At first, the government took no direct action against the protesters.
Party officials disagreed on how to respond, some backing concessions, others wanting to take a harder line.
The hardliners won the debate, and in the last two weeks of May, martial law was declared in Beijing.
On 3 to 4 June, troops began to move towards Tiananmen Square, opening fire, crushing and arresting protesters to regain control of the area.
BBC on Tiananmen Square Protest in 1986
I’m so lucky to interview people like Ray McGinnis who put into words my own vague sorrows about the authoritarian New Normal Canada. This week on the pod we unpacked virtually every fib, obfuscation and waffle by the government, the POEC and Justice Rouleau and there is nothing left but the stinking jackboot of an insecure, ideologically captured despot ending by lies, a legitimate, non-violent protest.
Here is a link to Ray’s article. Do print it off and share it with your trucker-hating friends and relatives. It might change some minds. He suggested to me that Trudeau’s playbook, enacted by compliant media, reminded him of how the Chinese government handled its propaganda messaging around the Tiananmen Square protest. Yes, many were killed and that didn’t happen in Ottawa but what is similar, is how the Tiananmen protesters demanding freedom and a better life were reframed by the CCP as troublemakers and criminals. And how Chinese hardliners would offer no concessions, only tanks and bullets. In Ottawa only horses and batons. Sound familiar?
Obviously what happened in Tiananmen was next level - but it’s worth remembering that what followed was the same kind of smear against the students that Trudeau used against Truckers. Smears our Prime Minister continues to use against people who don’t vote Liberal.
In researching this piece I discovered a magnificent old report by a brave journo who stood her ground with the protestors. She knew which side she was on. It was clear who was right. This is old school and I miss it, so very much. And think about how our country would be better today if CBC saw working class protests as being worthy of fair and honest reporting and even occasional advocacy.
Tell the world, they said to us.
I hope, looking back on my own career there are moments as brave as what she does here. Gobsmacked by her courage.
In the meantime we are left with the cowards and scoundrels populating legacy media around the world. I promised this week I would keep you abreast of the explosive #lockdownfiles coming out of the UK. Thousands of WhatsApp messages between government C-19 czars, like Matt Hancock are exposing how completely inept, dishonest and disdaining of the citizens they all were.
And we know it was just as bad in Canada and the US. The London Telegraph is publishing behind a paywall which I will scale to bring you details but in the meantime here’s a taste. Watch the odious Cathy Newman (of Jordan Peterson fame) attacking Isabel Oakeshott who leaked the messages for the world to see. Newman sees her role as protecting the government instead of informing the people. She is so out to lunch, Newman posted this as a brag instead of the self-own it clearly is.
Here’s some messages from Hancock pondering releasing a new variant to keep the people scared. Is he joking? Unclear but even if he is….
What I’m seeing so far in the UK story is the massive failure of not-very-bright, immoral and self-serving politicians, in over their heads and awash in groupthink; enabled by “experts” with exactly the same dangerous character traits. Oh, plus cowardice. Not much of a grand conspiracy - just unserious people, unworthy of the power and status we give them. But we knew that.
Thanks to those who upgraded to paid in our little subscription drive last week. I’m glad you enjoyed the Colonel. More to come and a plea to our other subscribers to think about upgrading when you can.
Stay critical.
Thanks for writing on this topic, Trish. Never forget that human rights NGOs like Amnesty International sided with Trudeau against the truckers. Here is my commemoration of Tiananmen Square for this year: https://yuribezmenov.substack.com/p/tiananmen-square-massacre-cultural-revolution
In 2007, a new book by Dr. Naomi Wolf was published titled The End Of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot. It is she discusses ten steps for closing down a democratic society. She explores how these are warning signs to look for when a democracy is closing down and sliding into an autocratic state. Wolf discusses the importance of freedom of speech and freedom of the press. When the press is restricted or co-opted, after a certain point democracy suffers. This is becauuse ordinary citizens can no longer discern the signs of the times, or trust what to believe.
On page 127 of her book Naomi Wolf writes "After a certain point in a fascist shift, it doesn't matter whether most people believe the faked news or not - eventually they simply don't have access to enough good information to assess what is real and what is not. In accounts of the Chinese prodemocracy uprising in 1989, you can hear well-intentioned Chinese citizens struggling with this: The Voice of America radio station was reporting on the uprising accurately, describing the protesters as idealistic students - but the Politburo was accusing the VOA of spreading unpatriotic lies. Chinese state TV, print, and radio called the protesters counterrevolutionary "criminals" and "ruffians." Citizens, frightened by this, were writing letters to their newspapers haplessly explaining that they had diligently compared the VOA reports and the Politburo reports - and they found the Politburo reports to be the more accurate.... At that point, the state had made truth fungible."