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Feb 15 • 100 tweets • 51 min read
Incoming monster thread: y'day my @Carleton colleague @leahwest_nsl argued the Govt “must believe the protests rise to the level of a national emergency” to invoke the #EmergenciesAct for the 1st time since its creation by a @CPC_HQ Govt in 1988 1/X
While #natsec law is outside my wheelhouse of expertise, my work regularly bumps up against such issues & has forever focused on Qs about coms, society & democracy. As such, I want to weigh in with a few thoughts of my own & hope that I have something worthwhile to say. 2/x
TLDR: While I disagree w/ her provisional conclusion, I do agree that we must be very vigilant that this precedent setting use of the #EmergenciesAct remains ltd in time, targeted in terms of geography, subject to Parliamentary review & snuggled tightly within the 3/
confines of the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms. The big new tools that allow the govt to follow the $ & bring crowd-funding sources under FINTRAK purview must be watched esp. closely as my colleague & others say 4/
It is also crucial to closely watch to make sure the use of these tools remain consistent with federal privacy legislation like @PIPEDA & the Charter. The govt had best be consulting closely with @OPC on the privacy & data protection implications of PIPEDA, for example 5/
Recent examples related to @GovCanHealth's use of mobility data from @Telus for public health measures show us exactly what the govt must NOT do if it hopes to maintain people's trust in these extraordinary measures christopher-parsons.com/canadian-gover… ipolitics.ca/2022/01/13/ipo… 6/
With that in mind, here's my views: 1. What's taking place in Ottawa, Coutts & last week in Windsor is not a protest but an insurrection whose leadership & manifesto openly call for the overthrow of the government & democracy web.archive.org/web/2022012217… (since rescinded) 7/
.@Justin_Ling has been doing an excellent job revealing these aims in the insurrectionists' own words since the outset of #OttawaOccupation Jan. 28 (and in tracking extremist groups like the Proud Boys before they became Canada First for a long time). 8/
The movement is led by far-right extremist who have been active for years & esp. since the 2019 Yellow Jackets protests in Canada. isdglobal.org/wp-content/upl… 9/
At minimum, they are anti-state; after that it’s a list of horribles: racists, neo-Nazis, Canada First (renamed Proud Boys), anti-Muslim, homophobes & others whose view constitute an assault on democracy. 10/
Well-known figures at the core of the unrest are include : James Bauder, Tamara Lich, Chris Barber, Benjamin Dichter, Patrick King. They are opponents of democracy not its champions. cbc.ca/news/canada/ed…
Canada Unity, 1 of the groups running the chaos, is led by ex-nat’l intell analyst Tom Quiggin, ex-@Nat_Div_RCMP & Nat’l Emergency Response Team member, Daniel Bulford, & ex CDN militaruTom Marazzo. Their skill-sets would seem to pose a grave threat theglobeandmail.com/canada/article… 11/
Researchers with Antihate.ca have done excellent work for several years chronicling these individuals and the groups they lead. cbc.ca/news/canada/co… 12/
The movement organizers have $, material & ideological support flowing in from across Canada, the US &, far less so, internationally. Here’s a link to the donor’s data hacked from #GiveSendGo. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d… reuters.com/world/us/leak-… 13/
Over half of the $ comes from within Canada but most of the other half is from the US, followed in a distant second by the UK, a handful of other EU countries, AUS & NZ. theglobeandmail.com/canada/article… 14/
The big tech billionaire class is also b/h the #OttawaSiege. This is the case, for ex., for @Peterthiel, of @PalantirTech, part of Trump’s inner circle & until recently a member of Facebook's board of directors. 15/
As Thiel states, "I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.” In his view, it is time to get rid of the latter to promote the widest realization of the latter. cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/pet… 16/
Of course, @elonmusk has been saying much the same & cheering on the insurrection as if it's cute & fluffy "Freedom Convoy" it's been packaged as for public spectacle & consumption. 17/
Here's a bit more from Elon:

fortune.com/2022/02/08/fre… 18/
The Trump connections are unmistakeable:

