Monday, February 14, 2022

Today's news: Ottawa Strong

The people of Ottawa started fighting back today - in the cold, standing out on the streets, being yelled at, carrying handmade signs, abandoned by their own police department and their politicians -- but nevertheless, they persisted. 
And they did it! #OttawaStrong was their attitude, and their hashtag (the insurrectionist anti-vaxxers tried to hijack it to apply to the FluTruxKlan themselves, but it didn't work.) 
I don't know enough about the geography of Ottawa to understand exactly where all this happened, but a bunch of brave Ottawa citizens stood their ground all day at the #Battle of BillingsBridge, to stop a line of trucks who wanted to join the anti-vaxxers on Parliament Hill. 
And even though police told the citizens to let the line pass, they would not move. More and more people joined them. Until finally the line turned tail and drove away. The conclusion tonight is that shit is going DOWN! 
Earlier this evening, the mayor of Ottawa announced he had negotiated a deal with the insurrectionists, to move their trucks to another section of Ottawa - basically, it was mostly-unconditional surrender, giving them a retroactive camping permit in trade for them not bothering people as much. Ottawa Twitter was absolutely furious. 
But then half an hour later the insurrectionists pulled the rug out from under the mayor anyway, saying there was no deal even though the mayor had released their actual letter agreeing to it. 
Finally this evening came the news that Trudeau would be holding an emergency Cabinet meeting tonight, and will be meeting tomorrow morning with the Premiers. 
Media reports are that emergency measures are coming in -- maybe the army? Or, at the very least, maybe army equipment to move the trucks: Now I'm afraid its going to be terrible - the Ottawa police and Ontario Provincial Police have done such a poor job - vacillating, unfocused, inept, pandering - how can they be trusted now to deploy any soldiers? 
If the army is put in charge, then the municipal and provincial police will scream - just as they did in 1970 -- but that may be our best chance to avoid people getting hurt. 
When this February Crisis is over - hopefully sooner rather than later -- Canada is going to have to deal with a serious aftermath. We have observed the US grappling with the fallout from Jan 6, but we are going to have fallout from this, too. 
Not only will there likely be criminal charges for some of the insurrectionists, but Canadians are going to be reassessing relationships with police and politicians, who either stood up to the insurrection or, in too many cases, did not. 
The contrast between how Indigenous people, young people, and poor people have been treated at protests, compared to how these anti-vaxxers have been treated, is disgusting and frightening. 
People are tweeting about it now: And also, unsurprisingly, there is a complete lack of sympathy for any of the anti-vaxxers. That, too, is going to be a difficult legacy for Canada as a country to deal with: Trudeau gave them their chance - he told them last week that they had made their point and it was time to go home. They didn't listen.
Finally, I guess we can always find a bright side:
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2 comments:

rumleyfips said...

Congrats to local residents of Kingston, Edmonon, Ottawa etc for protecting their freedoms from a convoy of anti democratic bullies and corrupt cops who want to supress them.

9:13 am
Cathie from Canada said...

Yes, very much so -- I am so impressed with how these ordinary people have handled things - not hysterical or violent, but absolutely determined get it done.

10:50 am

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