Listen to Jonathan Rauch’s talk, “Why Free Speech is the Only Safe Space for Minorities,” which he delivered to our audience in Christchurch. It is a powerful talk about the dire need for free speech in the fight for equality.“Minorities are always better off in a society that protects hate speech than in a society that protects us from hate speech.” - Jonathan RauchFor more information about Jonathan, https://www.brookings.edu/people/jonathan-rauch/For more information about the Free Speech ...

Eric Heinze is a Professor of Law and Humanities at the School of Law Queen Mary, University of London. He is also the author of “The Most Human Right: Why Free Speech is Everything”. Eric joins Jonathan Ayling for a discussion on free speech, academic freedom and democracy.You can purchase Eric’s book here https://www.amazon.com/dp/0262547244/For more info on FSU NZ head to www.fsu.nzSupport the Show.

Former Judge Dr. David Harvey and Netsafe CEO Brent Carey discuss the DIA's abandoned proposal for online censorship.The Free Speech Union celebrates the decision by the Department of Internal Affairs to abandon proposals to further regulate online speech. It is increasingly clear Kiwis have no interest in our would-be-censors’ obsession with trying to control what they say. The DIA’s proposals for online content and media regulation set themselves up to effectively be hate speech laws for th...

As a result of lobbying and threats of protest and boycott, Victoria University has postponed the panel discussion that was set to be hosted on 29 April. Jonathan Ayling and Dr. Michael Johnson, from the New Zealand Initiative, were two of the panellists in this discussion; it seems that their presence was the reason for the delay. Jonathan and Michael discuss the implications of this fragility in our institutions of higher learning, and what the inability to free (and think) freely mean...

Hear from Josie Pagani, Paul Moon, Marcus Roberts, and Jonathan Ayling on a panel discussion and Q+A on speech rights and the ability to pursue tolerant debate on conflict in the Middle East. This discussion is about our ability to deal with complex and competing ideas, not the substance of the conflict itself.  Support the show

Paul Thistoll is a dedicated trans-rights activist and outspoken opponent of the Free Speech Union. But he was willing to sit down with Jonathan Ayling, the Chief Executive of the Union, to discuss hate speech, trans-rights, preferred pronouns, professional deregistration, and more.  There are two very different views on free speech on display in this podcast. So rarely do we have the opportunity to hear two so very different perspectives engage respectfully. And in the end, it's you who...

More than any other one thing, COVID-19 has defined our past 3 years. But are we starting to thinking about it, or talk about it in fresh ways?  Our lives have been impacted in unprecedented ways by COVID-19; but this virus has also been weaponised by our would-be-censors to corral us into one position on this issue, and a host of others.  In this episode, Jonathan Ayling sits down with the director of River of Freedom, a recently released documentary film on the 2022 occupation of...

Speaking to the recently published Addressing the Challenges to Social Cohesion, Sir Peter Gluckman (former Chief Science Advisor to the Prime Minister and Director of Koi Tū: The Centre for Informed Futures) sits down with Jonathan Ayling to discuss what's happening to fraying public discourse, and what we can do to address it.   Support the show

Free speech across our universities is under fire- but many academics are also working to address this. After 3 years, a working group established at the University of Auckland to consider how to preserve academic freedom and free speech has reported back, making a bold stand in a hostile environment. Free Speech Union member and UoA Professor, Kendall Clements, sits down with Jonathan to give an insider's view to why free speech is under fire, and what needs to be done about it.    Support...

"Most important thinking I've written", this is how Prof. Grimes describes his recent research on who benefits from free speech. Spoiler alert- it's not who you might think.  We're often told that the marginalised, oppressed and poor need protection from free speech, probably provided by the State, to ensure that free speech doesn't oppress them. But in reality, free speech enables the powerless to undermine the powerful by insisting that ideas and speech should be challenged with dialogue...

Academic freedom and free speech can appear to be nebulous subjects at times, which wonky intellectuals pontificate on. Yet the real world implications for a university that fails to preserve academic freedom are far-reaching. In this episode, Jonathan Ayling sits down with Dr. James Kierstead and Dr. Michael Johnston to discuss the opposition we’ve faced to our academic freedom research, why certain arguments have been made, and what this tells us about the debate for free thought and belief...

With the Free Speech Unions Academic Survey for 2023 now released and raising concerns Jonathan Ayling sat down with Prof Elizabeth Rata (a co-author of the "Listener 7" letter) and Dr. David Bromell (formerly of Canterbury University) to discuss the state of academic freedom in today's New Zealand. The trio explores the increasingly doctrinaire approach turning up in fields where truth has traditionally never been considered settled, and why this intellectual inflexibility seems to be...

