On August 23, 2004, a little-known pastor from the central blocks of the North Island led a flock of black shirts onto the steps of New Zealand’s parliament. The ‘Enough is Enough’ demonstration saw thousands of almost entirely male uniformed Destiny Church members march through central Wellington protesting against civil unions, an agreement that gives same-sex couples the same rights than if they were married.
The protest left a scar on Wellington’s collective consciousness. LGBTQI+ people suffered abuse on the streets. Georgina Beyer, the ruling Labor MP and the world’s first transgender MP, went to the front of parliament to confront the protesters and “look them in the eye”. Kiri Allan, now a minister in the Labor government but then a law student at nearby Victoria University, also came out to confront the protesters (with a fair bit of assistance in the form of a haka from now Green Party MP Teanau Tuiono ). .
On August 23, 2022, as the flock of now-Bishop Brian Tamaki marched to the steps of parliament to hold mock trials, it is surprising to reflect on how the leader of the Church of Destiny lost.
Hannah Tamaki (left) and Brian Tamaki (centre), lead an anti-government march in Wellington on Tuesday. Photograph: Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images
In 2013 parliament legalized same-sex marriage, making civil unions a short-lived relic. As they did in 2004, women still hold the state’s three highest offices: Governor General (Dame Cindy Kiro), Prime Minister (Jacinda Ardern) and Chief Justice (Dame Helen Winkelmann). In 2000, when the bishop had a slot on Sunday morning television, he told his flock that women in power were part of the “devil’s strategy”. They took out the slot. He lost. Today, as commentators struggled to pinpoint what this protest was about, it seems reasonable to conclude that the Prime Minister’s gender emboldens a significant number of her haters. At least one protester carried a sign that read “abandon the dog.”
This inconsistency is what marks the protest as somewhat pathetic. But this is also its danger. In 2004, Enough is Enough protesters had a specific, if regressive, cause in opposing the civil unions bill. At that time, the Church of Destiny was at the height of its powers. Tamaki could credibly call at least 5,000 church members and target social programs that contribute to genuine community good. But in the 18 years since then, the church has lost at least 2,000 members. Branches closed in places like Porirua and Dunedin. The church’s political party, Vision New Zealand, did terribly in the last election. This leaves the bishop desperately searching for a cause.
To the detriment of the country, he found one in the regulations to contain Covid-19. When the country went into lockdown in March 2020, successfully eliminating the virus in a collective effort, Tamaki took an early stand, refusing to comply with stay-at-home rules before moving his services on line. In March 2021 he refused to comply again, leaving Auckland for Rotorua during a Level 3 lockdown (non-essential regional travel was banned).
The conspirators and fake news peddlers of the world have found the Covid-19 regulations fertile ground for radicalizing people with grievances. Tamaki found it too, teaming up with the so-called Freedom and Rights Coalition and rallying thousands to protest the Auckland Delta blockade in October 2021. This taste of minor public success is perhaps partly behind Tamaki’s decision to merge Vision New Zealand. with two of New Zealand’s other fringe and conspiratorial parties.
Whether deliberately or not, Tamaki is placing his church at the center of New Zealand’s disinformation networks. In his sermon to protesters in Wellington on Tuesday, he suggested the government was responsible for canceling ferry trips from Picton to prevent people from attending the demonstration. This is patently false. It is also at the end reserved for his howls.
The counter-protesters wait for the protestors. Photograph: Lynn Grieveson/Getty Images
Like evangelical churches in countries like the United States and Brazil, Tamaki is finding influence in proselytizing the “end of days.” Not necessarily in the biblical sense, but in a political sense. If there’s one thing Tamaki and his followers object to, it’s the pace of change. marriage equality Women in leadership positions. Regulations to remove and suppress a deadly virus. The world, pardon the pun, is going to hell.
And this narrative – the world as terribly progressive – drives Tamaki’s imitators, hangers-on and competition. Unrelated online scammers confront the bishop with vast conspiracies alleging (among many, many other things) pedophile dungeons under parliament. This is deranged. And easily debunked. But conspiracies function more as ciphers for general grievances than for specific, provable claims. This incoherence is what makes the protest – and the wider web of misinformation – worth understanding and opposing. Conspiracy media like Counterspin Media use these inventions to shape grievances and justifications for the aggrieved. If your enemy is a pedophile who imprisons children, surely anything goes.
This is where fascism begins. In the backlash against an allegedly corrupt elite, and in an alliance between fringe religious organizations, white nationalists and, finally, capital. In New Zealand, things haven’t gone that far yet. The scene of a mock judge holding a mock trial outside parliament was ultimately comical. Lady Justice’s red velvet throne, gavel, bench and scales only reinforced the absence of majesty and justice in the day’s proceedings. It was like a child playing dress up.
What stood out, however, was the counter-protest. As in 2004, when counter-protesters met the Enough is Enough march, it reinforced that Destiny Church was already halfway to defeat. When Tuesday’s counter-protesters met the protesters, the same was reinforced. The conspirators, and the fascists, are already losing.