Bleak economy pushes Gazan women toward domestic work

The difficult economic conditions in Gaza have prompted women to resort to domestic work, a profession fraught with challenges as they live in a very conservative society.

A displaced Palestinian woman washes her family's laundry at a school run by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza City on May 18, 2021. - MOHAMMED ABED/AFP via Getty Images

Hadeel Al Gherbawi
Gaza
February 20, 2022 —

The bleak economy, the constant wars and the Palestinian division have pushed many women in the Gaza Strip to opt for domestic work.

House cleaning can be a lifeline for families who have lost their breadwinner, either due to divorce or death. But some workers face harassment or accusations of theft and are afraid to speak up, let alone go to court, for fear of losing their jobs.

H.D., 35, found herself working as a housemaid in central Gaza. She has five children to provide for. The $200 per month that her husband earns as a school janitor does not cover the needs of the family, so when a neighbor offered her $150 for housekeeping and for looking after her children and her elderly mother-in-law, "I reluctantly accepted because I had no other choice.”

H.D., who refused to reveal her name, told Al-Monitor that domestic work is socially stigmatized. “The people at the house always feel as if the maid is an intruder and they do not trust her. … When I would prepare the coffee, serve it and sit down to rest a little after a long day of hard work, the housewife would tell me, ‘Go to the kitchen, don't sit down here.’”

Um Ahmed, 33, has separated from her husband, leaving her to care alone for her three children. Her father is deceased and her mother is elderly. She lives with her family in a rented apartment. “My children and family have no one to provide for them," she told Al-Monitor. Even the $200 social affairs check that is paid every three months to poor families has been suspended for a year now. "So I resorted to my family’s Mukhtar [head of the family] in order to provide us with a good job. ‘I can offer you a domestic job either at a house or at a clinic,’ he told me.”

“Domestic work is a profession of exploitation, and [customers] take advantage of us with many jobs, such as washing the carpets, cleaning the house completely, and taking care of the children for an amount not exceeding $4 per day,” she added. “Moreover, the housewife often says, ‘Why didn’t you clean well? Clean this again!’”

She took a job at one house because the woman promised $200 per month, a higher figure than she had ever received in home service. But a month later, "her husband was taking advantage of his wife’s leaving for work and his children’s going to school and trying to get close to me. … On one occasion he got very close to me and tried to lure me with $6, but I took my purse and ran away from the house and never came back. I didn't dare tell anyone.”

Companies that provide domestic services, such as WECAN Serve And Clean, Ibn Sina Company, and White Pal provide uniforms for workers and work contracts that guarantee their rights. Hanan Barham, director of White Pal, told Al-Monitor, “The situation is unstable due to the repeated wars. I felt that opening a company to hire housekeepers was like a venture, and I faced many criticisms.”

She added, “My company provides contracts between the people who need the service and the service providers, provided housekeepers work in a safe environment free of violence. But unfortunately, despite this, we faced many difficulties that we had to solve in court.”

Among the applicants to work for her company, Hanan continued, are "university students who cannot afford to pay their tuition fees, so they opt for domestic work.”

“Domestic work is a new and very disturbing phenomenon in a tribal society where women’s dignity is a top priority," Fadel Abu Hein, a doctor of psychology at Al-Aqsa University, told Al-Monitor. "I see that girls are the ones knocking on people’s doors for work, so this is a dangerous phenomenon that should not spread."

But the reason it happens, he said, is "the deteriorating economic situation in Gaza and the lack of job opportunities for graduates. Due to men’s inability to meet the family’s needs and requirements, women resorted to domestic work, and when a woman owns a sum of money and starts showing it to other women, this prompts them to start looking for similar jobs.”

“The psychological impact this has on workers results from several variables, such as the outlook of the family to whom they work. Will they be treated well or ill? Will the family members treat them condescendingly? When workers are well treated, they feel good. But when they are treated ill and do not allow them to sit on their sofas, they feel humiliated,” he continued. “Society’s view [toward maids] could either be one of sympathy and pity, or one of defamation, both of which greatly affect workers’ psychological state.”

