On November 30, police arrested a man over an alleged hit-and-run outside a Covid-19 testing facility in Collingwood which resulted in a health worker suffering life-threatening injuries.
The day before, anti-vaxxers had smashed up a café in Thornbury and left a note reading ‘do what Daniel Andrews says and we will burn your shop down and kill you ************.’
These weren’t isolated occurrences.
Earlier this month, The Guardian reported on a study of the retail industry that documented a sharp uptick in customer abuse.
Anti-vaxxers have harassed, insulted and assaulted retail workers, disproportionately targeting female, non-white and younger workers. Doctors and nurses, too, have endured harassment, abuse, attempts at coercion and assault.
The pattern appears to have been accelerating following regular and sizeable protests against public health measures, themselves a dismaying new development in Australian politics.
To respond, the left must develop a grounded analysis that answers the questions: what is the political content of the anti-vax movement, what is its social base, and what are its dynamics?
https://overland.org.au/2021/12/anti-vaxxers-and-the-far-right/
