pn855. Who exactly are the protesters, and do they have the same agenda? Trojan horse for ultra-right ideoogies?

 810 new cases today. Protesters no masks.

Trojan horse for the ultra-right

For the protesters at  Parliament the bad weather allows most media news to focus on the soggy conditions, the police, levels of violence,  music and Trevor Mallard's sprinklers while avoiding any analysis of what the protests are all about.  

For the protesters,  bad news is better than no news at all. If only one in a hundred people reject the media's views and agree with them, they'll have tens of thousands of new recruits, each one with links to the social media drawing in even more support.  

Though what they''ll be agreeing to is far from clear. 

Key groups involved at some time with the protests have included FACTS NZ, the Kotahitanga Movement Aotearoa, the Liberty March Movement, Advance New Zealand party co-leader Jami-Lee Ross, New Zealand Public Party leader Billy Te Kahika, Destiny Church leader Brian Tamaki's "The Freedom and Rights Coalition"Voices for Freedom, and New Zealand Outdoors Party leader Sue Grey. Besides opposition to COVID-19 lockdown and vaccination policies, these figures and groups have also expressed opposition to 5G technology, 1080 usage, the United Nations, water fluoridation, Communist China, and the Government's Three Waters reform programme

Multiple and often contradictory messages

There are multiple and often contradictory messages coming from the protesters.  For most,  the protests are only about Covid-19 but even amongst them, there are differences.  Some are protesting the corporate greed of Pfizer.  Some believe Covid does not exist, others that vaccines are unnecessary because of the body's natural immunity and that children cannot catch Covid;  others think the vaccine kills, and yet others say they are a conspiracy with the vaccinations "used as a stepping stone to transhumanism and complete control."

 Many talk of freedom, mandates and rights.  My body, my choice.  Others, unbelievably,  are protesting about the closure of the Northland's Marsden Point fuel refinery and alleged media corruption.

But far more serious than these honestly believed views, there are others, some of whom are using the anti-vax movement as a vehicle towards their own ends.  It is difficult to know what Māori tino rangatiratanga supporters and Brian Tamaki's Destiny Church, for example,  have in common with  White Supremacists,  Action Zealandia's building a country for white New Zealanders, and others of the ultra-right, but for the latter group Covid is just today's instrument to win support for their core causes which run counter to the values shared by most New Zealanders.

Trojan horse to promote ultra-right ideologies

Researchers with the University of Auckland's Te Pūnaha Matatini's Disinformation Project believe some protesters are using COVID-19 and vaccination as a Trojan horse for promoting far right ideologies in New Zealand on a range of issues including gun control, anti-Māori sentiment, homophobia, transphobia, conservative family values and structures, misogyny, and immigration. Days of protesters' chats reveal the inside story of how New Zealand's convoy was hijacked by the far-right fringe.

One such group is Counterspin Media Revolution which has been active among the protesters, using loudhailers for support and posting anti-vax items on their website. The size of Counterspin's captive audience isn't something it would have been able to summon by itself two weeks ago. But because the convoy tried to hold both moderate and extreme elements under the same roof, the whole house has now been seized by the extremists.  Their  leading misinformation page, run by anti-vaxxer Chantelle Baker, garnered more video views with five posts than the leading media page, the NZ Herald, got with 73.

Among Counterspin members is Brett Power who laid manslaughter charges against NZ Health Minister Andrew Little calling for people to put in their evidence of jab injury or death to support this case. If the police do not take the necessary action, investigate and arrest the Health Minister Power he threatens a citizens arrest will take place.

Another is Kelvyn Alp, a New Zealand far-right politician and activist who was the leader of the Direct Democracy Party of New Zealand in the 2005 general elections and later under the OurNZ Party banner. In 1996 Alp set up the New Zealand Armed Intervention Force as a mercenary organisation, later transforming it into a para-military, anti-banking, pro-people rights movement - although it was referred to in the media as a Māori separatist organisation  It is now defunct.

Other ultra-right groups, each with its own agenda,  associated with the protests are Voices for  Freedom, Advance New Zealand, The Real News, all  promoting conspiracy theories about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccines, using discredited internet-based sources.  

I have used many sources for this posting including this one by Marc Daalder in Newsroom which I found particularly useful.  Thank you, Marc.

-- ACW