Jonatha sits does with Paul Brennan on Reality Check Radio to discuss the FSU announcement that we are supporting a tender-bid for a DPMC contract to research disinformation.   Support the show

Free Speech Union Chief Executive Jonathan Ayling sat down with Prof. Grant Schofield who recently authored a  'A falling out of love letter to the university'- which reflects on his over 30 years in academia. Prof. Schofield questions whether the contemporary New Zealand university can any longer claim to be the 'conscious and critic of society' and in an in-depth discussion, comments on the health of free speech within our universities, the problem of self-censorship (especially among young...

Join Free Speech Union Chief Executive Jonathan Ayling, FSU council member Stephen Franks and Left-wing commentator Josie Pagani and Connor Molloy for a debrief on former ACLU president Nadine Strossen's recent tour of Aotearoa. The team discuss some of the high-profile members Strossen attended, why rationalism wins the argument, and what lessons we should take from her into our ongoing free speech battles. It's then a gearshift to discuss the disturbing 'Disinformation Project' report...

"For me this is the recognition of the linking of free speech with the right for civil disobedience because the public square is never cool and rational and only ‘discursive’ – except when constrained and imposed to be so by the privileging and power of ‘the rational’." This provocative paragraph was written by Canterbury-based sociologist and former Free Speech Union podcast guest Mike Grimshaw. In the original piece, published on plainsight.nz, Mike defended some of the civil disobedience...

Free Speech Union council member Dane Giraud speaks with journalist and now filmmaker Samantha Blanchard about her new documentary "Silenced" which was released online over Easter weekend. "Silenced" looks at censorship during the pandemic and features the story of Peter Williams who walked away from a job at Magic Talk after being given directives not to challenge the government narrative. A thought-provoking and challenging film Samantha discusses the making of the documentary and shares...

Gender-critical speaker Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull's 'Let Woman Speak' tour of New Zealand ended before it began: due to violence. A feral mob assaulted her and women were viciously assaulted including a 72-year-old woman who was left with a fractured skull. This followed failed attempts by fringe LGBTQI+ voices to deny KJK entry to New Zealand. Will Albert Park be the new normal? Free Speech Union spokespersons Dane Giraud and Ani O'Brien discuss the day (Ani was present) and its potential...

Free Speech Union council member Dane Giraud speaks to Corina Shields (@AuntyHeihei on Twitter), a wahine Maori who took her opinions and concerns with government policy to TikTok after being denied the ear of MPs.  Dane and Corina discuss distrust and why governments need to work much harder to win back the poor - the failure of the media to cover lower-socio-economic issues, and why the Maori Party is so unpopular with Maori. Enjoy!  Support the show

Free Speech Union council members Ani O'Brien and Dane Giraud discuss the union's defending of Drag Queen story time along with Tusiata Avia's controversial poem. Enjoy!  https://www.stuff.co.nz/opinion/131393894/the-free-speech-door-swings-both-ways Support the show

Josephine Varghese is a political analyst and researcher with the Democracy Project at Victoria University of Wellington. In today's episode, Josephine and Free Speech Union council member Dane Giraud discuss Left-wing perspectives on free speech, whether a Leftist should view free speech as a central right, and anti-colonisation thought both as expressed in the controversial poem by Tuisata Avia along with a Left-wing critique. A great in-depth discussion on classic Left-wing thought and...

Free Speech Union spokesperson Dane Giraud speaks to James Kierstead, a Senior Lecturer in Classics at Victoria University of Wellington and Research Fellow at The New Zealand Initiative. James (who should be no stranger to Free Speech Union supporters) gives his summary of the failed hate speech laws before the boys discuss the need for generosity towards your ideological opponents, the woke re-editing of Roald Dahl's books, and the general issue with translations and tampering with texts....

In a fascinating discussion that covers an amazing amount of ground, Free Speech Union spokesperson Dane Giraud speaks to Sociologist Mike Grimshaw of the University of Canterbury. Mike discusses the open society that relies on free speech to function versus the retreat into identity groups censorship encourages. The boys talk through tagging and street art as a means of expression for the underclass and why council-sponsored art may be a calculated way to silence these voices. And Mike...

Free Speech Union council member Dane Giraud speaks with Ashley Church  - a prominent media commentator on politics and property - about the religious impulse driving the "woke doctrine" and the challenges it poses for traditional text-based Christians like Ashley.  The boys also touch on the pros and cons of progressive congregations in a wide-ranging discussion on today's competing belief systems fsu.nz  Support the show