19/
The core group behind this insurrection, a possible coup d’etat in slow motion, has bubble wrapped their mission in a disparate array of groups & people with a grab bag of grievances, including about public health measures, & which can be legitimate basis for lawful protest. 20/
There shld be a very wide berth for the latter-and there is both before the imposition of the #EmergenciesAct & still now-but none for those who openly call for the overthrow of the Govt of Canada & the imposition of a provisional junta of the seditionists' choosing. 20/
Take note: this is not a protest conceived of & carried out by truckers who have picked up supporters along the way. Media framing of things as if it is, is helping to install a frame & agenda for how we think about what is taking place that is highly misleading. 21/
While the insurrectionists are being supported by the far right, Trump supporters and Christian fundamentalists in the US, the support from rightwing Conservatives in the @CPC_HQ is stunning. 22/
. @PierrePoilievre took the opportunity to announce his candidacy for leadership of the @CPC_HQ in a video release one week into the #OttawaSiege that did not hide its opportunistic endorsement of what was already far beyond a legal protest. TBC 23/
And another. @CandiceBergenMP, who gets 2-of-3 things right as she grandstands for the mob & @CPC_HQ leadership: 1 "take down the barricades"+2 "stop disruptive action" while pt 3 makes 1+2 unlikely & dogwhistles to extremists in the streets & @CPC_HQ ? 24/
Here’s former @CPC_HQ leader, Andrew Sheer, giving the occupation a thumbs up as the #Ottawasiege enters its second week. 25/
It’s Sheer’s Josh Hawley—another far-right Senator & Trump fanboy--moment 26/
Here’s @Stockwell_Day, another former leader of @CPC_HQ, rallying the mob 10 days into the unrest & extremist minority uprising. 27/
And then there are right wing conservatives who were previously members of the @CPC_hq or @fordnation that have been kicked out in recent years for their extremist views. 28/
At the provincial levels, patterns are similar. @fordnation slow to respond & has offered only the most tepid of criticism of the events all along. He’s on board now with the #EmergenciesAct but only just, it seems. 29/
Here’s @jkenney two years back with some fine US republicans and Trumpists.
Let's remember that it is now official Republican Party dogma that January 6, 2021 assault on Congress in favour of overturning the @POTUS elxn is "legitimate speech". 30/ nytimes.com/2022/02/04/us/…
And here’s, Rachel Curran, ex policy director for former @CPC_HQ PM Harper & now top #Facebook exec in Canada giving her blessing to the fun times down at Parliament Hill. 31/
In light of the above, it looks like extremists in the @CPC_HQ feel similarly. Time to get back control of your party, folks, & for conservatives who still believe in democracy to continue to step up, like @acoyne (thanks). TBC 32/ theglobeandmail.com/opinion/articl…
I quickly scanned area MPPs to see where they stand & broke them into 3 groups: 1. those who have condemned the on #OttawaOccupation; 2. gently disapproved; 3. tsaid n/t or condoned it. There were no @Fordnation MPPs on the list who condemned the occupation @ its 2 wk mark. 33/
All the rest of the Ottawa area MPPs from the @liberal_party & @NDP condemned the siege: @JoelHardenONDP @StephenBlais @LucilleCollard @JohnFraserOS @JR_Ottawa
docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d… 34/
.@Fordnation has been slow to get authorize additional policing resources for @OttawaPolice & deceptive about the quantum of support when he has done so. 35/
Ottawa @JimWatsonOttawa has been slow & obsequious when dealing w/ #OttawaSiege by calling for negotiations & striking a deal w/ leaders of the demonstration to move their vehicles out of some neighbourhoods.
36/
Many city councillors have dithered or been slow to grasp the scale of the assault on our city. docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d… 37/
While Conservative Parties & many politicians have failed, there's been a parallel assault on journalists & journalism, 1 of the pillars of a democratic society (& this said by moi, a long-time staunch critic of the media). The former is likely helping to fuel the latter. 38/
It’s 1 thing to criticize the media w/ the aim of prodding its members to live up to their fabled role in speaking truth to power & performing their democratic functions. It is s/t else altogether to aim to vilify journalism so as to open a vacuum into which disinfo, 39/
delusional conspiracies & propaganda can pour.
tvo.org/article/taunti…

