CANADA (Times Media Service) – The situation in America’s northern neighbor is not one unknown to the average citizen. Canadian truckers, dissatisfied by their treatment by their government and the ongoing restrictions placed by the same, begin a demonstration, locking down the capital city in protest. The protest itself is, for the most part, entirely just that- a protest. However, there are a few details that are incredibly strange, both about the protest itself and about the reaction of the Canadian government.
First, we have to be aware of accusations made against the founders of the protest itself. Some of the people involved with getting the protest moving have been accused of ties to neonazi groups, and some of being linked to the eponymous right-wing conspiracy theory, Qanon. Indeed, the links seem to be there, but many on the outside of the protest itself are using these to completely and unilaterally condemn the protest and allow themselves to ignore anything said.
The bad actors within the movement itself don’t seem to have steered it. Perhaps they had been involved in getting the gears turning, but even if they existed, now the thing is entirely out of their hands in every appreciable way, and the truckers are hardly pushing for things that align with either a failed ideology or a conspiracy theory. For the most part, the truckers themselves just seem to be people that feel hard done by the government’s decisions, and the protests themselves are non-violent.
But, then, what about the Nazi flags that appeared at the protest itself? There is clear documentation of such appearing amongst the throng… but, curiously, only at the beginning. And the people carrying such memorabilia seem to have quickly vanished, but… why? If the protestors are aligned with that side of things, is it just optics? Are they aware that it’s hurting their cause, and thus hiding it? While nothing can be confirmed, there are rumours that these people were paid to be there- though who would pay people to carry that out is unknown. Though, accusing a movement whose crowdfunding was organized by a Native American grandmother of nazism has a particularly ironic taste to it.
So, then, what about the ties to Qanon? The conspiracy theory gained such traction among lower-middle class workers because of rampant mistrust of government officials, though whether there’s any truth to it is debatable at best. Indeed, Qanon doesn’t seem to be a major factor in the protests either. While it does get a look in among some members, the vast majority appear to be just workers that feel the government has done them wrong, and are specifically protesting that.
Speaking honestly, it seems like attempts to tie the protests intrinsically to these two ideologies are aimed at dehumanization of the truckers themselves. Which, in turn, seems to be in service of allowing Trudeau to justify his actions regarding it to his voting public. Trudeau, in response to the peaceful demonstrations, has enacted a wartime emergency powers act that was originally created to ensure societal stability in the event of the deployment of nuclear weapons.
Against a bunch of people in trucks.
Now, of course, the Canadian government is forcing truckers and tow truck drivers to work under threat, essentially indenturing them under Canadian law, which outlines the fact that the government doesn’t have to pay them for their time until the work is over. And even then, the government is the one to decide what they get paid. In addition to this, the RCMP has purposefully destroyed potentially millions of dollars of private property, some of which wasn’t even related to the protests. Random pieces of construction equipment left along some Canadian roads has been purposefully and systematically destroyed by the RCMP, which has only worsened a large number of problems. The Canadian government is also unpersoning anyone linked to the protests on any level, freezing their bank accounts and preventing them from buying anything, as well as attempting to prevent them from using cryptocurrencies to try and get around it.
The Canadian government, with this, has hugely overstepped its bounds. The reaction to the protest is something one would expect to see in a Chinese province, where a group who spoke out about government oppression had their social scores devastated and their ability to buy basic sustenance stripped. It is a situation that no one ever expected to see in a Western country, but one that clearly needs to end as soon as possible.
Alexander Murphy / Science and Tech Writer – Times Media Service
amurphy@timesmediaservice.com
