At 12pm on Saturday 2nd July, around 150 anti-fascist counter-protestors faced off against a “Freedom and Rights Coalition” (FRC) protest, led by Destiny Church’s Derek Tait. With the anti-fascists outnumbering the FRC group five to one, Ōtepoti sent them a clear message: “Haere Atu, fascist trash”.
Derek Tait, the figurehead of the FRC protest, has been involved in fascist, racist and Islamophobic actions in the past. On 25 April 2019, following the Christchurch massacre, he led Destiny Church members to declare, outside Al Noor Mosque, that “NZ is a Christian country.” Derek has also threatened to disrupt Pride events in Christchurch, and currently owes the Christchurch City Council at least $50K in fines for unauthorised marches. He is also known to be linked to the white supremacist, neo-Nazi group National Front. They were responsible for inciting violence during the anti-mandate Parliament occupation earlier this year.
In the lead up to the protest, Tait had sent intimidating and hateful messages to counterprotest organisers, and even to others who were completely uninvolved in the event. One such message to activist and alt-right researcher Byron Clark, read: “You looked like you shat yourself, fear in your eyes, ya coward,” after another alt-right activist filmed themself visiting Byron’s workplace and threatening him.
Other fun personalities on the FRC guest list included Malcolm Moncrieff-Spittle, a bookseller who is generally better known for his vehement climate denialism and his 2019 tilt at the mayoralty. Malcolm spent most of his time filming anti-fascist protesters before publicising the content on Counterspin, a media platform notorious for disinformation, whose events were driven out of Dunedin by locals just a fortnight ago. Jennifer Scott, a local anti-trans agitator, was also audibly present, yelling transphobic diatribes at the anti-fascist, pro-LGBTQ+ counter-rally, and rallying against vaccine mandates.
The counter protest was organised by a group called Anti-Fascist Ōtepoti. Spokesperson Sina Brown-Davis articulated the motive behind the counter-protest: “We want to live in peaceful communities based on Tiriti justice, anti-racism and full inclusion and support of our rainbow community, because they are the current targets of right-wing extremism in this country.” In her speech, she encouraged counter protesters to “stand up against fascism, celebrate the power and strength of diversity and tolerance,” and “stop the politics of hate and division.”
Despite the potential for tension, the counter protesters were encouraged to “maintain a peaceful resistance, and not to engage with the FRC.” One advised counter-protestors to resist the (very real) temptation to “punch Nazis”. The police presence, they were advised, “are not here for you”. The most violent they got was a boisterous rendition of Lily Allen’s “Fuck You,” sung to greet the FRC protesters as they marched into the Octagon.
The difference in the two protests’ vibes was palpable. On the lower side of the Octagon, about 30 FRC protesters held signs saying “hands off our freedoms and rights” and “end the mandates”, while solemnly nodding their heads to We Are The World and an extra-long edition of the national anthem. Tait mostly resorted to making snide comments at the counter-protesters, in between some mediocre attempts at karaoke. Meanwhile, the anti-fascist protest, gathered on the sunny upper side of the Octagon, felt more like an impromptu dance party. While certified bangers including Dancing Queen, YMCA and Poi E played, rainbow, tino rangatiratanga, and anti-fascist flags flew high.
Dudley Benson, protest co-organiser who may be better known as the owner of centre city bar Woof!, echoed Sina’s concern over the rise of “attacks on queer people, queer institutions, women’s rights around the choices of their healthcare, and the association of white supremacy.” He said that made it more important to “gather to say: ‘Not in our city, and not on our watch’”. Despite facing pressure for his outspoken activism, including multiple death threats, Dudley later told Critic Te Arohi he has no regrets about his work: “The threats and negativity that I received are outnumbered 200-fold by positive responses.”
After dancing away to drown out Tait’s attempts to rally his group, the counter-protesters announced that they would pack it in around 1pm. Despite Tait mocking them for “giving up,” the FRC quietly disappeared from the Octagon around 12:45pm. Dudley claimed victory on behalf of the counter-protesters, saying that: “We have won! We have absolutely rattled them.”
Critic Te Arohi spoke with a number of students in the anti-fascist protest group. One group of science students said they felt a need to attend, to defend women’s reproductive rights and LGBTQ+ rights. Another student told us that: “This is the first protest I’ve ever been to,” saying that they compelled to come to stand in solidarity and “show that this sort of stuff is not welcome here in Dunedin.”
Sina told Critic Te Arohi that she hoped the success of this event could encourage other communities across Aotearoa to organise similar anti-fascist counterprotests. “We reckon the best pushback is for communities to stand up and say: ‘Those people don’t represent us’.”