npub1z0…4kyzg on Nostr: Some quick thoughts on the Pat King verdict, the so-called trucker convoy leader ...
Some quick thoughts on the Pat King verdict, the so-called trucker convoy leader getting found guilty and facing prison.
- He was convicted of the exact same nebulous charges that have been used extensively against anarchists over the last couple of decades. Notably, counseling an indictable offence (felony incitement for you Americans) and party to the offence of mischief (mischief=damage to property). They are used to criminalize routine behaviour by people involved in social movements, like speaking publicly, handing out leaflets, publishing media, or even failing to leave demos where crimes occur. We should never celebrate their use.
- Every successful social movement has prisoners. For those saying this is the end of the convoy or that convoy supporters are running scared, this is only true if that movement totally lack determination and has no historical memory. Which might be true, but I wouldn't count on it.
- This is the first time in my political lifetime that this kind of judicial repression has targeted a right-wing movement. When combined with the fact that a joint intelligence group (a collaboration of different policing and intelligence agencies) pivoted from anti-pipeline stuff directly to targeting those opposed to covid measures, it shows the winds changing in how the state views these movements.
- The state likes to cast a wide net with its repression (emergency act) and then pick leaders from among those caught in it (King and Lich). This does not mean these people were in fact any kind of leader, and buying the state's narrative around this conceals the ways right-wing social movements in Canada right now are largely horizontal.
- Repression is inevitable, and any movement that wants to survive needs to support those targeted. One way the far-right is doing this is by delegitimating the courts and politicizing judges. This is interesting given the huge number of unfilled judicial positions across the country. The coming Poilievre government will have popular support for filling them with sympathetic people who will also do his tough-on-crime agenda.
Tell me what you think!
Some background:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/pat-king-found-guilty-of-mischief-for-role-in-freedom-convoy-1.7119746
#cdnpoli
- He was convicted of the exact same nebulous charges that have been used extensively against anarchists over the last couple of decades. Notably, counseling an indictable offence (felony incitement for you Americans) and party to the offence of mischief (mischief=damage to property). They are used to criminalize routine behaviour by people involved in social movements, like speaking publicly, handing out leaflets, publishing media, or even failing to leave demos where crimes occur. We should never celebrate their use.
- Every successful social movement has prisoners. For those saying this is the end of the convoy or that convoy supporters are running scared, this is only true if that movement totally lack determination and has no historical memory. Which might be true, but I wouldn't count on it.
- This is the first time in my political lifetime that this kind of judicial repression has targeted a right-wing movement. When combined with the fact that a joint intelligence group (a collaboration of different policing and intelligence agencies) pivoted from anti-pipeline stuff directly to targeting those opposed to covid measures, it shows the winds changing in how the state views these movements.
- The state likes to cast a wide net with its repression (emergency act) and then pick leaders from among those caught in it (King and Lich). This does not mean these people were in fact any kind of leader, and buying the state's narrative around this conceals the ways right-wing social movements in Canada right now are largely horizontal.
- Repression is inevitable, and any movement that wants to survive needs to support those targeted. One way the far-right is doing this is by delegitimating the courts and politicizing judges. This is interesting given the huge number of unfilled judicial positions across the country. The coming Poilievre government will have popular support for filling them with sympathetic people who will also do his tough-on-crime agenda.
Tell me what you think!
Some background:
https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/pat-king-found-guilty-of-mischief-for-role-in-freedom-convoy-1.7119746
#cdnpoli