Faith Goldy
Faith Goldy | |
|---|---|
 Goldy in 2018 | |
| Born | Faith Julia Goldy June 8, 1989[1] |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Other names | Faith Goldy-Bazos |
| Education | Havergal College |
| Alma mater |
|
| Occupation | Political commentator |
| Known for | Former reporter for The Rebel Media[2] |
| Awards | Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award |
| Website | faithgoldy |
Faith Julia Goldy (born June 8, 1989),[1] also known as Faith Goldy-Bazos,[3] is a Canadian far-right,[a] white nationalist[4][5] political commentator,[6] associated with the alt-right[a] and white supremacy.[7] She was a contributor to The Rebel Media and covered the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.[8][9][10] Her contract was terminated in 2017 after she participated in a podcast on The Daily Stormer, a neo-Nazi website.[11]
Goldy was a candidate in the 2018 Toronto mayoral election, finishing third with 3.4% of the vote. On April 8, 2019, Goldy was banned from Facebook, along with other "individuals and organizations who spread hate, attack, or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are."[12]
Life and career
Goldy was born on June 8, 1989.[1] She attended Havergal College, a K–12 private school, and studied at Huron College at the University of Western Ontario. She later graduated in politics and history from Trinity College at the University of Toronto, minoring in philosophy, political science and government. She also began a Master of Public Policy degree at the University of Toronto School of Public Policy and Governance. In 2012, she received the Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award from the University of Toronto Alumni Association.[13]
Goldy is of Ukrainian and Greek descent. Goldy is a member of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church.[14] She was a director on the board of the Metropolitan Andrey Sheptytsky Institute Foundation from October 7, 2015, until her resignation on May 30, 2017.[15][16]
Goldy has been employed as a commentator and reporter by media outlets[6] including The Catholic Register, the Toronto Sun, TheBlaze, Bell Media, ZoomerMedia, and the National Post.[citation needed] She is a former reporter with the Sun News Network and was employed by The Rebel Media, a Canadian right-wing media website,[17] where she presented political commentary in regular YouTube videos and a weekly show called On The Hunt.[18]
In March 2017, Goldy posted on Twitter a video of herself in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem, expressing shock that she could hear an Islamic call to prayer in the city, and saying that "Bethlehem's Christian population has been ethnically cleansed".[19] In June 2017, she broadcast on Rebel Media "White Genocide in Canada?", in she expressed her opinions of the Canadian government's foreign immigration policies with regard to the Third World, and the effect of those policies on the demographic composition of Canadian society. She posited that the European population in the country was being replaced as a result.[20] In response to the broadcast, several corporate entities withdrew their financial support for Rebel Media.[20]
Goldy broadcast a livestream in August 2017 covering the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, protesting the removal of Confederate monuments. Goldy mocked counter-protesters and complained of alleged police bias against the alt-right demonstrators.[9] Goldy's video also recorded the car attack which killed counter-protester Heather Heyer.[21] Rebel Media co-founder Brian Lilley resigned after Goldy's broadcasts were published to the site.[22][23] Goldy was fired by co-founder Ezra Levant after she appeared on The Krypto Report, a podcast on the neo-Nazi website The Daily Stormer.[24][25] Levant explained that he had directed Goldy not to cover the events in Charlottesville and that her appearance on The Daily Stormer was "just too far".[24] Goldy later stated she had made "a poor decision" in consenting to the Stormer interview.[24][25]
In December 2017, Goldy appeared on the alt-right podcast Millennial Woes and recited white supremacist David Lane's slogan, the Fourteen Words: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children".[26][27] She stated: "I don't see that as controversial ... We want to survive", when questioned about her use of the saying.[27] As a result of reciting the slogan,[6] crowdfunding site Patreon suspended her account in May 2018,[3] and she was subsequently banned from PayPal that July.[28][29] After losing her Patreon account, she began receiving contributions through an alternative crowdfunding system, Freestartr. This platform was itself shut out of PayPal the same month, leaving her unable to receive payments.[28][30][31]
As of August 2018, Goldy's YouTube channel had over 60,000 subscribers.[32]
Views
I do not bathe in tears of white guilt. That does not make me a white supremacist.
I oppose state multiculturalism and affirmative action. That does not make me a racist.
I reject cultural relativism. That does not make me a fascist.
