Resistance and community

By Chris Houston

I was quite amused to read Green Party leader Elizabeth May sarcastically suggest that parts of the United States join Canada. On 8 Jan., the National Post quoted May: “You think we want to be the 51st state? Nah. Maybe California would like to be the 11th province. How about it? California, Oregon, Washington,” May said. “Have we got a deal for you; free health care. Universal free health care. No more one-year-olds who suddenly fall off the Medicaid list and their parents are in the news because they're trying to do a GoFundMe to get their daughter to a doctor”.
That said, Trump's rhetoric of turning Canada into the 51st state, that I find anything but amusing. How seriously we should take the threats is difficult to assess. But as time passes, increasingly we're seeing that Trump tends to follow through on his plans, even the radical ones. People perpetually underestimate Donald Trump, a man who won two elections despite many pundits being confident he would not.

Nonviolence defence

So, how might we prepare for sovereignty threats from the U.S.? According to a newly formed group, the answer is to learn nonviolent defence. The Canadian Coalition for Nonviolent Defence is made up of peace-loving folks, determined that Canada remains very much not part of the increasingly disunited United States.

Some members of the group are against violence in principle, others see nonviolence in more pragmatic, strategic terms. Both groups are united in belief in nonviolent defence as Canada's best option. As a recent publication from Richard Sandbrook explains, the U.S. is a superpower, and one that is closely integrated with the Canadian Armed Forces. Sandbrook is a Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Toronto and Vice-President of Science for Peace Canada.

Isaiah Ritzmann explained to me that nonviolent action includes “protest, social pressure, economic pressure (such as strikes and boycotts), and various forms of noncooperation.” Ritzmann is a co-founder and co-coordinator of the Canadian Coalition for Nonviolent Defence.

You can read more about the organization at nonviolentdefence.ca

Minnesota protests

Nonviolence resistance has been a theme this week in the news. U.S. federal immigration officers have shot 12 people since September. Four of those shootings were deadly, the fatalities included Silverio Villegas González, Isaias Sanchez Barboza, Renée Good, and Alex Pretti. The later two victims were both U.S. citizens and Minneapolis residents who appeared to be legally observing Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

While the September killing of González in Illinois and the December killing of Barboza in Texas did not attract widespread protests, the well documented shootings of Good and Pretti have brought tens of thousands of people to the streets. Neighbours and shopkeepers have supplied protestors with shelter and food. I find it reassuring that so many people are standing up to increasingly authoritarian actions from U.S. regime forces.

As the U.S. threatens Canada, we can learn from history and from current actions in Minnesota about how to resist authoritarianism. Peaceful resistance tactics include protest, poetry, and other forms of art.

Arne Roosman

This month North Hastings lost a renowned artist. I last saw Arne Roosman on Jan 14 and read him the article I wrote about his resistance that the Bancroft Times published the day prior. Arne died on Jan 15. In his passing, the world lost a great man. Arne's body of work reflects his own incredible life experiences from his early years in Estonia and Germany, and his time in Sweden and Canada. My most recent article about him featured a story of Arne and his brothers rolling oil barrels towards parked Soviet tanks.

Arne's decades of work incorporates paint, charcoal and pastels in his recreations of still life scenes, people, portraits, landscapes, and drawings of architecture. Some of his most recent art included a series of sketches highlighting the fragile egos of Donald Trump and Mark Zuckerberg. Artists are often at the forefront of difficult conversations and Arne was not shy about sharing his opinions. His art is featured in Nate Smelle's recent book “Twas a Sunny Day”. We were proud to host the book launch at the Canadian Peace Museum in November.

Arne's daughter Rebecca has flown in from Scotland, is now organizing Arne's affairs, and planning his funeral. With her permission, I created a fundraiser to help with the costs.
Fundraising link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/arne-roosman

When I think of what peaceful resistance looks like, I think of Arne. It looks like refusing to be silent. It looks like neighbours feeding protestors, artists sketching the powerful without fear, and ordinary people choosing courage over comfort. Sovereignty is not only defended by armies and weapons, but by values of solidarity, creativity and stubborn insistence on dignity. I don't know how serious the annexation threats from Trump are, but the best way to be ready to resist them is to build community and be ready to support our neighbours, things that we should be doing at all times anyway.