Thread by @MaritimerinE

🧵 This thread is for those who participated in the #BattleofBillingsBridge.

This was *the* defining moment of the occupation of ottawa and likely a very important moment in the political lives of everyone present. Let’s talk about it. 1/

Full disclosure, I was out of the country when this happened, though I was invited to a similar blockade that ended up joining up with BB. There’s no question that, had I been in ottawa, I would have been there too. But this isn’t a thread about what happened on the ground. 2/

In terms of the practical gains of Billings Bridge, there isn’t much to say. The group of vehicles that was blocked was relatively small and did not consist of the regular crowd that occupied ottawa throughout the week. It didn’t inhibit the occupation or their supply lines. 3/

What it did do, though, was so much more. 4/

For one, it scared the hell out of the far right. To this day, they call it an act of terrorism.

It also scared the hell out of public officials.

The very next day, the prime minister invoked the emergencies act. The following day, the chief of police resigned. 5/

Within a week of Billings Bridge, the occupation was largely over. 6/

What I hear most from those who were at Billings bridge is a sense of empowerment mixed with complete disbelief.

“We did this” mixed with “How did it come to this?” and “I can’t believe I did this”.

“That was amazing” mixed with “that was very unsafe” 7/

Speaking just of those I know, it seems that people, especially those who weren’t previously politicized, haven’t been able to resolve the dissonance of Billings bridge in their minds. 8/

Billings bridge was a lot of things all at once. Most of all though, it was wildly successful. Had it not happened, the occupation would have lasted longer. 9/

That is because Billings Bridge changed the political and tactical landscape of the occupation.

Until BB, the Liberal Party found the convoy to be useful. They had already tanked the leader of the opposition and were an easy punching bag to rile up the Lib base. 10/

This was, unironically, the “basket of deplorables” moment for Justin Trudeau. Like Hillary Clinton, he had completely misjudged what he was dealing with and thought he had an easy political win. 11/

The things that *did* frighten Trudeau were the border blockades. They threatened international trade and the economy, which are the only things that will compel our governments to act. 12/

But the border blockades weren’t the reason for the emergencies act. The ambassador bridge was cleared the same day as Billings bridge, one day *before* the EA was invoked.

Until BB, the federal government was content to let the occupation continue. 13/

As for the province, they were completely out to lunch. They were mostly happy that the convoy was Justin Trudeau’s problem and not Doug Ford’s. 14/

Meanwhile the city was completely rolling over to the occupation. On the same day as Billings bridge, Jim Watson was negotiating a deal with the convoy via Dean French, conceding residential streets in exchange for… nothing really. 15/

As for the cops, they were completely disorganized. Rank and file were refusing orders and parts of the top brass were colluding with the convoy behind the scenes. They were not at all interested in ending the occupation. 16/

Before Billings bridge, the occupation was in a state of stasis. Especially after the honking injunction, there was not really any urgency to end things and it would have continued much longer had nothing changed. 17/

But then ottawa residents reached their boiling point and Billings bridge happened. Regular people suddenly stepped into the calculation and upended the stasis that had settled in. It became clear that if leaders kept doing nothing, the occupation would turn into a riot. 18/

What happened next is in the history books. Emergencies act is invoked, Sloly resigns, Watson’s deal falls apart, and the cops come in and kick the occupation out.

But the first domino to fall was Billings bridge. 19/

Billings Bridge has impacts far beyond what a group of dog walkers could have predicted. It influenced a much much larger system by changing the calculation for those on top. 20/

Politics is a complex system. One where those with money and power have nearly all the influence.

What collective action can do is influence the system and change the calculation for those on top. 21/

Community Solidarity Ottawa was able to do the same with Rolling Thunder. By making it clear to the public and those in power that this was occupation 2.0 through careful use of the media, a large police crackdown was provoked. This wasn’t the intention but it was the result. 22/

If you’ve made it this far, I hope your takeaway is this: the actions we take collectively or as organizations can ricochet far beyond their intentions or even what seems possible. But these impacts are knowable and predictable, with careful study of the conditions we are in. 23/

Another Billings bridge might not bring about the same kind of result as the first one. When a group of residents tried to block a convoy at Waller street in late March, the biggest win was a tweet from OPS that got dunked on across the country, including by @jean_yoon 24/

That was… unexpected but also wildly successful.
Organizing against the far right is going to take a lot of collective action, but the most successful actions will be the ones that have system-wide impacts. We should think strategically about where the pressure points are…25/25

PS: Right now, in ottawa, there’s 2 big threats. One is the TUPOC church, which is providing a safe haven for the far right to organize and also creating a physical footprint from which to project power & influence within ottawa. If they’re smart (they are, despite appearances)…

They will attempt to create a wedge in the local community. Likely to do so they will provoke violence and play the victim, which will reliably win over the cops, some elected officials, and the suburbs. From there they will cement their place in the city.

The second big threat is that more far-right instigators will be moving to the city. For all we know, they’ve already set up mutual aid networks to support people coming in with housing, supplies and community.

This could accelerate, setting the stage for a more successful, large action sometime soon. They’re not just hanging around… they’re planning something.

The question I suppose is: how do we disrupt their plans so they don’t pull off something bigger in the future?