FROLITICKS

Satirical commentary on Canadian and American current political issues

Jun 3

American Extremist Right-Wing Groups Have Gone Just Too Far

by bcurry

What do the Catholic Charities, the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the Jewish Family Service and Lutheran Immigrant and Refugee Service (now called Global Refuge) have in common.  They are American charities that have helped new immigrants and refugees in numerous ways, but are now being threatened and under attack by extremist right-wing factions in the U.S.

As noted by the New York Times: “For decades, Catholic Charities and other faith-based organizations have played a crucial role helping federal authorities and local governments manage influxes of migrants. Their work has been funded with bipartisan support in Congress, even through the presidency of Donald J. Trump, who often vilified immigrants.”

These extremist groups have accused non-profit charities of flying migrants all over the country, profiting from illegal operations, trafficking women and children while holding them prisoner in their shelters, and facilitating migrant smuggling.  All ludicrous accusations to say the least! 

Via social media, extremists and their leaders are putting out all kinds of disinformation to their followers.  For his part Steve Bannon, the former White House strategist, called Catholic, Lutheran and Jewish groups that help immigrants “demons” and “anti-American.”  The dangers are clear.  Many charity members are now literally being threatened and harassed, particularly after the names and phone numbers of staff members at shelters are being released via social media and other means.  On occasion, volunteers at the facilities have been sent home, and employees who continued to work were advised to keep a low profile.  Increased costly security measures have had to be provided at the shelters themselves for fear of attacks by extremists.

There is something terribly wrong when such well-known and respected charities are demonized in this way, with numerous Republican politicians jumping on the band-wagon.  They are only trying, as supported by their faith and values, to help people, no matter where they came from, what’s their ethnicity and how they arrived in the country.  It is indeed a sad reflection on the divisive nature of the American people views at this time that some could openly support such vicious actions against employees of charitable groups, who in turn are now being routinely targeted.

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Sep 23

Dispute Between Canada and India Greatly Affects U.S. As Well

by bcurry

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada said on Monday that “agents of the government of India” had carried out the assassination of a Sikh community leader, Hardeep Singh Nijjar (a Canadian citizen), in British Columbia earlier this June.  This of course was an explosive allegation that has further soured relations between the two nations.  India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi called the accusation “absurd.” The two leaders met briefly at the Group of 20 summit meeting in India earlier this month..  Trudeau stated last week in Parliament that Canada had credible information that “agents of the government of India” had carried out the assassination of Nijjar.  A formal investigation is on-going.  At the summit meeting, Trudeau met briefly with Modi and raised the matter with him.  Mr. Modi “completely rejected” the allegations.

Since then, Canada was forced to cancel a scheduled trade mission to India and postponed a possible trade agreement between the two countries which had been negotiated for over a year. 

In turn, the Indian government temporarily blocked the issuance of visas to Canadians wishing to visit India.  This will affect Canadians of Indian descent, Indian students studying in Canada and family members visiting in Canada.  Both countries expelled diplomats from their respective embassies.  India for some time has also accused Canada of providing shelter to “Khalistani terrorists and extremists” who threaten India’s security.  Khalistan is what Sikh separatists call the independent state they seek to create in India.

The situation regarding the Sikh community is an important one given that Canada is now home to the largest Sikh population outside India, with about 770,000 people who reported Sikhism as their religion in a 2021 census.  Sikhs hold a prominent place in Canadian society and politics.  In the federal government, the head of the New Democratic Party, Jagmeet Singh, is Sikh.

The current diplomatic dispute places President Biden in a tough and very sensitive place.  On the one hand, he has to recognize Canada’s right to defend its sovereignty.  After all, the U.S. would do the same under similar circumstances where American citizens are attacked in their country by foreign agents.  However, Biden is being forced to maintain a delicate balance between the interests of two democratic allies.  The White House has declared that it is waiting for the formal investigation to conclude before weighing in, but it pushed back on criticism that the U.S. is trying to avoid antagonizing India because of its important strategic role.  As reported by the Washington Post, India is among the world’s most populous countries, occupies a strategic location in the Asian subcontinent — notably opposite to China — and is home to a growing technology sector. The U.S. and India recently established a high-level initiative on defence and emerging technologies that will, among other things, promote joint production of defence equipment, including military jet engines, long-range artillery and armoured infantry vehicles.  However, the relationship is complicated by India’s poor record on domestic human rights, its reliance on discounted Russian oil and its neutral position vis-à-vis the Russian-Ukraine war.  Biden has raised the issue of Modi’s crackdown on dissent and his persecution of religious minorities in India.  Biden is asking both Canada and India to cooperate in the incident’s formal investigation in order to end the dispute as soon as possible. 

