Western canada needs to ditch confederation

[chuckChuck]

https://globalnews.ca/news/8621125/canadian-anti-hate-network-concerned-diagolon-coutts-border-protest-diagolon/

Anti-hate experts concerned about possible neo-fascist involvement at Alberta trucker convoy
By Paula Tran 770 CHQR
Posted February 15, 2022 8:50 pm
Updated February 16, 2022 1:15 pm

Anti-hate experts are raising concerns after a picture of weapons, ammunition and body armour seized at the border protest at Coutts, Alta. showed patches belonging to a neo-nazi group in Canada.

The Canadian Anti-Hate Network tweeted on Monday that gear seized by police at Coutts includes a plate carrier with Diagolon patches. According to the network, Diagolon is an accelerationist movement that believes a revolution is inevitable and necessary to collapse the current government system. It wants to build its ideal nation-state, which runs diagonally from Alaska through the western provinces down to Florida.

It is also a neo-fascist militia with a sizeable support base across the country, said the network.

“A lot of them claim to be ex-military members and a lot of them claim to have some kind of military training. There’s very much a militia kind of vibe within the network and there have been lots of talks of weapons,” said Elizabeth Simons, the Canadian Anti-Hate Network’s deputy director.
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The tweet comes after Alberta RCMP arrested 13 people and seized weapons and ammunition near the Coutts border blockade on Monday.

The RCMP said they recently became aware of a small organized group within those involved in the larger Coutts border protest. It’s believed the group arrived within days of the initial group of protestors arriving at the border.

“The group was said to have a willingness to use force against the police if any attempts were made to disrupt the blockade,” RCMP said in a news release on Monday.
Click to play video: 'Weapons and ammunition seized at border blockade in Coutts, Alberta'
2:45 Weapons and ammunition seized at border blockade in Coutts, Alberta
Weapons and ammunition seized at border blockade in Coutts, Alberta

“This resulted in an immediate and complex investigation to determine the extent of the threat and criminal organization.”

Diagolon’s potential involvement in the Coutts border protest should be taken seriously, said Simons. Its de facto leader Jeremy MacKenzie was arrested in Nova Scotia on firearms charges on Feb. 3.

“There is certainly a history of concerning behaviour, escalating behaviour, as well as hate. This is a very anti-Semitic group. It’s rife with neo-Nazis,” said Simons.

Read more: 4 charged with conspiracy to murder after raid on Coutts blockade

“This is a network of people with strong organizational skills. The inclination to meet offline is always concerning and a precursor to any kind of action.”

Others are also sounding the alarm. Kelly Sundberg, an associate professor at Mount Royal University’s economics and justice department, said the seizure of firearms and weapons at the Coutts border crossing should be a red flag for every politician in the country.

“I have no doubt that they would have been used. I have no doubt that we would have seen bloodshed if the RCMP and law enforcement did not intervene,” he said.

Sundberg pointed to the rise of alt-right extremism in Canada, saying hate symbols such as swastikas are becoming a regular occurrence at protests across the country.

“The narratives that are common in the United States’ political sphere have now transcended and moved across the borders into Canada. We’re seeing a lot of misinformation, crazy conspiracy theories and politicking coming into play,” said Sundberg.

Sundberg also said divisive politics are to blame, referencing the way the Liberal Party and Conservative Party point fingers at each other in Parliament and have politicized the COVID-19 pandemic. According to Sundberg, both parties are contributing to a “toxic political environment”, creating two major echo chambers with no room for compromise.

“There’s the instant default to reject or counter the other side’s thoughts and ideas, even if they’re good ideas… It’s like little kids fighting. It’s really embarrassing,” said Sundberg.

“It’s time for politicians to act like adults and to understand that they need to have everyone’s interests at hand.”

When asked if Canadians should be more concerned about the anti-mandate protests, Sundberg agreed. He said conspiracy theories and alt-right extremism are eroding democracy in the U.S. and Canada.

