'Fear' Two Years On (part 1)
This month marks two years since my book Fear: New Zealand's Hostile Underworld of Extremists was published. How has the situation in New Zealand- and the world- changed in that time
I contracted COVID earlier this month. After getting home from work on a day I’d got progressively sicker throughout, one of the tests I picked up in the final week they were still being provided for free showed me the clearest positive I’d seen in what is now four instances of infection. The third one I wouldn’t even have tested except someone else in the household had it, I’d figured, it’s easier every time then, right? Haha, oh no, it’s not.
It was a reminder that we’re actually still in the COVID pandemic, prevailing political opinions to the contrary. In the US, prominent anti-vaccine activist Robert F Kennedy Jr. is looking likely to be the next person to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, and Donald Trump has signed an executive order reinstating military troops who were dismissed for refusing the COVID vaccine.
In Aotearoa, the second phase of the inquiry into the public health measures used at the start of the pandemic is open for submissions, and as FACT (Fight Against Conspiracy Theories) put it, the conspiracy theorists are excited.
“Conspiracy theorists want to use the commission as a propaganda vehicle. Calls for submissions are a great way to rally the movement. And whether or not their submissions hold water, they can point to them as “evidence.” Their dream is to have more video content they can use to persuade. Best case, televised testimony, but they’ll settle for a dramatised reading of their own script on YouTube. And emotive stories of harm are gold.”
This inquiry, superseding one already put in motion by the previous government, was part of the coalition agreements between National and both ACT and NZ First. The latter having been infiltrated by the anti-vaccine crowd in a mutually beneficial arrangement that saw the party returned to parliament and several items from the wishlist of the fringe conservative right become law.
Under the coalition government, funding has ceased to He Whenua Tarikura, the flagship research centre started following the inquiry into the 2019 Mosque shootings in Ōtautahi-Christchurch. The DIsinformation Project, who produced some of the most valuable scholarship on the spread of disinformation in the early 2020s (much of which I drew on in Fear) has also closed, so too has Tohatoha, who among other work engaged in community education around mis- and disinformation. The number of professional journalists in Aotearoa continues to decline.
Researchers continue to do work, such as Sanjana Hattotuwa, formerly of the disinformation project, who regularly publishes his findings online. Recipients of scholarships from He Whenua Tarikura during the brief time the centre existed will be competing Masters and PhD theses in the near future. Yet few have taken the step of becoming public intellectuals, keeping a low profile to avoid the deluge of harassment that comes with doing this work.
While it’s been some time now since I last received a death threat, something that was happening about twice a month during the period leading up to and following the publication of my book, I still have to live my life with extra precautions. It only takes one radicalised extremist to harm a journalist, and I’ve already had one turn up at my (former) workplace. The Harassment Act, a 1994 law, remains woefully inadequate for victims. Seeking a restraining order against a different white supremacist has taken over a year and cost $15,000 in legal fees- equivalent to nearly a third of my annual income.
A call to action I’d ask from my Aotearoa based readers: Make a submission on the Crimes Legislation (Stalking and Harassment) Amendment Bill, in support of the bill (and do so before the February 13 deadline!). Talk about the reasons you think it’s important, and why it may even need to go further. Our democracy is undermined when journalists, researchers, and academics turn down requests to appear in the media or publicise our work because doing so could lead to extremists turning up to our homes and workplaces, followed by police doing next to nothing, and expensive civil court cases.
Notably, the Free Speech Union has this month come out in favour of making changes to the Harmful Digital Communications Act that will make it harder for victims to get justice, and as a result, curtailing our freedom to speak on topics such as xenophobia, transphobia, and other forms of hate as our speech will be met with threats of violence. Both the Harassment Act and the Harmful Digital Communications Act are unable to deal suitably with the problem of stochastic terrorism, when a popular far-right influencer doesn’t threaten violence themself, but identifies a target in such a way that a percentage of their followers are more likely to threaten violence.
A year ago, I wrote a two part article going through the book chapter-by-chapter and providing an update. I will be doing something similar in the second part of this article. Many of the individuals, groups, and fringe media outlets I wrote about two years ago have faded into the background, while at the same time there are new ones coming to the fore. Globally, things look bleak. Elon Musk is carrying out a “bureaucratic coup” in the US, and when Germany goes to the polls later this month, the far-right Alternative für Deutschland- who Musk has thrown his support behind- is on track to become the second largest party in the German parliament.
I think it’s fair to say that two years since Fear was published, things have got demonstrably worse. I’ll make one more call to action for my American readership. There are a lot of you now, there’s been a big spike since Trump’s inauguration. I’m glad to have you here. I try to write roughly 50/50 content that’s New Zealand specific and content that will appeal internationally. Most of my total subscribers are in the USA, but most of my premium subscribers are in New Zealand. In lieu of getting a premium subscription (though by all means, do that too if you wish) I ask that you buy the ebook of Fear: New Zealand’s Hostile Underworld of Extremists.
You’ll learn about the far-right movement in another country, and I suspect be surprised by the similarities and the global nature of the movement. Sometimes, stories from one place become relevant in another. For example, I wrote two years ago about the migration of white Rhodesians and South Africans to New Zealand after the end of white minority rule and the influence they had on New Zealand politics. As I write, Trump has just ordered the US refugee programme to prioritise the resettlement of white Afrikaners. You’ll also help the book finish earning out the advance, meaning I could start getting royalties from future sales, which would contribute to sustaining ongoing journalism from me.