Anti-war campaigner assaulted

SYDNEY — A Socialist Alliance campaign stall at Merrylands shopping centre in Sydney's west was attacked on August 20 by an individual yelling "traitors" and "communists". The campaign stall, which focused on the federal government's attacks on workers' rights and the campaign to withdraw troops from Iraq, was left in disarray. SA activist Helen Bransgrove was hit and suffered a split lip.

"The attack on my campaign stall was an attack on free speech", Bransgrove told Green Left Weekly. "The political atmosphere of hate generated by the Howard government and others, accusing those who oppose their policies of being 'un-Australian' and suggesting that migrants who don't assimilate should leave the country, paves the way for acts of violence against those campaigning against war and racism, and for workers' rights."

Bransgrove insisted she would not be intimidated by the attack, and called on others to join the Socialist Alliance's weekly campaign stalls as a way of building opposition to the federal government's divisive and inhumane policies. "I'll be back on the campaign trail again next Saturday, standing up for free speech, for the right to dissent and, most importantly, for the right of a people to control the actions of their government."

Anyone wanting to join a campaign stall can contact their local Resistance Centre (see page 2). To help with the free speech campaign in Sydney's western suburbs, phone Owen on 0425 249 996.

Graham Matthews

From Green Left Weekly, August 24, 2005.

Visit the Green Left Weekly home page.

From GLW issue 639