The PM just froze all the bank accounts of every single protester. Tell me professor. Is this authoritarian? The protesters did nothing wrong. I suppose all the riots for the summer of 2020 were perfectly fine with you though, right?
Thank you! I live in Australia, and have a few friends that have gone off the charts with this anti-mandate theme. These are the same people that I have protested with in the past (like coal mining and the Greta protests) I have a hard time talking to them about this, they just keep saying it's "The Australian Way" and has nothing to do with the alt right, they keep inviting me to come along. I just try to keep planting seeds. But nothing is getting through.
SC wrote: We'd been writing about them for months. So why were the police either unaware or, if they were aware, why did they not take them at their word?
Doesn't this sound a lot about what was said after Jan 6?
As Barbara Walter has noted in her observations about how civil wars begin, social media is a significant causal factor in precipitating violence. Social media will continue to exist. Whatever response governments plan must include strategies to corral the negative consequences of social media. And finding ways to do that consonant with democratic values is going to be a real challenge.
It would be interesting to look at comparisons of policing/enforcement differences in dealing with indigenous water protectors and insurrectionists. Is it because one group has many women and the other doesn't? Is it First Nations as opposed to entitled white guys? Non-violent vs. armed? Even some counter-protesters trying to keep truckers out were treated more immediately and harshly by police than theose driving their trucks to the blockade. Also, how many police and even government officials are members of the insurrection or sympathetic? Unequal enforcement, not just for this, but for almost everything, is very frustrating. Finally, is there any thought this is part of the Russia plan to disrupt US and allies?
Interesting conversation on what happened in Ottawa and how basic police enforcement can be used to disrupt these kinds of events. But what if the police are sympathizers/part of these protests? Would police here use enforcement to disrupt anti-vax, MAGA-type convoys?
There's talk of trying this in a US city or two. If so, would they do it in a state with a Republican governor? Or target a blue state with a dem governor say like Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan for example? And are public officials and governors here ready with a concerted response based on what they've leaned from the Ottawa experience? Their game is disruption, destabilization and economic sabotage of democratic societies. This can not be tolerated for even a second. Leaders here must be prepared with a response that is swift and overwhelming.
This is exceptional and exactly what many have been warning about. Trucks will be gone, once policing kicks in. Then, that platform will move to something else. Free society’s are under attack. 👏👏👏👏👏👏
The PM just froze all the bank accounts of every single protester. Tell me professor. Is this authoritarian? The protesters did nothing wrong. I suppose all the riots for the summer of 2020 were perfectly fine with you though, right?
Thank you! I live in Australia, and have a few friends that have gone off the charts with this anti-mandate theme. These are the same people that I have protested with in the past (like coal mining and the Greta protests) I have a hard time talking to them about this, they just keep saying it's "The Australian Way" and has nothing to do with the alt right, they keep inviting me to come along. I just try to keep planting seeds. But nothing is getting through.
What happened in Ottawa and elsewhere in Canada will likely pale compared to what the same forces have planned in the U.S. Organizers said they're planning a cross-country trek involving 1,000 trucks that begins late this month and ends in Washington, DC. https://www.newsweek.com/peoples-convoy-truckers-reportedly-heading-dc-mandate-protest-1679678
SC wrote: We'd been writing about them for months. So why were the police either unaware or, if they were aware, why did they not take them at their word?
Doesn't this sound a lot about what was said after Jan 6?
To repeat what I said before. Prosecute them.
As Barbara Walter has noted in her observations about how civil wars begin, social media is a significant causal factor in precipitating violence. Social media will continue to exist. Whatever response governments plan must include strategies to corral the negative consequences of social media. And finding ways to do that consonant with democratic values is going to be a real challenge.
It would be interesting to look at comparisons of policing/enforcement differences in dealing with indigenous water protectors and insurrectionists. Is it because one group has many women and the other doesn't? Is it First Nations as opposed to entitled white guys? Non-violent vs. armed? Even some counter-protesters trying to keep truckers out were treated more immediately and harshly by police than theose driving their trucks to the blockade. Also, how many police and even government officials are members of the insurrection or sympathetic? Unequal enforcement, not just for this, but for almost everything, is very frustrating. Finally, is there any thought this is part of the Russia plan to disrupt US and allies?
Interesting conversation on what happened in Ottawa and how basic police enforcement can be used to disrupt these kinds of events. But what if the police are sympathizers/part of these protests? Would police here use enforcement to disrupt anti-vax, MAGA-type convoys?
There's talk of trying this in a US city or two. If so, would they do it in a state with a Republican governor? Or target a blue state with a dem governor say like Gretchen Whitmer in Michigan for example? And are public officials and governors here ready with a concerted response based on what they've leaned from the Ottawa experience? Their game is disruption, destabilization and economic sabotage of democratic societies. This can not be tolerated for even a second. Leaders here must be prepared with a response that is swift and overwhelming.
This is exceptional and exactly what many have been warning about. Trucks will be gone, once policing kicks in. Then, that platform will move to something else. Free society’s are under attack. 👏👏👏👏👏👏