On Ending the Pro-Hamas Protests on University Campuses

 

Those on the right are faced now with a common challenge: why is it they generally approve of shutting down the current pro-Hama protests, while they generally objected to shutting down the Freedom Convoy?

No, it is not because the pro-Hamas protesters are advocating racism and genocide, while the freedom truckers were simply demanding their freedom and their right to make a living. I approve of the aims of the one protest, and oppose the aims of the other; but that is not the standard. Freedom of speech and the right to petition government applies to everyone.

It is because the nature of the two protests is different. The truckers protested peacefully on public property, where they had every right to be. The Hamas protesters seized and occupied private property, preventing its use by its owners and their clients. The truckers, by contrast, allowed parliamentarians to come and go throughout. Although they were accused of preventing nearby businesses from operating by their presence, this is a slander. The government forced the businesses to close; the truckers were demanding they be allowed to open. Those that did open did good business. In the current protests I see windows smashed, police attacked, and demands to be fed—not free food being distributed to passersby, and bouncy castles.

The issue is not protest, but trespass, vandalism, and assault.

It remains to be seen whether the government reaction to the current protests will excessive and an egregious violation of human rights, as it was for the truckers or those who, sometimes inadvertently, trespassed on January 6.