At the risk of running into guillotine fatigue, I must offer one more comment on the matter. The use of this symbol of popular retribution on the lawns of the Ontario Legislature has sparked 'controversy' and, for that reason, has assumed some importance. The point is that the Tories have seized on this little incident because it gives them an opportunity to test the vulnerabilities of those who oppose them. They must have been pleased to see Andrea Horwath offer an apology for being photographed with someone whose protest sign included the words 'Fuck Ford.' The fake blade gesture offered a means to apply a bit more pressure and see how it worked. When Ford denounced the guillotine as if it were a serious threat to his life, he wanted to see who would dutifully fall in line and issue denunciations. He could not have been disappointed with the results. In the unlikely event charges are laid in this matter, the accused will count themselves lucky that NDP MP, Charlie Angus, won't be the judge because he sent out a tweet presenting their actions as an evil attack on 'civil society' itself. He was not alone in this kind of reaction.
The whole point here is that Doug Ford can't be allowed to set the boundaries for the movement of opposition against him. If it wasn't the guillotine, it would have been something else. Any union leader who talks of strike action, any social activist who makes a militant speech will breech the highly restrictive Tory rules on respectable dissent. If we are going to stop their austerity attack, we're going to have to build a movement that acts in ways that has Doug Ford gnashing his teeth and the editorial boards foaming at the mouth. We'll need to unleash social action that empties the workplaces and fills the streets and that makes a guillotine replica look like a friendly gesture.
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