Are the “golden handcuffs” making Ottawa residents a bit too willing to want to see real handcuffs on the wrists of the truckers?
Canadians would be wise to show humility even if they disagree with the truckers.
Over the past two weeks, many residents of Ottawa have described their situation in terms of occupation or siege. The metaphors that they have used have been circulated by media around the world to shape a narrative according to which the truckers are a group of lawless troublemakers. I have recently listened to a media video from Israel in Hebrew in which the suffering of Ottawa residents was echoing assertively across the ocean side by side with appreciation for the truckers’ efforts on behalf of liberty.
I know that the protest has caused anxiety, stress and inconvenience to many residents of Ottawa and that there have been some claims of harassment. The experiences and feelings of those residents should be respected. However, the license that some people have felt to demonize the truckers and their supporters despite lack of evidence of widespread violence or of an agenda of violence over the last couple of weeks is excessive and might in the long run tarnish Canada’s reputation as a society that truly believes in diversity and inclusion.
I wonder if the people around the world who are listening to the strongly worded concerns of Ottawa residents fully understand that what these residents are describing have often been experiences such as being stuck in traffic (a daily routine for many around the world) or noise (which has been reduced by a recent injunction against honking). If many of the truckers are racist and violent, then why have these characteristics not manifested themselves in many violent actions over the last couple of weeks? Where is the evidence that the truckers are struggling for more than just our basic liberties?
And how many people around the world are aware of the Ottawa “golden handcuffs”—the metaphor sometimes used to describe the combination of job security, high pay and flexibility that makes it hard for many people to leave Ottawa—and that now also includes, for many, the added convenience of working from home.
And how many people who are now concerned about the effects of the protest on residents and small businesses have publicly expressed concerns about the extensive harms caused by COVID measures over the last two years?
People have the right to express their emotions and concerns with their own chosen metaphors, but to the best of my understanding there is no evidence that the words “occupation” or “siege” are indeed more than metaphors to describe what can in fact be more accurately characterized as a bold and potentially disruptive but so-far-mostly-peaceful protest that has been respected and supported by some Canadians while causing discomfort to others.
By invoking the Emergencies Act, formerly the War Measures Act, the government has literalized the metaphor of occupation in a manner that tragically makes the risk of violence much higher than it has been over the last two weeks.
February 14, 2022 is the first time that the Emergencies Act has been activated since it was formulated in 1988. The Emergencies Act is intended to respond to situations that involve a severe threat to the state (not to the career of a specific politician) or to situations that clearly threaten the sovereignty of Canada and that cannot be dealt with through existing laws—for example, terrorism or a war on Canada.
Why did some push for such a radical interpretation of the truckers’ protest?
Genesis 25 tells the story Esau selling the right of the first born to his twin brother Jacob. When the twins were born, Esau was born first, and Jacob came second, holding on to Esau’s ankle. Some see this manner of birth as Jacob’s jealous attempt to pull Esau back and prevent him from being born first.
And the shrewd Jacob did not lose an opportunity to steal the birthright from his brother and assert his own superiority:
29 Once when Jacob was cooking stew, Esau came in from the field, and he was exhausted. 30 And Esau said to Jacob, “Let me eat some of that red stew, for I am exhausted!” (Therefore his name was called Edom.[a]) 31 Jacob said, “Sell me your birthright now.” 32 Esau said, “I am about to die; of what use is a birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, “Swear to me now.” So he swore to him and sold his birthright to Jacob.
Traditions of interpretation have rationalized that Jacob, the brainy tent dweller, would be a better patriarch for the nation than Esau the hunter, the impulsive man of the field. But it is hard to not feel empathy for the starving and hard-working Esau who, coming back exhausted from the field, could not count on the simple generosity of his conniving and privileged brother Jacob to offer him a bowl of soup. Is this an ancient example of class superiority and class bias?
Why have we agreed to sell out our liberty? Why have there been little or no serious, high-level political attempts to negotiate with the truckers?
These will be questions to contemplate for years to come, but one factor might be the desire among some Canadians to punish the truckers for their chutzpa in challenging a very important “principle:” the job of a trucker is to serve. Period. Their job is to drive boxes of yoga leggings and organic food into Ottawa or to deliver boats or barbeque grills to cottages—not to think, to speak or to lead us.
Perhaps the disturbance in the class system caused by the convoy is just as bothersome as noise or heavy traffic—and hence the tendency to view the truckers’ actions as occupation rather than as the bold exercise of basic democratic rights.
Are there some destructive people among the truckers and their supporters? Perhaps (this would unfortunately be true of almost any large-scale demonstration or movement). Will the coming hours or days see violence? Many truckers have asserted their commitment to using only peaceful methods, and only peaceful methods is the only approach that I and many other Canadians would feel comfortable with. Many Canadians are thoroughly committed to ending COVID measures without violence.
For Canadians who do not agree with the truckers’ core message and method, a modicum of humility is in order as the truckers, Canadians who put a great deal on the line to peacefully struggle for our liberty, are now facing possible arrest for standing up for core principles that many of us care deeply about.
Like many Canadians, I fear the uncertainty of what the coming hours and days might bring. But based on their actions and behavior so far, the truckers as a group deserve respect. They are, perhaps, our public intellectuals who should be thanked not only for delivering to us in their trucks practically everything we eat or own but also for challenging us to think deep and hard about what liberty means and about how to put the philosophy of liberty into practice.
It is one thing to disagree with the truckers or to be annoyed with them or anxious about them. It is another thing altogether to wish them arrested or literally treated as terrorists or invaders. As the eyes of the world are on Ottawa, we do not want to be remembered as the Marie Antionettes of the war on liberty.