A Note from Our President - December 2021
My office is on Lambton Quay in the heart of Wellington’s CBD. It is a great location for viewing parades, protests, or just the ordinary foot traffic. The CBD is noticeably quieter these days as more people work from home. Tuesday, 8 November was different.
I was aware that there was a protest march, it was not until my meeting was completely disrupted by the sound and vibration of huge motorbikes that I looked out. As others have commented, this was a protest like no other I have seen. There was no unifying message or chant. Some placards were vehemently anti-vax, some pro-vaccination but anti-mandate, others anti-1080. Pro-choice placards were next to Nazi swastikas and anti-apartheid signs. Some waved the Tino Rangatiratanga flag, others the flag of the United Tribes – often upside down. Still others waved Trump and QAnon flags and slogans.
To the extent that there was a theme, it appeared to be fear and dissatisfaction. One commentator described it as the “protest of the grumpy”. In a nation that is currently 80 percent fully vaccinated, it is easy to write off the protests as “a vocal minority”. But we live in a world where the key threats we face – the most obvious being COVID-19 and climate change – require sound choices, behavioural change, and action by individuals “for the greater good”. Individuals and their choices matter. The last few weeks have demonstrated that solutions to complex challenges that rely on the support of most of the population can’t be achieved simply through central fiat.
On the same day as the protest, Te Pūnaha Matatini released the latest results from their Disinformation Research Project. The project found a dramatic increase in COVID-19 disinformation on social media since Delta arrived in August. Worryingly this included a sharp increase in “dangerous speech” – speech that increases “the risk that the audience will condone or participate in violence against members of another group”.
How do we respond? The platforms that deliver this material must be part of the solution. However, research shows that where someone has been persuaded by disinformation, debunking it is not easy. The best remedy is for people to hear good information from individuals or groups they know and trust, which sadly is often not government agencies. Working in true, empowered partnership with community organisations, churches, iwi, hapū, and whānau groups and businesses is as critical to treating the infodemic as it is the pandemic itself.
To the extent that there was a theme, it appeared to be fear and dissatisfaction. One commentator described it as the “protest of the grumpy”. In a nation that is currently 80 percent fully vaccinated, it is easy to write off the protests as “a vocal minority”. But we live in a world where the key threats we face – the most obvious being COVID-19 and climate change – require sound choices, behavioural change, and action by individuals “for the greater good”. Individuals and their choices matter. The last few weeks have demonstrated that solutions to complex challenges that rely on the support of most of the population can’t be achieved simply through central fiat.
On the same day as the protest, Te Pūnaha Matatini released the latest results from their Disinformation Research Project. The project found a dramatic increase in COVID-19 disinformation on social media since Delta arrived in August. Worryingly this included a sharp increase in “dangerous speech” – speech that increases “the risk that the audience will condone or participate in violence against members of another group”.
How do we respond? The platforms that deliver this material must be part of the solution. However, research shows that where someone has been persuaded by disinformation, debunking it is not easy. The best remedy is for people to hear good information from individuals or groups they know and trust, which sadly is often not government agencies. Working in true, empowered partnership with community organisations, churches, iwi, hapū, and whānau groups and businesses is as critical to treating the infodemic as it is the pandemic itself.