“If we allow the loud, obnoxious, aggressive behaviour to overtake democracy, then we’re in trouble. It’s very terrifying. I’m very worried,” said Sundberg.

But those involved in the Coutts border protest maintain that the movement is peaceful.

On Tuesday morning, protestors made the decision to leave the Coutts border crossing, saying they wanted the protest to be peaceful and wanted to distance themselves from any groups with links to potential violence.

“We made the decision to peacefully leave on our terms after the events that came to light with some of the participants of this protest having firearms and protective equipment stored in another location in this community,” said protest organizer Marco Van Huigenbos.

“Our message has been one of peace, peaceful protest and to keep that message strong we felt the best decision was to move out.”

Tuesday evening RCMP Chief Supt. Trevor Daroux, Officer-in-Charge of the Southern Alberta District, said investigations into the group arrested on weapons and conspiracy to murder charges as well as the rest of the protesters are ongoing.

Any connections to extremist groups were part of that investigation, he said.

“These are all avenues that we will be looking at and looking at them from several angles.”

“We know that there are certain groups who will try and infiltrate other protests or demonstrations in order to further their cause in a situation like that isn’t uncommon,” Daroux said. “Where this becomes concerning is the serious public safety issues that this presented.”

He said that faction of the protest became known to the RCMP “a few days into the demonstration protest.”

–with files from Heather Yourex-West, Lauren Pullen and Adam Toy, Global News

[jazz]

So fictional map scribbling is a terrorist activity now? Wow.

[chuckChuck]

[ATTACH]10184[/ATTACH].

So I see we have posters on Agrisilly openly supporting Diagolon?

Yes, the Diagolon cell of terrorists who showed up at the Coutts border crossing with guns and a lot of ammo and a plan to kill cops? You really want to support them?

Now how smart are you to post this on a public forum and appear to be a supporter of a violent far right neo-fascist terrorist group?

Congratulations! You just put yourself on a RCMP watch list and could face investigation and possible charges and frozen bank accounts.

[chuckChuck]

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2022/02/17/father-of-accused-in-alleged-coutts-blockade-murder-conspiracy-says-son-was-radicalized-online-as-others-dispute-rcmp-narrative.html

Father of accused in alleged Coutts blockade murder conspiracy says son was radicalized online, as others dispute RCMP narrative
Police have charged 13 people. The allegations have not been tested in court

By Kieran LeavittEdmonton Bureau
Omar MoslehEdmonton Bureau
Thu., Feb. 17, 2022

[chuckChuck]

https://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/what-is-the-diagolon-extremist-group-and-what-does-it-want-1.5785646

What is the Diagolon extremist group and what does it want?

Christy Somos
CTVNews.ca Writer

Published Thursday, February 17, 2022 3:14PM EST

When Alberta RCMP released images of the weapons and tactical gear seized from a group that took part in the Coutts, Alta., border blockade, the pictures showed patches displaying a white diagonal line on a black background -- the calling card of the Diagolon far-right extremist group.

Four men associated with the Coutts blockade have been charged with allegedly plotting to kill RCMP police officers, but the Mounties have not yet publicly commented on any possible connections with the group.

Without naming any specific group, Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino alluded to ties between protesters in Ottawa and the Coutts arrests while speaking to reporters Wednesday, saying “several of the individuals at Coutts have strong ties to a far-right extreme organization with leaders who are in Ottawa. We’re talking about a group that is organized, agile, knowledgeable and driven by an extremist ideology where might makes right.”


Mendicino appeared to double down on his remarks in Thursday’s House of Commons session, saying “there is an ideologically-motivated operation that we see in the rhetoric here that is meant to incite,” which was one of the major reasons the government chose to invoke the Emergencies Act, he said.
WHAT IS THE DIAGOLON?

Diagolon can be categorized as an “accelerationist” group, according to researchers who study extremism.

Director of the Centre for Bias, Hate and Extremism at Ontario Tech University Barbara Perry defined accelerationism as the “intent on accelerating or fomenting a civil war, overturning what they see as the current corrupt, illegitimate order.”

