#clownvoy

One week after the end of the Ottawa occupation, the #Clownvoy movement remains active. While the founders are mainly dealing with their legal issues (some have been denied bail), this remains a very grassroots movement, and its tendrils continue to reach across the country and south of the border.

Events in Ukraine have taken the focus off these people, giving them time to catch their breath and plan next steps. They are putting a lot of their hopes in the U.S. convoy, which is working its way to Washington DC.

Increasingly, however, Canadians are seeing the truth. This was never a movement of truckers, but a political stunt staged by right-wing extremists to change the political conversation in this country.

The graphic below represents a first attempt to chart the shady forces behind the so-called Freedom Convoy. The influences range from the banal, fossil-fuel conservatism of Alberta Premier Jason Kenney and the creepy People's Party to such discredited organizations as Yellow Vests Canada and the blatantly racist Sons of Odin.

Besides the value of tracing these roots, I hope this chart reminds us that most of the people involved in this movement are hapless puppets, nursing private grievances while lacking any awareness of the larger forces at work.

("The ‘Freedom Convoy’ is nothing but a vehicle for the far right")

("You were duped," says the editor of Today's Trucking magazine.)

I am still engaging with convoy supporters through social media. They remain confused but loyal foot soldiers, vehemently sticking to their angry talking points. They are immune to suggestions that the Trudeau government is not trying to crush our civil rights, or that their three-week occupation of Ottawa was anything but happy and fun. They reject the conclusions of experts or journalists in favor of a fantasy reality that exists only in their heads.

Russia's invasion of Ukraine has given both sides an opportunity to rest and reset. But I hope it will not prevent our politicians and other leaders from reaching out to anti-mandate protesters to explore ways to rebuild trust and overcome the disinformation that fueled this rebellion.

If Canadians can't agree on basic facts, consensus will be even more difficult to reach in future. And a divided Canada only plays into the machinations of the hard right, as well as manipulative foreign powers (i.e., Russia) which love to see our country torn in two.

I spent a couple hours watching the TV news again today.

It's a frustrating experience, for several reasons.

First, television carries with it expectations of a narrative. You expect something new. If it's a serialized, ongoing story, you expect progress. Yet nothing is changing in the anti-mandate protests. The protesters continue occupying, lying, and gloating, while the police and politicians express their grave concerns.

There is just no new information. Most coverage comes from either reporters on the scene, or from supposedly informed commentators. We almost never hear from anyone who actually knows what's going on.

For reporters, there’s very little to learn on the frontlines. Talking to individual protesters is almost pointless. Their energetic rants may sound interesting at first, but if you've heard two you've heard them all.

Virtually none of the protesters knows anything about their movement – how big it is, its motives, or its next steps. Their reason for being there – to protect freedom from overreaching government – is indefensible. Reporters can't even ask useful follow-up questions, because few protesters can articulate much beyond their initial grievance.

Another problem: the trucker leaders are shadowy figures largely absent from the news. They hold news conferences without the national media, or anyone who will ask hard questions. They stay in the background to avoid accountability.

Since the media's focus is on the battlefront, the convoy leaders don't get the scrutiny they deserve. Who are these people? Can you name any? What are their philosophies? What are their goals? Do they have any plans to end this standoff other than being pushed out by force? (Or is that what they want?)

We don't know the leaders' intentions because the media aren't talking about them. I've learned more about the leaders (and their associations with racism and separatism) through Twitter, Facebook and YouTube than I've learned by reading the paper or watching the news. None of them have ever reported convoy leader BJ Richter's promise of "massive disruption" in a YouTube interview two weeks ago.

(A Google search just now retrieved only my own tweets on this subject.)

There is valuable context on social media, and the mainstream journalists are missing it.

Significantly, what's missing from the coverage of the protesters is informed commentary from government and police officials. This may not be the media's fault. Our leaders haven't a clue.

We see them express outrage, and hear their whines about insufficient resources. But we haven't heard any strategy from them. Of course, they imply that they have plans, and they're sorry they can't share them. But what's become clear is that they don't know how to dislodge these protesters without resorting to violence. And they don't know how to overcome their positional disadvantages.

Finally, I see almost no discussion in the media of the implications of these events. I bet many people feel that something has changed in Canada, and that politics and protest will never be the same again.

