Lauren Southern

Lauren Southern
Southern in 2016
Born	(1995-06-16) 16 June 1995 Surrey, British Columbia, Canada
Nationality	Canadian
Alma mater	University of the Fraser Valley (did not graduate)
Occupation(s)	Political activist, internet personality
Political party	Libertarian
Website	laurensouthern.net

Lauren Southern
YouTube information
Subscribers	711,000 (March 2024)
Creator Awards 100,000 subscribers 2016

Lauren Cherie Southern (born 16 June 1995) is a Canadian far-right political activist, Internet personality, and journalist associated with the alt-right. In 2015, Southern ran as a Libertarian Party candidate in the Canadian federal election. She worked for The Rebel Media until March 2017. In addition, she has written for Spiked, the International Business Times, and The Libertarian Republic. Southern continues to work independently and publishes videos on YouTube.

In 2017, Southern supported the white identitarian group Defend Europe opposing the action of non-governmental organizations involved in search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea. She was detained by the Italian Coast Guard for blocking a ship embarking on a search-and-rescue mission. In March 2018, Lauren Southern was also detained while trying to enter the United Kingdom and officially banned from entering the country. A spokesperson for the British Home Office said that "her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good". In July 2018, her Australian visa was declined.

Education and personal life

Southern was born in Surrey, British Columbia. She studied political science at the University of the Fraser Valley but completed only two years and did not receive a degree.

Political career

In 2015, Southern was a candidate in the 2015 Canadian federal election representing the Libertarian Party in the district of Langley—Aldergrove. She was briefly removed by the party as a candidate, but was eventually reinstated with support from Breitbart News and The Rebel Media. The election was eventually won by Conservative candidate Mark Warawa. Southern finished last, having received 535 votes, or 0.9% of the total.

Activism

In June 2015 while reporting on the Vancouver SlutWalk for Rebel Media, Southern's cameraman was shoved and Southern's protest sign stating "There Is No Rape Culture In The West" was torn up.

In March 2016, a protester in Vancouver poured a container of urine over Southern's head while she was engaging with LGBTQ protesters at a rally in Vancouver, arguing that there were "only two genders".

Southern was mistakenly suspended from Facebook, having criticized the site for banning several conservative commentators. She later received an email apology from Facebook saying the suspension was an "error".

In October 2016, Southern had her gender legally changed to male as part of a video produced for Rebel Media to show the ease of Ontario's new gender ID laws.

In 2016, Southern authored and self-published Barbarians: How Baby Boomers, Immigrants, and Islam Screwed My Generation.

In January 2017, Southern posted incorrect rumours from 4chan that the Quebec City mosque shooting had been carried out by Syrian refugees; she later deleted those tweets. In March 2017, Southern announced she would be leaving Rebel Media to become an independent journalist. In the same month, she gained access to White House press briefings.

In April 2017, Southern was one of several scheduled speakers at a Patriots' Day rally in Berkeley, California. The rally led to a riot between pro-Trump demonstrators and anti-Trump counter-protesters.

Support for the targeting of NGO ships

In May 2017, Southern took part in an attempt organized by the identitarian group Génération identitare to block the passage of an NGO ship, the Aquarius (co-owned by SOS Mediterranée and Doctors without Borders), which was leaving Sicily to start a search-and-rescue mission for ship-wrecked migrants off the shores of Northern Africa. Claiming that the goal of the activists "was to stop an empty boat from going down to Libya and filling up with illegal migrants", Southern was briefly detained by the Italian Coast Guard. NGO ships often rescue migrants and refugees, who disembark from Libyan shores on unsafe makeshift rafts, and bring them to Sicily. With regard to her actions, Southern stated that "if the politicians won't stop the boats, we'll stop the boats."

Southern supported similar actions by identitarian group Defend Europe, which chartered a vessel in order to track and stop what it called collusion between NGOs and human traffickers. The group has been accused of intending to obstruct the rescue of migrants and refugees in distress at sea. In July 2017, Southern revealed that Patreon had deleted her account out of concerns about her "raising funds in order to take part in activities that are likely to cause loss of life". Southern denied these allegations, stating that Defend Europe's actions were likely to save lives and that none of her funding went towards the group.

United Kingdom-related events

In February 2018, Southern, along with Brittany Pettibone and Caolan Robertson, distributed flyers in the English town of Luton that said, "Allah is a Gay God".

In March 2018, Southern, Pettibone, and Pettibone's boyfriend, Martin Sellner, were all denied entry to the United Kingdom. Southern was also questioned under the Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000. Her denial of entry was on the same grounds as Pettibone and Sellner. A representative from the British Home Office stated, "Border Force has the power to refuse entry to an individual if it is considered that his or her presence in the UK is not conducive to the public good."

2018 attempted New Zealand tour

In 2018, Southern and Canadian podcaster and YouTuber Stefan Molyneux had planned to speak at the Bruce Mason Centre in Auckland's North Shore in early August as part of a tour organized by David Pellowe of Axiomatic Events. However, the tour was cancelled after the Mayor of Auckland Phil Goff announced that the Auckland Council would not allow any of its premises including the Bruce Mason Centre to be used to stir up "ethnic or religious tensions" and "divisive views". While Pellowe and human rights lawyer Craig Tuck criticized Mayor Goff's decision as a violation of free speech, the cancellation of Southern and Molyneux's tour was welcomed by the Auckland Peace Action activist group and the Federation of Islamic Associations of New Zealand. In response, Southern denied assertions that her views were "hate speech" and claimed that New Zealand had been infected by the "bug of progessivism".

Views

Southern has been internationally described as alt-right, far right, and right-wing.

Southern has advocated against European countries accepting refugees or other migrants from Africa and Asia. Southern has promoted Renaud Camus's "great replacement" theory that immigration would lead to white genocide. The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has described Southern's YouTube videos as anti-feminist, xenophobic, Islamophobic, and borderline white nationalist.

As of January 2018, Southern was producing a documentary called Farmlands about post-Apartheid farm violence in South Africa. The tagline for the documentary's trailer, "Crisis. Oppression. Genocide?" reflected a broader white nationalist campaign against perceived racially motivated violence against white farmers.

External links

• Lauren Southern at IMDb
• laurensouthern.net
• FARMLANDS 2018 documentary about South African race-based land redistribution violence.