Canada in a state of emergency – trucker protests are imitated worldwide

A roaring crowd, anti-corona signs and huge trucks blocking the streets: the chaotic scenes cause astonishment around the world, which is mainly due to the country in which they are taking place. Canada of all places – known to date for tolerance, liberal politics and its hospitality – has been making headlines for three weeks, such as “The ‘Siege of Ottawa’ should worry the whole world” and “Truckers and Corona demonstrators (…) are trying to taking food from homeless people in Ottawa”.

Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau probably thought that extraordinary circumstances require extraordinary measures when he declared a national emergency on Monday. The measure is “limited in time” and will be used “geographically targeted”, emphasized the Prime Minister. The law temporarily gives authorities extensive powers to arrest protesters, confiscate their trucks and cut off funding for the protests. It is only the second time in the country’s history that a prime minister has exercised such powers in peacetime. The last time the emergency law was applied was in 1970 by Trudeau’s father himself.

“This is not a peaceful protest,” Trudeau Junior justified his decision to journalists. “We cannot and will not allow illegal and dangerous activities to continue.” Speaking to the protesters, the PM added: “The time to go home is now.”

Canada on alert: how did it happen?

The truckers’ so-called “freedom convoys” began as a reaction to the compulsory vaccinations introduced at border crossings in mid-January. Unvaccinated Canadian truck drivers must isolate themselves for two weeks when returning from the United States, and US drivers without a vaccination are no longer allowed into the country.

Ever since the truckers brought their protest to Ottawa, the capital has never calmed down. The demonstrations are now fundamentally against the Corona rules and the government of Prime Minister Trudeau. “F*** Trudeau” and “Media is masking the truth” can be read on signs, T-shirts and flags – surprisingly provocative slogans by Canadian standards. Some demonstrators are demanding that the prime minister should not only be deposed, but go to prison for his corona policy.

At the same time, truck convoys are still blocking several border crossings with the USA. At the weekend, the authorities had already cleared the important Ambassador border bridge, which connects the Canadian province of Ontario with the US metropolis of Detroit. The production of several car manufacturers, which had come to a standstill in the meantime due to the blockade, was resumed.

But the level of anger and violence is new. On Monday, police discovered rifles and handguns and “large quantities of ammunition” in several vehicles at a blocked border crossing between Coutts, Alberta, and Montana. Eleven suspects were arrested. “The group is said to have been prepared to use force against the police if attempts were made to disrupt the blockade,” officials said.

“It feels like a national nervous breakdown”

The chaos of the past few weeks has raised the question of whether Canada is currently experiencing a fresh shift to the right, or whether this is simply a pandemic-related “let off steam”. “It feels like a national nervous breakdown,” writes Susan Delacourta veteran political columnist from Ottawa.

Since the beginning of the corona pandemic, Canadians have, for the most part, dutifully followed the protective measures enacted and listened to the leading health experts. Although there were isolated protests here and there against the obligation to wear masks, both wearing a face mask and vaccination were seen as an act of solidarity. This is also reflected in the vaccination rate: With more than 83 percent fully vaccinated people over the age of five, Canada has one of the highest rates in the world.

And yet the people of the streets of Ottawa and the truckers at the border crossings insist on nothing more than the return of their “freedom”. The tone and color of the protests are increasingly reminiscent of Trump rallies from the neighboring country. Not only did the ex-US President himself praise the truckers’ “brave resistance”, but MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) caps and Southern flags have long since mingled with the demonstrators. But moral support isn’t the only thing: Right-wing activists and US Republicans are also giving money to the truckers, most of whom are financed through crowdfunding platforms.

The protests hold the mirror up to the country with the maple leaf flag. Even if it’s not nearly as widespread as in its American neighbors, populism is no longer a foreign word in Canada either. “We have mythologized our kindness,” explains Janice Stein, a professor of political science at the University of Toronto, in the “New York Times“We’re not polarized like France and Britain, we’re the only big democratic country with a political center and that’s because we’re so nice and so caring for each other.” Referring to the trucker protests, the political scientist adds: “This is a moment that destroys myths.”

Copycat protests from France to New Zealand

Sooner or later the last trucks will probably leave Ottawa. But many worry that the movement, dismissed as a “loud minority” by the prime minister, will continue to grow. The trucker protests have already found imitators around the world, including in France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Israel and even New Zealand.

Inspired by the “freedom convoys”, thousands of opponents of vaccination certificates made their way to Paris in cars, mobile homes and delivery vans in France last week. Despite a ban, demonstrators managed to drive more than a hundred vehicles down the Champs-Elysées. The protest was eventually broken up by police using tear gas.

In New Zealand, too, opponents of compulsory vaccination, modeled on Canadian truckers, are causing unrest. For several days, more than a thousand people held out in a protest camp in front of the parliament building in Wellington. After the police tried unsuccessfully to break up the camp, the city cracked down on the demonstrators with sprinklers and loud music.

“Let’s look out for one another in this time of need, Canada,” Premier Trudeau tweeted in March 2020 as he became the first G7 leader to self-isolate. “Because that’s who we really are.” What is certain is that two years later his country has moved a long way from “taking care of one another”.

Sources: “New York Times“, “CNN“, “Guardians“, Reuterswith AFP material