Opinion | 'Freedom Convoy' becomes a nightmare to western values

By Edward Hei Leung, LegCo Member

Canadian truckers protest against anti-epidemic measures under Justin Trudeau. A few dozens of vehicles have recently blocked the Ambassador Bridge, an important US-Canada corridor that carries 25% of all trades between two countries. Yet, Biden's government seems not to support the beautiful sight to behold, especially when the Department of Homeland Security warns that truck convoys may happen in the US.

Back to early January, Canada started requiring truckers arriving from the US be fully vaccinated against COVID-19. For those who are not vaccinated, a 14-day quarantine period will be imposed on them. It does not take much to know that vaccine mandates are common, not only in Canada, but also in European countries like France and Austria, given the immediate needs to reduce COVID-19 infection and fatality rates. Canada itself even has one of the highest rates of full vaccination anywhere in the world, with more than 80% of people covered.

Sad but true, the first word that comes to anti-vaccine activists is personal freedom instead of civic responsibility. Teamsters Canada, a trade union representing 15,000 long-haul drivers, has also denounced the protests as despicable displays of hate and failures to represent the vast majority of their members. Even though anti-vaccine truckers represent a minority in the profession, they illegally block roads impacting trade, supply chains and manufacturing related to thousands if not millions of Canadian families. Again, democracy is fragile, particularly when the minority refuses to compromise and abuse their rights to air grievances. To put it in simple words, is western democracy as good as some Hong Kong citizens imagine?

The worrying situation in Canada drives us to my subsequent observation that implies western hypocrisy and double standard. In France, nearly 3,000 vehicles flood into its capital from other cities, more than 100 automobiles managed to converge on the Champs-Elysees Avenue. Let me fully quote what Prime minister Jean Castex said, "The right to demonstrate and to have an opinion is a constitutional right guaranteed in our republic and in our democracy the right to block others or stop them from coming and going is not." Even in the US, Biden's government expresses its concern and urges the Canadian counterpart to use federal powers to end the blockade at the US-Canada border. If so, why do western countries ignore the fact that anti-extradition protestors block roads in 2019? Is the blockade by Canadian truckers also a beautiful sight to behold for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi?

Last Friday, Süddeutsche Zeitung, a German newspaper, reported that Telegram shut down 64 accounts, mainly belonging to COVID-19 conspiracy theorists, vaccine opponents and lateral thinkers, in response to increased pressure from German authorities, especially after Interior Minister Nancy Faeser threatened the message app to shut down its services and impose fines up to 55 million Euros. Facebook take similar actions upon Canadian freedom convoy, not to mention GoFundMe and GiveSendGo shut down the corresponding fundraising activities. In light of this, what if similar actions are taken by HKSAR government? Will the western world denounce our officials with reasons like infringement of human rights?

The movement of Canadian truckers shed a light on intriguing, yet fragile promise of western freedom and democracy. On one hand, vaccination is of utmost importance amid COVID-19 waves, no matter the governance adopts zero-Covid or live-with-virus strategy. On the other hand, all these counter-epidemic measures, including indoor mask mandates, limit or even sacrifice personal freedom, a core value in western ideology. In comparison with western response on Hong Kong issues, the current contradiction reveals western hypocrisy and double standard again.

The views do not necessarily reflect those of DotDotNews.

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