Thread by @sunnshiiny

If you analyze the situation presented by Kacey Madu, UCP focuses on the victims of violence vs the perpetrators of violence.

Shifting the locus of responsibility for addressing behaviour of violent attackers from law enforcement to victims.

UCP is wiping their hands.

https://twitter.com/edwinmundt/status/1418255014435323913

UCP has ignored the increasing violence towards women in hijabs. Cursory disapproval of these acts of violence is all UCP has offered to date.

Virtuous thoughts and prayers. Not action to reduce the escalating violence.

Until suggesting pepper spray.

In an effort to appear to be responding to calls for greater action from the Muslim community and the public, Madu writes a letter to the federal government requesting laws be removed banning pepper spray.

Again avoiding responsibility for provision of a safe community.

There is a lot of effort being made by UCP to avoid culpability and responsibility for the escalating violence in Alberta. BLM protests last summer were no different.

BIPOC are under attack from the far right. The violence is being normalized by the UCP & law enforcement.

There are a number of measures that could be taken to address the issue that UCP and law enforcement have so far ignored.

There is no question that these crimes are motivated by hate and meant to intimidate and terrorize women in hijabs.

Social media and online far right “news” outlets peddle anti Muslim propaganda relentlessly. UCP considers this free speech.

A couple years ago when UCP was first elected, they peddled “hate speech” as free speech. This violence and similar situations are the result.

So let’s examine the UCP premise of assumptions that has contributed to the rise in stochastic violence aimed primarily at Muslim women.

Paleolibertarians (aka conservatives) refer to hate speech as free speech. Providing tacit approval for incitement of hate.

Groups of people share hateful messages and narratives about minorities. Conservatives argue this is a human right. It’s not. It’s hate speech.

Speech isn’t free, if it’s hate speech. There is a price to pay for permitting the spread of hate.

BIPOC, especially Muslim women are currently paying the price. Hate dehumanizes people. The targets of hatred become less human in the eyes of potential violent perpetrators.

Which is why Canada has hate speech laws.

But neither UCP nor police are enforcing those laws.

Hate speech is permitted by UCP and law enforcement leadership under the guise of free speech. Stochastic terrorist rhetoric has an established and well researched cause and effect on rates of violence.

There’s a predictable rise in violence with the increase of hate speech.

This is why UCP took forever to crack down on anti maskers and anti vaxxer protests during covid. It was because of their support for all forms of “free speech.”

UCP is not conservative, they are libertarian.

Libertarians want to remove all laws that restrict any speech.

Removal of hate speech regulations is essentially what UCP has accomplished by refusing to enforce hate speech laws and limitations. A law is only as effective as it’s enforcement. The law may exist on paper, but if it’s not enforced, it’s really not a law, but just a guideline.

And now UCP is introducing the desire to provide self protection measures for Muslim women being attacked by far right miscreants.

Because enforcing the law as hate crimes occurred was not done. The far right has been emboldened.

Yet UCP has chosen to focus on the victim’s responsibility to protect herself, vs the responsibility for the government and law enforcement to provide a safe environment by prosecuting far right perpetrators to limit their violent impulses.

UCP has flipped the power/responsibility dynamic. Rather than the government and public services (policing) being responsible for enforcing the law, the most vulnerable have been forced to assume responsibility for protecting themselves. Hate laws can now be ignored.

How many Q’Anon, Proud Boys, Soldiers of Odin, 3%ers have been prosecuted for the intimidation, violent counter protests, or racist anti mask rallies? Few.

The violence perpetrated during BLM marches and protests was largely overlooked and tacitly approved.

That inaction was entirely under the control of UCP and law enforcement. The public demanded enforcement of the law, but were largely snubbed.

Who doesn’t remember Red Deer, AB BLM rally & Ponoka, AB RCMP’s smug response that protesting BLM is not against the law.

But the violence used during those protests was against the law. Was it ever prosecuted? Were charges even laid. We’re RCMP disciplined for their inept and incompetent responses to violence? 🤷🏻‍♀️

I’d bet my bottom dollar they weren’t.

