Please Don't Go
On one side belligerent rhetoric from the authorities. On the other, nonstop encouragement from ordinary people.
As the Ottawa protest dragged on, the rhetoric of local politicians became more hostile and more hyperbolic. Police statements became more belligerent. But something else was going on.
When interviewed, many Freedom Convoy participants say members of the public implored them to stand firm, to hold the line, to not give up. At street level, that was taking place every day.
Young mothers told the truckers - sometimes tearfully - that their children’s future was at stake. War veterans, medals on their chest, thanked them for keeping freedom alive. Immigrants who’d escaped oppression reminded them the stakes were high.
The authorities, the establishment, were exerting very real pressure. But a fresh wind was blowing, from an altogether different direction. Ordinary people. Together, those throngs of ordinary people were a powerful countervailing force.
