Leftwing activists are responsible for rightwing violence?

Justin Trudeau made this rambling and surprising assertion in front of queer activists in Ottawa

Last week, I wrote probably the best thing I’ve ever written about online harassment. In it, I remind people that power needs to always be considered when thinking about online harassment. Not necessarily the power dynamic between the abuser and the abusee, but power more broadly and what structures are perpetuating violence. As they say, the state has a monopoly on violence.

You can read that article here: https://readpassage.com/the-problem-with-our-conversation-on-harassment-of-journalists/

The state has a monopoly on violence. It can decide what violence is tolerable (police brutality and murder, colonization, etc.) and what violence is intolerable. But it doesn’t need to impose its perspective on us: there are many Canadians who are right behind dichotomies that protect this state power. We saw it this past weekend when there was near-unanimous outcry about the harassment that Chrystia Freelance experienced by a right-wing shitheaded coward, especially among fellow politicians, regardless of political stripe.

I dared to talk about broader state power though, and implored that people think more broadley about how the federal Liberals have failed to meaningfully address rightwing violence. I was slapepd down pretty swiftly on Twitter, based on people reading: expect these kinds of attacks to happen to mean: I want these kinds of attacks to happen. But anyway, I’m not actually looking to rehash that. Consider that the most significant action taken by the Liberals to deal with the far right was to invoke the Emergencies Act, which inflamed these movements, and gave them a needless overreach of power to hold up as proof of their criticisms of the state.

To fight the far right, at the best, the Liberals have done the bare minimum and at worst, they have cynically used tools that play right into the far-right narrative.

A day later, Freeland acknowledged that people might be angry enough with her to yell at her. And no kidding: having given the poorest people absolutely nothing to weather the pandemic, having clawed back CERB, given blank cheque to corporations through CEWS, and then leaving people with no pandemic supports while the pandemic is still on, people should be angry with her (dear reader: I do not think screaming at someone is the best way to debate them, so this is also not an endorsement of this Grande Prairie shithead). At least she admitted that she has some legitimate enemies out there.

But this post isn’t about Freeland.

Right after, Justin Trudeau conjured up his own explanation for what is fueling attacks from the far right. He didn’t blame himself (of course). He didn’t blame Doug Ford or Jason Kenney or Maxime Bernier or Éric Duhaime or the clown parade of convoy names that are now commonly known. No, he blamed … the hard work of activists.

You can see the video here. It comes up around the 30 second mark:

CPAC @CPAC_TV

“We have to ask ourselves what kind of country we are—what kind of country we want to be,” said PM Trudeau in Ottawa as he condemned the harassment of Chrystia Freeland in Grande Prairie, Alta., and other recent threats against prominent women and racialized Canadians. #cdnpoli

In case you don’t want to or can’t listen, he says that harassment is “almost because the increasing strength of your voices, your positions, of the impact you’re having around the world, and on our country. We’re seeing a backlash. [goes on rambling]”

Trudeau seems to be speaking off the cuff here, judging by how much he rambles and searches for the right words to call people who are not white. So, it’s illlustrative to see where his logic goes when he’s a little bit off script.

It’s wild to hear him call the rise of the far right backlash to activism. Wild, but also very typical. It’s a perfect Liberal message: do activism, but not too loudly or too successfully because otherwise, there will be a backlash, and we will all be sorry. Instead, follow the Liberal lead: do virtually nothing and by hiding under coats while you enrich your corporate friends, until the Conservatives are back in power before anyone starts seriously blaming you. Then, you will be able to blame them.

Anyway, this all gives Trudeau a sheild for when someone on the far right criticizes the investment he just made into LGTBQ programs. After all, it was their activism that convinced his government to pony up the cash, right?