Amy Baker Benjamin | |
---|---|
Born | 1965 (age 58–59) California, United States |
Academic background | |
Alma mater | |
Academic work | |
Sub-discipline | International law |
Institutions | Auckland University of Technology (2016–2021) |
Amy Baker Benjamin (born 1965) is an American lawyer and former New Zealand-based academic focusing on international law. She has attracted media attention for her political views and has been described as a conspiracy theorist. [1] [2] [3]
Benjamin was born and raised in the San Francisco,California area. [4] She attended Princeton University as an undergraduate,graduating in 1988 with a Bachelor of Arts in history,and earned a Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1993. [5]
After graduation,Benjamin clerked for Stephen Breyer,then a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit,and worked as an Assistant United States Attorney for the United States Department of Justice in the Southern District of New York. [4] [6]
In 2016,Benjamin was hired as a lecturer at the Auckland University of Technology Law School. [7] During this time,she published five scholarly articles,with topics discussed including purported United States regime change efforts in Libya and Syria,the United States' relationship with the United Nations,and governmental secrecy. [8] [9] In one 2017 article,"9/11 As False Flag:Why International Law Must Dare to Care",published in the African Journal of International and Comparative Law ,Benjamin asserted her belief that the September 11th attacks were a false flag event orchestrated by the United States government. [10] While a lecturer,Benjamin also appeared as a commentator on various news shows in New Zealand,including The Project and Newshub . [10] [11]
Benjamin made headlines in August 2021 for denouncing lockdowns due to the COVID-19 pandemic as a "crime against humanity",being one of the few academics to publicly criticize New Zealand's pandemic policies. [12] She subsequently created controversy in November 2021 after claiming,in an interview with conspiracy theorist Vinny Eastwood,that the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings were a false flag. [13] Kate Hannah of The Disinformation Project criticized Benjamin's ideas in the AUT student-run Debate magazine,calling them "racist,sexist and divisive", [14] though the magazine later retracted the quote,citing no basis for it. [15] Having resigned from her teaching position in September 2021,Benjamin left Auckland University of Technology effective January 2022. [16]
Benjamin publicly supported Donald Trump in the 2020 United States presidential election and has stated that the election was stolen. [17] [18] [19] She was profiled in a 2022 Stuff documentary,Fire and Fury,about disinformation in New Zealand. [1] [2] The original version of the documentary falsely stated that Benjamin had resigned from AUT following her interview with Vinny Eastwood. [20] Stuff later issued a retraction and apology. [21]
A play written by Benjamin,We,Macbeth,was performed at London's Theatro Technis in 2014. [8] [22] [23]
Auckland University of Technology is a university in New Zealand, formed on 1 January 2000 when a former technical college was granted university status. AUT is New Zealand's third largest university in terms of total student enrolment, with approximately 29,100 students enrolled across three campuses in Auckland. It has five faculties, and an additional three specialist locations: AUT Millennium, Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory and AUT Centre for Refugee Education.
Radio New Zealand, commonly known as Radio NZ or simply RNZ, is a New Zealand public-service radio broadcaster and Crown entity that was established under the Radio New Zealand Act 1995. It operates news and current-affairs network, RNZ National, and a classical-music and jazz network, RNZ Concert, with full government funding from NZ On Air. Since 2014, the organisation's focus has been to transform RNZ from a radio broadcaster to a multimedia outlet, increasing its production of digital content in audio, video, and written forms.
Stuff is a New Zealand news media website owned by newspaper conglomerate Stuff Ltd. As of early 2024, it is the most popular news website in New Zealand, with a monthly unique audience of more than 2 million.
The mass media in New Zealand include television stations, radio stations, newspapers, magazines, and websites. Media conglomerates like NZME, Stuff, MediaWorks, Discovery and Sky dominate the media landscape. Most media organisations operate Auckland-based newsrooms with Parliamentary Press Gallery reporters and international media partners, but most broadcast programmes, music and syndicated columns are imported from the United States and United Kingdom.
