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Letters  

Kelowna gets a week off

Hi Kelowna,

We got a Saturday off.

There was Mega Rally in Vancouver on Saturday. A covid bus of our "Freedom Fighters" went down to it.

Sorry about that Vancouver.

I wandered down to Stuart Park to see if anyone would show up despite that.

A handful of people milled around not quite sure what to do without any guidance. No signs (well one), no speakers, no chanting, no anything. Maybe they weren't invited? Maybe they don't pay attention at the rallies?

I knew they were going.

What struck me is that if freedom really mattered, they wouldn't need their leader (who isn't their leader) to tell them to protest. They would do it no matter what. I know I would. If freedom was my agenda I'd be out there leading the pack despite the leader (who isn't their leader) being in Vancouver speaking.

And yet we're the sheeple. The hypocrisy is overwhelming.

I want to tell you about what happened in Edmonton on Saturday though. At the "Freedom March" there.
Because they are all connected. It is always the same speakers. It is always the same organizations. They run a circuit.

There were tiki torches in Edmonton on Saturday. Big deal you might say. It is a big deal if pay attention. Tiki torches have become a symbol of white supremacy since Charlottesville. Since white supremacists marched with them, chanted antisemitic remarks and then murdered Heather Heyer.

Why did they have tiki torches in Edmonton? To send a message. Plain and simple.

As Kelowna pretends this is about masks because it is easier, I was told yesterday by a white woman that she doesn't care if the people she is standing next to are racist because she supports the message of freedom. I asked if she would care if they were rapists. She called me a nasty woman. Where have we heard that before?

It is so easy for white women to support white supremacy. Because it benefits us. It isn't as easy to support to misogyny. And yet, you can't have one without the other.

"Freedom" is fast becoming synonymous with white supremacy in this country because we've allowed it.
All of us. But especially Kelowna.

These rallies have gone unchecked by not only the RCMP, but by the city, the province, public health and by the community.

It is time to start paying attention to the whole movement. Because they are all connected. They work as one.

We must as well.

The canary in the coal mine has not come back. It won't.

Heather Friesen, Kelowna



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