Chapter 83: A Swastika

320      closed, including city hall and the National Arts Centre  “Trucker Convoy: Police Charge Two Ottawa Men Following Protest-Related Investigations; ‘I’m Here Until the End’—Demonstrators Revel on Fifth Day,” Ottawa Citizen, February 1, 2022, ottawacitizen.com/news/local-news/trucker-convoy-shutdown-continues-for-fifth-day-shepherds-of-good-hope-overwhelmed-by-donations.
 
320      “end all mandates associated with COVID-19”  Organizer news release quoted in Ted Raymond and Michael Woods, “Ottawa Police Expect ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protest to Grow This Weekend,” CTV News, February 2, 2022, www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/ottawa-police-expect-freedom-convoy-protest-to-grow-this-weekend.
 
320      “as long as it takes for freedom to be restored”  Organizer news release quoted in Raymond and Woods, “Ottawa Police Expect ‘Freedom Convoy’ Protest to Grow This Weekend,” www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/ottawa-police-expect-freedom-convoy-protest-to-grow-this-weekend.
 
320      continue . . . day after day, week after week Josh Pringle and Ted Raymond, “Police Target Fuel Supply for ‘Freedom Convoy’ Demonstration in Ottawa,” CTV News, February 6, 2022, www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/police-target-fuel-supply-for-freedom-convoy-demonstration-in-ottawa; and Josh Pringle, “Protesters Build Wooden Structure in Downtown Ottawa Park,” CTV News, February 3, 2022, www.ctvnews.ca/ottawa/article/protesters-build-wooden-structure-in-downtown-ottawa-park.
 
320      90 percent of Ottawa residents . . . and 75 percent of Canadians . . .Michael Harris, “Poilievre’s Big Bet on Convoy-Loving Politics,” The Tyee, April 5, 2023, thetyee.ca/Analysis/2023/04/05/Poilievre-Big-Bet-On-Convoy-Politics.
 
320      saved tens of thousands . . . billions of dollars “COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns Saved Canada Billions of Dollars, Report Estimates,” CTV News, December 15, 2022, www.ctvnews.ca/calgary/article/covid-19-vaccination-campaigns-saved-canada-billions-of-dollars-report-estimates.
 
320      “And now there is a swastika . . .”  Charlie Angus, Twitter, January 29, 2022, 4:58 p.m., x.com/CharlieAngusNDP/status/1487545667648200706.
 
320      “A fucking swastika”  Charlie Angus, Twitter, January 29, 2022, x.com/CharlieAngusNDP/status/1487545667648200706.
 
320      a large sticker . . . The imprint on the badge: “FREEDOM”  Kevin King, “A Person Taking Part in the ‘Freedom Convoy’ Rolls Past the Manitoba Legislative Building in Winnipeg on Monday, Jan. 24, 2022,” 2022, photograph, Winnipeg Sun, montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/genocide-expert-jewish-organizations-react-to-blatant-use-of-nazi-symbols.
 
321      an upside-down Canadian flag with a swastika  Emily Rae Pasiuk, “Edmonton-Area MP Under Fire for Photo of Him Near Flag Bearing Nazi Symbol,” CBC News, January 31, 2022, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/edmonton-area-mp-under-fire-for-photo-of-him-near-flag-bearing-nazi-symbol-1.6333266.
 
321      “Naziism [sic] is the purest form of evil” Michael Cooper, Twitter, January 29, 2022, 10:27 p.m., x.com/MichaelCooperMP/status/1487628590971817986, archived at archive.today, February 9, 2026 capture, archive.ph/wip/f8HRd.
 
321      “does not represent the thousands of peaceful protesters”  Michael Cooper, Twitter, January 29, 2022, x.com/MichaelCooperMP/status/1487628590971817986, archived at archive.ph/wip/f8HRd.
 
321      “Michael, I spent all day in this crowd” . . . “This one” . . . “which calls Trudeau . . .”  Justin Ling, Twitter, January 29, 2022, 11:19 p.m., x.com/Justin_Ling/status/1487641537915797510.
 
321      began as the personal bodyguard contingent . . . into the elite paramilitary guard  “The SS,” Holocaust Encyclopedia, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, accessed April 14, 2025, encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/ss.
 
321      “ASSASSIN” and “TRUDEAU” . . . a syringe  See   Ling, Twitter, January 29, 2022, x.com/Justin_Ling/status/1487641537915797510.
 