I agree that nobody knows what will happen next. But it's important for leaders and thinkers to talk about likely outcomes and scenarios. Because without thinking through the consequences of our actions, we lose our ability to control events.

So if you're tired of watching these protests play out, you're not alone. Our leaders and our media have let us down.

Addendum: If you want to “do your own research,” I have found one of the best sources of information is TikTok. All day, from 7:00 a.m. till 2:00 a.m., you'll find #freedomconvoy protesters live-streaming their every move. You get to see and hear how they think, who they talk with, and what they're up to. You can watch them engage with their followers and supporters, as well as with trolls like me (i.e., anyone who defies their illogic, or ask them to go home). It will give you a much deeper understanding of their issues and their behaviour.

And a sounder context for interpreting the daily news.

The Toronto Star talked to three of the Clown Convoy's lesser-known leaders to find out how the trucker movement started, and how it later fell apart.

Here are some highlights from this story.

* Wallaceburg, Ont. truck driver Brigitte Belton:

"She remained out of the spotlight while disparate groups with different agendas hitched their trucks, RVs and tractors to the convoy coalition."

"Even though she calls the attempts to keep so many disparate groups on the same page 'one of the most bizarre things I’ve ever experienced in my life,' Belton said she’s proud of what she views as the convoy’s best parts."

“'The best thing that came out from Ottawa was I was no longer alone,” she said. “I’ve been told I’m a horrible person for not taking a vaccine that I didn’t believe in. I saw that I wasn’t alone in that.”'

* James Bauder, founder of Canada Unity and Operation Bearhug: "Canada Unity, became the key organizational tool for those wanting to join the convoy, laying out route maps and displaying the phone numbers for convoy contacts from across the country."

Bauder wrote the infamous Canada Unity Memorandum of Understanding that demanded the Senate and Governor General intervene to end federal COVID-19 mandates - or trigger a referendum to launch a new election. That convinced many observers that the freedom truckers wanted to overthrow the government.

The Star says Bauder regrets some of the alliances he made, especially with people like white supremacist Patrick King and Western Canada separatist Tamara Lich.

Bauder didn’t like that “Freedom Convoy 2022” seemed to be forming as a separate entity from his baby, Operation Bearhug. Freedom Convoy seemed to be loosely affiliated with separatist parties, while Bauder saw his effort as a “unity” movement.

“It just disgusted me deeply inside to see egos, greed and politics jump in and co-opt our movement,” Bauder said.

“Lessons learned. Be careful who you partner with.”

* Retired Canadian Forces captain Tom Marazzo:

Marazzo says his role was to speak on behalf of the convoy organizers, and work with police and public officials to keep the protest running smoothly. He's affiliated with the Police on Guard group, retired and current police and military members who oppose vaccine mandates and other COVID restrictions.

The day police cleared the protests, on Feb. 18, Marazzo says he was was watching and "sarcastically cheering" the officers . But he cleared out before he could be arrested. "He had hoped the police were on the side of the convoy and wouldn’t make them go home in this way."

What's next? Marazzo is running as a candidate in the current Ontario election, as part of former MP Derek Sloan’s populist party "Ontario Party." Sloan e3xpects his party to appeal to "principled freedom fighters and pro-family advocates."

One other "scoop" from this story:

At some point during the occupation, COVID-19 went around the protesters. Said one volunteer: “When I was in Ottawa, there’s a lot of us who believe that we got sprayed on the first weekend we were there because there was some type of aerosol in the air.”

As a user on the "Stop the Ottawa Occupation" Facebook group accurately noted:

"It was never about the mandates!"

On Sunday, March 6, the "People's Convoy" was all set to do two laps around the Beltway circling Washington. (They didn't go downtown, knowing that police had secured the centre of the city, as Toronto cops did last month).

Sadly, even Sunday traffic was more than enough to befuddle these knights of the open road. As Daily Beast reporter Zachary Petrizzo reported on Twitter, the convoy was quickly scattered, and after one 64-mile circuit along busy four-lane highways, many of the protesters took off.

As Petrizzo noted, the crowds on the overpasses were... underwhelming.

Apparently the truckers will be back tomorrow.

