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  "description": "From Canterbury garage to nationwide.",
  "path": "/the-grassroots-launch-of-heart-of-the-protest-book/",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-13T00:30:04.000Z",
  "site": "https://goodoil.news",
  "tags": [
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  "textContent": "Chris Lynch\n_Chris Lynch is a journalist, videographer and content producer, broadcasting from his independent news and production company in Christchurch, New Zealand._\n\nMore than 1,000 copies of a new New Zealand book have been packed and shipped by hand in a DIY distribution effort that mirrors the community spirit at the heart of its subject matter.\n\nWhen boxes of _Heart of the Protest_ arrived in New Zealand, they didn’t go to a warehouse or a publishing house – they went to a garage in Aylesbury.\n\nThere, co-author and filmmaker Gaylene Barnes, best known for directing the 2023 documentary _River of Freedom_ , worked alongside co-author Siân Clement and her mother to package and dispatch the entire first wave of orders before the Easter long weekend.\n\nIt’s a fitting launch for a book that champions the power of ordinary people.\n\n_Heart of the Protest_ expands on the _River of Freedom_ documentary, weaving together the personal accounts of thousands of New Zealanders who gathered at parliament in 2022 to oppose Covid-19 vaccine mandates.\n\nAlongside those testimonies, the 424-page book examines political decisions and media responses, and highlights perspectives the authors say were largely absent from mainstream coverage, and only briefly acknowledged in the recently released Royal Commission Phase 2 report.\n\nThe self-distribution model is a deliberate one.\n\nThe same grassroots approach helped _River of Freedom_ reach number one at the New Zealand box office in 2023, and early signs suggest the book is following a similar trajectory.\n\nWithout traditional retail backing, it is already shipping at a pace that would place it among the country’s top-selling titles if sold through conventional channels.\nEarly reviews have been strong.\n\nMedia commentator Maree Buscke praised the book for restoring “humanity to the hundreds of thousands who felt systematically dehumanised”, while former psychiatrist Emanuel Garcia, reviewing it for NewZealandDoc, said he read the entire book in a single day, calling the personal testimonies “quite invaluable” for history and posterity.\n\n**_Locals will have the chance to meet the authors in person at a free public book signing and reading at Rolleston Library, on Wednesday 22 April from 4.00pm to 6.00pm._**\n\nThis article was originally published by Chris Lynch Media.",
  "title": "The Grassroots Launch of Heart of the Protest Book",
  "updatedAt": "2026-04-13T00:30:03.868Z"
}