Boater Falls Into Ocean, Swims 5 Hours to Oil Rig 'Helped' by 'Angel' Seal

CC0 / A_Different_Perspective /

Sofia Chegodaeva

All materialsWrite to the author

The man believes his survival was truly miraculous as he had to swim in chilling waters and in complete darkness for hours.

A boater from California who fell into the Santa Barbara Channel in the middle of the night earlier this month told reporters that he was preparing to die until a seal came to his rescue and pushed him to a nearby oil rig.

In an interview with ABC7, Scott Thompson said he accidentally fell overboard while on his boat several miles off the coast of Santa Barbara. His boat sped away and he was left alone in the water wearing only shorts and a T-shirt. There wasn't even moonlight to guide him, he said, adding that he noticed an oil rig and decided to swim towards it as the coast was too far away. As he swam, he suddenly heard a splash and felt something touch his leg.

"It was a medium-sized harbour seal...The seal would go underwater and he came up and nudged me like a dog comes up and nudges your leg," Thompson said, adding that he believed that was "an angel" who came to his rescue.

It took him five hours to reach the rig, where he was rescued and given medical aid. He was then taken to hospital and treated for hypothermia.

Lie, Cheat, Steal, Cry? 

US Military Intelligence Overwhelmed by Toxic Workplace Complaints: Report

Ilya Tsukanov

All materialsWrite to the author

The Defense Intelligence Agency, or DIA, is tasked with collecting military information both public and classified sources around the world, with its data accounting for about one quarter of the overall intelligence the president receives in his daily briefs.

The DIA’s European operations are fraught with toxic workplace environments, bullying, harassment and colleagues spending time snooping on each other instead of concentrating on adversaries, according to witness statements and complaints provided to House and Senate intelligence committees and reviewed by the Wall Street Journal.

“The toxic culture within DIA is a threat to national security,” said retired Air Force Lt. Col Ryan Sweazey, an agency employee involved in collecting evidence. Sweazey blew the whistle on conditions inside the DIA after being reprimanded for attempting to report his concerns up the chain of command during his posting as an assistant defense attaché at the US Embassy in Rome.

Sweazey resorted to personally collecting and submitting complaints to Congress after being stonewalled by the DIA’s Inspector General, whose office is supposed to deal with workplace complaints. The IG has been accused repeatedly of impeding probes and ‘watering down’ reports detailing problems inside the agency.

Among the information gathered by the whistleblower is a complaint that a DIA officer in Rome gathered and secretly passed negative information about co-workers’ job performance, creating a ‘hostile atmosphere’ and disrupting intelligence gathering efforts. The practice is feared to be widespread across DIA offices in Western Europe.

“As a defense attaché at a US Embassy in a foreign country, I should not have to spend a large portion of my time looking over my shoulder for someone nefarious from DIA. There are plenty of other foreign threats for me to worry about,” one office said in his testimony.

Another DIA employee indicated that a private medical condition was discovered by superiors and used against him. The same officer said his enthusiasm for the job and writing ‘too many’ intelligence reports was shunned, and that he was removed from assignment early and punished by superiors for taking the initiative.

A US Army lieut. col studying at the Joint Military Attache School in Washington, DC said his criticism of the curriculum led faculty to falsely accuse his wife of running a political blog in an bid to bar him from overseas service.

Two other incidents cited by Sweazey pointed to harassment by an instructor who poked a woman pilot in the chest, and an end of study video featuring pictures of scantily clad students set to the Right Said Fred song ‘I’m Too Sexy’.

A September 2020 Defense Attaché Service survey cited by WSJ found that nearly half of 79 respondents experienced hostile behaviour in the workplace, ranging from intimidation and harassment to bullying and discrimination, including prejudice on racial, gender and other grounds.

In a statement, the DIA emphasized that the agency has “zero tolerance” regarding violations of its high standards. “The Defense Intelligence Agency is a professional foreign-intelligence organization with a highly trained workforce, including dedicated men and women of the armed forces…We would respond as appropriate to any credible allegations of misconduct, abuse, or activities that conflict with our core values,” the intelligence service assured.