caj.ca/blog/CAJ_sound…

40/ TBC
Canadian journalists now have to be very careful walking the streets of Ottawa & some media orgs, like Canada’s largest private media group, @CTV, have had to remove identifying branding from their vehicles. 41/
. @FoxNews has poured fuel on the flames & brought it’s unhinged approach to media agitation to Canada. What Fox does is not journalism. It does not play by the normal rules of journalism & media in a democracy. It does not correct errors. foxnews.com/opinion/tucker… 42/
It was openly allied w/ the Trump Administration & served as a node in an enclosed right wing networked media propaganda system. globalnews.ca/news/8614759/u… ctvnews.ca/entertainment/… 43/
.@FoxNews is a hub of a rightwing network propaganda system that brings ideas from fringe media outlets—online & ‘legacy’—into the mainstream of US political discourse & amplifies them, while simultaneously serving as an agenda setting agency for an ecosystem of right wing 44/
online outlets like Breitbart, Daily Caller, etc. some of whom have brought their fevered delusions & attempts to discredit mainstream media to my doorstep. 45/
To understand the enclosed, rightwing network propaganda system in the US & role & influence in Canada, see @YochaiBenkler, Faris & Roberts Network Propaganda. library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.…… cyber.harvard.edu/node/99982 46/
. @YochaiBenkler et. al. stress that we can & do have a rational public sphere capable of doing the work democracy demands BUT also reveal just how fragile the conditions for a viable public & democracy are today w/ roughly 1/4--1/3rd of US adults & a rightwing, network 47/
propaganda system centred on hubs like Fox drawing on & constantly pumping extremist ideas from the far-right fringes into the body politics & checked out when it comes to basic precepts of democracy, e.g.: 48/
respect for evidence, pursuit of understanding, correcting errors when identified, independent, critical knowledge/reporting is valued, baseline trust in institutions of democracy, experts, science & fellow citizens persists, etc. That big slice of the US population no 49/
longer operates in a manner consistent with a culture of democracy. What we are seeing in Canada & the streets in Canada is smaller, prolly 1/2 the size, but one thing is for sure: they are anti-state & anti-democracy. They can only grunt "FREEDOM". 50/
Watch this from @EvanSolomon on @CTV_PowerPlay to get my drift. They have no words. A discourse of democracy is beyond them. Why this is so is complex but rooted in a half century of the neoliberal conquest of society & neglect of some minimum sense of 51/
economic justice, steps to ameliorate wage stagnation & widening income & wealth inequality, quality education for all & an appreciation of 'the public' & a generous view of public goods. Disenfranchised at one end & prioritizing self-aggrandizing accumulations of wealth & 52/
freedom at the other (ala Thiel's freedom vs democracy), here we are: a stunted public incapable of self-governance because while they've talked for so long--a half century--nobody has listened & helped to translate their dreams into a viable political project & reality. 53/
I digress. The impact of the network propaganda system cuts across class. As discussed above, a slice of economic & political elites are driving the corrosive behaviour that has brought to where we now stand & democracy teetering on the brink & our streets filled w/ menacing 54/
threats. For the rest of us who have little desire for the nihilistic fantasies of this anti-democracy group we now face major conflicts & clashes, w/i our own families, as we watch former friends float off the deep-end (but w/ memories of how they might have b/c this way), 55/
in Parliament and the media, where the corrosive impact of the mob gets amplified, broadcast & normalized. This is the game of the far right vying for the soul of the @CPC_HQ rn, ala @PierrePoilievre @CandiceBergenMP etc., for control of the streets in Ottawa & the future of 56/
democracy in Canada (& internationally, since all democracies now face, in different degrees and manifestations) similar forces. For Canada Unity & other leaders of #OttawaSiege, the normal rules of journalism & media access do not apply. 57/
Watch Randy Hillier pile on whose riding is less than an hour from my home. 58/
Meanwhile, back in Ottawa, @OttawaPolice have been either unable or, frighteningly, unwilling to enforce the law. The rule-of-law in many respects has not been upheld around Parliament Hill & adjacent areas such as Centretown.
59/
As a result, it is now dangerous to walk in certain parts of the city, to go shopping, to wear a mask, to say the things I'm saying here. The threats of violence are very real:
ottawapolice.ca/Modules/News/i… 60/
A few more for emphasis and just in case you're not from here and wondering what all the hubbub is about






