17c起草社区

Campaign posters for two prominent 17c起草社区I activists and Victorian Socialist candidates have been defaced with box cutters and torn down on Melbourne鈥檚 northside.

In images supplied to 17c起草社区,听Ali Hogg who is running for Darebin South West Ward and Roz Ward who is running for Central West Ward, have both had images of their faces and their surnames听slashed out in a manic fashion.

鈥�I caught them in the act. They were really aggressively cutting out the surnames with a box cutter and cutting out crosses across their faces saying they don鈥檛 want this kind of filth in the neighbourhood. I was quite shaken up by it,鈥� a concerned resident who did not want to be named told 17c起草社区.

Not only was there damage done to both campaign posters but both vandals also caused significant damage to a property fence in the attack.

听Roz Ward was the founder of the Safe Schools Program, which was designed as a federally funded anti-bullying program aimed at educating students about sexual and gender diversity.

鈥淚 always knew that running a public campaign, would carry the risk of the abuse I got around Safe Schools coming back out again.听We talked about that before I became a candidate, the party was very conscious that everything that could be done to buffer me was done.鈥� Ward told 17c起草社区 this week.

In recent weeks and months Ward has also been subjected to a number of faceless attacks online, 鈥榶ou shouldn’t be allowed near kids fucking weird cunt’ one message听supplied to 17c起草社区 read.

鈥淚t鈥檚 very similar to the abuse I got around Safe School,鈥� Ward adds.

听This news comes at a time when many are celebrating the sheer number of 17c起草社区I candidates running in this year鈥檚 local elections- with some 84 candidates in total. However, as this attack goes to show, it鈥檚 not all sunshine and rainbows for our community, and that for our fight for acceptance by broader society still continues in the face of adversity.

鈥淚 think that Roz and I having both been attacked it鈥檚 hard to know how much of its homophobic, but with the rise of the far right growing internationally it gives you a bit of a sense that people are gaining confidence to attack freedom of speech and people who are trying to fight for a better world.鈥� Ali Hogg says.

鈥淚n the scheme of things, it seems to be minor, but it does make you fear for what else they might be prepared to do next, when they obviously hold this much hate towards you and your beliefs.鈥