{"id":825374,"date":"2022-09-29T14:28:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-29T14:28:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/caitlinjohnstone.com\/?p=12045"},"modified":"2022-09-29T14:28:47","modified_gmt":"2022-09-29T14:28:47","slug":"new-zealands-pm-wants-more-online-censorship-for-the-war-in-ukraine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2022\/09\/29\/new-zealands-pm-wants-more-online-censorship-for-the-war-in-ukraine\/","title":{"rendered":"New Zealand\u2019s PM Wants More Online Censorship For The War In\u00a0Ukraine"},"content":{"rendered":"

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New Zealand’s prime minister Jacinda Ardern continued her crusade<\/a> for the expansion of internet censorship during a speech<\/a> at the United Nations General Assembly on Friday, this time using the war in Ukraine.<\/p>

“Whether it’s climate, trade, health crises or seeking peaceful solutions to war and conflict, New Zealand has always been a believer in multilateral tools,” Ardern told the assembly<\/a>, adding that “without reform, we risk irrelevancy.”<\/p>

“There is perhaps no greater example of this than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,” Ardern said. “Let us all be clear: Russia’s war is illegal. It is immoral. It is a direct attack on the UN charter, and the international rules-based system and everything that this community should stand for. Putin’s suggestion that it could at any point deploy further weapons\u00a0that it has at their disposal reveals the false narrative that they have based their invasion on.\u00a0What country who claims to be a liberator, threatens to annihilate the very civilians they claim to liberate? This war is based on a lie.”<\/p>

Later in her speech, Ardern returns to the theme that Russia’s war is “based on a lie” to argue for the censorship of online speech which supports the idea that Russia is fighting for legitimate reasons in Ukraine.<\/p>

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Using the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack as a segue to talk about the perils of online radicalization, Ardern then smoothly transitions to the subject of “mis- and disinformation” on the internet.<\/p>

“This will also be important in understanding\u00a0more about mis- and disinformation online: a challenge that we must as leaders address,” Ardern said.<\/p>

“As leaders, we are rightly concerned that even those most light-touch approaches to disinformation could be misinterpreted as being hostile to the values of free speech we value so highly,” Ardern added,\u00a0an acknowledgement of the grave human rights concerns inherent in having ‘leaders’ participate in the regulation of public speech. “But while I cannot tell you today what the answer is to this challenge, I can say with complete certainty that we cannot ignore it. To do so poses an equal threat to the norms we all value.”<\/p>

Then it gets even creepier.<\/p>

“After all, how do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble?” asks the prime minister. “How do you tackle climate change if people do not believe it exists? How do you ensure the human rights of others are upheld, when they are subjected to hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology? The weapons may be different, but the goals of those who perpetuate them is often the same. To cause chaos and reduce the ability of others to defend themselves. To disband communities. To collapse the collective strength of countries who work together. But we have an opportunity here to ensure that these particular weapons of war do not become an established part of warfare.”<\/p>This is the face of authoritarianism – even though it looks different than you were taught to expect. And it's the mindset of tyrants everywhere:<\/p>

This is someone so inebriated by her sense of righteousness and superiority that she views dissent as an evil too dangerous to allow: https:\/\/t.co\/kmG4zTgPwh<\/a><\/p>

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) September 28, 2022<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>