Senators Uncover Secret CIA Programme Collecting Americans’ Data Without Any Oversight

11 February, 11:54 GMT

Headquartered at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington, the DIA has about 16,500 employees, about three-quarters of them civilians. The agency has its share of scandals under its belt, including allegations of coming up with new means to torture detainees using mind-altering substances, sleep deprivation, sexual humiliation and beatings, forcing straight detainees to watch gay porn, draping Muslim detainees with the Israeli flag, and, in some cases, impersonating FBI agents. During the ‘War on Terror’ in the mid-2000s, the agency was granted expanded powers to surveil US citizens. In 2011, the DIA was enveloped in a scandal in Germany after failing to report the murder of a policewoman by a Neo-Nazi terrorist group while surveilling an Islamist group.

Lithuania Prepares to Sell Former CIA ‘Extraordinary Rendition’ Site Where Abu Zubaydah Was Tortured

25 January, 00:10 GMT

STOP THE SABRE RATTLING

Russia warns West's 'daily' predictions of Ukraine invasion may have adverse consequences

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
20 February, 2022

'The daily exercise of announcing a date for Russia to invade Ukraine is a very bad practice,' Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said this could create 'detrimental consequences' [Mikhail Japaridze/TASS/Getty-archive]

Repeated Western predictions of a Russian invasion of Ukraine are provocative and may have adverse consequences, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on Sunday.

US President Joe Biden said on Friday he was convinced Russian President Vladimir Putin had made a decision to invade Ukraine, and though there was still room for diplomacy, he expected Russia to move on the country in the coming days. Russia has repeatedly denied preparing to invade Ukraine.

Putin takes no notice of such Western statements, Peskov told Rossiya 1 state TV.

"The fact is that this directly leads to an increase in tension. And when tension is escalated to the maximum, as it is now, for example, on the line of contact [in eastern Ukraine], then any spark, any unplanned incident or any minor planned provocation can lead to irreparable consequences," he added.

"So all this has - may have - detrimental consequences. The daily exercise of announcing a date for Russia to invade Ukraine is a very bad practice."

(Reuters)

'The only reason is to humiliate Muslims as much as possible': India lurches to the right with school hijab ban

Nationwide protests have erupted after a number of Muslim schoolgirls were prevented from wearing their hijab in the Indian state of Karnataka. The continued fuelling of anti-Muslim sentiment by the BJP will likely provoke further unrest.

Sabena Siddiqui
14 February, 2022

In the southern Indian state of Karnataka, a Muslim girl was recently told by Hindu nationalists they would prevent her from attending school should she continue wearing her hijab, an incidence further provoked by some government schools endorsing the policy in recent months.

Despite attempts by members of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) movement to intimidate her, Muskan Khan nonetheless made her way into school, unfazed.

As she would later explain to the Indian television channel NDTV, "I was just there to submit an assignment; that’s why I entered the college. They were not allowing me to go inside just because I was [wearing] the burqa. We will continue (our protests) because it (wearing a hijab) is a part of being a Muslim girl; they (friends from other communities) even supported us.”

"The only reason is to humiliate minority Muslims as much as possible. This is part of the ruling regime’s larger agenda of creating a Hindu state. It polarizes the society, helps them to get the majority in the elections, and with it getting an electoral legitimacy to enforce Hindu majoritarianism"

Muskan's refusal to be cowered by mob rule has since gone viral online and has led to widespread protests, starting in Karnataka's Udupi district, spreading nationwide. Notably, Karnataka's Udupi district is a BJP stronghold, previously described as a “laboratory for majoritarian Hindu politics” in the past.

In an attempt to end the crisis, the Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Mommai closed all the educational institutions in the state for three days. According to the state government, the clothes were banned as they disturbed “equality, integrity and public order.” But BC Nagesh, the state's education minister, refused to lift the ban, saying that, “those unwilling to follow uniform dress code can explore other options”.

