The occupation of the Canadian capital is approaching its second week, with about two dozen streets blocked and thousands of residents without leaving their homes for fear of being harassed. Nolan, a young truck driver from British Columbia, is all set.
After driving nearly 4,500 kilometers to Ottawa and sleeping 11 nights in a trailer, the 25-year-old driver, who declined to give his last name, vows to continue “as long as it takes.” “This is the time,” he said, to fight “oppression.”
Apocalyptic rhetoric is a common feature of the self-styled “Freedom Train” — a group of truckers and anti-lockdown protesters who managed to shut down downtown Ottawa, Canada’s capital, and part of the country’s border with the United States.
Filled with outrage at what they see as the crushing of individual freedom during the pandemic, protesters started the protest last month in opposition to a demand that international truckers be vaccinated against Covid-19.
It has since morphed into a broader anti-government movement, mixing anti-vaccine rhetoric, far-right politics and conspiracy theories, from microchips with 5G to QAnon.
About 500 vehicles, from trucks to cars and vans, are blocking the streets in front of the Canadian Parliament. An odor of diesel lingers in the air as protesters carry gallons of fuel to keep the trucks warm, despite threats that they would be arrested for doing so.
On the long avenue in front of Parliament, there are food stalls, trestle tables filled with hot dog buns and a stage. Earlier in the week there were even portable saunas and a bouncy castle.
Justin Trudeau, the centre-left prime minister who is the main target of the protesters’ ire, left his official residence in Ottawa because of the protest.
“Individuals are trying to block our economy, our democracy and the daily lives of our citizens,” Trudeau said this week. “This has to stop.”
It is possible that the protest is just a short-lived spasm orchestrated by a still limited group of disaffected and angry people. The union representing Canada’s truck drivers denounced the participants.
But there are some early signs that the protest in Canada could trigger similar events in other parts of the world, from France to the United States. Right-wing American politicians are watching events closely for signs of an anti-lockdown version of the “yellow vests,” anti-establishment protests that swept France in 2018.
At the very least, the events in Ottawa hint at the deep wells of resentment over two years of heavy health restrictions due to the pandemic, which have the capacity to boil over — from the violent protests that have erupted in Amsterdam and Brussels in recent months to Canadian truck drivers.
Cathryn Carruthers, co-founder of Families for Choice [FamÃlias pela Opção]an Alberta-based group that wants parents to be able to decide whether to vaccinate their children, describes truck drivers as the “salt of the earth.”
“Seeing truckers into action has given Canadians who felt tired and helpless a sense of hope that something can really change and strength to stand together and say enough is enough,” she says.
fear of harassment
After two weeks of protests, costs are starting to mount. On Monday, truckers organized a blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, which connects Windsor to Detroit, the busiest land crossing between the US and Canada, which accounts for more than a quarter of cross-border trade. On Friday (11) there was still a blockage of traffic.
Border congestion is delaying about 300 million Canadian dollars (R$1.2 billion) in daily trade. Car makers Toyota and Ford say production is taking a hit. Protesters blocked streets at Ottawa’s international airport and tried to overload emergency phone lines with prank calls, police said on Thursday.
“Occupants who disrupt our supply chain are creating serious consequences for Canadians and workers across the country,” Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said.
In the early days of the protests, the police chose to watch, fearing a violent escalation. Many residents feel abandoned in the face of what they consider harassment.
Some said they had to clean excrement from their doors and were abused for wearing masks. Dozens of businesses closed, including the city’s main mall, which was briefly occupied by unmasked protesters waving flags.
This week, however, police began making arrests — 25 people — mainly on charges of rowdy. On Friday, Ontario’s prime minister, Doug Ford, declared a state of emergency, threatening those who block roads and bridges with fines of 100,000 Canadian dollars and a year in jail.
It is unclear what level of support the protesters have in society.
Among Canadians over age 5, 82% are fully vaccinated — one of the highest rates in the world. A recent survey by Abacus Data revealed that 87% of Ottawa residents want the protests to end.
The Teamsters Canada union, which represents 15,000 truck drivers, denounced the protests. “The so-called ‘freedom train’ and ridiculous display of hatred commanded by the political right and shamefully encouraged by elected conservative politicians do not reflect the values ​​of Teamsters Canada, nor the vast majority of our members,” said the organization’s president, François Laporte. , in a statement.
Protesters insist their grievance is with Trudeau, who clashed with the unvaccinated during last year’s tense general election. At an event in September, he was hit by gravel thrown by protesters.
