Canadian truckers' COVID 'freedom' fight is absurd next to Ukraine's struggle with Russia

There’s nothing like a real crisis to expose the folly of one that’s fake, especially when they both claim the same fundamental right is at risk.

In one case, that’s freedom. In the other, it’s “freedom.”

As shelling, gunfire, lies about genocide and Russian recognition of two breakaway Ukrainian republics signal war may be imminent, it’s increasingly difficult to ignore absurd exhortations about standing up to “creeping tyranny,” “a terrifying shift” to “dictatorship” and the “fight for freedom” – in that totalitarian dystopia known as Canada. 

They're gone now, the Canadian truckers angry about cross-border COVID vaccine and quarantine requirements and other COVID restrictions ("biomedical fascism" in fundraising-speak). But they clogged up several cities for weeks before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau finally invoked national emergency powers to end the blockades.

US 'freedom convoys' could be next

The drama next door inevitably has galvanized American champions of “freedom.” “These same tyrannical, thuggish tactics will come to America if we don’t stand up and say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH,” the Truckers for Freedom group writes, “which is why we’re asking you to make a secure donation" to fund a March 2 “freedom convoy” from California to Washington, D.C. 

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Actually, what happened in Canada was that national leaders gave police the resources and authority they needed to clear out scores of trucks and hundreds of protesters who blocked a major international crossing to Detroit, costing the auto industry $300 million. For three weeks, they jammed Ottawa's downtown Parliament Hill area with vehicles, a stage and structures to sleep in.

"Something had to be done," British Columbia Premier John Horgan said Sunday. 

Stressed out locals in the national capital put up with constant horn honking, firecracker explosions, racial and LGBTQ slurs, symbols like swastikas and a Confederate flag, even fires set in their buildings. Canadian Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino described them as "terrorized."

Scores of protesters have now been arrested, trucks towed and financial accounts frozen. They were warned this would happen if they didn't leave. 

The American groups emailing for dollars say they are “fed up” with “unscientific and unconstitutional government overreach” they’ve “endured” for two years. But much like their Canadian counterparts – who wrongly blame Trudeau for COVID requirements imposed by local leaders and who could not escape U.S. border mandates even if Trudeau canceled Canada's – the U.S. activists are misfiring.

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They are behind the curve on their big fight against COVID-19 restrictions. Courts have dispensed with some requirements, and U.S. and state policies are continuing to evolve as the omicron surge subsides and vaccinated people largely avoid severe disease, hospitalization and death. In fact, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to release new guidance this month for localities on when to ease masking policies.

If politics are being played, there’s plenty to go around. COVID fatigue and public pressure no doubt helped trigger a wave of Democratic governors deciding this month to relax restrictions. But don't mistake pressure for consensus. In a CBS News/YouGov poll this month, for instance, 56% of Americans backed state mask mandates and 57% of parents with school-age children said masks should be required at school. 

And let's not pretend the Canadian protesters speak for most Canadians or even most truckers. Majorities in several polls said they disapproved of the convoy protests and disagreed with easing COVID-19 restrictions. Nearly 90% of Canadian truckers are vaccinated.

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Vaccine mandates are not exactly unheard of in America. My sons needed proof of vaccinations to attend school. My husband still remembers Army medics using air gun injectors to shoot vaccines into both his arms (he does not recall "no thanks" being an option).

Now, during the pandemic, the “freedom” to be unvaccinated means the freedom to contract COVID – potentially endangering yourself, your vulnerable relatives, friends, neighbors and colleagues, and people who desperately need hospital beds for other conditions.

A vaccine for postwar security

That is not the kind of freedom Ukraine is fighting for. Ukrainians don’t have a death wish. They want to survive, as individuals and as a nation, and many have made clear they will resist Russian imperialism on the battlefield if they must.

Only about a third of Ukrainians had a positive attitude toward Russia in a survey this month by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology. In November, asked which economic alliance they would prefer in a poll by the International Republican Institute, 58% favored joining the European Union – nearly three times as many as those who picked a Customs Union that includes Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. And 54% wanted Ukraine to join NATO.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke for his people last weekend when he chided America and Europe for ignoring “the terrible lessons of history,” the disastrous consequences of appeasement and the utter failure of postwar security arrangements to meet the moment: “This is a cough syrup when you need a coronavirus vaccine.”

The irony of the metaphor would be lost on the Canadian truckers and their American friends. They are fighting for the right to shun a life-saving vaccine while Ukrainians – who could lose thousands of lives and their country itself – would give anything for protection as powerful as that vaccine.

Jill Lawrence is a columnist for Paste BN and author of "The Art of the Political Deal: How Congress Beat the Odds and Broke Through Gridlock." Follow her on Twitter: @JillDLawrence