The anti-fascist protests in Britain are almost the opposite of what happened in Ottawa during the fascist mob "Freedom Convoy" occupation. Following the British policing example, the Convoy fascists were not cleaned out by the Ottawa police. Inevitably, a local street response was needed to confront the Convoy fascists and drive them out.
Widespread reports of fascist violence circulated during the fascist Convoy occupation, and a lot of it was confirmed. Convoy fascists harassed and attacked downtown workers, homeless people, and invaded of the Shepherds of Good Hope food kitchen. These attacks demanded an immediate anti-fascist street defense.
What instead happened was a concerted effort by erstwhile progressive liberals in downtown Ottawa to spike the necessary anti-fascist strategy in the very parts of Centretown and Lower Town where the Convoy fascists controlled the streets. Downtown councilor Catherine McKenney, with support from a network of NGO types and some labour brass, spiked an early attempt at a street response, resulting in a shocking 15 day delay until the first counter-protest.
Avoiding versus confronting
The counter-protest was also a totally defanged and symbolic march. It was kept south of the 417, away from Centretown and away from the 3,000 Convoy fascists gathering that Saturday on Parliament Hill. There was no attempt to march north from the Glebe along Bank Street and through Centretown to reclaim the streets. If advertised effectively through flyering, such efforts may well have seen its ranks swell by hundreds of local residents from Centretown's apartment blocks and surrounding neighbourhoods.
A day later, on February 13, counter-protesters mounted a direct blockade of Convoy reinforcements - the Battle of Billings Bridge - the wind was taken out of the sails of the fascists in Ottawa who suffered their first significant defeat. Of course the people of Ottawa were capable of this! There is also a tense video of three brave protesters on Elgin Street blockading Convoy vehicles. It is not clear who did this or if they had backup, but this was much closer to the heart of the Convoy occupation. Nearby Minto Park has been a traditional gathering point for protests. There are numerous gathering points in downtown Ottawa where people could have gathered before marching on the fascists. In Centretown, Dundonald Park is a very accessible location. The UOttawa campus is an easy gathering points for a march on Lower Town, as is Macdonald Gardens near the bridge to Vanier. All these locations are surrounded by dense residential areas of working people and students who could have been flyered and drawn into action to defend their city, their neighbours, and their rights against the fascist threat.
The following day, February 14, the federal authorities finally moved on the Convoy, instigating the arrests of an armed fascist group in Alberta penetrated by RCMP agents (this has a long history) and using it as immediate pretext for the Emergencies Act that spelled the end of the fascist occupations in Ottawa, the Windsor Bridge, and Coutts, Alberta border crossing.
The purpose and effect of anti-fascist street action
There is no guarantee what would have happened if there had been earlier anti-fascist protests in Ottawa, but it would have almost certainly transformed the dynamics of the conflict by introducing a new power on the streets that could galvanized majority opposition to the Convoy fascists. It would have offered real leadership by putting forward a concrete alternative to waiting around for police and government authorities to deal with the fascists. It would have put the fascists on the backfoot for once and started to ward off continued support for the Convoy in the streets.
As the British anti-fascist movement has always made clear, a major reason counter-protests must be organized (the bigger, the better), is to drive away active support for fascist street actions. There are layers of people who support the fascists but will stay in their bunkers the moment there's the threat of confrontation, even embarrassment. In short, street protests strike directly at the heart of fascist street tactics. The fascist goal is to establish themselves on the streets, to conduct themselves as they see fit without police or public interference, in order to draw out their supporters from their shitholes and terrorize their enemies (that's everyone, but maybe not all at once) and assert themselves through violence and fear over society. If they are whipped in the streets, their supporters stay away. The streets cannot be ceded. They must be confronted. They must be smashed.
Learning the lessons
These are the lessons from Britain right now. We have to learn them here. Even with the fascists now on the run in Britain as anti-fascist street protests grow larger, we should anticipate the fascists in Canada learning from what just happened in Britain.
Just a few months ago Kingston, Ontario witnessed the rapid spread of deadly racist lies spread about a new immigrant from India who was allegedly luring children at a public park. This was a complete lie, but it spread like wildfire within a day. Even the Kingston police condemned it and demanded all social media posts be removed. The fascists will not always miss these opportunities. They did not in Britain.
Are we ready? What is the state of our local anti-racist and anti-fascist networks? Let's ask each other: will we take the streets when needed? Who else can we bring? Do we have the local networks who understand the fascist threat and need to hold the streets in self-defense? What do we need to do get better prepared and expand our ranks?