Eugenie Meryl Sage is a New Zealand environmentalist and former politician. She was a Green Party Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2011 to 2023.
Talley's Group Limited is a privately owned, New Zealand-based agribusiness company that provides seafood, vegetable and dairy products. Talley's was established in 1936 in Motueka by Ivan Peter Talijancich as a manufacturer of seafood, and has since grown into one of the largest agribusiness companies in New Zealand.
David Andrew Farrier is a New Zealand journalist and actor. He has worked in news and on documentaries, including features on New Zealand television and co-directing the internationally distributed documentary film Tickled (2016). He created the 2018 Netflix documentary series Dark Tourist, in which he visits popular dark tourism attractions. He has also appeared in the 2014 Rhys Darby mockumentary series Short Poppies.
Dame Alcyion Cynthia Kiro is a New Zealand public-health academic, administrator, and advocate, who has served as the 22nd governor-general of New Zealand since 21 October 2021. Kiro is the first Māori woman and the third person of Māori descent to hold the office.
Angelique Rockas is an actress, producer and activist. Rockas founded the theatre company Internationalist Theatre in the UK with her patron Athol Fugard. The theatre featured multi-racial casts in classical plays.
Kiritapu Lyndsay Allan, known as Kiri Allan, is a New Zealand lawyer and former politician. She was a member of Parliament (MP) in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 2017 to 2023, representing the Labour Party in the East Coast electorate.
Christopher Mark Luxon is a New Zealand politician and former business executive who has served as the 42nd prime minister of New Zealand since November 2023. He served as leader of the Opposition from 2021 to 2023. Luxon became member of Parliament (MP) for Botany in 2020. He had previously been the chief executive officer (CEO) of Air New Zealand from 2012 to 2019.
The following lists events that happened during 2020 in New Zealand. One overarching event is the COVID-19 pandemic.
The following lists events that happened during 2021 in New Zealand.
Theatro Technis is an independent multi-cultural arts centre with a 120 -seat theatre located in the heart of London Borough of Camden. It contributes in general and specific ways to the cultural and social life of the people of London.
Claire Ann Deeks is a New Zealand anti-vaccine activist who has challenged the government's response to COVID-19. She was an unsuccessful candidate for the Advance NZ party in the 2020 general election, and set up the group Voices for Freedom (VFF), which distributed pamphlets that have been criticised by experts as containing COVID-19 misinformation about vaccines, lockdown and the wearing of masks. As a food blogger, Deeks promoted the paleo diet and "healthy" lunchboxes for children, and developed a petition to stop the rating system for foods used by the NZ and Australian governments. She is a former intellectual property lawyer.
Simon James Thornley is a New Zealand medical doctor and academic specialising in epidemiology and biostatistics, and as of 2021 is a senior lecturer at the University of Auckland.
Susan Jane Grey is a political figure and environmental lawyer in Nelson, New Zealand. She is the co-leader of the NZ Outdoors & Freedom Party and of Freedoms NZ. She is known for promoting medicinal cannabis rights and opposing COVID-19 vaccination, 5G technology, and the use of 1080, frequently sharing misinformation on social media about the effectiveness of COVID vaccination.
The following lists events that happened during 2022 in New Zealand.
TJB 2021 Limited, trading as Voices for Freedom (VFF), is an anti-vaccine advocacy group in New Zealand that formed in December 2020 to oppose the New Zealand Government's COVID-19 mitigation policies and vaccination rollout. The organisation is founded and led by food blogger and former Advance New Zealand candidate Claire Deeks, Libby Jonson and Alia Bland. Voices for Freedom has been criticised by NZ Skeptics, The Spinoff editor Madeleine Chapman, and "FACT Aotearoa" for spreading misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccinations.
The following lists events that happened during 2023 in New Zealand.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link){{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)