61/
The neighbourhood grocery at Bank & Somerset, which serves much of Centretown incl many immigrants, low wage earners & refugees who have escaped hell elsewhere only to find it in downtown Ottawa right now have had to close. It's not been safe to go shopping. 62/
Farmboy on Metcalfe, blocks away from Parliament Hill, had to do the same. 63/
A woman close to me last night had to deal with a maskless mob member while buying groceries. @OttawaPolice have told store owners & people they don’t have the resources to protect them; we’re on our own! 64/
My daily walks encounter things like pick-up trucks loading up gas cans to deliver to the convoy at Parliament Hill. See what they are doing? They cover the gas cans with 2 wheelbarrows in this instance. All along, @OttawaPolice are fully aware but do nothing. 65/
If you still think there's little danger, or that its far & in-between, here's a crowd-source list that chronicles the impact of the siege on daily life; the harassment, threats, assaults, damage to property (public & private), etc. equitableeducation.ca/2022/ottawa-oc… 66/
Stick your head in the sand if you want but that's the reality of living in Ottawa, the capital city of one of the strongest democracies in the world. But democracies have fallen on v. hard times lately. That distemper is now in our streets. Step up! economist.com/graphic-detail… 67/
With mobs having eliminated the rule of law in parts of our city, very serious & unsettling Qs arise: do the @OttawaPolice (whose Chief just resigned as I write) & @OPP not have the resources they need or, worse, have they been compromised? ottawa.ctvnews.ca/ottawa-police-… 68/
As a rslt, citizens, community orgs, activists & hackers have begun to take matters into their own hands (and sometimes w/ a bit of fun & spectacle thrown in to make the arduous task of sticking up for democracy kinda fun!).
rollingstone.com/culture/cultur… 69/
Some of this is just fantastic like the data breach that has exposed the personally identifying data of those financing, wittingly or unwittingly, the insurrection. 70/
Several Ottawa City councillors have been leading the countermovement by people who live and work here: @cmckenney, @ShawnMenard1 @JLeiper @MathieuFleury

Other orgs have leaned in to condemn the madness in the streets: teamsters.ca/en/blog/2022/0… 71/
Of course, Canada's biggest business groups demanded action once the #AmbassadorBridgeBlockade gnarled x-border trade. The White House called urging Canada to act & offering help at all levels of the USG. bbc.com/news/world-us-… 72/
But it's been people, me, my neighbours & others across the city, some of whom I know, most of whom I don't, that have been taking to the streets to get them back under our control & out of the hands of marauding thugs in pick up trucks. #FluTruxKlanGoHome 73/
People are now organizing to take back our city &, in a way I’ve never felt in my life, to fight to preserve just the democracy, no matter how limited & flawed, that we do have. 74/
Here are community groups meeting at Landsdowne as a counter movement to #OttawaSiege. There were counter protests last week @ City Hall & elsewhere. 75/
There were counterprotests this past weekend @ Landsdowne on Sat. & Sunday, too, when ~1000 people took ctrl of Bank & Heron to block a convoy of ~30 vehicles heading from Coventry Park, an operational base for #OttawaSiege, to Parliament Hill.
76/
At the #BattleOfBillingsBridge @OttawaPolice warned us they didn't have the resources to protect us & that some of the most notorious extremist thugs from QC & elsewhere were on their way. Occupation front man Pat King called for back-up. We stood our ground. 77/
. @OttawaPolice got their reinforcements, we held the line & after a 9 hour stand-off each vehicle was given a police escort out on our terms: flags down, insignia off! 78/
On the legal Q @ stake here, I respectfully disagree w/ my colleague @leahwest_nsl. The threats are very real, not just to the state itself but to us, the citizens of Canada & society. 79/
Several city councillors & area MPPs were & have been essential to #BattleOfBillingsBridge outcome, esp @ShawnMenard1 @JLeiper others @JoelHardenONDP. @cmckenney has been amazing. Other city councillors need to step it up & fast. But we need more from all levels of govt. 80/
Participating in these events, for me & others personally, has not dangerous. The treat of serious injury is real & chilling. I cannot walk my streets freely now with the freedom to speak my mind freely & openly, to associate with others, & to move about without fear. 81/
This is not freedom, nor is it normal in a democracy. It is tyranny of an authoritarian kind, as Hannah Arendt would probably say. amazon.ca/Origins-Totali… theguardian.com/us-news/2017/f… 82/
Here's a sample of things directed at me personally, such as the helpful advice that, if I don’t like the harassment & threats I'm getting, I should avoid going outside:

