How to Fight Fascism Correctly

All credit to @trailerparkcomrades on Instagram linky

I went to a protest or something yesterday. It was raining heavily and I got very wet and cold in my gothy trench coat and Doc Martins, unlike the outdoorsy lesbians who showed up in full rain gear. Outdoorsy lesbians are who should be running everything, by the way. And failing that, I want them on deck in any sort of emergency or crisis.

Some people had signs, some people had umbrellas, some people had respirator masks. Some people had all of it. There were kids and teens and visibly queer people of all ages and trade unionists and elders and Indigenous folks and disabled people with their mobility aids, all standing around in the rain because we didn't want Pierre Poilievre in our town. That's it, that's what we all had in common.

I don't know how many we were, like a hundred maybe? Which I think is a lot, given the weather and relative short notice. There's definitely video of it, the conservative influencers were out with their phones and wanted a fight or at least monetizable content. Some people gave it to them, some just turned their backs. The police declined to assist even when asked directly. This is to be expected. Nobody was physically injured as far as I know.

Anyway. I'm writing this because I've seen some local chatter online saying this was a dumb thing to do, end of sentence. “People have a right to hear politicians speak,” they'll remind us. “Couldn't you all be a little more polite to a candidate for Prime Minister who doesn't give a fuck about Indigenous people, loves fossil fuels, and wants women to hurry up and start having babies? And also why not lift up policies and candidates you like instead of trying to tear down the ones you don’t?" As soon as I encounter a policy and/or candidate I like, one who aims to help regular people and not billionaires and their corporations, I will do that. I think Carney’s proposal for the feds to get back into the building of affordable housing is a good one. Alright?

Even so, I think it's possible to do both. What if there's value in getting together with a diverse group of people in the community to loudly proclaim you don't like something? What if this is part of the organizing and community building and getting to know our neighbours we all need to be doing right now ahead of a recession or total economic collapse or annexation by a hostile foreign government or whatever terrors the future holds? How is this not #ElbowsUp? Pierre would roll over for the Americans in a second and you can't convince me otherwise. He's spent nearly two decades in the House being a craven little twerp and I have seen no evidence this has changed.

Pierre's supporters outnumbered us and it wasn't even close. When I first got there and hadn't found my people yet, I thought about leaving immediately because I wasn't comfortable walking alone around the parking lot full of large men and even larger trucks with my very obvious "libtard," KN95-ed face and keffiyeh. I decided I would do a lap and if I didn't see my people I would book it. But I found them, and then we walked over to the entrance and there were even more, so it was fine.

It was nice to see people in person I don't see very much. We're all busy with kids and jobs and school and disabilities, it can be hard to get everyone together. If nothing else, it was a good reminder that polls are not forgone conclusions and you should consider voting if you want to throw a pebble in the ocean about all of this. We heckled people, which is our right, some of them heckled back, which is their right. We noted the locally famous faces, we noted our bosses and landlords and people we didn't recognize because they were from outside the riding. It's fine, it's fine, it's all fine.

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