Those perceptions of peaceful Sikh advocacy for independence in India faced a jolt in 1985, when a bomb went off on an Air India flight from Canada to India via Britain.  The explosion off the coast of Ireland killed the 329 people, including several Canadians, on board.  An extremist, a Sikh immigrant, was convicted in connection with the bombing, which came at a time of heightened tensions between the Sikh community and the Indian government.  As in the U.S., Canada will always condemn any extremist activity that results in violence in Canada or elsewhere.  However, freedom of expression and freedom of religion are deeply entrenched in the constitutions of both countries and are fiercely protected.

Hopefully, both Canada and India, with their many other mutual interests, can resolve their differences through the promotion of cooperation in investigating the above incident.

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Apr 19

What Does the Acronym “DINC” Stand For, And Why Has It Resurfaced Today?

by bcurry

During the early eighties, young people who were economically struggling were putting off marriages, children and buying homes.  They represented what became known as the DINC generation, that is to say “dual income no children”.  More recently, the acronym was expanded to DINCWAG, or “dual income no children with a dog”.  The acronym has again surfaced today.

Today’s younger generation, be they millennials or Generation Z, are facing tough economic times as a result of COVID and the current inflationary situation, where high interest rates and soaring housing prices have excluded many from the market.  In addition, rents in major urban centers are at an all time high and new residential construction was greatly impacted by COVID and problems with supply management.  Even in the high-tech industries, more and more layoffs are occurring.

Since the boomer period following the Second World War, birth rates in North American have been slowly declining.  Few people are having three or more children anymore and, with more women participating in the labour market and having professional careers, women are delaying having children into their thirties and even forties.  However, despite new fertility techniques, women are often restricted to having only one child as they become biologically older.  As well, a growing number of people are deciding not to have children, citing concerns such as climate change and inequality.  One suspects from recent studies that this situation will most likely become the norm in our society.

Even Elon Musk has entered into the debate by proclaiming that ‘civilization is going to crumble’ if people don’t have more children.  Musk further added that too many “good, smart people” think there are too many people in the world and that the population is growing out of control.  What does Musk mean by ‘civilization’?  Within his assertions lies an underlying perspective that what the industrialized countries need are more people born to so-called “smart people”.  This gets a little to too close to Adolf Hitler’s obsession with ‘racial purity’ and use of the word ‘Aryan’ to describe his idea of a ‘pure German race’ whereby the ‘Aryan race’ had a duty to control the world.  There are far right extremist white groups in North America who believe that current immigration levels from so-called ‘third world’ countries are diluting the population.  They are thereby loosing their traditional white privilege status, and feel threatened.  Such groups push for white women to have more children, thereby maintaining political and economic control within the society.  Don’t even talk about interracial marriage with these folks!

Let’s get real!  The so-called DINC phenomenon has more to do with the economic realities of our times.  It’s tough to have children in an age when the costs associated with raising children in our society are much greater than in the past.  Child care is not cheap and often women or men do not have access to adequate and affordable parental leave after the birth of a child.  The higher costs of higher education alone can be a major consideration, given that most parents want their children to graduate with a degree and go on to more lucrative employment.

With the current labour shortages in several sectors, the U.S. and Canada cannot afford to not use immigration as the primary means to fill jobs with skilled labour.  These jobs include everything from agricultural workers, construction workers, truckers to workers in the services sector.  Let’s face it, the DINC phenomenon is real and one sees it in communities on a daily basis.  The phenomenon has been gradually growing and was expedited by the COVID pandemic, which in itself has had an enormous impact on the world of work in North America.  New technologies, including artificial intelligence (AI), are having a major impact and are creating a good degree of uncertainty among the younger generation.  Uncertainty is the key word.  Dealing with it will continue to be a difficult challenge for young couples today and into the near future.  Perhaps Elon Musk might want to come down from his pedestal and recognize the realities of the age in which we live.

