1) Don’t blockade, advocate.
That’s the thought that stayed with me throughout the Ottawa protest and occupation. If all the energy that went in to building a well-supplied encampment within the city of Ottawa had been harnessed, nurtured, and steered towards structuring their
That’s the thought that stayed with me throughout the Ottawa protest and occupation. If all the energy that went in to building a well-supplied encampment within the city of Ottawa had been harnessed, nurtured, and steered towards structuring their
2) activism and advocacy into clear and concise messages, actions and proposals, there are better than even odds that the government of Canada would have been forced to develop a different strategy than enacting the Emergencies Act.
3) That’s not to say I agree with the occupation of Canada’s capital. Nor do I feel you grow support for your cause by creating intolerable conditions for people and businesses to live and operate in the spaces you occupy. While I am very much a supporter of legal protests and
4) demonstrations, it is almost exclusively when they are used as a strategy in an overall communications or advocacy plan for a well-defined cause.
5) While dramatic looking, gathering people to protest in public spaces rarely results in policy change, although if you ask former premier Jean Charest how things went for him in the 2012 election following months of student protests, they can result in changes in government.
6) That said, when protesting in public spaces without a clear message, there is a real risk that your activity will be co-opted by individuals, organizations, causes and the politics of a wide range of people who may agree with some of your concerns, but have a very different
7) agenda and outcome in mind. Just look at Ottawa. Was it a protest of cross-border truckers, intent on removing the mandate to test and quarantine when re-entering Canada if not vaccinated?
8) Was it a protest of provincial passport and vaccine mandates (if so, Ottawa was not the right location to protest). Was it as Canada Unity’s Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) laid out, an attempt to overthrow Canada’s democratically elected government?
9) Was it an event to be used to build party or personal support and mailing lists for the next federal or provincial election, as the actions of Maxime Bernier and various MPP’s and MPs from the Conservative Party of Canada suggest?
10) In fact, it was all the above and much more and even included the participation of some individuals and groups with more sinister objectives.
11) Each believed that their cause, their reason for being there, was valid and gave them the right to occupy public spaces for the three weeks they held the city captive.
12) But to those of us on the outside looking in, this protest/occupation was chaotic and had no clear message or “ask”. “Remove the mandates!” “Trudeau is a Nazi!” and my personal favourite, “Freedom!”
13) all competing for the attention of traditional media outlets (if only to call them “fake news”) and PR operators masquerading as news organizations and spinning alternative “facts” in support of a populist or right-wing narrative.
14) When the self-proclaimed leaders of the protest/occupation refused to engage with the media outlets most Canadians consult for news in favour of YouTube press conferences, it became glaringly obvious
15) they weren’t trying to expand their audience and reach ALL Canadians, they were focused on preaching to the choir.
16) One thing became clear whether you were part of the protest or watching from home; many of us are fed up. Fed up with Covid and its restrictions. Fed up with mandates. Fed up with inflation, taxes, winter, politicians at all levels of government,
17) and especially fed up with people who don’t share our point of view. . So, what’s an average Canadian supposed to do to be heard? Are competing protests the answer? One pro-passport/mask mandate, one opposed? One for the right and one for the left of our political spectrum?
18) The short answer is no. Of course not.
19) One thing we can agree on, is that we live in an increasingly polarized Canada where media fragmentation & social media mean that we no longer get our information exclusively from sources that have publicly available editorial/news standards and policies & fact-check stories.
20) Where once we could rely on the same facts being presented by media outlets considered left, centre or right-leaning, albeit each with their unique “spin” on the story, we now no longer agree on what is indeed factual.
21) If this isn’t distressing enough, our access to television and entertainment shows online or on US cable (think Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, One American News Network (OANN) or Tucker Carlson), and citizen journalists using social media platforms to share opinions
22) and regurgitate stories that have neither been fact-checked nor reviewed by an independent party, mean that disinformation is easier than ever to introduce into the public narrative.
23) This, along with the fact that Canadians not longer have access to comprehensive civics education in school and many lack even basic understanding of how government works at any level, means that it can be difficult to take our emotions out of the equation
24) and dispassionately examine the stories presented to us. Far easier to be pulled in by the loudest voice, an acquaintance, co-worker or loved-one, or latest theory presented on our favourite social media channel.
25) While I don’t know how to stop the polarization or the misinformation that is speeding through our provinces and communities like a particularly virulent gastroenteritis, I do believe that explaining to Canadians how government works is the first step.
26) From learning, “who decided when my garbage is picked up and why is it only twice a month,” to “how are provincial and federal laws developed, debated and passed, and when do I get to share my opinion,” or “why isn’t more money being spent to fix our healthcare system,”
27) knowledge is power. And when you know how government works it is easier to learn how to create a protest movement that has strong messaging and a defined request for reasonable action that elected officials and the government of the day will find hard to ignore or dismiss.
29) @threadreaderapp unroll
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
