White nationalists and anti-vaxxers are cooking up a protest in the U.S. similar to one that has wrought havoc in Canada.
Right-wing activists have effectively shut down Ottawa's downtown and the U.S.-Canada border with big-rig trucks to protest COVID-19 safety measures, and American conservative media outlets have celebrated the demonstration -- which some want to copy, reported Mother Jones.
“You don’t have to be a trucker,” said Denis Aguilar, founder of the anti-vaccine Freedom Angels Foundation and the far-right women’s group Mamalitia. “We’re looking for mom vans, too!”
Emboldened activists in the U.S. are planning convoys on Telegram, including one set for March 1 in Washington, D.C., and are hoping to enlist families and children for moral support.
“Have some music and get involved with your community,” Aguilar posted on TikTok. “Truckers make the world go round, and if anyone is going to put a stop to these mandates, it’s them — just watch what Canada’s doing.”
Mother Jones obtained Telegram posts from groups in Southern California planning chaotic demonstrations to pressure the government to drop public health mandates, and these activists are citing the Ottawa demonstration as an inspiration.
“It’s critical that we understand why the Canadian protest is so effective, so we can do the same in the United States,” wrote the leader of one Los Angeles group. “It was not the convoy itself, but the occupation of Ottawa and the resultant economic and psychological effects on the Canadian government that is effective.”
“We Americans need to grow out of our tendency to prioritize 'performative protest' and flashy stunts for social media clout," that person added, "and instead focus on the systems and institutions responsible for our oppression and how to best disrupt them.”
Many of the individuals involved in these plans have posted blatantly racist, homophobic and anti-Semitic content as they plot their disruptions, even as they encourage parents to enlist their children and slip convoy messages into classroom Valentine's Day treats.
“I showed my boys the video of the trucker who shared the card and cookies donated by a family and they want to do the same,” one member wrote. “Please let me know how I can get them to the truckers.”
Extremist groups have been using vaccine and masking mandates, as well as fears of critical race theory, to draw parents into their orbit, and the organizing groups have exploded in membership from hundreds to tens of thousands as the Ottawa demonstration rages.
“These people are PTA presidents, moms, everyday families,” said one source who monitors the organizing groups. “And they are working together with white nationalists.”