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Mar 30

No Democracy Today Can Avoid Being Tested By Political Turmoil

by bcurry

President Joe Biden recently visited Canada for what became a real love-in with his opposite Justin Trudeau, the Canadian Prime Minister.  In his speech to Parliament, Biden frequently related to the close relationship to Canada, including our democratic values and institutions.  However, all is not well in both countries.  The U.S. had last year’s violent January 6th insurrection at the Capital and Canada had the truckers’ 3-week illegal occupation of streets within Ottawa’s parliamentary precinct.  Observers claim that a lot of these events are related to what is perceived by some Americans and Canadians as a lack of trust in police, the courts and government at all levels.  What’s worst, in the U.S. you had a former president who refused to accept the results of the last presidential election and today continues to espouse to his followers that the election was stolen.

This past week, President Biden delivered remarks at the second White House-led Summit for Democracy, but at a time when several democracies are under duress of some kind.  One can refer to political conditions in so-called significant democratic countries such as Israel, Mexico, India and Brazil.  Democratic setbacks have also occurred in West Africa, where there have been coups in Mali and Burkina Faso in recent years.  For example, in Nigeria, a country of 220 million people, experts say that the presidential election last February appeared suspect.  At the above noted summit, two notable members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Hungary and Turkey, were excluded in light of fact that their autocratic political systems have grown no less repressive during Mr. Biden’s tenure.

Underlying all this issue is the fact that dictatorships such as Russia and China have been trying to increase their economic and political influence in countries, particularly in Africa and South America.  Both the governments of Russia and China have been accused of having meddled in recent American and Canadian electoral processes.  Dealing effectively with these countries needs to be done in order to avoid any foreign influence in democratic processes.

In the U.S., even the fundamental right of Americans to vote is being challenged in some states where various forms of new voting restrictions or requirements have being implemented or considered, notably by Republican states.  In some cases, such restrictions will especially affect voting by minority groups, college students and marginalized persons. 

Unfortunately, much of political turmoil has been the result of extreme divisions within our societies and large amounts of misinformation and disinformation being spread through on-line social media.  Mainstream media sources, fundamentally important to supporting democratic processes, are continuously under attack.  Journalists themselves have been verbally and physically attacked by extreme politicized groups, both right and left.

Human and civil rights are in danger of being weakened in democratic countries.  Many of the important gains achieved by LGBTQ groups in the last couple of decades are increasingly coming under attack, especially by religious right-wing segments of our societies.  Organized local protests have even occurred against school boards in both countries, and appear to be gaining strength.  Elected school board representatives have increasingly come under attack when it comes to school policies protecting the rights of LGBTQ youth and education regarding sexual orientation.

Generally, trust and confidence in our democratic institutions has to be restored in order to maintain our taken-for-granted freedoms.  Civility has to return to how we conduct our affairs and the rule of law has to be strengthened.  Otherwise, we will only see more and more serious threats to democracies, either here in Canada, the U.S. or abroad.  Words and platitudes are all fine, but actions are now needed.

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Nov 3

Attack on Nancy Pelosi’s Husband was not due to a Mental Illness of Accused Attacker

by bcurry

Let’s first start with a new study out of Columbia University and recently published in Journal of Forensic Sciences which concludes that mental illness is not the cause of the vast majority of mass shootings.  When a domestic terrorist incident occurs involving a mass shooting or an attack on a high-profile person, the first reflective reaction is not to want to completely dismiss mental illness, like psychosis, as the primary cause.  The authors note that this immediate reflex assumption exacerbates “the already widespread stigma surrounding severe mental illness”.  The extensive study concluded that for perpetrators who used firearms, just over 80 percent did not have a mental illness.  Sixty-eight percent of those who used other means for murder, like stabbing, did not have a mental illness, either.  One of the study’s authors, Dr. Ragy R. Girgis, who is the director at the Center of Prevention and Evaluation specializing in studying and treating teens and young adults at high risk for psychoses, like schizophrenia, preferred to focus on the cultural and social drivers behind these types of killings — such as the romanticization of guns and gun violence — rather than on individual predictors.

