Candace Owens: should she be allowed into NZ or not?
Another controversial speaker wants to upset Kiwis
The conservative commentator Candace Owens has been refused entry into Australia and she’s applied for a visa to visit New Zealand for a speaking engagement.
I hadn’t even heard of her before Australia’s refusal made the news, but it made me curious. One can foresee another one of those “free speech vs hate speech” debates erupting. It’s been argued that she intends to incite racial disharmony – which is illegal in NZ.
Candace Owens is an articulate and out-spoken conservative Catholic with a large online following. It’s not for me to comment on the legality of denying her a visa, but a public appearance in New Zealand would attract protests. She’s been accused of distorting or denying facts about the Holocaust and of anti-Semitism. She expresses controversial conservative opinions. She’s pro-life and she’s made allegations about election fraud, for instance.
From what I’ve heard, she doesn’t deny that the Holocaust actually happened, but she does ask a lot of “What about…?” questions. These minimise or distract attention from it, by alleging that other such crimes have been committed by others too.
(If readers come across content that makes me revise that view, please let me know, as I’m not sitting through all of her online presentations.)
She has, for example, mentioned the Polish-born Jew Salomon Morel (1919–2007) who escaped the Holocaust. As the Nazis were pushed out by the Red Army, he became commander of concentration camps under the Soviet and later Polish communist regimes. They incarcerated – and often killed – Germans and political prisoners. After the fall of the communist regime, Morel emigrated to Israel and was indicted by Poland for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Poland sought his extradition, but Israel refused to surrender him.
Armed with this story, Owens made a “wrong-on-both-sides” argument. She said that common public knowledge (at least in the US) of the history of atrocities had been narrowly focused on Hilter and the Nazis.
She had a very heated debate with Rabbi Shmuley, moderated by Piers Morgan. (I found this such an unbearable slanging match that I didn’t listen to the full hour.) Although she denies being anti-Semitic, she does seem to have a problem with a lot of Jews. The Times of Israel was not impressed.
She’s harsh on the Israeli military action in Gaza. (And who wouldn’t be after yet another mass murder? The latest report: ninety-three or more people, including women and children, killed in an attack on a residential building in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip.)
Owens is dismissive of US support for Ukraine against Russia. Accordingly, she’s soft on Putin, and doesn’t care if he and Elon had a few phone calls.
She thinks the US should not be enabling other people’s wars and that they should leave other countries to do their own thing. There’s been a long history of American isolationism, however, so we needn’t be surprised by that.
In November 2023, Owens endorsed Republican Vivek Ramaswamy for President of the US, and, with much irony, endorsed Nikki Haley for President of Israel.
She made a case that Kamala Harris is a communist, but, in doing so, she confused any redistributive policy with communism, as many conservatives do. She digs around in Harris’s family tree, arguing that they were not middle-class (as Harris keeps saying) but very wealthy – and yet also, according to Owens, communists. So I wouldn’t take it seriously. But this kind of hyperbole is normal, I’m afraid – akin to those on the right who said Jacinda Ardern was both a communist and a fascist, sometimes in the same breath.
It’s enough to make a political theorist roll his eyeballs!
I wouldn’t have paid any attention to Candace Owens were it not for Australia’s ban. On the other hand, I don’t recommend paying to see her if she gets into Aotearoa. There are much better ways to spend your time and money!
Banning her – or, if she gets into the country, protesting against her – is the best way to support her, however, because that’s how she gets attention and builds audiences. These controversial speakers love to be cancelled. They brag to their followers about it.
Although my own commentary may have messed with things, I’ll let you judge whether or not Candace should be granted a visitor visa as a public speaker.
Candace Owens on her Youtube channel. She’ll be a test for a right-wing government.
When Nigel Farage came to town, his performance was conveniently located at a venue across the street from the university. A group of protestors gathered dutifully outside to yell “Shame!” at anyone who went in. They’d put on an unpaid supporting act for which Farage must have been grateful.
She should be allowed into NZ of course but I won’t be wasting my time listening to her. But those who want to should be allowed to do so in peace.
I think you are very much on the money in pointing out these sorts of commentators thrive on controversy and canceling them is exactly what they are after. And doing so has broader implications for open liberal democracies like NZ. I guess the real test of free speech is putting up with people who like to stir the pot and are seriously annoying.