Women take to the street holding placards at a candlelight march to protest against the Karnataka hijab ban in educational institutions [Getty Images]

Negotiations between government representatives and the protesting students have thus achieved little breakthrough. For a while, one of the schools did allow girls in hijab to attend school, but they were made to sit in separate classrooms. So in response, one of the students filed a case in the Karnataka High Court in the state capital of Bengaluru, stating that wearing the hijab was a fundamental right accorded by Articles 25, 26, 27 and 28 of the Indian constitution, which provides the freedom to profess, practice and propagate religion.

Though no final order has been passed by the judge, hearings continue.

Currently, a stand-off prevails in Karnataka with minority groups fearing that their persecution may continue to spiral out of control, a phenomenon lay at the feet of Narendra Modi's exclusionary policies. In this case, as has happened in so many others, ruling BJP members have made matters worse by issuing statements that defend the hijab ban.

Between virus and violence: Being Muslim in India

Discussing why religious intolerance is growing in India, Ashok Swain, Professor of Peace and Conflict Research at the Uppsala University in Sweden, told The New Arab, “The only reason is to humiliate minority Muslims as much as possible. This is part of the ruling regime’s larger agenda of creating a Hindu state. It polarizes the society, helps them to get the majority in the elections, and with it getting an electoral legitimacy to enforce Hindu majoritarianism.”

Modi’s 2014 election victory has strengthened hard-line Hindu supremacist lobbies, and in doing so undermined the country’s secular traditions. Since then, the ruling Bharatiya Jannata Party (BJP) has implemented a number of policies designed to appease the 79.8 percent Hindu majority in India. PM Modi has always maintained that his economic and social policies are beneficial for all Indians.

"Karnataka's Udupi district is a BJP stronghold, previously described as a “laboratory for majoritarian Hindu politics” in the past"

Sadly, the space for religious minorities is constantly shrinking in India, despite its ostensibly democratic character. Even as right-wing parties get more popularity and guarantee large electoral gains, deepening religious fault-lines threaten national unity. If not given urgent attention, there may be long-term damage.

Discussing the phenomena of right-wing politics in India, Lakshmi Sreenivasan, a psychologist and D&I consultant from Mumbai explained to The New Arab, “This is a politically motivated issue. We have seen how Right-Wing (RW) students marched in hordes with saffron colour coordinated shawls and ‘safaa’. To call this harassment would be trivializing the current plight of Muslim communities in India. The right-wing politics, abetted by the media and funded IT cells on social media have consistently targeted Muslim women for their religious identity, as well as vocal women from other communities for their opinion.”

In Sreenivasan’s opinion, “Minority persecution is foundational to India's right-wing policies. The hijab is just an excuse, this is entirely about a woman’s choice. The constitution gives the right to practice one’s religion and hence more than a practice of faith, it is about constitutional rights.”

There are fears that the matter may not end with the Muslim religious community, with the same right-wing lobbies now legislatively able to victimize Sikhs, Christian minorities and even lower castes Hindus in the days ahead.

As Sreenivasan has aptly summed it up, “segregation and exclusion only breed hatred, and that is precisely what India's right-wing is aiming for, so it is both critical and urgent that every citizen who believes in secularism, equal rights, and inclusion must stand in solidarity to protect Muslim communities’ constitutional rights.”

Over the last two decades, the use of the hijab has come under debate even in Western countries. The practice was banned in public schools in France in 2004 but India happens to have a much larger Muslim population at around 14 percent. Moreover, the use of the scarf was never criticized previously.

Modi's Anti-Muslim Jihad

As Zakia Soman, founder of a Muslim women’s group, the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan says, “singling out hijab for criticism is unfair and discriminatory. Those opposing it are on record decrying secularism and for openly espousing majoritarianism.”

This matter requires urgent attention from Indian politicians and policymakers before it is too late. Considering the ban “a culmination of a growing climate of hate against Muslims,” Afreen Fatima, a student activist in New Delhi has said, “What we are seeing is an attempt to make Muslim women invisible and push them out of public spaces."

Sabena Siddiqui is a foreign affairs journalist, lawyer, and geopolitical analyst specialising in modern China, the Belt and Road Initiative, the Middle East, and South Asia.

