Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Christine Anderson will be watching intently from afar when the anticipated 1,000-strong Rolling Thunder motorcycle convoy rolls into Ottawa this weekend..“I support citizens standing up to governments [that] basically want to undermine democracy to abolish it because that is what’s happening,” said Anderson, during a telephone interview from Brussels, Belgium..“I’ve always been very clear about advocating individual freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. I see that threatened in all the Western democracies.”.“People need to understand our democracies are under attack.” .That includes Canada at the hands of its current government..Anderson hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau [she’s no fan] won’t trample on the right of bikers like he did on those of the Freedom Convoy 2022 truckers..The Alternative for Germany party MEP got global attention when she stared down and shredded Trudeau after he spoke in the European Parliament (EP) in March, blasting him as a “disgrace for democracy.” .“I was so flustered I couldn’t even get myself to boo over his speech,” said Anderson, who delivered a condemnation of Trudeau’s handling of the Freedom Convoy protesters on the heels of his speech..Did Trudeau care about or comprehend the essence of Anderson’s rebuke, echoed by other MEPs from several countries? It doesn’t appear so..Although the bikers — many of them veterans hoping to lay wreaths at the National War Memorial — announced peaceful intentions, Ottawa police are calling in 830 RCMP reinforcements..Liberal politicians warn they don’t want a repeat of the peaceful Freedom Convoy protest — organized to decry crippling, job-killing COVID-19 mandates..Grateful Canadians jubilantly cheered on truckers that sang O Canada and fed the homeless for just more than three weeks in February..To crush them, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14. People were jailed and heavily fined. Bank accounts were frozen. All because they disagreed with his unnecessarily punitive mandates..Trudeau then stood in the EP on March 24 to lament a “growing distrust of government” and a need to “fight against authoritarianism.” .During a melodramatic speech, Trudeau denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine in February..He took shots at Canadian truckers..Trudeau called a state of emergency over trucker’s bouncy castles on Parliament Hill at nearly the same time Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a state of emergency over an armed Russian invasion..Anderson, who asserted Trudeau had no right to pontificate before the EP, wrote a point of order to bar him from speaking..“I didn’t expect to get a majority, but it was an opportunity for me to tell him ‘Hey look, you are not wanted here, at least not by everyone. There are people that see through you and people who know exactly what you’re doing. It has nothing to do with respecting your citizens and their fundamental rights. It’s the exact opposite.’”.For Anderson, listening to Trudeau was painful..“I really have to say gosh, I’ve never seen a worse performance. That’s what it was, a performance.” .“That entire speech, it was monotony. I couldn’t get myself to listen to his words, so utterly boring. In the end, I made an effort to listen to what he was saying because I wanted to address it later.”.“I would say he’s an idiot who doesn’t really get what’s going on. A puppet. I wonder who is actually tying his shoes every morning. I don’t think he can handle that himself.”.Trudeau, attending a NATO summit, received an invite to address the EP. When a world leader speaks there, the chamber’s usually packed..“There were maybe 10% of the MEPs that bothered to show up to hear what Mr. Trudeau had to say,” said Anderson..Many got up and left as he spoke. .Others, like Romanian MEP Christian Terhes refused to attend. Terhes chastised Trudeau for trying to teach Puntin democracy lessons when “when you trample with horse hooves your own citizens who are demanding their fundamental rights be respected.”.Some MEPs of the 705-member assembly from 27 countries were invited to respond to Trudeau’s comments..Anderson welcomed the opportunity..“A prime minister who openly admires the Chinese basic dictatorship, who tramples on fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as terrorists just because they dared to stand up to his perverted concept of democracy should not be allowed to speak in this house at all,” Anderson told the EP..Brazenly invoking the Emergencies Act is something other countries “would not have been able to get away,” she told the Western Standard..But moves to undermine democracy are hardly confined to Canada..“As you know, we Germans have a very dire history as far as that’s concerned. The German people vowed to never let anything like this happen again,” she said..“Yet here we are, it is happening again. Now, people even knowing fully well what mechanisms were in place back then to make such a horrific regime possible, they fail to see how it’s the very same mechanisms being applied once again.”.It’s a new regime now, a “global affiliate” demanding we give up freedoms allegedly for the greater good..Anderson said changes in Western countries hardly support democracy..“It has nothing to do the rule by the people for the people. This is all being undermined. They’re doing it by implementing various mechanisms to get where they actually want to go.”.She cites identity politics as one example..“We’re turning it upside-down with identity politics. Now once again it’s all about skin colour. This is moving toward a society of divide, tribalism.”.“People are being stigmatized, being marginalized, labelled as Nazis, terrorists, the whole shebang especially in every Western democracy.”.“And this really scares me. If just one country just goes berserk and adopts a totalitarian regime, that is one thing because the rest of the world will take notice and they will do something about it.”.“But who the heck is going to help us if all the western democracies are going down the same path?”.Ordinary people..“It is up to the citizens to stand up. They’re the only ones that can stop this … elected representatives, they will not do it. They won’t.”.Anderson said there’s “always hope” and points to what Canadian truckers achieved..“They have given hope to so many people all around the world because something was happening… They sent a signal out to the world that we are not all by ourselves with our way of thinking.”.Slobodian is the Senior Manitoba Columnist for the Western Standard.lslobodian@westernstandardonline.com
Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Christine Anderson will be watching intently from afar when the anticipated 1,000-strong Rolling Thunder motorcycle convoy rolls into Ottawa this weekend..“I support citizens standing up to governments [that] basically want to undermine democracy to abolish it because that is what’s happening,” said Anderson, during a telephone interview from Brussels, Belgium..“I’ve always been very clear about advocating individual freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. I see that threatened in all the Western democracies.”.“People need to understand our democracies are under attack.” .That includes Canada at the hands of its current government..Anderson hopes Prime Minister Justin Trudeau [she’s no fan] won’t trample on the right of bikers like he did on those of the Freedom Convoy 2022 truckers..The Alternative for Germany party MEP got global attention when she stared down and shredded Trudeau after he spoke in the European Parliament (EP) in March, blasting him as a “disgrace for democracy.” .“I was so flustered I couldn’t even get myself to boo over his speech,” said Anderson, who delivered a condemnation of Trudeau’s handling of the Freedom Convoy protesters on the heels of his speech..Did Trudeau care about or comprehend the essence of Anderson’s rebuke, echoed by other MEPs from several countries? It doesn’t appear so..Although the bikers — many of them veterans hoping to lay wreaths at the National War Memorial — announced peaceful intentions, Ottawa police are calling in 830 RCMP reinforcements..Liberal politicians warn they don’t want a repeat of the peaceful Freedom Convoy protest — organized to decry crippling, job-killing COVID-19 mandates..Grateful Canadians jubilantly cheered on truckers that sang O Canada and fed the homeless for just more than three weeks in February..To crush them, Trudeau invoked the Emergencies Act on February 14. People were jailed and heavily fined. Bank accounts were frozen. All because they disagreed with his unnecessarily punitive mandates..Trudeau then stood in the EP on March 24 to lament a “growing distrust of government” and a need to “fight against authoritarianism.” .During a melodramatic speech, Trudeau denounced Russian President Vladimir Putin for invading Ukraine in February..He took shots at Canadian truckers..Trudeau called a state of emergency over trucker’s bouncy castles on Parliament Hill at nearly the same time Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy called a state of emergency over an armed Russian invasion..Anderson, who asserted Trudeau had no right to pontificate before the EP, wrote a point of order to bar him from speaking..“I didn’t expect to get a majority, but it was an opportunity for me to tell him ‘Hey look, you are not wanted here, at least not by everyone. There are people that see through you and people who know exactly what you’re doing. It has nothing to do with respecting your citizens and their fundamental rights. It’s the exact opposite.’”.For Anderson, listening to Trudeau was painful..“I really have to say gosh, I’ve never seen a worse performance. That’s what it was, a performance.” .“That entire speech, it was monotony. I couldn’t get myself to listen to his words, so utterly boring. In the end, I made an effort to listen to what he was saying because I wanted to address it later.”.“I would say he’s an idiot who doesn’t really get what’s going on. A puppet. I wonder who is actually tying his shoes every morning. I don’t think he can handle that himself.”.Trudeau, attending a NATO summit, received an invite to address the EP. When a world leader speaks there, the chamber’s usually packed..“There were maybe 10% of the MEPs that bothered to show up to hear what Mr. Trudeau had to say,” said Anderson..Many got up and left as he spoke. .Others, like Romanian MEP Christian Terhes refused to attend. Terhes chastised Trudeau for trying to teach Puntin democracy lessons when “when you trample with horse hooves your own citizens who are demanding their fundamental rights be respected.”.Some MEPs of the 705-member assembly from 27 countries were invited to respond to Trudeau’s comments..Anderson welcomed the opportunity..“A prime minister who openly admires the Chinese basic dictatorship, who tramples on fundamental rights by persecuting and criminalizing his own citizens as terrorists just because they dared to stand up to his perverted concept of democracy should not be allowed to speak in this house at all,” Anderson told the EP..Brazenly invoking the Emergencies Act is something other countries “would not have been able to get away,” she told the Western Standard..But moves to undermine democracy are hardly confined to Canada..“As you know, we Germans have a very dire history as far as that’s concerned. The German people vowed to never let anything like this happen again,” she said..“Yet here we are, it is happening again. Now, people even knowing fully well what mechanisms were in place back then to make such a horrific regime possible, they fail to see how it’s the very same mechanisms being applied once again.”.It’s a new regime now, a “global affiliate” demanding we give up freedoms allegedly for the greater good..Anderson said changes in Western countries hardly support democracy..“It has nothing to do the rule by the people for the people. This is all being undermined. They’re doing it by implementing various mechanisms to get where they actually want to go.”.She cites identity politics as one example..“We’re turning it upside-down with identity politics. Now once again it’s all about skin colour. This is moving toward a society of divide, tribalism.”.“People are being stigmatized, being marginalized, labelled as Nazis, terrorists, the whole shebang especially in every Western democracy.”.“And this really scares me. If just one country just goes berserk and adopts a totalitarian regime, that is one thing because the rest of the world will take notice and they will do something about it.”.“But who the heck is going to help us if all the western democracies are going down the same path?”.Ordinary people..“It is up to the citizens to stand up. They’re the only ones that can stop this … elected representatives, they will not do it. They won’t.”.Anderson said there’s “always hope” and points to what Canadian truckers achieved..“They have given hope to so many people all around the world because something was happening… They sent a signal out to the world that we are not all by ourselves with our way of thinking.”.Slobodian is the Senior Manitoba Columnist for the Western Standard.lslobodian@westernstandardonline.com
