Former NZ Prime Minister: Free Speech A Weapon Of War

As a poster child of liberal authoritarianism, it would be tough to find a better international candidate than former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. She stepped down from her post earlier this year, but that has not stopped her war on free speech.

Addressing the United Nations recently, Ardern incredibly likened freedom of expression to a virtual weapon of war. 

Even without her political position intact, she remains a striking international leader in her calls for attacking basic free speech principles. What’s more, Ardern is celebrated in liberal circles as a progressive thinker deserving of respect.

Speaking to the U.N., she insisted that world leaders join her quest to suppress “misinformation” and “disinformation.” This, of course, is the battle cry of the left as their control over public discourse wanes.

Ardern further noted that the international community cannot allow such a trifling concern as free speech to interfere with climate change objectives. 

Her solution is simple. Government must stifle those with dissenting opinions on global warming and other issues. Do you disagree with the official narrative? Then your voice must not be heard.

This is hardly a new battle cry for the former prime minister. In 2022, while she was still New Zealand’s leader, Ardern acknowledged to the U.N. General Assembly that she could be perceived as “hostile” to those who value free speech.

Then she proceeded to openly question allowing people to freely express their ideas. “How do you successfully end a war if people are led to believe that the reason for its existence is not only legal but noble.”

Ardern further asked how people may have human rights “when they are subjected to hateful and dangerous rhetoric and ideology?” 

She then said that these words are “weapons” utilized by evil to destroy communities and “collapse the collective strength of countries who work together.”

Critics last year loudly denounced the former prime minister’s call for global censorship initiatives. Glenn Greenwald, co-founder of The Intercept, posted on the platform then known as Twitter that Ardern’s is “the face of authoritarianism.”

He acknowledged that the face is different that one would usually imagine tyrants having. “This is someone so inebriated by her sense of righteousness and superiority that she views dissent as an evil too dangerous to allow.”