Follow her on Twitter: @sabena_siddiqi

Iranian teachers protest in more than 100 cities: media

The demonstrations on Saturday were the latest in a string of rallies by teachers as well as other public sector employees in recent months over the impact of soaring inflation on incomes.

The New Arab Staff & Agencies
20 February, 2022

Thousands of Iranian teachers have protested in more than 100 cities [Getty]

Thousands of Iranian teachers have protested in more than 100 cities against delays in salary and pension reforms, a local newspaper reported on Sunday.

The demonstrations on Saturday were the latest in a string of rallies by teachers as well as other public sector employees in recent months over the impact of soaring inflation on incomes.

Reformist newspaper Etemad said teachers demonstrated outside parliament in the capital Tehran and in front of education ministry offices in provincial capitals including Isfahan, Shiraz and Mashhad.

The teachers have for months demanded that the government speed up the implementation of reforms that would see their salaries better reflect their experience and performance.

Last week, Iran's parliament said the new system, which has been delayed for more than a decade, will be implemented from the start of the new Iranian calendar year, which begins on March 21.

Iran teachers protest low wages, demand '80% ranking plan'

The demonstrators have also demanded that their pensions be aligned with those of other public sector employees.

Protesters moreover called on the authorities to release teachers detained in earlier protests.

The educators chanted "The jailed teachers should be freed" and "From Tehran to Khorasan, teachers are in prison", during the protests on Saturday, according to the newspaper.

Protesters said 15 teachers were arrested during clashes with security forces across the country, according to Etemad.

Hit by biting economic sanctions imposed since 2018 by the United States, Iran has seen inflation soar to over 40 percent, exacting a heavy toll on the standard of living of public sector staff and others on fixed incomes.

Civil servants in one of Iran's most powerful sectors, the judiciary, held rare demonstrations in January calling for their pay to be increased.

MYOB
Chicago police, firefighters donated to Canadian trucker convoy

One firefighter apparently used an official city email address to contribute.

by Jim Daley

February 17, 2022

Engine 123 of the Chicago Fire Department.Credit: Eric Haak

About 200 Chicagoans donated more than $13,000 to a fundraiser for truckers who blockaded the Canadian capital and key border crossings to protest COVID restrictions, according to data released by the nonprofit Distributed Denial of Secrets (DDoSecrets).

More than $900 of that was apparently donated by a dozen Chicago Police Department (CPD) and Chicago Fire Department (CFD) employees, one of whom used a city email address on the donation form.

The self-styled “Freedom Convoy” began last month, when truckers protesting vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions descended on Ottawa, Canada’s capital. Truckers also blocked traffic at border crossings in Montana and Michigan, where they shut down the Ambassador Bridge—normally the busiest international crossing in North America—for days. On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau invoked rarely used emergency powers to put a halt to the protests.

The donations were collected via the website GiveSendGo, which touts itself as “The Leader In Christian Fundraising.” Convoy supporters used the website to give at least $8.7 million to the truckers’ campaign after the crowdfunding site GoFundMe shut down a similar fundraiser for violating its rules on violence and unlawful activity. More than half of the donations given to the truckers via GiveSendGo came from the U.S. Last year, GiveSendGo hosted a fundraiser for Kyle Rittenhouse, who shot and killed two men in Kenosha, Wisconsin during protests against the police shooting of Jacob Blake, after GoFundMe halted donations during Rittenhouse’s trial.

On Sunday, hackers breached GiveSendGo and stole documents showing who gave donations to the truckers. DDoSecrets, a whistleblower website that released a cache of Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s emails last year, made the documents available to journalists and researchers. The documents include donor information related to a “Freedom Convoy 2022” fundraiser and an “Adopt-a-Trucker” campaign.

The Reader reviewed the data, which includes names, email addresses, ZIP codes, and other identifying information of donors as well as the amounts each gave, and compared the lists to a database of current city employees.

Nine donations totaling more than $400 apparently came from fire department employees. The largest was $110, from a donor who is listed as a firefighter in the city’s employee database.

One donation to the “Adopt-a-Trucker” fundraising campaign was associated with the official city email address of Rocco Diaz, a Chicago firefighter. The donation was made with the comment “Love from Chicago!”

