By Randall Richards, Mountain Spirit Media
Author of “Cell 22”, Monica Smit, has been on tour in New Zealand since the 10th of January and is still going strong on the North Island with more events until the wrap-up on 22nd of February in Hamilton. I recently saw her speak in Wanaka and found her presentation heartfelt, informative and inspiring.
I first saw Monica on an online Zoom call when when she spoke the members of our founding meeting of New Zealand Rising. We had a heady collection leadership from throughout New Zealand, who were passionate about creating a directory of organizations concerned with government overreach. In attendance were lawyers, teachers, doctors, farmers, the alternative press, psychologists, leadership from a number of Māori communities , former TV news anchors, former military leadership, nurses and leadership from a group concerned with fluoride in public water supplies. Monica provided invaluable insight to the group during her talk, and she didn’t disappoint seeing her in person last month.
In her own words, Smit says about her tour, “My mission is for you to leave the event feeling connected, empowered and inspired. I will talk about the lessons I learnt on the front line of Victoria’s pushback movement, what I think we should be focusing on now, my past and current court cases and more. Afterwards, I’d love to hug and connect with as many freedom lovers as possible.
Here is a recap of what she covered at here talk in Wanaka
Smit opened with a plea – “Censorship laws, in Australia will start to get tough, [ and I don’t plan on changing my plan] So, when I do go back to jail, can you please share my story. If you see people like me, share their story to help people wake up.”
She then started by asking the audience members, what they do to offer service to the community, such as tea dispensary, hypnotherapy, sells lamb and beef etc, and added, “I do this to showcase that we can support each other, so when the $#!t hits the fan, we can be creative businesswise,, that’s what communities do that really thrive. The point is, to think outside the box to support people [in your community] if you have the resources.
Smit started with “Her Story”
“What I’ve learned the past 6 years, campaigns and going forward is that I’ve become an expert in the freedom movement. If anyone knows what the characteristic of our people, it would be me.” adding “I get inspired when I meet people like you and it allows me to stay hopeful, it’s really hard to stay positive, and we’re losing a lot of the time.” She stated, “I have met many people [ove the past few years} and I come here to get inspired by you as well.
“In Aug 2020, I started Reignite Democracy – [Early on,] OK, we might have worn a mask, but after 2-3 months, we thought “this is weird , something is going on.” We all were generally law abiding citizens. But they made us rebels, and it backfired.
We tend to want to see the best in people. Maybe they are trying to protect us. But why are the brothels open and the churches closed? The “common sense” part of us was exploding, It wasn’t making sense.
So, I came up with an idea of a livestream protest. I promised the audience I would collate the data and send it to parliament in Victoria. I started a FB page, and this live stream, and got 4k comments. Timing was everything – I sent an email to all the members of parliament. I sent them 4k data, and I was shocked that not one of them replied. So, that led to my driving around Australia in a bus with messages and graphics about Prime Minister Daniel Andrews all over it. That ended up with the police drug testing the driver, road blocks, etc, We were attending a protest and the police sent someone to find something, anything that could slow us down and hobble us. So they found 2 seatbelts that had a bit of frayed material,
From the bus tour, it didn’t take long for Andrews to know who I was.”
“Then, there was a protest with 400 police and 10 or so people. [on that day] I had declared that I was a citizen journalist and one of the policeman said “You have to go home,” I said, “No I don’t.” and I got arrested 3 times in one day. I was wondering, “What are they doing behind closed doors?’ “If they do this to me and I’m in front of cameras, what else is going on?”. I became the face of the anti-lockdown movements in Australia.”
“Over the next year, I found ways to do things with loopholes. I would promote every single protest, with a poster, If I wanted people to go visit members of Parliament, [we’d try to talk with them during] their lunch, [to address the serious regressions of our freedoms.] They were charging people with incitement, “for inciting people to break covid restrictions”. None of the charges went to trial, I knew this could happen, [that someone could get arrested] but, we all have this “line in the sand”, and we [just] don’t care anymore. [I predict] a lot more people in Australia will see this sort of thing happening again soon.
Then, there was an extension of the lockdowns and I promoted a protest of these extended lockdowns. [So I was arrested.]
