Counterspin at Court: ‘The people’s platform will be tried by the people’

Counterspin Media Directors Kelvyn Alp and Hannah Spierer addressed a group of supporters in the Christchurch Justice Precinct this morning, confirming they have elected trial by jury.

Arriving outside the courthouse Spierer said, ‘We love all people of all colours, creeds, races, it’s just unfortunate that the higher powers are dividing everybody.’

While no appearance in court was scheduled for today, Alp confirmed the jury trial papers had been filed in court.

He added, ‘It’s also about free speech, about adults being able to decide what kind of information they want to receive and impart. When you have a gatekeeper of that you start losing the fundamental right of advancement of knowledge. Especially in regards to crimes against humanity and cover-ups – it’s always been journalists who’ve uncovered such things.’

Addressing the crowd, Alp said:

‘I know we all believe the system sucks and is corrupt, but trust me there are some good people in there [pointing to the courthouse] who are working hard in the background to change the whole dynamics.

‘Your ability to decide for yourself whether you’re an adult, or whether you’re a child in need of managing. You have the right to decide what information you will receive, and what you will impart, so long as you cause no harm. Asking questions that begged to be asked, is not causing harm – it’s increasing your knowledge base.

‘So while we all think the system is vile and corrupt, and it’s hard to argue with that I grant you, there are still some good people left in there. My problem has always been those at the top. So, if we remove them, and let the real ones shine, I guarantee we’ll have a hell of a lot better society.

‘We’ve alleged to have shared a link to an offshore website – that’s it. So I face 2 counts of 14 years in prison, for sharing a link allegedly. Apparently it’s still there. It was shared on the 22nd of February.

‘We’re taking this all the way through. We’ve done nothing wrong. We are the real fourth estate. Remember the Nixon government brought down in Watergate? Who did that? Journalists – real journalists who asked questions and investigated. Not the ones who are bought and paid for media whores, who sell you and everyone else down the river.

‘Now, I know there’s some journalists out there who are good as well, but who controls the gates? The editor. So if there’s any mainstream media journalists out there who are sick to death about being brow-beaten and told what to write, come our way. The people have your back, as they’ve had ours from day one.

‘We will never fold, we will never yield, we will never back down, and you can as sure as hell believe this, we will never sell out.’

Spierer thanked everyone for coming and for those who had donated, many of whom had traveled from around the country.

‘There are good people in every organisation…including in the police, and we need a serious judicial system and police system which is good for the people, that has integrity and honour.

‘We stand for truth, we stand for freedom, and we stand for courage.

‘We are all one people, regardless of your colour, race or creed. We just want integrity. We just want answers. We just want to be able to question. And that is everyone’s right. If you lose the ability to think, if they try and legislate thought and questioning, and your ability to speak, then who are you as a person?’

‘Unfortunately, they’ve [referring to a group of counter-protesters] fallen for the misinformation, and they’re not even willing to come talk to us. Same with the mainstream media, they’ve done a lot of hitpieces. Simply, just come and talk to us. We’re not bad people. We are here just to question everything. We know there’s good journalists out there.’

Introduced Omar, who lost his father. He’s the reason why we want to get to the bottom of what’s really going on here.

A full replay of today’s live stream is available on the Counterspin Media website.