Campaigners in Australia have been blown away by the response after their crowdfunding effort to reinstate an Australia day billboard picturing Muslim girls received 150,000 Australian dollars (around 113,000 US dollars) in just two days.
The original poster, showing two girls wearing hijab and waving flags during Australian national day festivities last year, was taken down following threats to the advertising company.
QMS removed the billboard, which advertised upcoming celebrations in the city of Melbourne, after reportedly receiving “abusive and threatening complaints”. The objections were reportedly prompted by a post to the Facebook page of the far-right group United Patriots Front.
However, anti-racism activists have defied the Islamophobia and intolerance that forced the removal of the advertisement, launching a campaign to return it.
Advertising agency Campaign Edge began a crowdfunding appeal to raise $50,000 for the cause on Tuesday, a target they reached and exceeded within hours. The company’s Creative Director tweeted the following yesterday:
Holy shit we did it. Australians are decent and tolerant and generous! pic.twitter.com/ZG7itobj5P
— Dee Madigan (@deemadigan) January 18, 2017
The total raised now stands at over $150,000, with the campaign page promising to place advertisements in the press and in other areas of Australia using the funds. Any money left over will reportedly go to charities supporting asylum seekers.
“The same groups who complain ‘Muslims don’t assimilate’ complained about the photo of Australian Muslims celebrating Australia Day,” the campaign’s page said. “Due to this pressure the poster was removed.”
Meanwhile, a separate petition on Change.org calling for the billboard to be reinstated has received nearly 8,000 signatures. One commenter on the petition’s page said “I am sick of the bigotry and racism in this country”. Another wrote “I want an inclusive Australia (and that also means respect for our original peoples too).”
Racism and xenophobia are widespread in Australian society, with a study conducted last year by the University of Southern Australia finding that 70 percent of Australians had low levels of Islamophobia. A separate 2015 study found that Australian Muslims experienced three times more discrimination than other groups.
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