I was in the police interview for about 12 hrs., Before that incident, I had a dream about getting arrested, I told my partner at the time, about the dream, it was a warning. I dreamt that I said NO to the bail conditions, that I didn’t have a choice, It wasn’t even a hard decision, it wasn’t even a decision.”
“So, I went to prison for not agreeing to saying [anything controversial about] “COVID” [The authorities said] I had to take everything off my website that had to do with COVID. At that time, we were the biggest pushback against the [authorities] . It was perfect timing for them to get rid of me. I didn’t sign those conditions,
I was in insolation for 22 days for refusing to take the PCR test. When I was in prison, I just realized that the book I was working on, was just about to get way better.
They gave me 22days of interrupted time to work on this second half of my book. It achieved just the opposite of what they wanted to do.
Without that story of prison, I wouldn’t have the credibility that I feel I have now. I pled “Not guilty”,
They then got a warrant, I had to give all the PW’s and database, They wanted everything – If you don’t comply with a warrant, it’s an indictable offense. Then, two days later they dropped all the charges. They were just trying to get something, anything. It didn’t work out for them. In my court case, I won that two of the three arrests were unlawful and I’m appealing that I had to pay 250,000 for the court case,”
“My family and I are used to being outside the box. During the lockdowns, my church was doing secret weddings. I was surrounded by rebels at that time. I really had great support – I didn’t have the losses that you [in this audience probably] have had, with the loss friendships, of connection with friend and family.
[I suggest that] you don’t compare yourself with other activists, Do stuff in silence and and make a difference.
I’ve met a lot of people [contributing in their own way.] It’s what makes the way we are. It’s our upbringing, not watching MSM, There is a characteristic that we all have in common, is that we care. That same person that kicked you out of the grocery store or library during the mandates, that you still care about them.
That character [trait though] can be used to wear you down, There are so many things! Every day there’s a new problem. But there’s a way we can minimize the effort [it takes to affect change]. [Say to yourself,] “Will I enjoy the project, will it suit my skills and will it have impact? Manage your expectations, work smarter not harder. Working in these communities [concerned with government overreach] is super important. Cause the globalists hate that like minded people getting together. (“SMART Analogy)”
Monica then put it bluntly, “Not everyone is ready to wake up. Not only that, not everyone is worth the effort.” She continued, “I call them “horses” because you can lead a horse to water… Is it time to spend your energy on them? Some people you can wake up, but if a COVID like thing of happens again you only need 5% of the energy – It’s about the right timing.
Those people will come around when something tragically happens. [And importantly,] when people “wake up”, they’ll need our support and forgiveness. Don’t shove it in their faces.”
“Social media is telling us we’re the minority – but that’s not what I’m seeing. [Most] everybody hates the government. It feels to me there’s a revolution brewing, but the media doesn’t want to tell you. You’d be surprised how many people I encounter that are awake. All of us speaking our truth – When those people, to keep their their jobs are keeping quiet, and just assume that their co-workers in their office are all woke, how do you know unless you’re questioning?”
Monica told a wonderful story of someone she met on the plane who was clearly on the opposite stance on things. But Smit tested it out with a conversation and by listening to them.. She said, “If you respect them, if you wait before making a comment or judgement, you may make some headway”, adding, “We don’t have to know everything about everything, when in conversation. “Online, you always get more views when you’re angry – positive stuff doesn’t get as many views, [but stay positive’]. They want us to lose hope. But let’s not let them have the satisfaction of that.
[Keep in mind that] 70% of Twitter content is robots.”
“There is a political solution – So much money and energy [to run for office], and we’re churning though people, [that get burned out in trying to change the system.] But what if the last option is that we “take back” a party If you get fifty one seats, and there are already fifty in place, you can have the real power [to affect change].”
“The freedom family is depicted in a certain way [by the old media], but we’re just normal people. Having met so many of you, when you see propaganda that we are a certain way, we are simply not that way. [But also, in the freedom movement], there’s a lot of infighting, why do we infight a lot. I believe it’s because our morals are set in concrete, But, when stuff hits the fan again, that differences will go away. There was no infighting whatsoever, during lockdown – we all worked together. That will happen again. The struggle is real, and when stuff happens again, [remember that] there will be those that will need our understanding.”
Moncia Smit continues to speak on New Zealand’s North Island until her last NZ event on 22nd February. You can see the full schedule here.
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