Diaz did not respond to emails from the Reader. A fire department spokesperson said that “use of a City of Chicago email account for non-city business is strictly prohibited,” and that “this specific matter will be referred for investigation.”

One of the largest donations from a Chicago ZIP code was for $200, and apparently came from a police officer with more than 30 years in the department. A police lieutenant donated $100. Another officer apparently gave $50. A former Chicago cop who previously ran for state legislative office as a Democrat also gave to the fundraiser.

A CPD spokesperson referred the Reader to a department policy which states members will not be disciplined for engaging in lawful activities involving the advocacy of ideas or the practice of any belief.

Fox News staffer made up story about Canadian protester getting trampled — and duped Ted Cruz: report

John Wright
February 19, 2022

Senator Ted Cruz speaking with attendees at the 2021 

Young Latino Leadership Summit. (Gage Skidmore)

Fox News contributor Sara Carter has retracted an "entirely fictitious" story about a Canadian "freedom convoy" protester getting trampled by a police horse, the Daily Beast reported Saturday.

“Reports are the woman trampled by a Canadian horse patrol just died at the hospital ... #Trudeau #FreedomConvoyCanada,” Carter tweeted on Friday.

Carter has 1.3 million Twitter followers, and her post was amplified by conservatives including Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Fox Nation hosts Diamond and Silk. But on Saturday morning, Carter — who claims to be an "award-winning correspondent" and is frequently called upon by host Sean Hannity — admitted the story was false.

“The Reports I was given earlier yesterday from sources on the ground that someone may have died at a hospital during the trampling was wrong,” Carter tweeted, adding that “someone was taken to a hospital with a heart condition - not due to trampling. I want to clarify this again and apologize for any confusion.”

Carter subsequently deleted her original tweet — but only after being contacted by the Daily Beast on Saturday evening. And not until after Cruz deleted his retweet – in which he had written above Carter's original post, "This...is...horrific."

"I deleted my retweet about a Canadian protestor being trampled to death because the journalist who first reported it now says it was in error," Cruz wrote on Saturday afternoon. "I remain deeply concerned about the abuse—seizing money & employing violence against peaceful protesters—that we’re seeing in Canada."

FASCISTS FIGHT FOR FREEDOM

Terrorism is an organized attempt to intimidate a civilian population -- the trucker siege checks those boxes

Lindsay Beyerstein
February 20, 2022

RAW STORY

Protesters gather along Wellington Street as a protest against coronavirus restrictions that has been marked by gridlock and the sound of truck horns reaches its 14th day in Ottawa, Canada on February 10, 2022. © Nick Iwanyshyn, AP

Tow trucks are on the move in Ottawa. Local and federal police, empowered by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s recent declaration of national emergency, are finally dismantling the truck blockades that have paralyzed Canada’s capital city for over three weeks.

A crisis that local police declared unsolvable under existing law is being methodically dismantled thanks to the temporary powers invoked under the Emergencies Act. The act puts teeth in enforcement without suspending the constitutional rights of the truckers.

Conservative members of Parliament and convoy organizers objected to the state of emergency using suspiciously similar talking points.

The MPs and their trucker pals claim this isn’t a big enough emergency to justify its use. If the siege of Canada’s capital city isn’t big enough, what could possibly qualify? Conservatives claim to want the trucks removed from downtown but they know that’s impossible without emergency powers. The local police admit they were powerless to remove them without federal help, in part because local towing companies had been harassed and intimidated by the truckers.

The “freedom convoy” is more serious than the protracted siege of Ottawa. It’s a coordinated attack on Canada’s economy and democracy.

The truckers’ stated aim is to bring down the Trudeau government by strangling the cross-border trade underpinnning the Canadian economy. At the peak of the border blockades, the convoy was costing the Canadian economy nearly half a billion dollars a day.

The biggest blockades were cleared with federal help before the state of emergency went into effect, but the fight to keep the border open continues. Convoy supporters tried to re-block the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit but were rebuffed by police.

