Canada Truckers-The Freedom Convoy&Criminalizing Social Dissent - a podcast by Nav. C with Co-Host Nav.M

In recent decades world events have witnessed an eruption of major protest movements, amid deepening social & political inequalities, exacerbated by ongoing COVID events. The 2010s have been described as the “Decade Of Protests” culminating in major civil unrest in 2020, together with an unprecedented wave of student protests. Many of these protests are lagged “ripple effects” caused by structural socio-economic changes linked to the global recession of 2008, in the form of austerity cuts. The ensuing dissent led to an extensive rise in social movements and consequently, various governments suppressed these actions by criminalizing political dissent. In this episode I aim to focus on the phenomenon of “advanced dissent” comprising, those individuals or groups, who have access to limited resources and power but, whose demands are framed as social-economic exclusion, or a form of political “dispossession.” Specifically, the “Freedom Convoy 2022” protests which took place in Ottawa, Canada.
By using the paradigm of neoliberalism as a reference point, with its core ideology emphasizing the value of free market competition; I aim to show that the recent trucker protests in Ottawa were indeed a manifestation of “social dispossession” created by a deeply entrenched ideology, through which, the state and corporations maintain their dominant economic power. What began as a protest by Canadian truckers against ongoing COVID measures and vaccine mandates, morphed into a wider social movement, encompassing liberty, democracy and constitutional rights Following a brief description of the events, I explain the concepts of social protest and dissent which underpin the doctrine known as “criminalization of social protest.” The term ‘criminalization’ represents a key weapon in the arsenal of neoliberalism, in preserving the dominant social order of elites in society. Neoliberalism is inherently designed to prevent and dismantle social protest and therefore marginalize political dissent. The principle of marginalization was clearly evident during the events of the “Freedom Convoy”
I also provide two previous examples in recent Canadian history, which illustrate that the violence and intimidation present in Ottawa 2022 are part of an established trend of coercive, militarized policing which can be traced to the Canadian Anti-terrorism Act, following the 9/11 events. The criminalization of the “Freedom Convoy” was enacted via “depoliticization.” Essentially, transferring the (public) debate on vaccine mandates to the (private) domain of criminality. Hence, by re-framing political dissent as a “security” risk; Security becomes the default modality, taking precedence over liberty. This episode will be instructive for anyone interested in issues of civil liberty; the freedom to express one’s political views; the basic right to tolerate dissent; and freedom of association and expression. All of which are considered guaranteed rights in any democratic society.

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