This week Stuff journalists Nadine Roberts and Sinead Gill reported on Room 102. Room 102 is a commercial space in Christchurch leased by a group that includes former National Front leader Kyle Chapman and former council candidates with links to Voices For Freedom, and others.
A new underground group bringing together conspiracy theorists and extremists was behind a campaign to stop a Christchurch Pride Week event. Called Room 102 – potentially a play on the Room 101 of George Orwell’s novel 1984, where characters are taken to be brainwashed and tortured into submission – the group has leased a building at 362 Cashel St in Christchurch. Leaders of the secretive group include failed Voices for Freedom council candidate Rob Gray and far right supremacist Kyle Chapman.
The group behind Room 102 recently organised a protest against drag queens reading stories to children at Christchurch’s Tūranga library. Their call to action travelled widely in conspiracy theory circles, pulling in figures associated with neo-Nazi group Action Zealandia and people previously seen demonstrating outside the courts in support of Counterspin Media’s Kelvyn Alp and Hannah Spierer.
In the Stuff story, which included material sourced from FACT Aotearoa, we learned that a broad coalition is emerging that includes “independent” local body politicians, the supposedly moderate Voices For Freedom, and extremists like Counterspin and Action Zealandia who specialise in calls for violence and antisemitic conspiracy theories.
As we commented in the Stuff story, FACT is concerned that boundaries between supposedly moderate groups like Voices For Freedom and neo-Nazi extremists like Action Zealandia are breaking down. While they may not share ideology or a common programme, they are sharing personnel, resources and each other’s conspiracy theories. Conspiracy theories about transsexual people, their supposed interest in recruitment, and shadowy forces supposedly supporting them are giving this emerging coalition a hot button issue to organise around. (More on this soon).
Beyond this we see an irony that people who claim to be for freedom are actively organising to take freedom away from others. Beyond the conspiracy explanation, they seek to shut down lawful public events that people want to attend, as an exercise in building their movement.
We’re glad to see news media continue to shine a light in dark corners… and happy to help.
