Occupation as political “dialogue,” seen most recently with the trucker convoy, is not unprecedented in Canadian history. Does it have merit?
Was colonialization not a convoy of ships from Europe that came and occupied North America, imposing their views? During the War of 1812, was it not a convoy of British ships and soldiers that came to occupy Quebec City? Was the crushing of the Northwest Rebellion not a convoy of solders that came to occupy Batoche?
More broadly in world history, it was a convoy of Spanish led by Cortés that came to occupy the Aztecs. A “blitzkrieg” convoy of Germans came to occupy Paris. A convoy of Taliban came to occupy Kabul, and the examples go on.
Occupation as political leverage has been tried and tried again. But does it have merit? Should we lend it support? Does might equal right?
Roughly half of Canadian truckers are now immigrants, largely from India and Pakistan. This represents hundreds of truckers and trucks.
Would we be supportive if they decided to make a convoy and occupy Ottawa to demand a Hindu or Sikh or Muslim state? Would we be accepting should Ottawa be occupied by Catholics who demanded we be ruled from the Vatican?
Occupation has no place as a form of political discourse and governance in a modern progressive social democracy.
Should we not, instead of supporting occupations, choose instead to support parliamentary democracy and have all ideas weighed and voted upon based on their relative merit?
Six months ago, the People’s Party of sa国际传媒 ran on virtually the same demands for which the truckers occupied Ottawa, and received less than five per cent of the vote. Was that not the will of the people? Or are trucks more important than votes?
Abraham Lincoln said: “The ballot is stronger than the bullet.” I dare say, the ballot is also stronger than the truck.
Should every special interest group have turns occupying Ottawa for one month a year, or is that right reserved for only one special interest group for which we may feel personal sympathy, support, perhaps even an allegiance?
Other special interest groups — anti-abortionists, anti-feminists, and anti-Semites, for instance — all may relish a chance to occupy. We may cheer one convoy and feel good about supporting one group laying siege to the capital, yet feel disgusted and recoil in horror when the next comes to town with their catapults.
Otto Kahn said: “The deadliest foe of democracy is not autocracy, but liberty frenzied.”
Is honking the new speaking?
Is shouting slogans the new Parliament? Does this have merit in our 150-year-old democratic experiment? Is might right? Or can we let Parliament (from the French “parler” — to speak, to talk) discuss and weigh the merits of the issues and vote accordingly?
If an idea cannot stand up to the scrutiny of the free press outside our internet rabbit hole, should that not give us pause to think independently in our minds, and weigh the merits of the idea, before we declare all media our enemy?
Maybe the enemy are those telling us, in very cult-leader-like fashion, to distrust the media, your doctor, the nurses, professors, politicians, experts, your country, friends and family.
Beware anyone who seeks to erode your trust in these things, to replace it with a trust in them. That’s what all authoritarians and cult leaders have done throughout history.
Winston Churchill once said: “Many forms of government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.”
Certainly those include convoys and invasions, sieges and occupations.
John Adams said: “Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide.”
To quote the Canadian ambassador to the United Nations and former NDP premier of Ontario, Bob Rae: “A truck is not a speech. A horn is not a voice. An occupation is not a protest. A blockade is not freedom, it blocks the liberty of all. A demand to overthrow a government is not a dialogue. The expression of hatred is not a difference of opinion. A lie is not the truth.”
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