Summarised by Centrist
In March 2023, trans rights activist Eli Rubashkyn made headlines after pouring a litre of tomato juice on women’s rights campaigner Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull (aka Posie Parker) during an event in Auckland.
At the time, the media, particularly Stuff, hailed the event, calling Rubashkyn an “internet sensation” and celebrating the juice as a “new symbol for trans rights.” It was as if the actual crime in the form of an assault—hadn’t even happened.
When the dust settled, Rubashkyn faced the legal consequences and pleaded guilty. Although ultimately convicted, the activist faced no further punishment.
As Liam Hehir explains, the media got caught up in the event as they “revelled in the viral nature of the incident.”
However, “Readers who did not know better were left completely unaware of the fact that any unwanted and hostile physical interference with a person constitutes an assault,” he writes.
As Hehir points out, political violence, like the tomato juice incident, may feel empowering in the moment, but, ultimately “Whether one agrees with Parker or finds her rhetoric deeply objectionable, the fact remains that using physical force to prevent someone from speaking is an assault on the principles of pluralism.”
Today it’s tomato juice; tomorrow, it could be something worse. “In the end, the very methods you use to silence opposition can and will be turned against you,” he writes.
Read more over at The Blue Review
Correction notice: In a previous version of this article, we referred to Posie Parker as an “anti-trans activist.” This characterisation was based on external sources. She identifies as a women’s rights campaigner, and the article has been updated to reflect this. We regret the error.
