A day after the Rolling Thunder event wrapped up in Ottawa, which some feared would involve symbols of hate like swastikas and Confederate flags, two communist flags were spotted at a May Day rally in front of city hall..The Ontario Federation of Labour held a province-wide day of action for a better Ontario on May 1, which led to dozens of people protesting outside Ottawa City Hall for better wages, affordable housing, paid sick days, and an end to racism and oppression..At least two communist flags can be seen flying in front of city hall, said David Akin in a Twitter video posted by the Global New chief political correspondent. No mainstream media outlets covered the incident.The Freedom Convoy protests of February sparked national outrage when two Nazi flags and a Confederate flag were spotted. Days later, several protestors told theWestern Standard that the crowd had immediately condemned the people holding the Nazi flags and told them to leave the event..According to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, an estimated 17 million people were murdered by the German Nazi regime and their collaborators between 1933 and 1945..In response to the flags, NDP MP Peter Julian introduced a private member’s bill that would ban hate symbols..Bill C-229 would ban, “swastikas and other Nazi emblems of the genocidal regime, Klu Klux Klan symbols and the Confederate flag, symbols of slavery, racism, and of white supremacy,” but no mention was made of the communist flag..While many left-leaning Canadians see the hammer and sickle as a symbol of workers’ rights and better wages, it has a more sinister meaning for many victims of communism. During the 20th century, communist countries were responsible for the deaths of tens of millions of people, with estimates ranging from 60 million killed to over 100 million..Soviet politician and historian.Alexander Nikolaevich Yakovlev estimated that the Soviet Union was responsible for 20 to 25 million deaths. Under Cambodia’s communist leader Pol Pot, an estimated.1.5 to 2 million.Cambodians died of starvation, execution, disease or overwork, which was one-quarter of the country’s total population..China, the world’s most populous country and still under communist rule, has been engaging in a campaign of genocide against its 12 million Muslim Uyghurs. And in recent months, the country has been attempting an authoritarian “Zero-COVID” policy, leading to starvation, suicides, and economic ruin..In March of 2022, several local Ukrainians were outraged to see a communist flag flying from the mast of a boat at a Vancouver marina as reported by CTV news..“It’s what a Nazi flag would be to a Jew, OK?” said one woman. “It’s a reminder of the horrors of the past. It’s a symbol of evil, pure evil.”.Matthew Horwood is the Parliamentary Bureau Chief of the Western Standard.mhorwood@westernstandard.news.Twitter.com/@Matt_HorwoodWS
