Trucker protests over COVID mandates fuel Canada's growing far-right

Trucker protests over COVID mandates¹ fuel Canada's growing far-right

Transcript²

NPR's Rachel Martin talks to Stephanie Carvin, an associate professor at Canada's Carleton University, about what the spreading trucker protests mean for the country's far-right movement.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Truckers in Canada who are protesting pandemic restrictions³ have opened up a new front in their blockade. They've moved in on a third point along the U.S.-Canada border. The White House said yesterday that the blockade is posing a risk to the U.S. auto⁴ industry's supply chain. The demonstrations⁵ are drawing people with different grievances⁶, and the flags people carry tell some of that story. There are a lot of Canadian flags, but also spotted⁷ - some U.S. Confederate flags, even swastikas.

Stephanie Carvin was a security analyst⁸ for the Canadian government, and she is now an associate professor of international relations at Carleton University in Ottawa. Thank you so much for being with us this morning.

STEPHANIE CARVIN: Hey. Thanks for having me on.

MARTIN: So protesters say this is about strict COVID rules in Canada that are hurting their livelihoods⁹ - the requirement that truckers have to be vaccinated¹⁰ to cross the border and mask mandates and COVID passports. Explain what kinds of groups have now been folded into this movement?

CARVIN: Well, it's interesting. It's not so much that these groups have been folded in, it's that they're at the very core of the movement. In fact, the organizers themselves are extremists. They have expressed, you know, anti-Semitic, Islamophobic and conspiratorial¹¹ worldviews. And this isn't even their first attempt at a convoy¹². They've been trying to organize something like this for years that kind of amplifies¹³ their anti-government views. So I think that we need to be careful. And, you know, there's definitely some extremist groups that have joined onto this. But in reality, I think what we're looking at is something like a spark that lit a powder keg within the wider Canadian population.

And just for some context to your listeners, Canada is coming out of its fourth severe lockdown, unlike other countries. We have had to have vaccine¹⁴ mandates. We've had mask requirements. And, in fact, we've actually shut down our economy for the fourth time. People are tired.

MARTIN: Right. So you're saying those tired people are actually joining up with a movement that has its roots in some extremist ideologies¹⁵.

CARVIN: Yeah, I think that's actually correct. I think, you know, where the success of this movement has been is that it framed its - basically, its movement around the issue of just kind of being tired with the pandemic. And honestly, that's understandable. Like I said, we're all tired of this. I'm tired of this. Fifty-four percent of Canadians have indicated that they are ready to move on in terms of learning to live with COVID in the way other countries have. And that's not an unintelligible¹⁶ argument. But my concern is that, you know, this has now moved beyond the mandates. And, in fact, we have seen mandates lifted in some provinces this week. But the protests continue, and the blockade of the border in Alberta continues.

MARTIN: Has the Canadian government failed in recognizing these threads in its own society earlier?

CARVIN: You know, this is a really good question. Increasingly, the national security community has identified what we call ideologically¹⁷ motivated violent extremism - that's separate from, say, religious-based extremism - as the main source of violent extremism in the country. And, yeah, so, I mean, this has been fairly well-known for some time.

When this group announced that it was coming to Ottawa, authorities still seemed to have treated it as if it was just kind of a normal, average political movement. I mean, Ottawa is a national capital. It's not unlike Washington or London. There are a lot of protests that happen here. But we've never had anything like this. But we shouldn't be surprised that we're effectively seeing an extremist-led movement turn to extremist tactics. There's going to be a lot of questions as to why, you know, this aspect of the protest was ignored.

MARTIN: Ottawa's police chief, I understand, has asked for more police - still hasn't gotten them. I mean, what's your take on how the government is just responding from a security point of view?

CARVIN: It's - honestly, it's mind-boggling. It really is astonishing. I mean, Ottawa is a very bureaucratic¹⁸ city, and maybe this - old habits are dying hard here. The fact is that no level of government, whether it be municipal, provincial¹⁹ or federal, seems to want to take responsibility for this. And we often see our leaders tweeting that they're having phone calls and making arrangements and sending officers, but we haven't seen it on the ground. There is a reluctance²⁰ to even just hand out parking tickets. It's just a real, honestly baffling kind of collapse²¹ of authority.

MARTIN: Several Canadian provinces have said they're going to ease pandemic restrictions in coming weeks. But given everything you just said about the roots of this movement, do you think it's going to bring an end to the protests?

CARVIN: I don't think so. Like I said, at its heart, this is a movement that is anti-government, and there is some concern that, you know, even if you appease²² them, they're not necessarily going to go home.

