> I am not writing this piece to advocate for the protest and its participants. I am writing this piece to ask Canadians like me whether we want our future protests to be judged and covered by standards applied to the truckers today. I am asking us to think about what happens to the horizon of possibility for mass organizing when we throw in with the idea that actual, authentic grassroots protests are a thing of the past and the only legitimate public demonstration is one choreographed from above, its participants carefully disciplined into reading from an identical script or into silence.

The main objection I have to this is that yes, I think I do want any protest whose organizers' demands are essentially "we'll take over for elected MPs and collectively this new government issue edicts to provinces" reported on in this way.[1]

> We should also think about the Proud Boys and Sons of Odin who have gone to the rally to radicalize its participants. The on-the-ground experience of regular folks participating will be of being called Nazis, traitors, Klansmen, bigots, etc. Not only will this place greater distance between the participants and urban Canadian society; it will make them look less unfavourably on others who are called Nazis and Klansmen. How bad could those guys really be, they will ask themselves? Were they also smeared as part of a bum rap by shills for the pharmaceutical industry?

This is a weak argument for a few reasons.

1. The "regular folks" here are decidedly in the tiny minority. "Regular folks" by the percentages in Canada got vaccinated and aren't harassing people who live near government buildings / borders. Ottawa and its immediate areas across the river in Quebec house about 1.5 million people collectively, and they were able to drum up about 20k at the peak, who all disappeared on Sunday.

2. While I think it's certainly possible some people out there somewhere have thought to themselves "well I guess I am racist, even though I think I'm not, and I guess it can't be all that bad", I've yet to see anything close to that actually happening. What I have seen happen is people who weren't vocal about *beliefs they already held* are now emboldened to share it, be it because they perceive the "others" to be responsible for their poor economic status or just because it's ingrained from upbringing.

3. The notes about the Proud Boys and the Sons of Odin joining the protest are interesting, because it's the same "not all protestors" thing that happens at ANY large protest. Is the suggestion that it's only the Sons of Odin and Proud Boys members laying on air horns for hours on end in the middle of the night?

4. This sets the bar as "unless it's an all out riot you can never judge a protest by the actions of its members." I don't agree at all.

There've been countless left- and right-side protests in Ottawa, and none that I know of have been like this. Consider: There has been a large March for Life protest pretty much every year since I left the city, and they do not turn violent or damage property: https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/thousands-attend-march-for-life-do...

The reason it's getting the coverage it is is because it is deserved based on the actions of people associated with this particular cause.

The concept that the coverage there is only showing the worst behaviours is hilarious to me because of course it is. That's what the news media do. It isn't a left/right divide at all, it's a "what generates attention" divide.

[1]: https://canada-unity.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Combined...