On Saturday April 20 seven Landmark, Galaxy, Famous Players and Cineplex locations in British Columbia are hosting showings of "The Great Awakening"; a dangerously misleading film promoting debunked conspiracy theories that attracts an audience of bigots - and worse. It is part of the widespread and influential propaganda effort to maintain and build on the momentum created by the COVID pandemic; super-charging MAGA-style reaction and its
Since writing the article “The Myth of Left-wing Anti-Semitism” the idea of a companion piece under the title “The Myth of Left-Wing Zionism” has been rumbling around in my head. The obvious inspiration was the incongruence of people considering themselves committed liberals or even solid leftists yet supporting Zionism including the occupation, brutal repression and arguably genocide of Palestinians. But it’s been
(This article reflects the personal views of the author, a Jewish anti-Zionist) According to the Anti Defamation League – a leading pro-Zionist lobby group which claims its focus is on combatting actual anti-Semitism – this form of prejudice and hate is increasingly manifested “on both the right and the left”. (my emphasis) An article on its website declares. “Amidst these distressing developments, a steady stream of
Of course, the first and most tragic victims of the drastic escalation in the longstanding conflict are the innocent civilians in Israel killed or taken captive on October 7 and the many thousands more in Gaza being massacred by air and ground assault as this is written. And we shouldn’t forget the hundreds of victims of armed Zionist settlers and occupation forces in the West Bank over the past years and continuing today. But the second
BC Nurses Fight Mandates The last three years of Covid pandemic have fuelled an explosion of conspiracy-based organizations around the world. This growth of irrationality has taken place in virtually every country and every sector of society. Across Canada it has found its expression among police, with the formation of groups like Police On Guard For Thee and Mounties For Freedom. Veterans4Freedom is busily organizing among
At the risk of being provocative, Hitler and the Nazi Party gave fascism a bad name. Or perhaps we should blame his portrayal by Hollywood, such as in the movie “Downfall” as a shouting, aggressive, unhinged character. Likewise, it seems that almost all documentaries on the period focus on the atrocities of WWII and the Holocaust or the robot-like ranks parading in torchlit Nazi rallies. These are the types of images conjured up when
Correction: Stand United's James Davison broadcast a livestream clarifying that he intends to run provincially for the Conservative Party of BC, not for the federal Conservative Party. More info James Davison addressed the World Wide Freedom Rally in Vancouver on February 18th and announced that he is seeking the Conservative Party nomination in the Abbotsford riding. "I have a dream. I have a dream that we're going to take back our country.
People who understand the diversity of expression of gender identity and sexual orientation do not conflate persons who perform in drag with people who identify as trans. But such distinctions are not relevant to the far-right haters who view any diversion from strict heteronormative expression as an affront to traditional values. So, for the purpose of looking at the current upsurge in attacks on both we will deal with them together. This upsurge is
The January 18th demonstration at Premier David Eby's constituency office is being organized by Stand United, one of the two organizations behind the campaign. The campaign's goals are to recall David Eby, repeal Bill 36 and elect a new premier. Currently Stand United is the dominant antivaxx organization in the Lower Mainland. Locally it has organized at least 14 demonstrations and rallies since January 2022, as well as at least 5 convoys, one of
The far-right Freedom Convoy returned to downtown Vancouver this past Saturday. Disturbingly, while their numbers were smaller than in the past, their violent rhetoric and actions were ratcheted up several notches. It may not be coincidental that this event followed soon after a meeting at the Croatian Cultural Centre on Wednesday night that featured a notorious homophobe, anti-Semite and a far-right spokesperson with ties to prominent neo-Nazis.
The October 15 municipal elections saw an unprecedented number of far right candidates fielded in the races for mayor, council and school board positions across the province. A minimum of 129 candidates were provably and publicly aligned with antivaxx, conspiracist, antisemitic or other far right ideologies in one form or another. (This is an underestimate of the total of far right candidates, possibly a significant understatement.) At first glance
#UNITEDINDEPENDENTS In The Cowichan Valley In Vancouver Island’s Cowichan Valley a slate of three is running for positions on the North Cowichan council. Unlike Peoples Council Surrey and VIVA Victoria, their focus is on local bread and butter issues. At least, that’s their public focus. Their unspoken interests don’t show up in the campaign literature, and to say they’re a bit further out there would be a significant
Building A Base To Seize Local Power The honking from the Ottawa convoy had barely subsided when Marcus Anthony Ray began crisscrossing British Columbia, drumming up support for a project we now see unfolding across the province. Ray (a professional public speaker, ex-Mountie, ex-male stripper and now sovereign citizen activist) was pitching a simple message: the antivaxx movement needed to build on the tremendous dynamism the January convoy had
Brian Dominick is one of the Parents Voice BC candidates running for school trustee in Maple Ridge - Pitt Meadows. His parent organization has advised its 28 candidates across B.C. to make sure there is nothing embarrassing on their social media accounts. And Dominick complied. westcoastfreeedom used to be Dominick's Instagram account until he deleted it on September 1st. Two days later he shut down his Facebook page
On the surface, Brian Dominick’s a pretty vanilla guy. He’s running for election to the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows school board in the October 15 municipal elections on a program that seems anything but controversial. His campaign ad stresses that the school board’s main task is “providing [children] with knowledge, tools and confidence to succeed” and that his role of trustee is to “represent parents
What is Free Speech and what is it good for? English political philosopher John Stuart Mill in his oft-cited book On Liberty used the phrase “the marketplace of ideas”. It is a metaphor that compares the competition of contending opinions in the public square with the competition between commodities in the market. An evocative imagery that quite deliberately – and as we saw in Part 1, falsely – connects the development of
Within the ongoing hub-bub of public discourse, debate over speech persists like a constant hum; in the past few years often focused on the alleged impact of so-called “Cancel Culture”. This is a theme not just of conservatives – from the far right to more mainstream voices in both the US and Canada – but in the opinion columns of media heavyweights such as the Globe & Mail.More recently the conversation around free speech
On Saturday March 5 another far-right vehicle convoy invaded downtown Vancouver with horns honking and flags waving. Around 50 vehicles with around 100 individual supporters of Stand United touted conspiracy theories and railed against “Fake News” outside the CBC headquarters. It was smaller than previous convoys as the movement appears to be split. A larger convoy of around 100 vehicles left Langley at 9:30 am – an hour earlier
Cops like fascists (*). This is hardly rocket science. But the thin blue line’s infatuation with the far right has gotten so far gone that even the mainstream media can’t ignore it any more. As the occupation of Ottawa dragged on with little to no law enforcement from law enforcement, the Ottawa Citizen’s op-ed complaints of police inaction were replaced by editorial board condemnations of the Ottawa Police for
Over the coming months – and years – there will be much discussion, debate, perhaps even official inquiries, regarding the far-right occupation of Ottawa by the so-called “truckers convoy” and associated border blockades. As well, we should not forget smaller and limited duration copycat convoys in multiple urban centers that have occurred or are planned. However, it is not too soon to consider some important conclusions from
In Australia, a mob of 2,000 of antivaxxers and fascists attacked the Melbourne office of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU) on September 21. 2021. They trashed the outside of the building, threw bottles at the union secretary and battled riot police. In Rome, an
The Far Right Is Larger and More Dangerous Systemic and even overt racism, misogyny and other forms of bigotry are entrenched in this country’s economic, political, social and cultural structures of power. One might say they are “features of the system, not bugs”. However, even as we battle the chronic disease that is “patriarchal capitalism” we cannot ignore the “acute” threat posed by extreme far-right
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