Trevor Loudon

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Trevor Loudon

Trevor Loudon is a New Zealand author, speaker and political activist who maintains a prolific and controversial blog entitled New Zeal. He is also founder and editor of the right-wing website KeyWiki,[1] and was vice president of the ACT New Zealand Party from 2006 to 2008.[2]

Background

Trevor Loudon has been involved in politics in Christchurch for many years, most notably the Campaign for a Soviet Free New Zealand (CFSFNZ)[3] a group which published dossiers on people involved in the anti-nuclear movement, declaring them to be communists and "connecting the dots" between them and their supposed Soviet masters.[4] Loudon established the Campaign for a Soviet-Free New Zealand in June 1986 to expose 'Soviet/Marxist subversion' in New Zealand.[5] Loudon argued that the New Zealand government should cease all diplomatic and trading relations with the Soviet Union on the grounds that it was a hostile, totalitarian dictatorship seeking world dominance. The group most notably advocated a ban on the importing of Soviet Nova and Lada cars on the grounds that they had been built through slave labor.[5][3] Other activities carried out by the CFSFNZ included staging protests, collecting information on the Labour Party and left-wing groups, and circulating pamphlets in Christchurch during the 1987 New Zealand general elections which attacked the Fourth Labour Government and local Christchurch-based Members of Parliament Mike Moore and Geoffrey Palmer.[6][7][8][9]

Trevor Loudon became the public face of the Campaign for a Soviet-Free New Zealand.[10] In addition to his anti-Communist and pro-ANZUS stance, Loudon claimed that New Zealand's Communist parties particularly the Socialist Unity Party and their front organizations had infiltrated the Labour Party, trade union movement, National Council of Churches, and left-wing groups like the Council of Organizations for Relief Services Overseas (CORSO) and the anti-Apartheid Halt All Racist Tours.[11][12][13] By 1987, the group had a mailing list of about 800 people. It also maintained links with other conservative groups including Stanley Newman's pro-ANZUS Plains Club, the Coalition of Concerned Citizens, the New Zealand League of Rights and some Pentecostal churches.[14] The CSFNZ also published its own newspaper which ran from May 1988 to November 1990. Loudon also dismissed the perestroika and glasnost reforms occurring in the Soviet Union during that period as a smokescreen designed to advance Soviet ambitions.[15] Loudon was also critical of the Māori protest movement, which he alleged had been penetrated by Communist subversives and was seeking to promote a Māori version of Apartheid.[16]

Beliefs

He describes himself as "[Believing] in freedom with responsibility, not freedom from responsibility. My ideal society is one in which government is slashed to the bone and people are free to reach their potential." In addition to his libertarian economic views he is strongly anti-communist, in a 2006 post to his blog (see below) he stated "Socialism, is in short a manifestation of mental illness or major character deficiency."[17] he has also stated a belief that communists are responsible for "supplying much of the world's illegal drugs," although he supports drug legalization (while being personally against drug use).[18] He is a self-described "student" of the Zenith Applied Philosophy, an offshoot of Scientology. In 2006 he wrote on his blog "I have studied at Z.A.P. from 1976 to 1982, 1986/7 and 1999 to current. I am enjoying my studies immensely at the moment and plan to continue indefinitely."[19]

New Zeal

Loudon maintains a prolific and controversial blog entitled New Zeal. Many of his posts make allegations about the backgrounds of political opponents whom he sees as "menace[s] to liberty," often tying them to communist activity. Favorite subjects for attack are Green Party co-leader Russel Norman[20] and MP Keith Locke, as well as academics he views as left-wing, posts about whom are titled "Socialist Academic Profile". (S.A.P.)[21]

A series of posts he wrote on US presidential candidate Barack Obama[22] attracted the attention of the conservative US based Accuracy in Media organization, who brought Loudon's allegations of Obama's communist connections to a wider audience.[23] Loudons allegations even received coverage in The Washington Post, though the columnist stated that "The charges [against Obama] ranged from the absurd to the merely questionable".[24]

In April 2010, Loudon launched a wiki, KeyWiki, with the intent of profiling leftist activists. KeyWiki launched with over 35,000 profiles on people it links with the Democratic Socialists of America, the Center for American Progress, and other progressive organizations. Merely signing a petition is enough for KeyWiki to start a "stub" on a person. The site strictly limits who may contribute.