The “freedom convoy” is more serious than the protracted siege of Ottawa. It’s a coordinated attack on Canada’s economy and democracy.


The truckers’ stated aim is to bring down the Trudeau government by strangling the cross-border trade underpinnning the Canadian economy. At the peak of the border blockades, the convoy was costing the Canadian economy nearly half a billion dollars a day.

The biggest blockades were cleared with federal help before the state of emergency went into effect, but the fight to keep the border open continues. Convoy supporters tried to re-block the Ambassador Bridge from Windsor to Detroit but were rebuffed by police.

There’s good reason to suspect some truckers are heavily armed. Four members of the Freedom Convoy were arrested in Alberta for allegedly plotting to murder police officers. The raid that took these suspects into custody also uncovered a large cache of illegal weapons.

The alleged plotters are affiliated with the far-right Dialogon movement which, for the uninitiated, could be called the Boogs of Canada. Like the Boogaloo Boys, the Dialogons geminated online with an ironic aesthetic and then transitioned to real-life violence.

Many media accounts have portrayed extremists as a small faction within a much larger and less radical movement. This overlooks the glaringly obvious fact that everything they do is radical. Illegally occupying a G7 capital and blocking billions in trade is radical.

One of the hallmarks of terrorism is an organized attempt to intimidate or coerce a civilian population to achieve political goals.

The trucker siege checks those boxes.

Hopped up on anti-vaccine conspiracy theories and racism, insurgents vented their rage on health care workers and residents of Ottawa’s downtown core. The police set up a special hotline for residents to report hate crimes by occupiers, which as of two weeks ago had received over 400 calls, resulting in 50 investigations and 11 hate crimes charges. The siege also included a critical infrastructure attack on the city’s 911 system. Ambulances were pelted with rocks. Suspected convoyers tried to set an apartment building on fire after residents clashed with occupiers over late-night fireworks.

Earlier this week, Trudeau rose in the House of Commons to rebuke the Conservative Party members of parliament who support the truckers and oppose the declaration of national emergency.

"Conservative Party members can stand with people who wave swastikas. They can stand with people who wave the Confederate flag," the prime minister said. “We will choose to stand with Canadians who deserve to be able to get to their jobs, to be able to get their lives back. These illegal protests need to stop, and they will."

Since this is incontrovertibly true, the Conservatives spent days pretending to be offended by Trudeau’s gall to mention the iconography of hate we all saw on television, which groups like AntiHate.ca have been meticulously documenting for weeks.

Trudeau has finally acted decisively to end the fascist takeover of his nation’s capital. The only question is why it took him so long.

Lindsay Beyerstein covers legal affairs, health care and politics. An award-winning documentary filmmaker, she’s a judge for the Sidney Hillman Foundation. Find her @beyerstein.

Canada: Checkpoints in British Columbia due to Possible Convoy


Checkpoints in Surrey, B.C. to handle the situation regarding protest convoy.

 Feb. 18, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/@CanadaNews

Published 18 February 2022

It is expected another protest convoy of big rigs and passenger vehicles heading for the Lower Mainland from the Interior. In this location, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) has set up checkpoints in Surrey, British Columbia (B.C.) to handle the situation.

The checkpoint is located along 176th Street, just north of the international border, in an attempt to avoid significant disturbances like those of last week. To cross through, all vehicles traveling south of 8th Avenue will be checked to confirm they have legitimate business at the border.

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The protests against the federal government are connected to mandates concerning COVID-related health countermeasures, among other grievances.

There has not been further information on additional operational plans beyond the checkpoint and a heavy presence.

Corporal Vanessa Munn said that they would closely monitor the situation and take enforcement in accord with the circumstances regarding the number of protesters.



It can be seen on social media trucks gathering in several parts of the province, preparing to make its way to the Lower Continent. The police made a dozen arrests on Monday in the interest of clearing protesters blocking 176th Street near the crossing.

Anita Huberman, president and CEO of the Surrey Board of Trade, qualified such protests counterproductive. She said they would only worsen, chiefly for the local economy.

The police are trying to guarantee the usually busy flow of trucks transporting goods at the crossing.