- News & Opinion -
The Freedom Convoy, a large group of truckers and other motorists who traveled across Canada to the city of Ottawa protesting vaccine mandates and other government oppression. A train of vehicles that (at times) has been more than 45 miles long, according to a Daily Wire report. (1)
Naturally, none other than the land of the free and its semi-propaganda news outlets have begun to belittle these efforts. In an Opinion piece posted on Jan. 28 by The Washington Post, David Moscrop called the convoy “Toxic” and “Unreasonable.” Moscrop continues, “the convoy and its supporters must be met with a counter-movement that refuses to give them an inch but, instead, focuses national, sub-national and local efforts on true threats to liberty, which do exist.” (2)
But what does the Post mean by “true threats to liberty?” The Post goes on to clarify: “Threats to liberty are rampant in Canada, but not because of vaccine mandates. Rather, it is income and wealth inequality; worker exploitation; gendered, religious, racialized and other forms of hate violence; ongoing settler colonialism; and other forms of structural marginalization and oppression that compromise liberty.”
By publishing this Op-Ed, The Washington Post is essentially saying that the trucker’s demands should be ignored. They are acting as if there are no real threats to the liberty of the Canadian people, and worse still, they go on to make it clear that what they believe are “real threats to liberty” are no threats at all, but nonexistent socialist talking points.
This story might be different if the Canadian truckers were burning, rioting, looting, and using deadly force to make their voices heard, as the so-called “Black Lives Matter” protests did over the summer, but as far as we know from the news coming out of Canada, they are going about their protesting peacefully. Not only are they being peaceful, but they have even gone so far as to allow people to cross a bridge that they were blocking when the Alberta legislative assembly agreed to hold a meeting.
The truckers have a right to have their demands heard, not merely pushed aside by soldiers and tanks, which has been suggested. Thankfully, the Canadian Prime Minister, as well as the Ottawa Police Chief, are currently in at least partial agreement with that sentiment, saying that, “There always needs to be an element outside of the police for any truly successful end to any demonstration, particularly one of this size.” (2)
And they would be right. Although schools and businesses have been closed, force is never the best way to resolve a protest. The Truckers have been called a “Fringe Minority,” because about ninety percent of Canadians are vaccinated. However, they are not protesting the vaccine, but a mandate that destroys their freedom. Squashing the protest with force would only prove the trucker’s point, increasing the likelihood of another protest and more unrest.
Contributor(s)
Trevor Allen, Al K. Scott
Comments