State of the Far-Right: We Must Remain Vigilant

After the humiliation the far right faced not only in Toronto this past Saturday but also in Washington D.C. on Sunday (to add insult to injury, the organizer of the failed D.C. "Unite the Right 2" rally was emasculated during a podcast by his father), anti-racist and anti-fascist activists are rightfully celebrating as their hard work made all of this happen. The far-right racists, Islamophobes, and antisemites are a fractured movement right now and it really is hard to see how they coalesce in any significant way to hold the mass rallies they envision in an attempt put on a show of strength, though I don't doubt that they will continue to try.

It is important however not to be lulled into a false sense of security:

"Fantastic banner drop"? "Operation"? Jesus, this is a far cry from Barbarossa.

ID Canada (formerly Generation Identity Canada) did a banner drop on the same day as the failed WCAI-organized rally in the Don Valley River Parkway in Toronto. I don't no the city, but those who do suggest that it was likely the bridge connecting Riverdale Park East and West. Based on photos posted to their Facebook page, it looks like a little over a dozen ID Canada members were present:

Is it just me, or does this look like if could be a great cover photo for a magazine named "Incel Quarterly"?

ARC has already established that ID Canada is tied to a number of individuals and groups in Canada of concern:

....Shawn Beauvois-Macdonald who is/was connected to La Meute and who participated in the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" rally (he may hold a position of leadership within ID Canada), "Katrin Kujo" (real name Kate Ollers) who participated in Ronny Cameron's anti-Muslim event in October, and "Winston Smith" (real name Jesse Sanderson) who also participated in Cameron's event as well as being busted hanging "alt-right" flyers at the University of Toronto. 

More recently, ARC published a story that identified Athan Zafirov as the leader of the Montreal chapter of ID Canada. Zafirov is also known as "Date" on the leaked Discord chat logs and was a frequent guest on the Canadian alt-right podcast "This Hour Has 88 Minutes" which shut down soon after the identity of "Zeiger" as Gabriel Sohier Chaput was published. Other co-hosts of the podcast were exposed later:

• Bad Times For Canadian Alt-Right Podcasters: This Hour Has 88 Minutes Co-Host Exposed
• This Is the Man Who Ran Canada’s Biggest Neo-Nazi Podcast

ARC has been able to identify least two individuals participating in the ID Canada banner drop on August 11:

Tyler Hover has been identified as the leader of ID Canada and, in spite of his age, has a long online history of promoting racism and violence through Stormfront and other social media:

The second individual, despite not getting a clear look at his face, is believed to be Mark Stewart:

We need to be aware of the activities of such groups as ID Canada who, for example, continue to place their stickers in public places in cities where they have members and supporters in an effort to grow their numbers. However we have to be even more concerned that so-called mainstream political parties are trying to stoke the artificial "white anxiety" fears of some Canadians in a cynical effort to gain real power:

Maxime Bernier has always been quite popular amongst members of the far-right whom this blog keeps an eye on. Prior to the disastrous WCAI rally in Toronto, Ronny Cameron and Proud Boy member Tim Kelly spoke well of him while trashing Andrew Scheer who defeated Bernier in the Tory leadership race:

The following Sunday, Bernier endeared himself to the far-right even more when he decided to dig up Kellie Leitch's play list:

Condemnation of Bernier came quickly:

Last week marked 50 years since my dad immigrated to Canada. If he were alive, he would be so sad to see the dog-whistling in #cdnpoli drifting not-so-slowly into straight racism. https://t.co/vg1BBSKZwD

— Mark Iype (@mniype) August 13, 2018

The trouble with this stuff is that is was said one hundred and fifty years ago about the arrival of the Irish, and every generation since then.  Jews, Italians, Chinese, Sikhs, the list is endless - none of them were welcomed, all were accused of not “fitting in”

— Bob Rae (@BobRae48) August 13, 2018

Maxim Bernier might be a libertarian hero to some of you but his racist diatribe tonight proves what he really is.
He panders to the worst parts of human nature. Fear. Division. Blame.
He knows who that thread speaks to and doesn’t care because that’s exactly the point #Cdnpoli

— Kristin Raworth (@KristinRaworth) August 13, 2018

Eventually, Scheer himself issued a statement on the controversy:

Andrew Scheer finally responds to Bernier’s comments, but doesn’t really condemn them. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/eZe0Emy7TB

— Dale Smith (@journo_dale) August 15, 2018

Andrew Scheer Distances Himself From Maxime Bernier's Multiculturalism Tweets https://t.co/aKTnaBPGbf

— Cherif Barsoum (@jetdriverman) August 16, 2018

The problem for Scheer is that within the Conservative Party of Canada their is a constituency for this kind of dog whistle politics, and one could easily make the case that it began with the previous leader:

• 'Old-Stock Canadians' Referenced By Harper Amid Refugee Debate

Despite claiming he wasn't pandering to them, the far-right heard exactly what Harper was saying to them:

The Conservative Party further confirmed their outreach to the far-right when Kellie Leitch proposed a "barbaric cultural hotline" as a minister and then a a cultural purity test as a candidate in the Conservative leadership race:

• Conservatives pledge funds, tip line to combat 'barbaric cultural practices'
• Leitch releases her list of ‘Canadian values’ test questions for immigrants

And while members of the Conservative caucus and others in the party are wringing their hands over this issue, it isn't as if there haven't been other indicators that they are pandering to the most extreme elements within their base:

• Conservative senator apologizing over ‘shameful’ tweet questioning Liberal MP’s Saudi Arabia ties

Conservatism today —
BATTERS: if you are born elsewhere you’re disloyal
CALKINS: Islam is taking over Canada
STUBBS: a lawyer who defends a Muslim can’t be a judge
REMPEL: refugees are lawbreakers
BERNIER: Canada needs a new nationalism
SCHEER: Hamish, great strategy roll-out!

— Tom Parkin (@Tom_Parkin_) August 14, 2018

And it isn't only federal politics:

Toronto Councillor Giorgio Mammoliti, one of Doug Ford’s closest allies, went on Rebel Media this weekend and shared his solution for Jane & Finch:

Spray them down like “cockroaches.”#cdnpoli #onpoli #topoli pic.twitter.com/NDzACBXlab

— PressProgress (@pressprogress) August 13, 2018

The Conservatives are trying to have it both ways. On the one hand they claim to condemn racist identity politics while on the other hand dog whistling to the extremists in their base. This is true for federal and provincial parties.

So yes, we need to be wary of hate groups like ID Canada, but the real danger comes when the hatred is institutionalized and made more digestible by politicians such as Bernier, Batters, Beyak, Leitch, Scheer, and too many others.