New Jersey conference on polarization, opposing viewpoints relocated after backlash

Outrage flared after it was discovered that many of the panelists scheduled to speak at a conference 20 miles outside of Philadelphia, in southern New Jersey, on polarization and Free Speech had made well-publicized racist or sexist remarks in the past. Following a protest campaign and subsequent threats of violence, the event’s proposed venue canceled the conference, which was then quietly relocated.

Further Details

The #MINDS New Jersey: Ending Racism, Violence and Authoritarianism event, planned for Aug. 31, 2019, sought to address polarization through “open dialogue” among people with differing viewpoints. The event was slated to take place at the iconic Broadway Theatre in Pitman, New Jersey, a renovated 1920s-era venue.

Minds In Real Life (Minds IRL), the lead organization sponsoring the event, is a so-called “anti-Facebook” social networking platform; it seeks to present an alternative to traditional social media with a newfound emphasis on users’ digital rights. Since its founding in 2011, the site has received criticism for becoming a haven for far-right activity. In response, it has banned several accounts linked to neo-Nazi groups.

The session was to feature an array of speakers, including conservative journalist Andy Ngo, who drew headlines in June 2019 when he claimed to have been assaulted by “antifa” (or antifascist) protesters; other journalists, social media pundits, and entertainers were also to be in attendance. Panels scheduled over the course of the day-long conference included “The Great Migration: A Discussion on Digital and Physical Immigration” and “The Effects of Political Violence,” which featured Ngo and Minds co-founder Bill Ottoman and journalist Tim Pool.

In the weeks leading up to the conference, local left-leaning and progressive groups expressed concern over offensive statements made by several of the planned speakers, according to WHYY, an NPR affiliate in Philadelphia..

Mark Meechan, a Scottish YouTuber and former European Parliament candidate who was invited to speak at a panel titled, “Nuance, Context and the Future of Comedy Online,”  had been convicted of a hate crime in Scotland for posting a YouTube video in which he taught his dog to give a Nazi salute while repeatedly asking if it “[wanted] to gas the Jews,” according to The Washington Post. In addition, Carl Benjamin, a British YouTuber and unsuccessful candidate for the European Parliament like Meechan, had gained notoriety on Twitter for defending his use of the n-word by saying he “[found] racist jokes funny.” Benjamin also called a member of the UK Parliament “a giant b—h” and said he “wouldn’t even rape her” in a 2016 tweet. Other targeted panelists included Canadian journalist Meghan Murphy, who was banned from Twitter for misgendering transgender women, as WHYY reports.

Left-leaning activists, including a group called No Hate NJ, launched a call-in and social media campaign to shut down the conference before it convened. As the campaign escalated, the Broadway Theater’s Twitter account got hacked, and event organizers reported threats of violence from antifa protesters, according to The Philadelphia Inquirer. 

“The brouhaha has revealed a fundamental disagreement between local activists and event organizers over how to engage people of divergent viewpoints, a challenge that seems to have become even more daunting in the hyperpartisan Trump era,” wrote WHYY. 

Outcome 

Theater cancels conference, which is quietly relocated

About 10 days before the conference was set to occur, the Broadway Theatre announced it would no longer host it.

“We had a discussion with the event organizer over the weekend,” Darrell Blood, the theater’s business manager, said in an Aug. 20 interview with The Inquirer. “It was mutually decided that the Broadway Theatre would no longer hold the event.”

Upon the theater’s cancellation, Minds released a statement saying the conference would take place on the planned date, Aug. 31, but at an undisclosed place in the Pitman area. Social media posts indicate the event did go forward on schedule, though only ticket holders were notified of the new venue.