ordinary women from across the mainstream political spectrum and we do not have any associations with far right groups.
Kellie-Jay Keen has also denied links to Nazis. We note too that The New Zealand Jewish Council stated the word Nazi is too freely used and that Kellie-Jay Keen is not a Nazi. The Australian Jewish Council also noted the far right contingent at the rally in Melbourne were gate crashers.
If Stuff or the Disinformation Project has evidence of violence planned we strongly advise them to go to the Police. However it appears they have no evidence and instead are politically motivated to use guilt by association distraction techniques to shut down conversation and debate around gender ideology and sex based rights for women.
We note too a worrying authoritarian bent to the Disinformation Project utterances, for example an apparent regret that there is less "policing" lately on mainstream media platforms.
Concerning also is the infantilisation of the wider public indulged in by the Disinformation Project and the media, for example saying people are being "suckered and manipulated" (Stuff). We contend that concern about the radical sex-denialist aspects of gender ideology warrants legitimate public debate and it is entirely scurrilous to attempt to paint ordinary, peaceful protest and discussion as harmful and dangerous.
The latest outburst from The Disinformation Project and the uncritical reporting by Stuff and other outlets, reeks of desperation, ramping up the histrionics because more people both here and overseas are raising objections to radical sex-denialist demands and policies. These demands and policies have resulted in medical interventions on children, men placed in women's prisons and refuges, males being awarded prizes and opportunities meant for females, and demands for restrictions on speech and freedom of association.
Finally, The Disinformation Project seems to ignore the vitriol shown towards women who want to discuss issues around single-sex spaces and services.
If the Disinformation Project is successful in its attempts to defame ordinary mainstream people as neo Nazis and or far right adjacent, there is real risk the fear mongering and hyperbole will place organisations such as SUFW at risk of real harm for expressing their gender critical views. As seen in Albert Park on March 25th, the two people arrested and charged with assault were not women trying to speak up, they were transgender rights activists trying to silence women.
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