262) Day 30 -- Reason #30 to revolt against Predatory Capitalism: Manufacturing Consent, Part 2 -- Freedom Convoy

A few years ago, Canada experienced the bizarre appearance of a citizens’ movement, an uprising, power to the people, and all that, in the form of a convoy of big rigs, trucking across the country to speak truth to power in the nation’s capital.

That was the appearance.  That was the rhetoric.  And that was what a lot of Canadians believed.  I expect that was what some of the truckers believed, especially at the beginning.

Because who wouldn’t get behind such a movement?  A movement of truckers and honest, hard-working Canadians, sacrificing their own work-time and $$$ and risking god-knows-what out of sheer patriotic dedication to Freedom and being the voice of the people? I’d support that! In fact, I did, at the very, very, very beginning.

Indeed, all across this country, doors were opened, coffees and donuts and free lunches were delivered, and Canadians from all the small towns and cities that dot this great land, supported the truckers like they were the 21st century’s Terry Fox, except in trucks.

Then….mumble mumble fascism swastikas far-right something something….and the whole thing went tits up.  Legal problems.  Lots of criticism.  Leaders going to jail.  

What the hell happened?

Well, it turned out that the good ol’ patriotic Freedom Convoy wasn’t what it said it was.  Sure, many people in the country and in the convoy didn’t realize that, but they, we, had all been duped.  The Freedom Convoy wasn’t a citizens’ movement.  It was a scam, an extremist campaign, a well-funded propaganda megaphone for the extreme-right-wing, the White supremacists, the White Nationalists, the Trump-ists, and a broad swath of conspiracy theorists pushed forward by widely held anti-vaccine beliefs, distrust in government (and doctors, and science, and education), and a devious doublespeak of an authoritarian agenda wrapped up in the nice-sounding word, “Freedom”.

Of course, even after all this was exposed, lots of Canadians simply didn’t believe it, and chose to keep supporting the good ol’ Freedom-fighting truckers.  Why?  Well, that’s a whole other story, and one we’ll revisit in an upcoming post — “Why do people believe easily disproven things?”

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At the beginning, the Convoy started as a protest against government vaccine mandates, specifically one requiring cross-border truckers to be vaccinated.  Granted, Canada’s stance was largely irrelevant because around the same time, the United States also required this.  So truckers couldn’t get across the border without being vaccinated anyway.  

Interestingly, about 90% of truckers were already vaccinated, and the trucking industry’s reps supported the vaccine mandate.  So it wasn’t like there was some huge outcry of the trucking industry against this.  There WAS an outcry amongst anti-vaxxers against it, and this is what started the whole thing.  And across the country they trucked….

As the kilometers went by, the trucker convoy started sprouting more and more right-wing slogans and symbols, more evidence of separatist movement phrasing and symbols, Confederate flags, even swastikas.  (And I don’t think it was the Trucker Buddhist Convention hearkening back to an ancient symbol….)

And sure, one can argue that the swastikas, Confederate flags and racist dogwhistles were not representative of the truckers at large.  Personally, I believe that.  The issue is that the convoy, initially an anti-vaccine protest, was funded, organized, and radicalized by a fringe group of extremists who USED the truckers and good ol’ Canadians concerned about freedom, as a cover to fund-raise and promote their causes.  THIS, is a problem.  And one that our media, our politicians, and as a result, our citizens, had a hell of a hard time seeing as a problem.  It’s just too easy for people to be duped, ESPECIALLY if those doing the deceiving are experienced, organized, well-funded, and their messages get amplified by the right-wing rage machine that dominates much of Canadian and American media.  This is the problem.  

* * * * *

As they converged on Ottawa, as well as shutting down key border crossings to the States, the convoy became increasingly belligerent.  Store owners were harrassed if they had mask requirements posted on their doors.  Pro-vaccine signs and such were vandalized in citizens’ yards.  Lawns were apparently defecated on.  Ottawa residents began organizing against the “truckers”, making it more difficult for them to get into and operate within the city due to the incredible disruption of residents’ lives.  Some of Canada’s hallowed landmarks, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the National War Memorial, were desecrated with American flags, danced upon, and even urinated on.  A statue of Terry Fox, one of the most revered and respected Canadian heroes in our history, was desecrated with upside-down Canadian flags and “Mandate freedom” signs, taking this heroic youth’s anti-cancer campaign that is a pillar of Canadian history, and appropriating it to spread anti-vaccine messages.  Fucking disgusting.

Interestingly, as an aside that we SHOULD NEVER FORGET, guess who expressed support for this convoy, even as things got ugly?  The top 3?  — Donald Trump, Elon Musk, and Pierre Poilievre.  No shit.  Look it up.  

There were other key Conservatives promoting the convoy, presumably to “own the Libs”, notable among them the Conservative party leader, Erin O’Toole, and his brief replacement, Candice Bergen (who also liked to appear in photo-ops with her “Make America Great Again” ball-cap).  And I stress, these were not fringe politicians; they were each the leader of the Conservatives, one of Canada’s biggest two parties and the current slight favourite for regaining power in the next federal election, this year.  

* * * * *

Then the evidence began to mount that this was no mere anti-vaccine trucker protest, but a far-right extremist movement.  Organizers were able to raise up to $18 million in a very short amount of time on GoFundMe and other crowdfunding platforms, almost half of it coming from foreign (i.e., American) sources.  This wasn’t five and ten buck donations coming from Canadians concerned about vaccines; this was mega-funding coming from well-organized white nationalist and Trump-supporting organizations in the US.  

Key organizers, who had NOTHING to do with the trucking industry, were a fascinating bunch.  The top 3?  

• Tamara Lich – a Canadian separatist who operates in Alberta, and popular figure in the “Freedom community”

• Benjamin Dichter – an anti-Islam activist, keynote speaker at the People’s Party of Canada’s first national convention, cryptocurrency advocate and frequent FOX & Tucker Carlson guest

• James Bauder – conspiracy theorist, promoter of QAnon, and basic wacko who said, in court, that God told him to start the convoy (of course!), and Justin Trudeau is guilty of treason

Let’s also mention Romana Didulo, who also hit the news as part of the convoy, and was infamous at that point for publicly calling for the death of healthcare workers.  

Great bunch.

James Bauder’s organization, “Canada Unity” even created a Manifesto, which held the entire Canadian government hostage, stating that the convoy would remain until all COVID restrictions were lifted, AND everyone in the federal government resigned so that a new government could be formed, made up of the Governor General, Senate, and members of Canada Unity (a ‘hugely successful’ organization that had, oh, about 2 dozen members….)

So, yeah, this wasn’t a Trucker Convoy. It wasn’t even, intrinsically, an anti-vaccine convoy.  It was a foreign-funded, far-right anti-government attempt at insurrection within Canada.

And yet, the simple label “Freedom Convoy” and the image of good, hard-working truckers who were duped into supporting this sham, STILL managed to convince a ton of Canadians that it was a broad-scale citizens’ uprising.  I know people who still support the convoy, despite all the evidence that it was a Canadian-separatist, foreign-funded con job.  

How could so many Canadians have been deceived?  How could this fairly obvious extremist movement successfully camouflage itself in sheep’s clothing, and get away with it?  Are people simply…stupid?  Or does this reveal something truly frightening lurking within our own democracies?

This is the topic of the next post.