I've often asked anti-vaxxers on social media why they define freedom so narrowly. Why don't they ever denounce China's abuse of ethnic minorities, for instance, or Republicans' vote-suppression tactics in the U.S.?

They never answer, of course. They either go quiet or change the subject, asking irrelevant questions such as "How many jabs will you take?" There is no logic to their protest, so they can't defend it rationally.

But that doesn't stop them from whining about oppression in Canada. As so artfully captured by @TheoMoudakis's cartoon for Wednesday's Toronto Star.

Cleanup on Aisle 1

A week after the #freedomconvoy2022 protest ended in Ottawa, city officials have cleaned up downtown and counted the cost.

Ottawa says its civic workers have cleaned up 40 cement mixer trucks' worth of garbage.

From the National Post: "A total of 115 vehicles were towed from the protest area, according to Ottawa Police Services. Owners had seven days to retrieve them, for a cost of $1,191 for a heavy vehicle, or $516 for a light one."

Ottawa’s city manager says the protests cost the city more than $30 million, mainly for increased police and support staff presence.

But there were other costs as well, including the financial and quality of life losses suffered by local residents and businesses. According to the Post, "Lawyer Paul Champ, who is leading a legal team overseeing a class-action lawsuit against protest participants, pegs the total amount of wages and revenue lost because of the occupation at a minimum of $306 million."

Just as the protesters set out across the country for Ottawa, the people of Ottawa are now coming for the protesters.

Champ's lawsuit represents three parties: city residents, Happy Goat Coffee Co. and Union Local 613, and employees who lost wages when their workplaces were shut down.

The lawsuit targets every person involved with the convoy protests, noted the Post. "Champ has collected the licence plates of over 400 attendees and hopes to get information on those who donated to the convoy after February 4th."

Yesterday (Feb. 28), an Ontario Superior Court judge extended a rare injunction related to that lawsuit that has frozen millions of dollars in cryptocurrencies and other financial donations to the so-called Freedom Convoy. The injunction prevents the convoy leaders, many of whom are already facing charges, from "selling, removing, dissipating, alienating, transferring, assigning" up to $20 million in assets raised around the world.

The lawsuit represents an angry public's bid to get compensation for its losses and for indignities suffered. It will be a remarkable case to follow.

Hopefully this precedent will discourage future protesters from turning demonstrations into illegal occupations. Canada protects free speech, but not thuggish and illegal behaviour.

Freedom doesn't just mean you get to do what you want. You must also assume the consequences for your actions.

--

Note: As CityNews reported on Feb. 24, Champ says he's open to talking to truckers who feel remorse for what they’ve done, and who retain independent counsel and reach out.

meanwhile, in Ukraine all able bodied men are being called to aid their leader Zelensky to hold off a legitimate invasion in progress. Putin’s army has targeted their hospitals and kindergarten schools, and the citizens of Ukraine have to hold off an attack.

in america, people are still whining about mask regulations and getting a shot. My country is pathetic. This convoy of rig drivers are an embarrassment. People elected batshit lunatic natzis like gangreen taylor and abbott. The petty and diaper pampering is just massive.

its such... how do I say? How fast did these republicans shove their head into a steaming pile of shit, when brown people come across the boarder because of an upheaval in their country? They lost their minds.

“Oh! Biden isn’t saving us from the immigrants! We are frightened, timid lambs.”

“The mask is suffocating me! Ugh! The myocarditis is so scary! Suddenly, I know all about invisible diseases! They are very real and dangerous, I am a student of medicine wikipedia! I am schooled gewd!”

“My foot is full of bone spurs! I must stay in my country and soak my tender feet.”

Bunch of cowards. Fucking can’t convince me these NRA worshipping, boiled egg brained, crooked faced evangelicals would take up a gun and fight an armed soldier trying to take their home with a tank. No. The evidence isn’t there.

“MURIKAH HAS GUNS AND WE HAVE THAT RIGHT SO WE DON’T LOSE OUR LAND. RED BLOODED AMEROUGAHLOO!”

No. You have an assault rifle cause you have a flaccid dick, and the only hard on you had was when putin called trump a smart, good boy.

Y’all are so easy to please, you have putin reading you bed time stories in russia, telling you how fucking easy y’all are to trick into believing a conman is your every’murcan.