Here’s how Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ is being described by media around the world

The “Freedom Convoy” of truckers and supporters protesting vaccine mandates and COVID-19 restrictions in Ottawa has garnered international media attention and even spurred similar movements around the world.

Media outlets across the globe from France to India have covered the demonstrations in Canada’s capital with varying takes on what the convoy means and represents.

Here is a small sampling of highlights from the past couple of weeks, as the protest has made headlines worldwide, in public, private and state media.

POLITICO: “Canada, far-right capital of the world”

“Canada’s ‘Freedom Convoy’ has become a global far-right sensation,” wrote Ryan Heath in his Monday edition of the Global Insider newsletter. “Protesters may be occupying the downtown of the Canadian capital, but they’re also a test bed for a growing global protest movement. But freedom for whom? That’s the real question at the heart of the protests.”

Elsewhere on Politico, Mark Scott wrote, “But while the Canadian standoff against Covid-19 restrictions paralyzes Ottawa, it’s becoming viral online as a rallying cry for leading US Republican politicians, far-right influencers and white supremacist groups who have transposed the criticism of Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government to an international audience for their own political gain.”

The Hindustan Times: “’Karma strikes back’: Canada truckers protest continue; Indian Twitter mocks Justin Trudeau”

in to youtube videos, Indian English-language daily the Hindustan Times covered Indians’ social-media mockery of Trudeau, who users claim was “interfering & encouraging protest in India” and now faces the same at home. (Trudeau voiced his support for Indian farmers who spent a year protesting controversial agricultural reforms, prompting the government to repeal the laws.)

“People in India are closely watching the anti-vax protests in Canada,” captions on the video read. “Many social media users in India say ‘karma’ has hit back at Trudeau who had backed the protests against Modi.”

FRANCE 24 English: “Did ‘The Simpsons’ predict Canadian truckers’ ‘Freedom Convoy’?”

France’s public broadcaster devoted to six minute segment to Canada’s truckers, debunking a manufactured video of famed American cartoon family the Simpsons seemingly predicting the “Freedom Convoy” descending on Ottawa. “Two different episodes of the Simpsons edited together to produce a rather funny and scarily accurate depiction of current events in Canada,” said journalist James Creedon, “but, it’s fake.”

RT: “Media floats Russia theory for Canadian trucker protest”

“A cross-country convoy of truckers that has jammed the streets of Canada’s capital in protest against Covid-19 vaccine mandates might seem like grass-roots pushback against government overreach, but state broadcaster CBC Television has offered a more sinister explanation: Russia did it ,” writes Russian state-controlled media network RT of a comment made by CBC’s Nil Koksal — “there is concern that Russian actors could be continuing to fuel things as this protest grows, but perhaps even instigating it from the outset” — on a Jan. 28 broadcast of “Power and Politics.” (CBC later clarified Koksal’s question about Russian involvement “should have referenced experts’ concerns that during the current tension over Ukraine, Moscow could use its cyber and disinformation capabilities to ‘sow confusion’ among Ukraine’s allies during a crisis.”)

“Prior to floating the theory of a Russian bogeyman, Canadian media outlets have made other claims that appeared to smear the protesters, such as suggesting they are racist or extremist,” the RT piece goes on to say. “The Toronto Star said the convoy became a ‘magnet’ for such undesirable elements as ‘conspiracy nuts, Western separatists, far right-wingers and worse.’ Others have suggested that some participants want to carry out their own version of last year’s US Capitol riot.”

The Sydney Morning Herald: “Greater Ottawa declares state of emergency amid paralyzing anti-mandate protests”

“The ‘Freedom Convoy’ began as a movement against a Canadian vaccine requirement for cross-border truckers but has turned into a rallying point against public health measures and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s government,” wrote journalists Lars Hagberg and David Ljunggren for Australia’s most widely read newspaper.

“Amid incessant horn blaring and occasional fireworks, a polished supply chain — including portable saunas, a community kitchen and bouncy castles for children — has sustained the protesters to the fury of residents who blame police for inaction.”

Fox News: “GoFundMe, now nixing Canadian trucker fundraiser, promoted Capitol Hill Occupied Protest appeal”

The American conservative media site has persistently covered the “Freedom Convoy,” and recently contrasted GoFundMe’s decision to shut down the protesters’ fundraiser with the crowdfunding platform’s previous support for the Seattle Capitol Hill Occupied Protest in the wake of George Floyd’s murder.

“However, despite (GoFundMe’s) concern about ‘occupation,’ in 2020 the platform not only allowed, but also gave its backing on social media to a fundraiser for a farmer working in the left-wing Seattle protest which occupied a six-block downtown area,” wrote Adam Shaw, quoting a tweet from the site as stating, “In a community with no police, this farmer is feeding people & bringing them closer together.”

Fox News also covered recent calls by Texas Sen. Ted Cruz demanding the US Federal Trade Commission investigate GoFundMe for closing the convoy’s fundraiser.

The New York Times: “Ottawa residents fed up with truckers’ noisy and intimidating occupation”

For Saturday’s edition of the Times’ Canada Letter, Ian Austen reported on the plight of downtown Ottawa residents amid the trucker protests.

“Noise has been one of the greatest issues in Centretown, as well as the ByWard Market and Lowertown, the other two neighborhoods where protesters have settled in,” Austen wrote.

“Day and night, trucks have been rumbling through their streets, blaring air horns — some of them of the variety usually found on railway locomotives. Impromptu fireworks shows, some as late as midnight add to the cacophony.”