321      carry the Gadsden flag  Katie Nicholson, “From Snakes to Spartans: The Meaning Behind Some of the Flags Convoy Protesters Are Carrying,” CBC News, February 15, 2022, updated February 16, 2022, www.cbc.ca/news/canada/convoy-protest-flags-extremism-1.6351336.
 
000     “DON’T TREAD ON ME”  For an image of a convoy protestor holding this flag, see Nicholson, “From Snakes to Spartans,” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/convoy-protest-flags-extremism-1.6351336.
 
321      favorite of the U.S. Tea Party Nicholson, “From Snakes to Spartans,” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/convoy-protest-flags-extremism-1.6351336.
 
321      designed in 1775 To learn about the flag’s design, see “Flags: Past Exhibit” Charleston Museum, accessed October 29, 2025, www.charlestonmuseum.org/news-events/gadsden-flag-1775-so-called-for-its/.
 
321      enslaver named Christopher Gadsden  South Carolina politician, merchant, and Revolutionary War leader Christopher Gadsden designed the flag. Gadsden was an enslaver. In 1774, he claimed ownership of two rice plantations and more than ninety enslaved people. Gadsden also owned Gadsden Wharf, one of the largest human-trading ports in the future United States. See Keith Krawczynski, “Gadsden, Christopher,” South Carolina Encyclopedia, University of South Carolina, May 17, 2016, accessed September 24, 2025, www.scencyclopedia.org/sce/entries/gadsden-christopher/; and Scott Tong and Shirley Jahad, “New International African American Museum Opens at Prominent Site of the Slave Trade,” WBUR, July 18, 2023, www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2023/07/18/international-african-american-museum.
 
321      repurposed . . . and printed it on paraphernalia  After Abraham Lincoln’s election in 1860, the Gadsden flag became a favorite of proslavery secessionists in Savannah. Laura Brodie, “The Disgraced Confederate History of the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ Flag,” Washington Post, June 14, 2023, www.washingtonpost.com/history/2023/06/14/confederacy-dont-tread-on-me-flag.
 
321      a vaccinated Asian Canadian man . . . supporting individual freedom  Nicholson, “From Snakes to Spartans,” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/convoy-protest-flags-extremism-1.6351336.
 
321      At least one “Trump 2024” flag  Oliver O’Connell, “Soup Kitchen Harassment to Confederate Flags: Controversial Moments at Canadian Trucker Convoy Protest,” The Independent, January 31, 2022, www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/canada-trucker-protest-convoy-freedom-b2004613.html.
 
321      bring out their Confederate flags  Glen McGregor, “‘Freedom Convoy’ Supporter Says Confederate Flag on His Truck a ‘Rebel Sign,’” CTV News, January 11, 2023, www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/freedom-convoy-supporter-says-confederate-flag-on-his-truck-a-rebel-sign.
 
321      “They’re telling me that it’s racist . . .” Maurice Landriault quoted in McGregor, “‘Freedom Convoy’ Supporter Says Confederate Flag on His Truck a ‘Rebel Sign,’” www.ctvnews.ca/canada/article/freedom-convoy-supporter-says-confederate-flag-on-his-truck-a-rebel-sign.
 
321      fly the . . . Molon Labe flag . . . Nicholson, “From Snakes to Spartans,” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/convoy-protest-flags-extremism-1.6351336.
 
321      “come and take them”  Nicholson, “From Snakes to Spartans,” www.cbc.ca/news/canada/convoy-protest-flags-extremism-1.6351336.
 
321      “frequent references to the phrase ‘Molon Labe,’ Leonidas . . .”  “How Classics Made its Way into the ‘Freedom Convoy,’” Pharos: Doing Justice to the Classics, April 15, 2022, pharos.vassarspaces.net/2022/04/15/classics-ottowa-freedom-convoy-leaked-donors.
 
321      constantly invoked Sparta in speeches  “Ancient Greece a Symbol to Rally Neo-Nazis,” Pharos, April 24, 2020, pharos.vassarspaces.net/2020/04/24/greece-martin-sellner-sparta-thermopylae.
 
321–322  posted . . . urging his followers to travel to Greece “Ancient Greece a Symbol to Rally Neo-Nazis,” pharos.vassarspaces.net/2020/04/24/greece-martin-sellner-sparta-thermopylae. 
 
322      compared his comrades at the Greek border to . . . film 300 “Ancient Greece a Symbol to Rally Neo-Nazis,” pharos.vassarspaces.net/2020/04/24/greece-martin-sellner-sparta-thermopylae.