According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, “THE ‘FREEDOM CONVOY’ IS NOTHING BUT A VEHICLE FOR THE FAR RIGHT!
Russian aggression towards Ukraine is critically important; clearly not just for Ukraine or Europe, but the entire world. Nevertheless, I am going to write about Canada and the so called Freedom Convoy. The message for us is that social media mass brainwashing, cultism, and sowing of discontent is not ours alone. The combination of the pandemic, the increased use of social media as a tool for mind control, and a human proclivity for some to wallow in their dark side, where they can lose their moral compass and hide their identity has turned the world into a surreal nightmare. It didn’t start with Trump, but he gave a face to it, a name, and a sense of legitimacy. For once, the timing was right for one of his so called brands. Remember all his failed ones including ties, steaks, a “university,” casinos, hotels, vodka, an airline, a magazine, a mortgage company, water and soda-type beverages, and some that never made it to market. The only thing that seemed to work for him was his reality show which, in fact, wasn’t very real at all.
I regret to inform you that his new product is doing quite well. The racism, misogynism, pro-authoritarian, anti-truth, exotic mysticism of conspiracy theories of trumpism is the new trump brand and it is selling world-wide, enriching its cult-like leader. Its appeal to the thugs of the world is it “legitimizes” their violent activities. For others, it’s like living a new video game. It does not bode well for the better side of human nature, nor democracy, equality, social justice, truth, or sanity. It is clearly at play in Canada.
The situation in Canada is all too familiar to those of us in the U.S. It has something to do with COVID exhaustion, but more importantly, it is a stage for the Canadian alt-right to show themselves in public along with their Nazi and confederate flags, their 41% financial support from the U.S. for at least one funding source, and the armed “anarchist” group, Diagolon.
According to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network, “the Freedom Convoy says it is about truckers, and have raised over $6 million dollars on GoFundMe. But if you look at its organizers and promoters, you’ll find Islamophobia, antisemitism, racism, and incitements to violence.”
So why does the media keep calling it a truckers’ convoy? Certainly there are a few professional truckers there and there are a lot of trucks, but that doesn’t make them truckers protesting vaccine; especially since 90% of Canadian truckers were previously vaccinated!
Protesters at the “Freedom Convoy.” Note not just the swastika, but the “Don’t tread on me”! (Photo by Y Freedhoff)
THE FACTS
“Disha Singh, who works as a safety manager at a trucking and logistics company in Ontario, told me that the majority of the workers at Sunrise Freight Systems are South Asian and vaccinated. “Our drivers and workers simply don’t care about the demand not to vaccinate. The only conversation we are having about the rally is that it has caused delays and this has been difficult for the drivers,” she said. “Drivers don’t earn money for the hours they are stuck in traffic.”[ Maham Javaid, February 11, 2022, Boston Globe.] This sentiment has been repeated in numerous interviews with others.
“On Monday, the blockade took a darker turn when the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canada’s federal police, seized a “heavy stash” of weapons including guns, ammunition, and a machete from a fringe group of protestors linked to the Alberta-Montana blockade. On Tuesday, four Canadians were charged with conspiracy to commit murder, with at least a dozen others in court facing weapons and mischief-related charges. RCMP officers were the targets of those charged, said the RCMP’s chief superintendent, Trevor Daroux. “[We] took immediate action. This threat was very serious.” The Canadian Anti-Hate Network found that some of the vests seized on Monday in Alberta displayed insignia belonging to Diagolon, a right-wing militia network that allegedly advocates for violent revolution to topple the government.” [Fortune, 2/16/22]
“The Diagolon group is a loose network of people with neo-fascist, militant views which emerged from a group of live streamers called “The Plaid Army,” according to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN). The Plaid Army has been accused of platforming and espousing rampant racism and anti-Semitic content in their streams, and had a couple of mainstays on their shows including Jeremy MacKenzie, who has been identified by CAHN as the de facto leader of Diagolon in Canada. Deputy director of CAHN, Elizabeth Simons pointed out that violence is a core element to Diagolon, citing MacKenzie’s motto repeated in his chats and streams — “by gun or rope” — describing how his enemies can choose to die. MacKenzie has been seen on livestreams in Ottawa encouraging the blockades on his Telegram and YouTube channel where he goes by variations of the username ‘Raging Dissident.’” [CTV News, Christy Somos, 2/17/22]
The so-called “freedom convoy” – which departed for Ottawa on 23 January – was the brainchild of James Bauder, an admitted conspiracy theorist who has endorsed the QAnon movement and called Covid-19 “the biggest political scam in history.” Bauder’s group, Canada Unity, contends that vaccine mandates and passports are illegal under Canada’s constitution, the Nuremberg Code, and a host of other international conventions.”
