A plot by volunteers to falsely accuse an adversary of being a pedophile must be denounced by OneCity and all civic activists.
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In the often dystopian underworld of Twitter inhabited by trolls, pols and journalists, a storm of hate has migrated into the real world and threatens to engulf a party with the now seemingly tongue-in-cheek name of OneCity.
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“A city where everyone belongs” is the party’s motto. However, several of their volunteers and supporters conspired to use QAnon tactics against a Vancouver housing activist.
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Taking a page from the far-right playbook that portrayed former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton as a child trafficker, local left-wing minor leaguers have set out to smear Rohana Rezel as a pedophile.
Why? Because Rezel disagrees with OneCity’s promise to rezone the entire city based on the premise that Vancouver’s housing affordability crisis would be solved if developers had the freedom to build in every nook, cranny, and neighborhood.
Rezel is a software developer who in his spare time tracks housing data, including the number of short-term rentals, the number of homes being renovated, and the amount of taxes collected on vacant homes. He ran unsuccessfully for Vancouver City Council four years ago, but has since continued to advocate for more affordable purpose-built housing, including cooperatives, low-cost subsidized units and housing subsidies.
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But rather than engage in political debate, the conspirators apparently saw fit to potentially destroy a man’s reputation, career, and perhaps even his life by falsely labeling him one of the worst human beings possible.
Fortunately, the vileness of the suggestion was too much for some in the group, who took screenshots of the chat and forwarded them to Rezel.
“I was very surprised that they were plotting this,” Rezel said. “This goes beyond the pale pedophile who screams with a political purpose…
“I’m lucky they’re not as sophisticated as they think they are. But I still can’t understand that they would use these ‘games and fun’ to destroy people’s lives.”
Faced with that prospect, he sought legal advice and decided to go after them for fabricating the lie before they had a chance to spread it.
He carefully crafted a blog post, embedded the comments from the chat log, and then posted a link to his Twitter account.
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Here is an excerpt from the chat log:
“Maybe we’ll give him a taste of his own medicine and openly wonder why he associates himself on Twitter with potential pedophiles,” wrote Tim Ell, who had previously posted photos of him knocking on the door with OneCity’s Christine Boyle.
“No. I would be very unhappy with that kind of post,” Sushil Tailor responded.
“So we’re doing it,” Ell replied.
“But there are better ways to fuck people like Rezel,” Tailor wrote. “Ways that frustrate him, instead of slandering him (sic) unnecessarily.”
Tailor’s Twitter profile says he is “a rootless cosmopolitan, yimby propagandist” and software developer for Microsoft. A YIMBY is a ‘Yes, in my backyard’ advocate of adding housing in all neighborhoods.
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Within hours of Rezel’s post, others tweeted about the harassment and intimidation they had suffered from some of the same people who had been in that chat or who are linked to both OneCity and Abundant Housing Vancouver.
OneCity took more than a day to post a response on Twitter. Rezel didn’t see it because the group blocked it. There was no apology.
“We are pleased to see that the individual (Ell) understands that his language was inappropriate and has apologized and pledged to do better,” campaign manager Alex McGowan wrote in an email response to my questions.
In a subsequent email, McGowan wrote that OneCity had asked Ell to “step back from the campaign,” adding that he “will not be participating in the campaign or volunteering with us in the future.”
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He also posted his response online. He made no attempt to reach Rezel.
“First, let me be clear: This group had nothing to do with OneCity,” Ell’s post on Twitter read.
The screenshots, he wrote, were “taken out of context and the meaning has been misrepresented.”
But in what possible “context” is it okay to talk about destroying someone’s character with lies? The only one I can think of is the same one inhabited by far-right trolls who earlier this week made “jokes” about the rape of Conservative party leader Pierre Poilievre’s wife.
She also wrote: “I have never and would never accuse anyone of anything without proof. Regardless of their political views, no one deserves to be the target of slander or misinformation.”
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His lack of apology seems to extend the plot because by Wednesday, the pedophilia rumor was spreading on Reddit, with people asking why Rezel hadn’t denied the allegation.
This is not the first time that Rezel has been the target of online harassment. When he ran for the council in 2018, he was subjected to racist taunts and was even called a terrorist due to his South Asian origin.
This kind of online bullying, harassment and hate speech perfected by right-wing anarchists that has spread to the left requires much more than an apology.
It has to stop because it destroys lives. The fear it breeds puts our civil society at risk and damages the foundations of democracy.
It is a fight that cannot be fought by one individual at a time.
Requires complaint. First of all, it must come from Christine Boyle, other OneCity candidates and their supporters. But you can’t be alone with them.
He must be publicly condemned by those who aspire to public office and by anyone who still believes in the possibility of a better city, province and country.