In some parts of Canada, mandatory vaccinations for certain professions have led to the firing of police, firefighters and truck drivers, including some involved in the protests.
Most Covid-19 restrictions are controlled by provincial governments, many of which, including those in Ontario and Quebec, have required people to show proof of vaccination to enter restaurants, cinemas and bars. The western provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta have started to ease restrictions.
Stéphanie Chouinard, a professor of politics at the Royal Military College in Kingston, Ontario, says the organizers “latched onto a very real feeling of anger, resentment and exasperation from a part of the Canadian electorate that perhaps paid a higher price.” such as frontline workers or vulnerable people who have not been able to work from home.
She adds: “The far right used this resentment and anger as a pretext to organize and disrupt.”
The protests revealed some fissures in the political establishment. On Tuesday (8), Joël Lightbound, a member of Trudeau’s Liberal Party, accused the prime minister of trying to “divide and stigmatize” the unvaccinated and the non-believers of the lockdown. In Canada, where younger MPs rarely confront party leaders, Lightbound’s comments took many by surprise.
The opposition Conservatives, who recently ousted their leader for pulling the party too far to the center, initially praised the truckers. However, as the protests drag on, some have changed course in the face of perceived radicalism, with Candice Bergen, the interim leader, calling on Thursday for an end to the lockdown.
“If what sticks in the minds of Canadians about these events is that the Conservative Party has decided to side with the right-wing freaks, then [eles] lost the game,” says Chouinard.
Reflection in the United States
Across the border in the United States, the protests put even more pressure on supply chains that were already strained by the pandemic.
But the Biden administration is also eyeing a potentially much bigger problem: what if American truckers decide to stage a similar protest? Could they generate similar chaos in New York or Washington?
This week, officials at the US Department of Homeland Security issued a notice to law enforcement agencies across the country that a group of truck drivers was planning a convoy that would start in California and end in Washington, DC.
The widely circulated memo said the protest could affect the Super Bowl in Los Angeles on Sunday and the State of the Union address to be delivered by President Joe Biden on March 1.
Analysts and officials who monitor right-wing groups online say those involved in the QAnon conspiracy theory movement and supporters of former President Donald Trump are weighing the possibility of holding a similar protest in the United States.
The convoy drew supportive comments from Republican politicians such as Trump, Senator Ted Cruz and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, as well as Tesla boss Elon Musk.
But the plans are mixed, analysts say, and the numbers involved are small.
“It’s really true that conspiracy theory groups in the US and Canada have been sharing information in recent weeks,” says Brian Murphy, vice president of strategic operations at Logically, a group formed to combat online disinformation.
“But in the US, truckers are a much looser group that doesn’t have the political engagement history of Canadians. An American movement would also need a leadership set to organize and galvanize it, which is now lacking. “
Mike Rains, host of the Adventures in HellwQrld podcast, which tracks the QAnon conspiracy, says: “Many of the conspiracy theorists and right-wing crooks are talking vaguely about the possibility of a US convoy, but everyone is waiting for someone to start.
“Their problem is that the authorities will be very aware of this possibility and therefore much more likely to stop it before it gets anywhere. The chances of something getting within 150 kilometers of Washington are very slim.”
Rains says a more likely target would be the US-Mexico border, which is much harder to police and will be the focus of political debate ahead of the midterm elections in November.
In France, on Friday, convoys of cars and trucks were heading from various regions to the capital before the protests this Saturday (12).
Organized in Facebook groups and the chat app Telegram, the motley movement appears to be made up of people who oppose Covid vaccine requirements in France, as well as some who identify with the yellow vest movement. Paris city hall said protesters would be banned from entering the capital from Friday to Monday, citing the risk of public disorder.
Between the “F*ck Trudeau” banners and Canadian flags worn by some protesters in Ottawa, there are also many far-right symbols, including some swastika and the flag of the Southern Confederacy.
Anti-media sentiment is also strong. Organizers refused to admit reporters from mainstream media to press conferences and handpicked journalists from right-wing platforms.
The crisis is also fueling concerns about the external financing of domestic radicalism. Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Security, said Canada would be “very vigilant about external forces and foreign interference”.
GoFundMe took down a donation page for the “Freedom Convoy 2022” that had raised 10 million Canadian dollars — some of which is believed to have come from US supporters — after saying that the protest has become an illegal “occupation”.
Despite the prospect of the protest entering its third week and the state of emergency, there are few signs that truckers are backing down.
“I want to go home,” said Tom Marazzo, one of the organizers, this week. “But I won’t go until I’m no longer needed here, until the job is done.”