In the gruesome attack on October 25th on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s husband, Paul Pelosi, this was carried out by what one refers to as a ‘lone wolf’.  He has to date no clear indication that he was a direct instrument of any extremist group.  In the past years that I’ve been studying ‘radicalization’ of individuals in both the U.S. and Canada, I have found some common traits and factors for lone wolves.  For one, all were male and primarily Caucasian.  These individuals had undergone serious problems with their ‘socialization’ when they were young, often demonstrating loner qualities within somewhat dysfunctional family life and having few real close friends.  These individuals may be particularly vulnerable to extremist messaging and recruitment strategies.  Their social and economic situations tend to lead them to blaming others, tending to be swayed by conspiracy theories, often easily accessed through social media and Web sites run by extremist groups, such as the message board 4chan — a site notorious for extremist discussion.  In the case of Paul Pelosi’s attacker, David DePape, he appears to be a near perfect candidate for extremism and radicalization.  For over two decades, he has been estranged from members of his family in Powell River, British Columbia, including a twin sister.  His stepmother noted that, in his youth, DePape didn’t socialize much at all.  He was also lately estranged from his wife and children.  According to an initial investigation by the Associated Press, it is reported that he is alleged to have published a series of conspiracy rants online.  In recent months, DePape reportedly published hundreds of blog posts sharing memes in support of fringe commentators and far-right personalities.  Many of the posts were filled with screeds against Jews, Black people, Democrats, the media and transgender people.  In addition, DePape may have had suicidal thoughts in carrying out his attack, something pointed out by the Columbia University in the case of mass school shootings where almost half (45.6%) ended with the perpetrator’s suicide.

There have been numerous studies in both countries trying to get into the minds of such predators and killers, and how they can become radicalized.   A criminal investigative psychologist with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Matthew Logan, asserted in 2015 that many radicalized individuals are misfits of society who cling obsessively to “overvalued ideas” as a way to elevate their sense of self.  Jocelyn Bélanger, a professor of psychology at the Université du Québec à Montréal, concluded that when someone feels alienated from society, it is painful.  In turn, one of the quickest ways to assuage that pain is to turn to violence and incite fear.  She also notes that, while there is a dearth of hard evidence linking mental illness and radicalization, ideology often does play an important role in what drives people to radicalize.  Both researchers argue that, while such individuals are usually intolerant of ideas that contradict their own, treatment isn’t out of the question.  Providing individuals with vocational training, stable employment, fair treatment and supportive community connections can steer them onto a more productive track.

Given his history, it will be very difficult to argue that David DePape suffered from a serious mental condition causing his vile actions.  He apparently had clear motive for the attack and had planned and carried out the attack in a systematic way, fully recognizing the Secret Service security afforded to the Pelosi residence.  As in other lone wolf attacks, he proceeded in a deliberate and targeted ego-driven manner in order to achieve the ultimate goal, which, for many, is a “quest for personal significance.”

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Oct 14

When Compared to Americans, Canadians are still Naive about Extremist Groups

by bcurry

Finally, something very interesting is coming out of the House select committee investigating the January 6th 2021 assault on the U.S. Capitol.  Ten days before the attack, a Secret Service field office relayed one tip sent to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) warning that members of the far-right nationalist gang the Proud Boys planned to march, armed, into Washington DC.  For years, federal law enforcement agencies have sounded the alarm about rising threats of far-right violence in congressional testimony, in-depth reports and internal memos.  Months before 2020 presidential election, the FBI issued an intelligence report warning that far-right groups and white supremacists pose a “violent extremist threat” to the U.S. and the 2021 presidential inauguration, which could serve as a “potential flashpoint” for violence.  Even with all this available intelligence, largely because of Donald Trump’s continued provocation and resulting inaction, we know what tragically happened on that day.

