Some say yesterday was a sad day in Ottawa, but I was pretty elated. After two years of watching cops repress Black Lives Matter protestors, I am now rooting for cops as they arrest far right extremists that have occupied downtown Ottawa. Does that make me and mine hypocrites? No, for a couple of reasons focusing on both the conduct of the protests and the content.
First, I don't remember BLM protesters using kids as shields. I don't remember BLM groups trying to use arson as a tool of mass murder (yes, some BLM protests had fires, but no attempts to lock down and then burn an apartment building). BLM groups did not harass and assault health care workers, the media, or passersby who were masks. This has not been a peaceful protest despite the hot tubs and singing. The far right extremists in town have been bullying storeowners and threatening the residents.
Second, the content also matters. BLM protesters were protesting police brutality, and the police kept on providing more evidence that the BLM cause was just. The far right extremists in Ottawa were opposing ... heaps of stuff as their crazed conspiracy shit metastasized. They oppose vaccine mandates and mask restrictions at a time where these are two of the best ways to mitigate a pandemic. Their MOU (a memorandum of understanding because a manifesto would have sounded too commie?) called for the elected government of Canada to be tossed out by those who don't have the power to do so (the Governor General and the Senate). They are really upset that Trudeau is in power--but that is because the parties they favor and that pander to them lost. The election was partly over mandates with the Conservatives pandering to the far right and the far right party focusing very much on this. And they lost. 60% of Canada voted against these two parties. Yes, Trudeau only got a third of the vote, but the pro-vax mandate, pro-mask restrictions parties won bigly. Oh, and most of the restrictions are actually set at the provincial level.
For three weeks, Ottawans were not upset at the cops for being too brutal, but that they didn't do anything at all except seemingly empower the worst of the worst. We sincerely worried about white supremacists within the police force. So, when we finally saw the police carefully, slowly, methodically push back and use much less force than the police forces of the US at the various BLM protests, we were and are elated and relieved. The behavior of these cops has been quite restrained--so far, no one has been beaten. Yes, windows were broken when folks refused to get out of their vehicles. But they had been repeatedly warned. I do wonder if any kids were taken into protective custody, but that is on the parents, who were repeatedly warned.
While the far right media are trying to make this thing a colder version of Tianamen square, we have to remember that (a) the protesters in China were pro-democracy while those in Ottawa are anti-democracy; and (b) we have no idea how many were killed that day in China, and we know how many were killed in Ottawa (zero).
Ultimately, it comes down to this: we want the cops to protect and serve the public, not themselves and not far right extremists. Yesterday and again today, the police in Ottawa are serving the public.
And, yes, there might be a hint of bias in all of this because:
I am not going to dispute your opinion, everyone is entitled to one. I am going to dispute using BLM as the standard to compare. No one can find supporting evidence of BLM actually helping or donating to a community in need. Several states, including liberal CA are investigating where their money going (always follow the money) and in WA they did lock up a police precinct with people inside and set it on fire, not to mention the countless businesses burned to the ground. Again, have your opinion but I wouldn’t use BLM as the standard by witch you compare.
ReplyDeleteI used the example that friends of the occupiers would be most likely to use.
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