— Goldy, in defense of her coverage of the 2017 Unite the Right rally[9]
Goldy's views have been described as far-right or alt-right,[a] white nationalist,[4][5] and white supremacist.[7] These views became increasingly public after Goldy turned to Traditionalist Catholicism, following her mother being diagnosed with cancer in 2008 and dying in 2014.[33][34]
Goldy has promoted the white genocide conspiracy theory.[35][36][37] She reportedly linked the topic with the removal of Confederate statues, claiming they were being replaced "because people are being replaced".[38] It has been reported to have significantly raised her profile outlining the "terrible truths of white genocide".[39] Her belief in the subject has resulted in criticism, including a petition to rescind her Gordon Cressy Student Leadership Award.[40] GQ labelled her as "one of Canada's most prominent propagandists" of the theory.[27]
According to Winnipeg Free Press columnist Dan Lett, Goldy seemed to be working to provide mainstream respectability to far right demonstrators in the course of her reporting of the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally, arguing that they suggested a wider "rising white racial consciousness" in America. Goldy referred to a manifesto by white supremacist Richard Spencer, which Lett described as including "calls to organize states along ethnic and racial divides and celebrat[ing] the superiority of 'White America'", as "robust" and "well thought-out".[4]
On April 8, 2019, Goldy was banned from Facebook, along with several white nationalists and "individuals and organizations who spread hate, attack, or call for the exclusion of others on the basis of who they are."[12]
In spring 2019, facing legal action by the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, Goldy formally retracted and apologized for spreading an erroneous claim about the group on Twitter.[41]
Municipal politics
On July 27, 2018, Goldy registered to run for Mayor in the 2018 Toronto election.[42] Her campaign platform included repair and improvement of transportation infrastructure, affordable housing for millennials born in Toronto, the reinstatement of the Toronto Anti-Violence Intervention Strategy (TAVIS) and the Community Contacts Policy, monitoring Islamic organizations, and the forced removal of homeless illegal immigrants from the city.[43][non-primary source needed] Election totals placed her in third place, with just over 3% of votes cast.[44]
After posing for a photo with Goldy at a political event on September 22, Ontario Premier Doug Ford was repeatedly asked by the opposition New Democratic Party to denounce Goldy. On September 26 Ford tweeted: "I have been clear. I condemn hate speech, anti-Semitism and racism in all forms—be it from Faith Goldy or anyone else."[45][46][47]
Goldy was not invited to the first Toronto mayoral debate held September 24 by Artsvote Toronto. Artsvote said that all candidates were sent and asked to fill out a qualifying form that laid out their platform for the arts and Goldy had not. Goldy briefly walked onto the stage during the debate and complained about the organizers before police escorted her away.[48][49] Goldy was also not invited to the second debate.[50]
Steve King, the Republican U.S. Representative for Iowa's 4th congressional district, endorsed Goldy for Toronto mayor in October 2018.[51] King was widely criticized for this endorsement by members of his own party,[52] including Steve Stivers, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, who wrote "we must stand up against white supremacy and hate in all forms."[53][54] The Washington Examiner called King's endorsement of Goldy "a shameful endorsement of white nationalism."[55][56]
Bell Media declined to air campaign advertisements Goldy had paid for on its channel CP24 during the campaign. Goldy sued, hiring high-profile Toronto lawyer Clayton Ruby to represent her, but the Ontario Superior Court dismissed the case and ordered Goldy to pay Bell $43,117.90 in legal fees.[35] Rogers Media also declined to air Goldy's campaign ads on its radio stations.[57]
On April 29, 2019, Toronto's compliance audit committee decided to audit Goldy's campaign expenditures. The complainant argued that a YouTube video she posted on October 25, 2018, soliciting donations for her legal battle against Bell Media, amounted to a request for campaign contributions which may have contravened Ontario law restricting donations to residents of the province.[58] In presenting her written argument for dismissal, Goldy allegedly copied verbatim a text prepared in a different case by Toronto municipal elections lawyer Jack Siegel, which he is on record as saying led him to volunteer his services to the complainant ("because she 'borrowed' my material so effectively, she recruited me to the other side.")[59]
Notes
- ^ a b c Sources describing Goldy as far right include:
- Zimmerman, Jesse (1 December 2017). "The 'Charlottesville' Effect on the Canadian Far-Right". Muftah.org. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- Beattie, Samantha (28 August 2018). "Toronto police had 'no idea' they were posing with far-right candidate Faith Goldy, spokesman says". Toronto Star. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- Shepherd, Lindsay (22 March 2018). "Lindsay Shepherd: Why I invited Faith Goldy to Laurier". Maclean's. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- Chiose, Simona (26 April 2018). "Campaign against campus appearance by far-right activist Faith Goldy raises over $12,000". The Globe and Mail. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- Sommer, Will (26 September 2018). "Rudy Giuliani Photographed With White Nationalist Mayoral Candidate". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
- Ngo, Andy (6 August 2018). "Free-Speech Rock Stars". City Journal. Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- McCullough, J. J. (1 August 2018). "Opinion: To Toronto's embarrassment, a new alt-right challenger rises in Canada". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- Silman, Anna (9 November 2018). "We Thought We Knew Faith, Until We Didn't". The Cut. New York Media. Retrieved 3 November 2019.
References
- ^ a b c @FaithGoldy (8 June 2018). "I am so blessed to have y'all in my life! Thank you