In an email to CTVNews.ca Thursday, Perry listed violent groups such as The Base, Atomwaffen, and the Boogalo Boys as examples of adherents to that principle.

“For some, this resonates with the traditional RAHOWA, or Racial Holy War. For others, it represents an all-out civil war that would delegitimize and destabilize the current regime,” Perry said in her email. “Many accelerationists celebrated the events of January 6, 2021 in Washington DC as the onset of this civil war (e.g., The Base), hence the calls…for the Freedom Convoy to be our January 6. Some of these groups/individuals are among the most aggressive and volatile elements of the far-right, and as we saw in Coutts, heavily armed.”
WHERE DID DIAGOLON COME FROM?

The Diagolon group is a loose network of people with neo-fascist, militant views which emerged from a group of live streamers called “The Plaid Army,” according to the Canadian Anti-Hate Network (CAHN).

The Plaid Army has been accused of platforming and espousing rampant racism and anti-Semitic content in their streams, and had a couple of mainstays on their shows including Jeremy MacKenzie, who has been identified by CAHN as the de facto leader of Diagolon in Canada.

MacKenzie, who is a Canadian military veteran, previously made headlines for protesting in Halifax against a joint-speaking engagement of Romeo Dallaire and Omar Khadr about child soldiers, and more recently for his January arrest related to four weapons charges after a video was posted on social media which police allege showed MacKenzie pointing a gun at a man’s head.

MacKenzie has been seen on livestreams in Ottawa encouraging the blockades on his Telegram and YouTube channel where he goes by variations of the username “Raging Dissident.”

In one video posted by a user called "Raging Dissident III" which the CAHN says belongs to MacKenzie, the “Diagolon National Anthem,” which appears to be a self-shot video of a Korean War memorial in Halifax and footage of a Canadian flag, wheat fields and the Diagolon flag is set to a version of “Rolling Down to Old Maui” by Stan Rogers and sung by Mannerbund, according to the CAHN, a group they identify as a U.S.-based white supremacist men’s group.

The new lyrics reference that “by blood or sweat” the singers will reclaim their home, and if “there is no fire” to light their way they will start their own.

He is also the source of the concept of Diagolon, according to the CAHN, which started as an online joke referencing a fictional nation state of “sane” people who reject the current government and society, running diagonally across North America from Alaska to Florida.
WHAT ARE THE GROUP’S MOTIVATIONS?

In an email to CTVNews.ca Thursday, the CAHN said Diagolon is an excellent example of how irony poisoning can be used to warp an online joke into a movement.

Irony poisoning is a term used to describe the process of desensitization to extremist, hateful rhetoric by the use of “humour,” and especially on the internet -- memes -- that assist in sliding a person further into the spheres of fascism, white supremacy and violence.

The CAHN said in its email that Diagolon quickly attracted a network of like-minded anti-authority individuals, which they estimate are potentially now in the thousands, with members in Canada, the U.S. and Australia – judging from their Telegram channels.

“If you look at the Telegram channels and chats associated with these people, they all referred to Diagolon consistently,” deputy director of CAHN Elizabeth Simons said in a telephone interview with CTVNews.ca Thursday. “They call themselves Diagolonians or Diags or Dags. People outside of Diagolon are called Circulonians because the rest of the rest of North America is what they call Circulon.”

A perusal of Telegram channels of alleged Diagolon members or supporters shows support for the blockades in Ottawa, people posing with weapons and the sharing of violent images, including Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s head on a spike.

Simons pointed out that violence is a core element to Diagolon, citing MacKenzie’s motto repeated in his chats and streams -- “by gun or rope” -- describing how his enemies can choose to die.

The CAHN stated in its email that the perceived enemies of the group are the media, the mainstream government and politicians and those they perceive as communists.

When asked why Diagolon targets communism, Simons said the fear of “encroaching communism” is rife amongst conspiracy theorist movements as an insult against government policies, but in neo-fascist and militia movements it stands for something else.

