I had an interesting conversation today that is making me think about how journalists seem to be using the word populism to avoid having to talk about white supremacy in relation to the convoy.
A thread...
The convoy is a social movement. Now, we're more used to hearing about social movements that are left wing. But why didn't BLM movements get labelled as "populist" ? They were more popular, they challenged elite power, they had wider spread ... but they were never populist.
The convoy isn't exactly populist in its demands. It's trying to make itself out to be that, but it's still a fringe that is a tiny minority when compared to other populist movements that might call for similar demands -- like action on wealth inequality.
But we don't really have a populist movement in Canada -- except inside Quebec. There, populism launched François Legault into historic-level popularity. He represented a break with old politics and doesn't stand for anything specific -- his promises follow the polls.
And while he wasn't elected on a wave of populism, his brand of politics captured populist spirit. Which, after 15 years of liberal rule with a sprinkle of PQ, was easy for him to do.
But it's not exactly populism as expressed through an extra parliamentary movement.
Back to this question of the convoy though. Aside from using some of the words that are associated with populism, they aren't really populists. They're existing in direct reaction to a single public policy. That's it! Remove the mandates, they will disorient ...
... and while they will likely re-emerge as an anti-immigrant movement again, will it actually be populism? Or is this just a handy frame for experts and politicians to use without having to dive too deep in their demands?
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
There have been at least 211 workplace deaths and of the identities we know, the overwhelming majority have been not white. And this has been known for more than a year.
And, because Pelley doesn't actually name the company, here it is: Decoustics owned by CertainTweet with news from when it first broke ca.news.yahoo.com/daughter-lost-…
Let's talk about this moment, and why Trudeau invoking the Emergencies Act is a mistake. A thread.
It's because the convoy isn't the enemy in and of itself -- it's a symptom. It's the vomiting caused by a different, more important health issue infecting our body politic.
I wrote this in 2018, in the shadow of the hatred I got from the Humbolt tweet stuff. It reads like I could have written it today. What drives people to extremist movements and ideology is systemic and cannot be dealt with in isolation.
It's the sum total of a collapsing social safety net, increasingly centralized and milquetoast media establishment, unregulated or not-enough-regulated capital, historic household debt crises and a complete fucked up housing crisis. These things cause widespread harm.
With 1200 cops, 300 reinforcements, Ottawa police aren't outnumbered. But even if they were, just admit that this is the police refusing to do their jobs.
This professor is doing a lot of work to explain away white supremacy and policing.
"We have been watching and tracking public opinion around this pandemic..."
One of the things that I write about in my book is how polls were used to scare, confuse and distract everyone from the real issues: infection control at work, more testing etc.
"We felt a sense of inevitability related to Omicron"
Or, we could hear about air in shared residential spaces, the complete lack of supports for peoples' mental health etc rather than what people said to surveys.
Good Morning! We're going to listen to Osama Bin Laden death raid cake lady on @TheCurrentCBC because she is an expert in ... I'm not sure what.
I thought her racist cakes cancelled her but here she is telling us about how these organizers are white supremacists.
Sorry the trucker convoy and the border protests aren't connected?
Just because there's spontaneity doesn't mean that there isn't some level of planning. I haven't seen any other groups manage to pull something like this off before...