A dangerous divide

“Democracy is at stake and Canada is not immune to its demise,” states Miriam Edelson, editor of this timely anthology, warning that right-wing extremism, energized by memes and trolls permeating digital spaces, is heralding social and political change and affecting how current generations view the slow, often cumbersome democratic process.

Edelson’s well-researched observations are supported by 18 different contributors comprised of an array of like-minded academics, researchers and concerned activists who collectively alert readers to the extremist messaging that is altering some long-standing expectations of responsible governance.

Edelson’s social activism was honed by personal experiences while living in Toronto and working with the Canadian labour movement, spawning a literary legacy of personal essays and commentaries published by the Toronto Star, Globe & Mail and Literary Review. Her earlier book, My Journey with Jake: A Memoir of Parenting and Disability (2000) remains a poignant reminder that society functions best when individuals share a common purpose of looking out for one another.

In a concise foreword to Confronting the Resurgent Right, University of Manitoba professor and award- winning Free Press columnist Niigaan Sinclair similarly reminds readers that “far right movements built on hate,” like those earlier thrust upon Indigenous people and still targeting Jews, Muslims and other identifiable groups, inexorably lead to “racism, violence, and genocide.”

Concerns about the resurgency of extremism is shared by all contributors to this anthology, revealing how extremists in Canada and in other Western democracies are polarizing commonly expected criticism of national government policies by amplifying and exploiting any social, economic and political grievances while purposefully hinting at the need for much sterner kinds of regulation.

Readers are alerted to the trope of “individual freedom” being skilfully used to camouflage a disregard for others, representing a threat to the basic structures of democracy that should always include rational debate and necessary compromise between opposing viewpoints.

Serving as a menacing backdrop to this anthology, the self-described “Freedom Convoy” that converged on Ottawa in February 2022 should give readers pause, considering how close the nation came to having its parliamentary traditions severely fractured and its social fabric torn by hateful messaging which accompanied this COVID-inspired protest.

An especially candid street-level understanding of why Parliament’s Emergency Act was invoked is provided by one of the book’s contributors who led a counter-protest to the Freedom Convoy, revealing that the vast majority of protesters never realized they were instilling fear in Ottawa’s communities while being used as pawns by extremist right-wing leaders.

Readers are reminded that the extremism displayed during Ottawa’s occupation may have helped alter some basic tenets of conservatism, such as institutional stability, given that several democratically elected Conservative politicians openly supported the convoy.

Acknowledging that conservative movements in Canada and the U.S. have been morphing into more radical right-wing political parties, contributors express concern about the intent of leaders such as U.S. President Donald Trump and Canada’s parliamentary Opposition leader, Pierre Poilievre, who represent authoritarian populism in their respective countries.

Such extremist conservatism is decried by Edelson and her literary supporters, who warn it could become an unstoppable shift towards unbridled individualism, overwhelming community-minded, democratically inspired promises of freedom, equality and opportunity for each and every citizen.

Yet concerned readers may find comfort in learning about grassroots organizations that recognize such danger, such as Community Solidarity Ottawa (CSO) which formed at the height of the Freedom Convoy’s occupation in Ottawa and continues to oppose right-wing extremist views, especially those targeting inclusive societies.

Edelson’s own cautionary exhortantions regarding a resurgent political right in Canada are echoed throughout this particularly relevant book, which reveals why “hot-button issues” such as climate change, immigration and perceived government overreach — as symbolized by mask mandates during the COVID pandemic — must be confronted by well-reasoned, fact-based counter-arguments.

In a fittingly concise warning which dubious critics of this book will likely call a hyperbolic overreach, one contributor writes: “If our social movements, including those on the front lines of the struggle against poverty, are unable to provide an effective response, then racists and fascists will fill the political vacuum we provide them.”

Joseph Hnatiuk is a retired teacher.