March for Men clashes give organisers exactly what they want

HUNDREDS turned out in Melbourne after organisers used the death of Eurydice Dixon to promote “men’s rights”. This is what it’s really about.

OPINION

ON THE stage at Melbourne’s Federation Square, Sydney Watson was in her element.

She had successfully twisted the tragic death of Eurydice Dixon — a woman raped and killed walking home from work — to rally support for men’s rights and for her personal brand.

“It doesn’t matter what the media say … if they call you collectively rapists or murderers or violent. We know that’s not true,” she said on Saturday at the start of the March for Men.

The self-described “conservative political commentator” stood in front of hundreds of supporters and told them “this march is not about division”.

Then Watson proved the opposite by labelling detractors “crazies” and “crazy lefties”. Division is foundational to what she does.

She loves the women who turned up on Saturday to recognise that men are “victims” but she despises feminists — people who by their very definition are pushing for what she claims to represent: equality of the sexes.

Sydney Watson speaks at the rally. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“Don’t pay attention to the crazies.” Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Across the road from Federation Square, protesters delivered her outrage on a silver platter. They chanted over the top of a brave young man who told his story about being the victim of sexual assault.

They clashed violently with Watson’s supporters and two were arrested but charges have not been laid.

It’s the indignation from the left that her supporters feed on and that powers her and others like her.

It fuelled far-right international speakers Milo Yiannopolous and Lauren Southern when they visited Australia recently. They sold out expensive speaking tours where the left predictably turned up and clashed with the right.

When the left acts like lunatics, the right looks positively reasonable.

The Campaign Against Racism and Fascism held a counter rally on Saturday. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

“Don’t pay attention to the crazies,” Watson said on Saturday, knowing that the “crazies” are better publicity for her YouTube channel than anything she says on stage.

“It’s okay for you guys to stand up once in a while and be counted,” she said.

“It’s okay for you to stand up and have your rights listened to and have your issues addressed, because there are things that uniquely affect men. Men’s issues matter as well.”

Nobody would argue with that. But you can’t use the death of a woman to boost up men.

“I’m getting so sick to death of this narrative that all men are violent,” Watson wrote on her Facebook page after Ms Dixon was allegedly raped, murdered and dumped in a park in June.

She took exception to comments from Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, who said “women don’t need to change their behaviour, men do”.

Male suicide was on the agenda on Saturday, a real issue overshadowed by outrage. Picture: Jake Nowakowski

Watson called that “a horrific and unjust lie” that she claimed pitted men against women.

Then she leveraged her position to gather support for Saturday’s march.

“As many of you know, over the last number of weeks, it has felt like there has been an assault on men collectively,” she wrote.

“I know that this has upset a lot of men and women alike and a lot of people are very distressed that they don’t feel as though they can support men’s rights, masculinity and men in general without being judged.”

Guardian columnist Jeff Sparrow wrote on Friday that the march was “virtue signalling” and “troll politics — a weaponisation of identity in the service of reaction”.

And what did Watson do after reading his piece? She threatened to sue.

That should stir up some outrage.