"We've got congressmen in there, 'peace' activists, labor unionists, black radicals, 'religious' socialists, 'greenies', left wing academics , Obama appointees and thousands of card-carrying socialists and communists," Loudon said in announcing the project. "In short, all the people who are dragging America down." [25]

Controversy

Loudon sparked some controversy when in December 2005 his blog featured a post titled "Himmler and Benson-Pope; Spot the Difference?" comparing Labour Cabinet Minister David Benson-Pope, who was the subject of a number of allegations over physical assault on pupils in the 1980s[citation needed], to Heinrich Himmler. A spokesman for Benson-Pope said that the joke was in bad taste, stating that "Mr Loudon is clearly a failed stand-up comedian with bad taste and poor judgment and he's perfectly suited as office holder of the ACT Party." Loudon claimed that the post had been a joke that "went around the Internet. Quite a few people posted that." [26]

References

  1. ↑ "About". KeyWiki. 
  2. ↑ "ACT Board Election Results". ACT New Zealand. 2006-05-27. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 Wilson, A.C. (2004). New Zealand and the Soviet Union 1950-1991: A Brittle Relationship. Wellington: University Press and the New Zealand Institute for International Affairs. 
  4. ↑ "Taxpayers pay $1m for spies' sarcasm". The Sunday Star Times. 2008-06-15. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Jesson, Bruce; Ryan, Allanah; Spoonley, Paul (1988). "Chapter 5: Being British". Revival of the Right: New Zealand Politics in the 1980s (1st ed.). Heinemann Reed. p. 94. ISBN 0-7900-0003-2. 
  6. ↑ T.J. O'Cain, letter, "Lame," New Zeal, no. 1 (May 1988), 3
  7. ↑ "Protest held," Evening Post, 20 June 1988
  8. ↑ "Police decide not to charge Moore over pre-election incident," Evening Post, 17 September 1987
  9. ↑ "Assault Charge dropped," Evening Post, 25 September 1987
  10. ↑ "Footpath melee brought unforeseen profile," The Press, 2 September 1987.
  11. ↑ Editorial, New Zeal, no. 1 (May 1988), 3
  12. ↑ Trevor Loudon, "Comrade in Alms: How CORSO cons Kiwis," New Zeal, no. 2 (July 1988), 1-3
  13. ↑ Loudon, Trevor; Moran, Bernard (March 22, 2007). 's+ANZUS+breakdown.-a0173717046 The untold story behind New Zealand's ANZUS breakdown. National Observer. Retrieved 26 October 2013. 
  14. ↑ "Footpath melee brought unforeseen profile," The Press, 2 September 1987.
  15. ↑ "The Comm-Pact: SUP-Labour Plan to Further Socialise NZ's Economy," New Zeal, no. 1 (May 1988), 3
  16. ↑ "Maori Apartheid," New Zeal, no. 9, November 1990, 1-4
  17. ↑ "Are Socialists Psychos?". New Zeal. 2006-12-12. 
  18. ↑ "Drug Freeland Part 1". New Zeal. 2006-12-19. 
  19. ↑ "Trevor Loudon Replies to Russel Norman". New Zeal. 2006-02-06. 
  20. ↑ "Was the Green's "Mr Clean", a Marxist-Leninist?". New Zeal. 2006-01-31. 
  21. ↑ "S.A.P. Number 8, Brian Roper". New Zeal. 2006-07-14. 
  22. ↑ "Obama-file 20 Young Communist League Backs Barack Obama-Again". New Zeal. 2008-02-29. 
  23. ↑ "Obama’s Communist Mentor". Accuracy in Media. 2008-02-18. 
  24. ↑ Milbank, Dana (2008-05-23). "Obama as You've Never Known Him!". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2010-05-26. 
  25. ↑ Nerks, Fred (2010-04-12). "What Is KeyWiki?". The Free Republic. Retrieved 2010-07-29. 
  26. ↑ "ACT vice-president defends blog comments". Stuff.co.nz. 2006-04-01. 

External links

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