That’s what fuels so much of action — that belief, supported by experience and knowledge provided by others’ experiences, that what one is doing is the correct moral and ethical choice.
And I’ve wrestled with whether to say anything. Do I wade into this debate? There’s an inherent risk involved with adding my voice to the discourse. (Gosh, there’s a word I haven’t used since university . . .) My significant other has refrained from sharing his opinion on social media, feeling that it’s a waste of energy.
But to me, not contributing to the conversation suggests passive support rather than impassive neutrality. If I don’t say anything, I could be letting things stand and avoiding the problems of getting involved. Then the words of Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel come back into my head:
We must take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
“Elie Wiesel Quotes.” BrainyQuote.com. BrainyMedia Inc, 2022. 28 January 2022. https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/elie_wiesel_163854
Feelings have been running high this week in Canada, what with a little less than 10% of the nation’s licensed truckers and their supporters heading to the national capital in a convoy of big rigs and personal vehicles to protest / insist on / lay siege to the federal government so vaccine mandates will be repealed, even though the pandemic isn’t over yet and health care workers, long-term care workers, essential workers, educators, and other valued contributors to the well-being and function of our society are burning out and have been running on empty for months or longer. Lots of social media posts proclaiming patriots are taking Canada back (from whom?) and denigrating the federal government leadership (again) and exaggerating the numbers of attendees (some of whom have vowed violence if their demands are not met).
Some, out of respect for free speech (actually called “Freedom of Expression” under Section 2b[b] of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms), are willing to overlook the fact that organizers and participants in the movement are white supremacists, demonstrably racist, have incited and/or participated in violence against People of the Global Majority (otherwise known as BIPOC [Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour), in service of a greater perceived need: that of taking back their interpretation of freedom.
I find it interesting that we haven’t heard the participants acknowledge that they have already crossed hundreds and thousands of kilometres to get to Ottawa without meeting military resistance . . . without having to show papers at checkpoints . . . and maybe that’s part of their point — maybe some of them are worried about the act of proving vaccine status during a pandemic escalating into more authoritarian curtailing of movement in various ways.
It bothers me that the devotees of this freedom movement have not taken the steps to weed out those concerning individuals and groups (possibly because they need the money [American Republicans have been involved in funding this uprising, yes] and hey, numbers are numbers), that they haven’t bothered to clarify the numbers involved with clear tags or signage (is it because it’s more effective to keep people guessing and exaggerating participation?), and for heaven’s sakes, they haven’t even bothered to get the permits for their protest this weekend on Parliament Hill!
It seems to me that the participants are less interested in improving governance, and more focused on a) forgetting / ignoring that the pandemic is still happening, and b) setting in motion some kind of anarchy instead of upholding a respectable social contract.
The TruckerConvoytoOttawa claims to speak for me. They do not.
I have a voice. I’m using it.
I have family that has advised me to avoid controversial topics online. I’m not.
The participants in the convoy are deeply convinced that they are on the side of righteousness and determined to make changes that they believe will make the country better. But when you take their arguments apart, they don’t hold water.
I’m seeing people — groups and individuals — who have been and are continuing to experience extended levels of stress and uncertainty, connected to the pandemic but also to changes in global society at various levels. The world has altered, and it’s frightening to many. Wanting a return to some kind of recognizable “normalcy” and a more familiar (though unbalanced) power dynamic is a logical psychological response. The patience needed for coping and working through has run thin. Perhaps what we’re seeing is the process of grief for what was known being carried to extreme measures. Certainly we’re seeing the effects of cognitive dissonance and the Dunning-Kruger Effect, on full and painful display.
Patience and compassion can get us far. But how far, when intolerance becomes louder than kindness? Pretends to be kindness? Recalls symbols of oppression and evil and attempts to repurpose them in the guise of higher goals and social improvement?
The convoy participants claim to be uniting Canadian society, and suggest that news media and government officials are only seeking more division. I would argue that they are uniting certain factions, bringing together those who are scared and tired and in need of purpose, who may be lacking in certain levels of education and affected by intergenerational traumas — these are the same kinds of victims/survivors preyed on by leaders of other terrorist organizations convinced that they are in the right and seeking change by force.
So here is my voice. I feel for the participants of the convoy, how lost and afraid and in turmoil they must feel in order to take such drastic action to feel in control again. But they don’t speak for me. I don’t support their actions, though they are within their rights to some extent according to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. I fervently hope that no-one gets hurt or worse in the national capital over the coming days.
Thank you for listening. Stay safe.
Tori L. Ridgewood 