MARTIN: Former Canadian government analyst Stephanie Carvin. We reached her on Skype. Thank you so much for your time and perspective.

CARVIN: Thanks for having me on.

1 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

4 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

5 demonstrations   

证明( demonstration的名词复数 )； 表明； 表达； 游行示威

参考例句：

• Lectures will be interspersed with practical demonstrations. 讲课中将不时插入实际示范。
• The new military government has banned strikes and demonstrations. 新的军人政府禁止罢工和示威活动。

6 grievances   

n.委屈( grievance的名词复数 )；苦衷；不满；牢骚

参考例句：

• The trade union leader spoke about the grievances of the workers. 工会领袖述说工人们的苦情。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• He gave air to his grievances. 他申诉了他的冤情。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 spotted   

adj.有斑点的，斑纹的，弄污了的

参考例句：

• The milkman selected the spotted cows,from among a herd of two hundred.牛奶商从一群200头牛中选出有斑点的牛。
• Sam's shop stocks short spotted socks.山姆的商店屯积了有斑点的短袜。

8 analyst   

n.分析家，化验员；心理分析学家

参考例句：

• What can you contribute to the position of a market analyst?你有什么技能可有助于市场分析员的职务？
• The analyst is required to interpolate values between standards.分析人员需要在这些标准中插入一些值。

9 livelihoods   

生计，谋生之道( livelihood的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• First came the earliest individualistic pioneers who depended on hunting and fishing for their livelihoods. 走在最前面的是早期的个人主义先驱者，他们靠狩猎捕鱼为生。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件
• With little influence over policies, their traditional livelihoods are threatened. 因为马赛族人对政策的影响力太小，他们的传统生计受到了威胁。

10 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

11 conspiratorial   

adj.阴谋的，阴谋者的

参考例句：

• She handed the note to me with a conspiratorial air. 她鬼鬼祟祟地把字条交给了我。 来自辞典例句
• It was enough to win a gap-toothed, conspiratorial grin. 这赢得对方咧嘴一笑。 来自互联网

12 convoy   

vt.护送，护卫，护航；n.护送；护送队

参考例句：

• The convoy was snowed up on the main road.护送队被大雪困在干路上了。
• Warships will accompany the convoy across the Atlantic.战舰将护送该船队过大西洋。

13 amplifies   

放大，扩大( amplify的第三人称单数 )； 增强； 详述

参考例句：

• Gain is the number of times the amplifier amplifies a signal. 增益就是放大器放大信号的倍数。
• Such panicky behaviour amplifies the impact of the Russian export ban. 这样的恐慌行为放大了俄罗斯小麦出口禁令的影响效应。

14 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

15 ideologies   

n.思想（体系）( ideology的名词复数 )；思想意识；意识形态；观念形态

参考例句：

• There is no fundamental diversity between the two ideologies. 这两种思想意识之间并没有根本的分歧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Radical ideologies require to contrast to their own goodness the wickedness of some other system. 凡是过激的意识形态，都需要有另外一个丑恶的制度作对比，才能衬托出自己的善良。 来自辞典例句

16 unintelligible   

adj.无法了解的，难解的，莫明其妙的

参考例句：

• If a computer is given unintelligible data, it returns unintelligible results.如果计算机得到的是难以理解的数据，它给出的也将是难以理解的结果。
• The terms were unintelligible to ordinary folk.这些术语一般人是不懂的。

17 ideologically   

adv. 意识形态上地，思想上地

参考例句：

• Ideologically, they have many differences. 在思想意识上，他们之间有许多不同之处。
• He has slipped back ideologically. 他思想退步了。

18 bureaucratic   

adj.官僚的，繁文缛节的

参考例句：

• The sweat of labour washed away his bureaucratic airs.劳动的汗水冲掉了他身上的官气。
• In this company you have to go through complex bureaucratic procedures just to get a new pencil.在这个公司里即使是领一支新铅笔，也必须通过繁琐的手续。

19 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

20 reluctance   

n.厌恶，讨厌，勉强，不情愿

参考例句：

• The police released Andrew with reluctance.警方勉强把安德鲁放走了。
• He showed the greatest reluctance to make a reply.他表示很不愿意答复。

21 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

22 appease   

v.安抚，缓和，平息，满足

参考例句：

• He tried to appease the crying child by giving him candy.他试图给那个啼哭的孩子糖果使他不哭。
• The government tried to appease discontented workers.政府试图安抚不满的工人们。