Here in Canada, there is similar awareness among government agencies such as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) who are at the forefront of Canada’s national security system.  For years, they have been aware of the activities of foreign and domestic extremist elements operating in Canada.  To be sure, there are linkages and interactions among several far-right groups and white supremacists between Canada and the U.S.  The Internet has simply made the constant communication among such groups all that easier.  This includes platforms and messaging apps like QAnon-hosting 8Kun, Parler, Gab and Telegram; and even such mainstream platforms like Facebook groups and on Instagram stories, Reddit, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.

Despite the evident surveillance of extremists by the RCMP and CSIS in Canada and constant communication with foreign security agencies, including the FBI and Secret Service, most Canadians continue to be unaware of their activities in the country.  The Trucker Convoy, which occupied Canada’s capital last winter for three weeks and set up blockades at U.S.-Canada borders, had several extremist elements behind its planning and illegal operations.  Taken somewhat by surprise, this forced the federal government to take the unprecedented action of invoking the Emergencies Act in order to help end the Trucker Convoy’s activities.  Authorities appeared to have been taken by surprise by the extent to which small groups could carry out such protests in a threatening way and even call for the overthrow and replacement of the current legitimate federal government.

Like in the U.S., Canada has seen a significant polarization of the political spectrum.  Right-wing extreme groups have latched onto Canada’s angry populism, especially during the COVID pandemic and the imposition of vaccine mandates and other restrictions by governments across the country.  In Canada, at the very least, consensus politics is becoming a thing of the past.  For some time, politicians have been blind to the new emerging reality while the liberal mainstream press remains arrogant and complacent.  Indeed, some politicians have even gone as far as to show their vocal support for so-called freedom movements, although they represent a tiny fraction of the overall population.  Governments have had to once again declare that the right to be heard does not include the breaking of laws and any promotion of violence.

For some time now, I have been highlighting the extent to which there have been radicalization movements in both countries.  For example, The Role of Conspiracy Theories in Radicalizing North American White Folk, Potential of Insurgency Grows Everyday in U.S. and Canada, Canada also has its own Right-wing Extremist Groups, Right-wing Extremism is a Growing Concern in North American Communities, and White Extremism in North America is very Worrisome and Dangerous.  As indicated in FBI and Secret Service documents and gathered intelligence prior to the January 6th Capitol assault, there are mounds of evidence regarding the continuing activities of extremist groups in the U.S.  One would hope that Canadian agencies and mainstream media are paying attention so that Canadians won’t be as naïve as they were prior to the Trucker Convoy last winter.

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Aug 14

Once Donald Trump’s Actions Were Considered Farcical, Now They’re Considered Dangerous

by bcurry

During the former president’s term in office, Donald Trump often became the butt of many a comedian jokes, most notably on NBC’s Saturday Night Live.  Yes, previous presidents have been made fun of from time to time.  However, once Trump lost the election and his declaration that the election was stolen led to the January 6th assault on the Capitol, he has now become even more dangerous.  No longer as the president, recent events have shown how his actions and statements have created a precarious situation.  The search this past week by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of his private residence at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida., was one more incident of now citizen Trump believing he is above the law.  The legal search appeared to be part of a long-running investigation of whether documents — some of them top-secret — were taken there instead of being sent to the National Archives when Trump left office.  There could be several violations falling under federal statutes, including the Espionage Act and Presidential Records Act.  Apparently, about twelve boxes containing classified documents were seized by the FBI.

Immediately after news broke of the FBI search at Trump’s Florida residence, posts began appearing on Truth Social, the Twitter-like social media platform backed by former Trump’s media and technology company.  Truth Social users called for civil war and advocated for violence against the FBI, some of the posts remaining online days after they were originally posted, according to NBC News.  Unfortunately, a number of Republicans and media sources such as Fox News and Breibart News attacked the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), specifically Attorney General Merrick Garland, FBI Director Christopher A. Wray and the FBI agents as part of the Democrat’s plot to tarnish the reputation of Donald Trump and to prevent him from running again in 2024.  According to the warrant and receipt of what authorities seized, Trump is being investigated for possibly breaking three federal laws: removal or destruction of records, obstructing an investigation and violating the Espionage Act.  Serious stuff!