That is how you remove a law without erasing it off the books.

The public incorrectly assumes that they will automatically recognize corruption and a drastic change in community values.

I bet most Albertans believe hate speech laws are still in effect in Alberta. They aren’t.

Provincial Government and complicit Alberta law enforcement leadership have essentially de facto removed hate speech and violent assaults against targeted minorities from the legal code.

Did you notice? Was there a flash of awareness that occurred? Instant recognition?

No.

Insidiously, UCP has played a long game grift on Albertans. Perfunctory condemnation provides the appearance of concern. Refusal to enforce the law provides tacit approval for increasingly frequent violent terrorist attacks on BIPOC by extremists.

All conducted without getting their hands dirty. Using the propagation of stochastic terrorist rhetoric by affiliated, yet arms length, organized libertarian and frankly fascistic propaganda spreaders. Plausible deniability has its merits in politics.

Kenney and UCP are the direct cause of rising violence against Muslim women.

Remove UCP, clean out law enforcement leadership, and there won’t be an increasing violence issue.

Fascists don’t operate openly until they’ve completely consolidated power. They use covert methods.

Unless you’re paying explicit attention to the masquerade, you will probably not catch the incremental changes being made to our society.

There is no aha moment of shock. You just wake up one day and realize you don’t recognize your province or the people you live amongst.

It’s all changed attitudes, beliefs and values. The norms are different. Laws are different.

It all appears on the surface to remain constant, but it’s completely unfamiliar in experience.

At that point it’s almost impossible to remove fascists.

Only you get to decide whether you sleepwalk through life or choose to pay attention to those who have nefarious and diabolical agendas which they are insidiously and incrementally installing.

People are being hurt and targeted by far right terrorists. Terrorists given tacit approval and consequence free permission by our provincial government and law enforcement.

Do we really need the equivalent of a Muslim focussed Kristallnacht to realize what’s going on?

We don’t need pepper spray.

We need a government that takes its job of protecting all members of society equally. We need a government that isn’t implementing a xenophobic, misogynistic agenda.

We need to remove UCP from government. The sooner the better.

How many people need to be terrorized, intimidated, hurt emotionally and physically before the public recognizes what is happening?

Thoughts and prayers are not enough. Allies don’t sit back and watch as people are terrorized, then offer their condolences.

Only people who have the desire to be perceived as an ally do that.

Allies and victims unite to pushback on a government that’s permitting terrorism of some citizens it deems less worthy.

The UCP have 2 more years in office. Are we going to keep our heads ducked out of the line of fire and let the most vulnerable fight battles against fascists alone?

I really don’t care what your virtues are. And neither do the women who wear hijabs.

I just want a safe society for diverse cultures and people to live in peace.

Women terrified to leave their homes alone, beaten and bruised from violent attacks, really don’t give one shit whether you voice your condemnation. It means nothing and does nothing.

UCP has abdicated responsibility for the protection of all citizens. Repeatedly. Not just in this situation.

Those who abdicate their responsibilities have no claim to legitimate authority. This government is a farce and clearly only interested in imposing libertarian beliefs.

They need to be removed from power.

General strike, mass protests, inundate them with demands to resign. Whatever it takes.

Or we can continue to watch women and BIPOC be attacked and terrorized.

Muslim women, nurses, teachers, childcare workers, secular non profits.

They’re all being attacked, ignored, diminished in importance, forced to concede political agency.

But we still wait for an aha revelation to alert us to creeping fascism.

Making Muslim women responsible for the violence perpetrated by the far right should be that aha moment.

I warned this was a fascist government and many people blew off that warning as reactionary, hyperbolic and inflammatory.

None of which was true.

I’m a realist and a survivor of many past abuses. Not a conspiracy theorist.

We need to rally behind all women being intimidated and ignored.

If you can’t recognize what’s happening, check your privilege.

Stop listening to what they say and watch what they do. Words mean nothing without action. From UCP or the fickle public.

@threadreaderapp please compile