Have you heard of Sean Feucht before this month? If I had not done it, you are likely to do it now.
The Christian musician based in the United States was not exactly a family name or sold the largest concert places in this country, but his recent concert tour in the East and the Center of Canada has put it in the center of attention in the last two weeks, since the permits for some of their shows have been revoked in the middle of a protest that their controversial views are taking place in public spaces.
The 41 -year -old preacher and activist has raised the anger of people for his support for the president of the United States, Donald Trump, and his Make America Great Again, or magician, movement, and about the comments he has made about abortion, the critical theory of the 2SLGBTQ+ rights and gender diversity rights.
His supporters, including Canadian politicians such as conservative parliamentarians Michael Barrett (Leeds, Grenville, a thousand islands – Rideau Lagos) and Andrew Lawton (Elgin – Thomas – London South), have denounced what they see as an attack on freedom of expression, conservative views and religion.
Although some experts in freedom of expression do not agree with Feucht’s opinions in any way, they do see efforts to cancel their concerts, especially those scheduled to stay in public spaces, as problematic and indicative of how censorship is used as a means to address social problems instead of discussing them.
“Because freedom of expression is so fundamental in a democratic society, we restrict it only in the most extreme cases,” said James Turk, director of the Free Expression Center of the Metropolitan University of Toronto.
The American musician Sean Feucht has had multiple event permits for his Canadian concert tour denied or revoked by Cities and Parks in Canada, since some oppose their affiliation with the political movement of Maga.
Security or censorship?
In the course of last week, Feucht saw revoked permits for their concerts in Halifax, Charlottetown, Moncton, NB, Quebec City, Gatineau, which., And Vaughan, Ont., All of which should be held in public sites.
The city of Montreal tried to stop his performance on Friday night in a church, but continued as scheduled. The Church, however, now faces a fine of $ 2,500 for organizing the event without permission.
Feucht is scheduled to travel several cities in western Canada at the end of next month, including Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Edmonton, Kelowna, BC and Abbotsford, BC, BC, BC
Turk said public spaces are different from private places, whose owners can choose who they do and not accommodate without violating the letter of rights and freedoms.
There is “a very limited number of reasons” for which municipal, provincial or federal governments could justify the cancellation of an event like this, he said, and that there should be “reasonable reasons to believe that the person will participate in illegal activities in that space.”
In most cases, officials cited security concerns and not the content of Feucht programs or their previous comments.
But Turk said he does not believe that Feucht’s performance would have created “such a threatening situation that local police forces would not be adequate to handle it.”
“I fear that, as in many cases, the use of security as an excuse is only that, an excuse to deny what is a fundamental right of freedom of expression in this country,” he said.
If there were a situation in which the temperature could explode if critics or protesters tried to interrupt one of Feucht’s shows, government agencies responsible for pubic spaces have the obligation to provide resources to guarantee safety and order, said Stephen Newman, Professor Emeritus in the Department of Politics of the University of York in Toronto.
But in an email to CBC News on Monday, he wrote that acting on “unpalified concerns” and preventing Feucht concerts from taking place in response to public protest is similar to what is known as “heckler veto”, in which groups or individuals suppress or close the discourse of another through interruption, intimidation or even violence.
EscapeQuebec City removes permits for influential Christian musicians and Maga defenders who will be presented at Expo Cité
Quebec City is the last Canadian city to cancel a programmed appearance of a controversial Christian rock musician and ascent star in the Maga Movement, Sean Feucht. Matthew D. Taylor, author and Senior Christian scholar of the Institute of Islamic Studies, Christians and Jews, spoke with the guest presenter Allison Van Rassel on the influence of Feucht and his relationship with the president of the United States, Donald Trump.
Capitalizing the controversy
Feucht can have fewer concerts in its tour schedule, but has just won a lot of free advertising, said Dax D’Azio, a postdoctoral fellow in the Department of Political Sciences of the University of Guelph that investigates freedom of expression in Canada.
“If you generally do not agree with someone, if you think your expression is harmful, you should really think about what is the best way to counteract that in society,” he said.
“Sometimes, asking for the cancellation of events is not always the most strategic way to do things.”
D’Azio said artists like Feucht can win “symbolic capital in public discourse” if they can say they are a victim.
Matthew Taylor, a main Christian scholar of the Institute of Islamic, Christian and Jewish Studies in Baltimore who has written about Feucht, shared that feeling.
“These provocative, in their face, intentionally trying to extract a response from local officials, even trying to be prohibited or forbidden, and then presents that, as a persecution, he is a victim of anti-Christian bias,” News told CBC last week.
Feucht, on the other hand, celebrated that he and his followers were triumphant for attempts to sink the actions, having re -reserved some to other places or properties.
“The enemy’s plan has been contained here!” Feucht wrote on a Facebook post on Thursday.
“Like the book of facts, what the activists tried to stop now has gone viral: they did not face each other! They have to inform about the worship and preaching of the Gospel every night!
Sean Feuch, an American singer in the Maga Movement, will not act in a National Historic Site near Halifax after the permission for “Evolution Safety and Safety considerations”, according to Parks Canada. The concert will continue in a new place in a rural area about 60 kilometers north of the city.
‘Price of a democracy’
Both Turk and D’Azio said they see a bad precedent established by public agencies that revoke permits for a divisive figure such as Feucht.
It could end up being a “Tit-For-OT” situation, said D’Azio, in which people or groups that have opposite opinions can attack each other using Feucht as an example of public agencies that close events just because people on one side are joining against the other.
It doesn’t matter if people see Feucht as the propagation of hatred, Turk said, because it is unlikely that anything he says ascends to the level of being considered the hate discourse in the eyes of the Canadian justice system.
Turk said that in the case of someone who crossed that line, in fact, they should be prevented from having a platform.
But beyond that, he said, freedom of expression must be protected for all equally, regardless of the views we have.
“The price of a democracy is always exposed to divergent views, some of which we love, some of which we hate.”
