Post by addisona on Feb 17, 2022 14:05:16 GMT
Exclusive: White nationalists and Anti-Vax Moms Plot Ottawa Copycat Convoys on Telegram
Before dawn on January 30, Regina Anne Bateson, a resident of Ottawa, Canada, loaded her skis into her car and headed out to one of her favorite cross-country trails. She was looking forward to some solitude—she rarely encountered others at this time of day. But as she approached the trailhead, she came upon an odd sight: dozens of big-rig trucks lining the road, their idling motors piercing the stillness.
This was the start of an ongoing seizure of Canada’s capital by truckers and others in protest of vaccine and mask mandates. Over the next few weeks, Bateson watched the protests snowball into a full-scale occupation of Ottawa’s downtown core. Trucks have completely halted traffic and disrupted US-Canada border crossings crucial for commerce. Protesters in the city center have settled in, using mobile saunas to keep warm. Amid their barbecues and bouncy castles, some have displayed flags decorated with swastikas. One group allegedly tried to start a fire in the lobby of an apartment building. “It has spiraled and spiraled and spiraled into an attempt to overthrow the government,” Bateson says.
The unrest has been celebrated by right-wing US news outlets. “The regime media knows exactly what’s happening in Canada, and it scares the heck out of them,” Laura Ingraham declared on Fox News. “Freedom Convoy Triumphs as Canadian Mandates Fall,” a Breitbart headline crowed. Donald Trump, who praised the mob that ransacked the US Capitol based on his lie that the election was stolen, has also voiced support for the Ottawa convoy. So have Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, both Republicans.
Heartened by the size and disruption of the Canada protest, activists in the United States are now planning their own domestic convoys. On Telegram, leaders of the California anti-vaccine group Freedom Angels Foundation are urging followers to create national and local convoys, and calling on those who can’t participate to donate supplies.
Telegram threads from Southern California planning groups obtained by Mother Jones show that these groups, like their Canadian counterparts, have attracted extremists, including prominent white nationalists. Parents are heavily involved, too, offering the use of family vehicles and enlisting their children for moral support.
www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/02/exclusive-white-nationalists-and-anti-vax-moms-plot-ottawa-copycat-convoys-on-telegram/
Before dawn on January 30, Regina Anne Bateson, a resident of Ottawa, Canada, loaded her skis into her car and headed out to one of her favorite cross-country trails. She was looking forward to some solitude—she rarely encountered others at this time of day. But as she approached the trailhead, she came upon an odd sight: dozens of big-rig trucks lining the road, their idling motors piercing the stillness.
This was the start of an ongoing seizure of Canada’s capital by truckers and others in protest of vaccine and mask mandates. Over the next few weeks, Bateson watched the protests snowball into a full-scale occupation of Ottawa’s downtown core. Trucks have completely halted traffic and disrupted US-Canada border crossings crucial for commerce. Protesters in the city center have settled in, using mobile saunas to keep warm. Amid their barbecues and bouncy castles, some have displayed flags decorated with swastikas. One group allegedly tried to start a fire in the lobby of an apartment building. “It has spiraled and spiraled and spiraled into an attempt to overthrow the government,” Bateson says.
The unrest has been celebrated by right-wing US news outlets. “The regime media knows exactly what’s happening in Canada, and it scares the heck out of them,” Laura Ingraham declared on Fox News. “Freedom Convoy Triumphs as Canadian Mandates Fall,” a Breitbart headline crowed. Donald Trump, who praised the mob that ransacked the US Capitol based on his lie that the election was stolen, has also voiced support for the Ottawa convoy. So have Florida’s Gov. Ron DeSantis and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, both Republicans.
Heartened by the size and disruption of the Canada protest, activists in the United States are now planning their own domestic convoys. On Telegram, leaders of the California anti-vaccine group Freedom Angels Foundation are urging followers to create national and local convoys, and calling on those who can’t participate to donate supplies.
Telegram threads from Southern California planning groups obtained by Mother Jones show that these groups, like their Canadian counterparts, have attracted extremists, including prominent white nationalists. Parents are heavily involved, too, offering the use of family vehicles and enlisting their children for moral support.
www.motherjones.com/politics/2022/02/exclusive-white-nationalists-and-anti-vax-moms-plot-ottawa-copycat-convoys-on-telegram/