SLOUCHING FROM 2022 TOWARD 2023

What have we learned? What was the good, the bad, and the ugly? What can we expect in 2023?

(Reproduced from Telegram)

This is the last day of what was, for the most part, a terrible year—about as bad as 2021, and probably worse. It was terrible in the sense of the authoritarian repression we witnessed in Canada, the mounting demonization and discrimination against those who chose to exercise their rights, and then the economic and financial chaos ensuing from inflation generated by massive government spending to finance the lockdowns.

In Quebec and in Canada more broadly, we endured being blamed for the spread of Omicron; the expansion of exclusion zones under the domestic "vaccine passport" system; an outright travel ban, both domestic and international; threats of fines and special taxation for refusing the shots; calls for our imprisonment; bank accounts of protesters frozen; continued expulsions of students and suspensions and firings of educators, academic support staff, nurses, and other healthcare workers, as well as a full range of public service personnel. Those who defended their right to bodily autonomy and personal medical choice, in many cases lost their jobs and their homes. Many Canadians fled the country permanently, and in record numbers. For those of us in Canada, the imposition of the Emergencies Act, to crush a peaceful protest, will live on in infamy as the signature event of 2022.

And now everyone else is beginning to suffer too: devalued wages and savings; businesses that have closed for good; bankruptcies; record-breaking demands on food banks; and desperation caused by poverty and lack of treatment so bad that it causes some to contemplate suicide. Our so-called public health system is in a state of complete collapse.

Sitting on top of that has been a smirking, authoritarian regime that sadistically slapped on one new mandate after another, as if to deliberately torture its victims pyschologically. When the opportunistic Covid restrictions were “suspended,” the regime turned its attention, in quick succession to: Internet censorship bills; reductions of nitrogen use in agriculture; disarming Canadian gun owners; and more recently, a plan to eliminate the sale of all gas-powered vehicles in Canada in the next decade. Political opposition is automatically demonized and disqualified as “undermining our democracy”.

We are at the beginning of what is likely to be a period that, in social and economic terms, will be far worse than the Great Depression. Add to that the rebirth of the threat of global nuclear war. From bad we have suddenly moved to the really ugly.

So what was “good”? Omicron blasted massive holes in the dominant narrative of “vaccine efficacy”. Governments imposing new rounds of restrictions, gulped for air when pressed for the scientific basis of their decisions. More people realized that they had been ripped off, their new social contract betrayed: they believed that the way out of “the pandemic” was through “vaccination”—only the latter did nothing to attenuate the former. Vaccine uptake across the board, for all known infectious diseases, has plummeted. Booster uptake for Covid stalled many months ago. Almost nobody is choosing to wear a mask, even as we are told that “Covid is still with us...we are in the middle of a pandemic”. Indeed, the authorities cannot even speak with one voice, or maintain a consistent message: Covid is over, says one; we are past the acute phase of the pandemic, says the other; Covid is endemic; Covid is less dangerous than the flu, etc. Major reversals have been logged, on vax safety, vax efficacy, on natural immunity, on risks for youths, on the safety of blood supplies, and on masks. Advocates of restrictions now call for an amnesty, claiming they didn’t know that what they were doing was wrong—and they were instantly rebuffed by a mass of writers.

What was also good—wonderful—was the heroism and courage of the mighty Freedom Convoy. In the depths of a dark and bitter winter, for weeks we were treated to the monumental spectacle of streaming lines of trucks racing across Canada, festooned with massive flags, and greeted by dozens and hundreds at each highway overpass. We had never seen anything like it before in Canada, and it inspired truckers to launch their own version of the convoy in the US, as well as inspiring convoys of Dutch and German farmers.

And now we even see glimmers of accountability, perhaps justice. In Canada we had the Public Order Emergency Commission, plus Citizens’ Hearings, and a new round of citizens’ hearings to come. Politicians in Canada, Liberal, Conservative, and NDP, have called for formal governmental inquiries into the management of the “pandemic”. A parliamentary inquiry into the invocation of the Emergencies Act continued throughout the year. The courts are still full of cases dealing with fines and firings. In the US, Senator Ron Johnson has held hearings in the Senate on vax dangers and censorship of doctors. Then we had the release of the Pfizer files. And the brightest prospect of them all: a state grand jury established in Florida under Governor Ron DeSantis, to investigate vax wrongdoing and possibly file indictments and lay charges.

It is very difficult to foresee what could happen in 2023. Already we see almost desperate attempts to recreate the atmosphere of 2020 all over again, once more featuring China as the supposed point of origin of “our worries”. But we also see massive indifference among the population. What is certain is that the domestic and global recession will get much worse. Inevitably, at least in some countries, this will spark large rebellions. Governments sitting in power at this moment, will not be there this time next year. By the summer of 2023, the election spectacle in the US will resume, as Americans prepare for presidential and congressional elections in 2024, and that will add even more fuel to a country that is already on fire.

We wish you those things that could make for greater happiness, in every new year to come. We thus wish you:

• STRENGTH: Courage, determination, and dedication to your health

• INDEPENDENCE: realizing greater ability to rely on yourself, and to do for yourself

• RESISTANCE: fight back whenever possible, exit whatever is undesirable

• PEACE OF MIND: strive for it, and treasure it when you gain it

• FREEDOM: learn how to live in freedom, our ultimate goal

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Addendum:

EXPANDING THE VOCABULARY OF CANADIANS—A “MUST” FOR 2023

As we hear utterly distressing and depressing stories of Canadians visiting food banks (in record numbers), we also hear that some of them are asking for assistance in committing suicide. Suicide is an act of violence. All we ask is that if you are contemplating violence, then think of better ways of directing your action—more external, and never internal (against yourself).

Here are some KEY WORDS that need to be added to the vocabulary of downtrodden Canadians in 2023:

✊RESISTANCE

✊RIOT

✊REBELLION

✊UPRISING

✊REVOLUTION

We need to encourage people to think the thoughts that are unthinkable, and to make governance a nightmare for those who wish to continue harming citizens.

But we also need to talk, and act, more seriously when it comes to building alternatives, to living the kind of life that people deserve, and which fulfills their most important needs as human beings.

Let's try to chart a new course for 2023.