The result of Trump’s accusing the DOJ and FBI of contributing to a witch hunt and that he had done nothing wrong, talk of violence by his supporters continues to mount.  Threats have been made against the federal judge who authorized the warrant to search for classified material and FBI agents whose names were on the warrant and receipt.  Then on August 11th, a 42-year-old Ohio man, identified as Ricky W. Shiffer, showed up at the Cincinnati field office of the FBI with an AR-15-style rifle.  Subsequently, he was shot to death after firing multiple times at the police during a standoff.  Mr. Shiffer’s social media posts later revealed that he was full of rage about, among other things, the search at Mar-a-Lago.

As Alan Feuer of the New York Times notes, as right-wing rhetoric escalates, so do threats and violence.  In his August 13th article, he refers to a study by Robert Pape, a professor at the University of Chicago who studies political violence.  Professor Pape conducted half a dozen nationwide polls since the Jan. 6th attack and has repeatedly found the same alarming results: that between 15 million and 20 million American adults believe that violence would be justified to return Mr. Trump to office.  Instead of defusing the situation, Donald Trump, along with his supporters, continue to promote conspiracy theories.  He believes that a number of current investigations are simply examples of his ‘persecution’ by Democratic administrations in Washington and New York State.  Once again, the whole affair is a hoax.  He and members of his family have even suggested, ridiculously, that the classified documents were likely planted by the FBI during the search.  Even former Vice-President Mike Pence was quoted as sharing the “deep concern of millions of Americans over the unprecedented search of the personal residence of President Trump.”  Pence declared that after years where FBI agents were found to be acting on political motivation during his administration, the appearance of continued partisanship by the DOJ had to be addressed.  Remember how Trump fired then FBI Director James Comey in 2017 because he refused to pledge his loyalty to the President, no matter what!

Unless the hostile rhetoric and threats are quickly dealt with, there is little doubt that more violent incidents could occur, particularly against the targeted individuals noted above.  Obviously, the investigation by the DOJ and FBI is no joke.  This is the first time since Nixon and ‘Watergate’ that a former President is under investigation for violating several federal statutes.  My understanding is that no one is above the law.  However, under the current climate, the political ramifications of pursuing Donald Trump could determine whether further violence occurs and what will be the potential impact on the 2024 presidential election.

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Jul 18

Potential for Insurgency Grows Everyday in U.S. and Canada

by bcurry

Two recent events in the U.S. and in Canada have clearly illustrated the growth of insurgent groups: the January 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol and the three week occupation by a Trucker Convoy in Ottawa, Canada, in February of this year.  In both cases, various groups, including radical right extremists, proclaimed openly their intention to overthrow the current governments and forcibly replace them with another regime of some sort.  What these two events clearly illustrated is that these groups have become well organized, funded and are led openly by radicalized leaders.  What is even more clearly evident is that the insurgents are still operating despite many of their leaders and members having been arrested and imprisoned following the above two events.

What is common between the American and Canadian movements is that they are continuing to recruit, especially among ex-military and police veterans.  Several veterans played a significant role in Canada, attempting to garner support and credibility among the public for their causes.  In addition, these individuals bring training and military/law enforcement experience to the movements, as well as contributing intelligence for a movement.  The next inevitable stage is one that leads to the formulation of an armed quasi-militia capable of carrying out a few isolated attacks.  Weapons and explosives were seized in the Capitol attack and at the unlawful Coutts, Alberta, border blockade, with subsequent charges being laid in each case.  Four persons arrested with weapons in Alberta were tied to Canada’s Diagolon far-right extremist militia group, well known to the authorities.  In January 2021, a 22-year-old Canadian man crossed the border into Detroit where the U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s “tactical terrorism response team” found an assault rifle and two other guns, plus extremist white-supremacy material on his cellphone.  Connections among American and Canadian white-supremacy groups have been well documented, a number of whom are hoping to promote race and civil wars.

