Room for all in ‘mainstream’ politics

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/03/2022 (903 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

THERE was always going to be a reckoning for the truckers.

From the time truckers and their supporters set up shop (and hot tub) on the streets of Ottawa, the police were out in force snapping photos of licence plates and collecting evidence that would eventually be used to lay charges. Accordingly, we have been hearing stories of charges that, together with frozen bank accounts linked to the funding of the convoy protests, have put many of the people involved in very difficult situations.

That’s only fair, since in a system characterized by the rule of law, we must expect the police to impartially investigate law-breaking and lay charges.

The arrests of convoy leaders such as Tamara Lich and Pat King seem entirely appropriate. Other participants who were not charged are nevertheless facing their own reckonings, in the form of frozen bank accounts, seized vehicles, social ostracization and, in some cases, financial ruin.

The case of protester Martin Anglehart, reported last week, is one notable example. As it turned out, Anglehart did not hold strong views about vaccine mandates but was reportedly stung by pandemic restrictions that prevented him from visiting a dying friend in hospital. Upon hearing of the convoy, he signed up and drove to Ottawa, where he performed various tasks for protesters, including delivering fuel and doing laundry.

More importantly, Anglehart tapped out his savings to support the truckers, foolishly sending roughly $13,000 to smooth-talking organizers. He expected to be repaid but, of course, wasn’t. When his truck was impounded by Ottawa police, Anglehart lacked the money to retrieve it.

With no money and no job, Anglehart lost his rental suite and is now homeless, living in a car in Hope, B.C. He now regrets his actions, and is apologetic to the people of Ottawa who, for weeks, had their community stolen from them by the rowdy protesters.

As one would expect, the response to Anglehart’s apology online was somewhat less than magnanimous. Armies of Twitter users lined up to celebrate Anglehart’s plight and argue that he deserved everything that had happened, and more. It’s certainly true that Anglehart is now reaping the consequences of his own actions, but surely it’s possible for us to also feel sympathy and wonder how so many could have been led into such situations.

It’s hard to avoid the conclusion that Anglehart is someone who was enticed by hucksters into a movement that has ultimately ruined him. But how? University of Ottawa researcher Joao Velloso, who researched the convoy protesters, emphasized the importance of solidarity community as one factor drawing people to the protests: “You may have people who (were) seeking a sense of community.” Anglehart, who lacked strong views on vaccines, seems to fall into that category. One wonders how many of the others participating in Ottawa did, as well.

In a democracy, the hope is that people can be drawn into respectable, mainstream politics and contribute to our civic life in this way. When someone with even stridently ideological views joins a mainstream political party, a few things happen. First, their own views are aggregated within a much broader set of member and activist opinions. Views moderate. Second, people invest in the possibility of winning elections and power, and their views change to some extent in response. Rather than sitting around griping, they are participating in and investing their effort into real democratic races for power.

Perhaps most importantly, getting involved in mainstream politics pulls people away from their screens, Twitter feeds, and Subreddits, and situates them within groups of real people with shared goals. There is a sense of community in this form of politics that people like Angelhart may have been seeking in Ottawa.

I’ve seen this myself: many grassroots party people in this country seem strikingly driven to participate largely to meet up and work with friends and comrades. Political scientists even have a term for this: solidary incentives.

Over the course of the pandemic, far too many Canadians have been drawn to the fringes, whether it’s the convoy or the People’s Party, or worse. That’s their fault. But it also represents a failure on the part of mainstream institutions and actors — politicians, media, people like me who write opinion pieces in newspapers — to make space for those whose views and concerns do not always line up perfectly with those of polite society.

Instead, the first impulse seems to be to dismiss, condemn and shun.

Are we doing everything we can to make space for all in our democratic politics? To not do so is to both abandon Canadians such as Anglehart to the monstrous figures who recruit on the fringes of our society and to invite future convoys, whatever form they might take.

Royce Koop is a professor of political studies at the University of Manitoba and academic director of the Centre for Social Science Research and Policy.