83/
Here’s a selection of even more vile stuff that I’ve been getting on Twitter 84/
I’ve reported all of these instances to @Twitter & then blocked ‘em but my success rate for getting Twitter to find that these tweets violate their ToS is ~1/3rd & I have no idea how they have arrived to take s/t down or leave it up. 85/
I suppose we might take cold comfort tjhat Twitter is doing s/t & that most of these accounts appear to be fake, sock puppet accounts run from troll farms in far away places. That there LIKELY no real person behind most of the threats is helpful, I guess, but barely. 86/
This lessens the threat a bit perhaps but still, their vile & menacing messages no doubt help to keep the cauldron of discontent fueling the #OttawaSiege on a high boil. That's a threat to me & my fellow citizens. 87/
Several of my colleagues, friends & loved ones have experienced the same. The examples of serious threats are as easy to pile up as leaves in autumn. 88/
These threats are why the govt is actively pursuing #OnlineHarms legislation. canada.ca/en/canadian-he… 89/
I vehemently disagree w/ the tack being taken but I can easily see why many would think the bigger the hammer, the better. 90/
If you’re interested in my views on the govt’s proposals on regulating Internet content services, this will give you a flavour & a sense of how strongly I stand in favour of free expression rights. dwmw.wordpress.com/2022/02/03/sti… 91/
Back to the point: people are now having to take matters in their own hands at the risk of very serious bodily harm @ the hands of the mob now ruling our lawless streets. The threat is real. 92/
Respectfully, while Prof @leahwest_nsl might still be able to claim that the current state of affairs does not meet the formal legal & technical reqs of the #EmergenciesAct, I am not sure if she has the full scope of the situation in view. 93/
In fact, I wonder if she has adopted an overly formalistic view of the technical facts of the law that effectively obscures the reality that law is always a mix of such facts & legitimating norms (channeling Habmermas)? mitpress.mit.edu/books/between-… 94/
In the present case, the threats to democracy are real, omnipresent in certain areas of the country & palpable. It’s time to act. However, I also agree that we must be very vigilant that this precedent-setting use of the #EmergenciesAct created by @CPC_HQ Govt in 1988 95/
remains limited in time, targeted in terms of geography, subject to Parliamentary review & snuggled tightly within the confines of the Canadian Charter of Rights & Freedoms. State powers once established & locked in place are hard to rollback. 96/
That will be our challenge in the days, weeks & maybe months ahead. Now, the goal is to quell the clear & present danger to my life, my freedoms & Canadian democracy as swiftly as possible & with the least amount of blood shed possible. --30--

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More from @mediamorphis

Dwayne Winseck Profile picture
Feb 17
Media framing of ongoing events in Ottawa & elsewhere in Canada as a protest against Covid-19 public health measures is misleading. The journalists do so in this article do & so does a lot of the coverage. theglobeandmail.com/politics/artic… #EmergenciesAct #OttawaSiege
The #OttawaSiege, #AmbassadorBridgeblockade #Coutts were not conceived of or organized by those opposed to public health-related restrictions, eg. vax mandates, etc., but by a hardcore, long-standing group of rightwing extremists in Canada w/ US & int'l support. 2/
That core group that conceived & put these events in motion have subsequently been bubble-wrapped by other protestors who are NOT extremists. Some of the latter have claims that fall well w/i the bounds of legitimate protest. Others are using these events to put their long- 3/
Read 7 tweets
Dwayne Winseck Profile picture
Feb 17
Tales from the puppy park & another night under #OttawaSiege. Early on in #OttawaOccupied a neighbour had just finished her jog when she faced 2 thugs demanding that she remove her mask, or else. They were fighting for her freedom, didn't she get it?
Tale #2: I'm now familiar w/ specific trucks. On the way home, 2 were filling petrol cans @ the nearby gas station, likely for delivery to Parliament Hill. There was s/t different this time, tho: there were no CDN flags flapping in the wind, but the flag shafts were still there.
I see this everyday now. I normally smile & say hello to my neighbours, but not these thugs marauding about my city. More tales tomorrow. Stay tuned for live in city under siege.
Read 4 tweets

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