These movements are allowed to grow until you have more open insurgency, when you start to have a series of consistent attacks, and it becomes impossible to ignore.  What is clearly evident is that potential insurgencies tend to be much more decentralized, often fought by multiple groups.  There is not one overall governing group within both countries.  Leadership can most often extend to more local community levels, making recruitment a lot easier and training and planning a lot more difficult for authorities to monitor.  Cases of violent activity are deemed to be isolated cases by local authorities and even ignored, often by law enforcement.  However, when one adds up such events involving threatening protests, one cannot help but conclude that they represent a much larger campaign, organized and funded by extremists.

There will be those who will claim that alluding to insurgency movements is no more than another form of fearmongering.  However, such arguments cannot explain away that certain groups believe that democracies are backsliding.  There’s a clear sense that they firmly believe that governments are not that legitimate.  These are angry people who are unhappy with governments and open to being exploited by insurgent groups.  Unfortunately, some more ‘populist’ politicians, ala Donald Trump, have taken advantage of the situation for political gain.  Some observers claim that this is what is happening inside the Republican Party in the U.S. and among certain leadership hopefuls within the national Conservative Party and in the Peoples Party in Canada.  Unfortunately, appearing publicly alongside or among members of extremist groups can only give more legitimacy to such movements in the eyes of the public at large.

One thing is for certain, democratically elected governments can no longer give a blind eye to the growth of insurgency movements in either country.  Recent events have shown that such movements are openly promoting deliberate and organized attacks on our democratic institutions.  If citizens and their elected officials don’t recognize the potential danger to our democracy, than they are playing a very dangerous game.  We can no longer ignore the growth of these movements, both locally and nationally.  To do so, is to invite even more future violent and unlawful attacks.

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Jun 25

Far More Political And Societal Division Among Americans Than Among Canadians

by bcurry

In July in both the U.S. and Canada, people will be respectively celebrating the birth of their countries.  However, these past few years have demonstrated a concerning growth in divisive politics, much more so in the U.S. than in Canada.  Most recently, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade allowing states to ban abortion.  This is despite the fact that polls have shown that only one in ten Americans want an absolute ban on abortion.  In Canada, the right to abortion is supported by all major political parties and the vast majority of Canadians.  When it comes to restrictions on accessibility to guns, the majority of Americans support increasing restrictions to gun ownership, while the gun lobby holds sway in Congress and many states.  Supported by the majority in Canada, there are restrictions on guns, especially handguns and military-style weapons — a number of the latter are outright banned.  Although numerous American organizations and groups have lobbied to eliminate the death penalty in half of the states where it exists, Canada did away with the death penalty decades ago.  It is now believed that the recent Supreme Court’s decision could also lead to a reconsideration of Americans’ right to same sex marriage, something which has been legalized in Canada for sometime now.

A new poll of Canadians by the U.K.’s well known pollster Lord Michael Ashcroft showed that Canada, rather than the polarized society on display in America, is described as a nation that is proud and hopeful.  He concluded that most Canadians are a lot more confident, empathetic, proud and trusting of their own democracy and national identity, frequently seeking a middle ground on controversial issues.  Fully seven in ten Canadians think Canada is one of the best places to live and multiculturalism is a healthy and important element of Canadian society and thus encourages immigration to the country.  Yes, there are some small vocal dissident groups who surface from time to time in Canada, but nowhere near the numbers of American right-wing and social conservative groups who even emerged to contest the results of the 2020 U.S. presidential election.  Thankfully, there is no equivalent to Donald Trump in Canada.

The current infringement on the rights of American women with the overturning of Roe vs. Wade will further increase the division among Americans across the country.  This will become a highly contentious issue in the upcoming November elections, with pro-life and pro-choice candidates slugging it out on the hastings.  When a draft copy of the decision was leaked in May, even Donald Trump began telling friends and advisers that it would anger suburban women, a group who helped tilt the 2020 race to President Joe Biden.  He felt that would lead to a backlash against Republicans in the November midterm elections.  However, as per the New York Times, with the decision Trump put out a statement taking a victory lap, including applauding himself for sticking by his choice of nominees.  On top of which, the court’s decision is unfortunately expected to disproportionately affect minority women who already face limited access to health care.  In addition, for those women who can afford to come to Canada, Canadian abortion services are currently examining the potential impact in welcoming these Americans.