“Until now, a litany of organizations had protested Canada’s strict public health measures, but largely in isolation. One such group, Hold Fast Canada, had organized pickets of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s headquarters, where they claimed that concentration camps had already been introduced in the country. Another group, Action4Canada, launched legal challenges to mask and vaccine mandates. In one 400-page court filing, they allege that the “false pronouncement of a Covid-19 ‘pandemic’” was carried out, at least in part, by Bill Gates and a “New World (Economic) Order” to facilitate the injection of 5G-enabled microchips into the population. Both groups are listed as “participating groups” on the Canada Unity website, and sent vehicles and personnel to join the convoy. Since they have arrived in Ottawa, the extreme elements of the protest have been visible: neo-Nazi and Confederate flags were seen flying, QAnon logos were emblazoned on trucks and signs and stickers were pasted to telephone poles around the occupied area bear Trudeau’s face, reading: “Wanted for crimes against humanity.”
“The official line from Bauder and his co-organizers, however, has remained focused; in a Facebook live broadcast, Bauder instructed his supporters to “stop talking about the vaccine” and instead stick to message of “freedom”. Such strict message control has attracted mainstream support. Numerous members of the Conservative party, Canada’s official opposition, have come out to meet the protesters. Elon Musk and Donald Trump have both endorsed the convoy. Fox broadcasters Sean Hannity and Tucker Carlson have provided glowing updates on the continuing occupation.” [The Guardian, 2/8/22]
“In December 2020, Bauder posted on Facebook about his skepticism over the origins of COVID-19, perpetuating the disproven belief that the virus was intentionally created in and leaked from a lab in Wuhan, China, as a bioweapon and wrongly implied that billionaire George Soros may have been involved. Soros is often the subject of anti-Semitic conspiracy theories spread online. [KESQ, 2/12/22]
“Tamara Lich and B.J. Dichter, neither of whom are truck drivers, are currently listed as the organizers of the GoFundMe page. They are previously known figures in Canada’s far-right ecosystem and have publicly made Islamophobic comments. Its loudest promoter, Pat King, is a racist who has tried to incite his audience to violence more times than you can count. (He’s so bad for their public image that the other organizers have even tried to put some distance between them.)….Some convoy supporters, like the Diagolon network, are even saying that they want this to be Canada’s very own January 6th, referring to the U.S. attempted insurrection.” [CAHN website, www.antihate.ca]
Links for documentation of the facts above and additional substantive information:
www.Fortune.com/2022/02/16/canada-freedom-convoy-protests-whats-happening/
www.ctvnews.ca/canada/what-is-the-diagolon-extremist-group-and-what-does-it-want-1.5785646
www.antihate.ca/the_freedom_convoy_is_nothing_but_a_vehicle_for_the_far_right
www.cbc.ca/news/politics/vaccine-mandate-double-down-convoy-1.6326821
kesq.com/news/2022/02/12/who-is-who-a-guide-to-the-major-players-in-the-trucker-convoy-protest/
www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/08/canada-ottawa-trucker-protest-extremist-qanon-neo-nazi
The reality of what is happening all too frequently in our world is really upsetting. In our country we have the corporations and hate groups and (politicians?)…power and $$$ greed & else where it is the oligarchs and dictators and it is all about money, power and suppression and adjusting the truth to become lies. Thank you for you timely posts. I always am enlightened by them and appreciate the information.
Thanks for that, Ms. Poulos. It’s upsetting to me that even the other night PBS NewsHour was referring to it as a demonstration of truckers about vaccinations. My research showed that that is clearly just window dressing.