Have you ever visited Chicago? 

I've just come in from pulling some weeds in my garden, and happened to be thinking about the first time I visited there.

For an otherwise troubled city (famous, in part, for its tragically high gunviolence), it has a stunning, sprawling waterfront. I took this photo of a plaque there about 10 years ago. It's message has stuck with me ever since:

"Make no little plans.

They have no magic to stir men's blood and probably will not themselves be realized".  

It struck me then, and still does, how often we settle for small plans, when really only grand dreams will do.

In reality, we will likely fall short of what we imagine, but far better than compromising for what anyone can envision. 

At the Free Speech Union, our team has a great dream: to make New Zealand the freest nation in the world to speak and think. I am convinced that if we achieve this (and I think we're well on our way), there is not a single part of our society that we'll fail to impact.

Free speech is so much more than a civil liberty, one alongside others, that we can dismiss or discount. It is the foundation on which our way of life has been built. Those who insist we discard free speech now, knowingly or unknowingly, insist we embrace a radically different view of the world.

I have said from the very start of our adventure here at the Free Speech Union that if it is just me, and our staff, and our Board, we will achieve little and fail soon.

But if it is a broad coalition of over 100,000 Kiwis who otherwise agree on little, except that we must each vigilantly defend the right for all to think and speak, then, then I believe our plans must be daring. 

We have 4 workstreams that guide our work: Cases, Campaigns, Content, and Coaching. 

• Cases: last year, we took on major legal cases, and sought to set new precedents by:
  • holding Council Chief Executives accountable for their actions so they can't just run up legal fees on the ratepayers' credit card;
  • holding School Board of Trustees accountable for the why principals and teachers instruct their students on free speech;
  • holding Police accountable, by defending those they wrongly arrested, suing them for this abuse, and overturning censorial guidelines. 
• Campaigns: we ran campaigns to change the way our institutions respect free speech, which saw several new pieces of legislation introduced to Parliament:
  • including a major amendment to requirements on universities to defend the right (it is their most basic duty) for academics and students to think and speak;
  • we launched 7 new professional members, for academics, lawyers, teachers, medical professionals, public servants media professionals, and religious leaders. These are the critical battlegrounds of our fight.
• Content: we were referenced over 300 times in the media, held events that reached thousands, with 5 speaking tours with international VIPs discussing the importance of free speech for issues like Gender (Graham Linehan), Race Relations (Prof. Nigel Biggar), Academic Freedom (Jonathan Rauch) and COVID-19 (Toby Young).
• Coaching: we held Speak Up! sessions for college students across the country, sponsored the Nation Debating Society, and offered professional development for public servants. 

Undoubtedly, you have plans for 2025. I hope they are not small and that they stir your blood. We are also preparing for our biggest year yet. But the simple reality is, without you and your support, that won't be possible. 

I'm writing to ask you for two things: 

1. Your ideas - in addition to what we're doing above (we'll keeping running cases, campaigns, content, and coaching in 2025), how could we better protect and expand free speech in New Zealand (and overseas - the FSU NZ is now one of 6 Free Speech Unions around the world that we support and work with)? 
2. Your partnership - I don't stutter or blush when I acknowledge that this work won't happen without financial partners. Our team of twenty-something-year-olds have gotten some phenominal wins under our belts. We're keen to keep going, but we can't do the work and foot the bill. 

Those who believe in freedom believe that through respect for one another and cooperation, New Zealand's best days are ahead of us.

This is something we will always have over our opponents who rather than motivated by hope are motivated by fear and resentment; that is why they must silence their opponents - and it is why they must (and will) lose. 

I hope you have a glass of Liberty Blush available to toast to 2025. Together, let's make it a year of daring, blood-stirring ambition for the freedoms and rights that guarantee our way of life. 

Jonathan Ayling Chief Executive Free Speech Union www.fsu.nz