Iconic Good Humour
One of the best moments in the Freedom Convoy protest happened a year ago yesterday.
Thousands of Canadians responded to police seizures of Freedom Convoy fuel by joining the protest with Jerry cans in hand. After police announced that anyone supplying the truckers risked arrest, public defiance was unmistakable. But it was also playful and good-humoured.
As far as I know, I was the only journalist to witness the early stages of the Jerry Can Jive, approximately 24 hours after I arrived in Ottawa. Video shot by bystanders went viral on social media and made people laugh. Among those chuckling were police officers on the streets of Ottawa.
This was a lighthearted, creative, and marvelously visual publicity stunt. Click the box directly below to read how I described matters nine months ago. Further down are two related posts, both with fun Jerry can photos.
I loved this moment. Our family was beside itself with every theft, the gas, the $10 & $20 donations, we needed this. Recently someone reposted an old FB post inviting everyone to be part of the biggest troll in history and it was. It was humour and good spirits disarming tyranny.
...the Jerry Cans even made an appearance in Calgary - as the thousands that gathered every Saturday in Central Park brought them too. And there were hockey sticks too - with Canadian flags, a true sign of white supremacists according to the CBC! The most memorable protest signs I saw were from black Canadians - saying their Prime Minister calling them racist!!!