Opinion – Helio Beltrão: The escalation of authoritarianism

One of the characteristics of the rise of authoritarianism is the use of disproportionate coercion, legitimized by wide-ranging decrees implemented in situations of alleged emergency or “risk to democracy”.

The case of the Trudeau government’s brutal reaction in Canada to the truckers’ protest is shocking, especially given that the country has a long history of respecting individual rights and due process of law.

It is certainly unacceptable for protesters to block roads and streets, riot or prevent businesses from functioning normally. The deterrence of such crimes is provided for in Canadian criminal law and is carried out by the local police. In addition, legal proceedings may result in fines and other penalties.

But the government went further, banning peaceful and legal protest, trampling protesters with horses, harassing supporters and freezing bank accounts. It is a frontal assault on basic rights.

The “state of emergency” declared by Trudeau on the 13th (and infamously confirmed on the 20th by one of the Houses of Congress) has made hundreds of arrests possible so far, which will continue, according to the government, despite the complete demobilization of the demonstration in Ottawa on Sunday. (20).

Truckers had been peacefully protesting Trudeau’s increasingly draconian measures as the UK, Denmark, Spain, Sweden, Italy and Norway ease restrictions.

Fidelzinho do Norte’s restrictions provide for a ban on the employment and money of healthy unvaccinated people — such as truck drivers, who work isolated in their cabins —, but do not prevent infected vaccinated individuals from attending any and all locations.

From the start, Trudeau demonized truckers and sympathizers as misogynists and racists, an angry minority with disallowed ideas. When the protest reached the capital, he decided to characterize them as dangerous coup plotters and fled. He did not dialogue or listen to their petitions at any time. He does not admit that the protesters are ordinary people, men and women who have been bringing food and medicine to Canadians and who after two years of severe restrictions may now lose their livelihood. They should be listened to, not brutalized.

The state of emergency continues even after demobilization, which means that the rule of law is suspended at the discretion of the government, whose priority is to silence the dissident “anti-vaxxers”.

Liberals argue that free expression must always be respected (unless there is an imminent threat, which was not the case). Exceptional measures tend to be abused and prolonged, a lesson that left-wing parties themselves should remember, as they can also become victims of arbitrariness, as history indicates.

The witch hunt is on. Donors — including 90,000 identified in a leak of a crowdfunding app — are being criminally implicated for exercising their democratic right via small donations, which were perfectly legal on the date of their achievement. Hundreds of supporter accounts have already been frozen without due process.

Trudeau will have to face the consequences of his actions.

A significant portion of the population seems to have reached the point of exhaustion. The government’s authoritarianism will fuel the opposition and crazy extremists. Trudeau and his socialist NDP allies tend to be held accountable for workers alienated by the government.

The “j’accuse” to supposed enemies of democracy, followed by urgent authoritarian measures, is a practice that is unfortunately arriving in Brazil, a land where Fidelzinho has a reasonable fan-club. One of these measures is the banning of social networks that do not cooperate with the government. Coming soon, topic of this column.