With respect to another grouping, our indigenous people of North America, both the U.S. and Canada in the past had used residential schools in an attempt to assimilate indigenous populations by eliminating their culture and languages.  However, unlike in the U.S., Canadians began a national reconciliation process reflecting honestly on the darkest parts of history and attempting to move forward to correct past abuses.  Canadians of all backgrounds have come forward to fully support the truth and reconciliation initiatives at all levels of society.  The same issue has barely been recognized in the States.

All in all, one cannot but conclude that there is far more political and societal division among Americans than among Canadians.  The next decade could prove to be one of the most explosive in American history, with the current polarization of American society almost as great as that preceding the American Civil War between the North and South over the abolition of slavery.  Only time will tell.  Not a great time to be living in the States!

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May 17

The Role of Conspiracy Theories in Radicalizing North American White Folk

by bcurry

As the recent tragic shooting and killing of innocent blacks by a young white supremacist in Buffalo, New York, demonstrates, there is the growing role of conspiracy theories.  The racist ‘replacement theory’ has become a common far-right ideology and has been connected to multiple mass shootings carried out by white supremacists, including the 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting, 2019 mosque shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, a Black church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015 and the 2019 shooting of Hispanics at a Walmart in El Paso, Texas .  Unfortunately, its central ideas are now promoted not just by violent extremists, but by right wing media personalities like Fox News host Tucker Carlson.

The conspiracy theory’s more racist adherents believe Jews are behind the so-called replacement plan.  Broadly speaking, the roots of this ‘replacement theory’ are deep.  In the U.S., one can point to past and current efforts to intimidate and discourage Black people from voting.  The antagonists’ view this as replacing” white voters at the polls — dating to the Reconstruction era after the 15th Amendment made clear suffrage couldn’t be restricted on account of race.  More recently, white nationalists marching at the Charlottesville, Virginia, rally in 2017 chanted “You will not replace us!” and “Jews will not replace us!”

There are Americans and Canadians who believe in conspiracy ideas about immigrants being brought into the U.S. and Canada as part of a political plot to increase non-white voters in support of so-called ‘liberal’ and ‘left-oriented’ political parties.  Besides Fox News, many of the followers prefer watching right-wing networks such as OANN or Newsmax.  Access to such networks is readily available on both sides of the border, often via the Internet.  Extreme nationalist groups in turn promote such conspiracy theories on their on Web sites.  Thus begins the radicalization of young whites, men in particular.  Regrettably, like other conspiracy theories, the ‘replacement theory’ has even been taken up by some right-wing politicians.  The fact is that such theories have no place in the traditional conservative thinking, and certainly not in their platforms.  In the U.S. in particular, one needs Republicans in particular to disavow such theories.

Don’t think for a moment that this theory is only believed by a small number of Americans.  In a poll released last week, the Associated Press and the NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that about 1 in 3 Americans believe an effort is underway to replace U.S.-born Americans with immigrants for electoral gain.  The attention paid by many Republican politicians to what they see as a leaky southern border along the U.S. has been interpreted, at least by some, as a nod to the concern of white people who worry about being “replaced.”

However, while the majority of followers of replacement theory do not overtly promote calls to arms, there are smaller groups of white supremacists who are inclined to support violent tactics.  Indeed, they consider those behind the above noted horrific mass shootings as being saints in their eyes.  They sadly don’t hesitate to use such theories as a means to justify the use of violence.

The question for governments and societies is how to combat the spread of such conspiracy theories and the resulting climate of hate that they support?  There are no easy answers.  It may not be enough to just treat the associated violent behaviour as hate crimes, after the fact.  What is most likely needed is to confront and outright disown such theories and the resulting disinformation, especially emerging from certain media sources.  Political and spiritual leaders have to step up on a daily basis to speak against such divisive conspiracy theories and to promote unity and mutual respect among our citizens.  This will take a massive effort, particularly as hate mongering has simmered in our society for decades.  Much more has to be done to de-radicalize our youth in particular.  De-radicalization is the on-going process of hopefully changing a person’s belief system through such means as peer group and family intervention and various education schemes.

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