“The fear of communism actually comes from Nazism and neo-Nazism where Communist is a placeholder for Jews,” she said. “In neo-Nazi circles…that's why you see anti-Communist symbols and imagery amongst neo-Nazis and racist skinheads and things like that. So this idea of being opposed to communism in place of being opposed to Jews because it's a bit more palatable, goes back a long time.”

For Diagolon, Simons said the term communist has morphed into “anyone that they don't like,” or is their opposition. However, Simons pointed out there is a “massive contingent” of Diagolon members who are anti-Semitic and racist who likely use the term as the historically-derived placeholder for Jewish people.

The major concern, Simons said, is that CAHN is witnessing the Diagolon network branch out and go offline.

“Those pictures of them about shooting together, the pictures of them training together, they get together and share knowledge, they're developing cells,” she said, adding that despite MacKenzie being their de facto leader, cells and Diagolon member networks are autonomous. “Jeremy [MacKenzie] doesn't tell them what to do or how to act…and so after what happened in Alberta, we are worried about other potential cells and networks that could lead to violence.”

[chuckChuck]

So where are all the western separatists defending the western separation?

They seem to go awfully quiet after Jazz posted public support for Diagolon who planned to kill cops at Coutts.

[Hamloc]

So where are all the western separatists defending the western separation?

They seem to go awfully quiet after Jazz posted public support for Diagolon who planned to kill cops at Coutts.

Chuck2 do you ever get the feeling you are arguing with yourself?

As far as I can see main stream media and the Liberal’s are falling all over themselves going out of their way to blame far right extremists for the Convoys and blockades. Was there some imbedded wing nuts? Absolutely. But there are thousands of Canadians across the country that participated in and are still participating in demonstrations against government mandates. This attempt by government and media to discredit all involved and trample their rights will have long lasting consequences. Why the constant effort to divide? I talked to someone who was in a local convoy on Saturday, he said most people were young families like him. Trudeau should be careful, isn’t that the age group he tries to appeal to?

[Taiga]

Please use your own words, I don’t read the cut and pastes (from anybody), I doubt many people do.

[chuckChuck]

Chuck2 do you ever get the feeling you are arguing with yourself?

As far as I can see main stream media and the Liberal’s are falling all over themselves going out of their way to blame far right extremists for the Convoys and blockades. Was there some imbedded wing nuts? Absolutely. But there are thousands of Canadians across the country that participated in and are still participating in demonstrations against government mandates. This attempt by government and media to discredit all involved and trample their rights will have long lasting consequences. Why the constant effort to divide? I talked to someone who was in a local convoy on Saturday, he said most people were young families like him. Trudeau should be careful, isn’t that the age group he tries to appeal to?

Hamloc you seemed to have little concern for the rights of Ottawa residents and businesses or the right of the vast majority of truckers to cross the border on behalf of businesses across Canada.

So when you are willing to illegally step on other peoples rights and freedoms so easily, then nobody believes you truly believe in freedom.

Its only a very small minority of people who are antivaxers. They have complained all along about many public health measures. The vast majority of vaccinated Canadians really don't give a rats ass about rabid antivaxers and find them spreading misinformation and lies like Ivermectin is an anti viral and vaccines dont work!

[AlbertaFarmer5]

Bad news Chuck.
I have been suggesting to anyone opposed to being a part of western separation, that it is a free country with no limits on internal mobility, so you are welcome to move to the Socialist Utopia portion that will remain.
Unfortunately, you have missed your chance. And are stuck with us now. Too bad for all parties involved.
Justin Trudeau just said that a convoy from Alberta was turned away at the "Manitoba Ottawa border."
As an added bonus, apparently the rest of western Ontario has joined with Manitoba, leaving the province of Ottawa all alone.
Either that or else our PM doesn't even know the provinces by name.

[ajl]

Please use your own words, I don’t read the cut and pastes (from anybody), I doubt many people do.

I just keep chuck blocked. Chuck once said that it was time to reduce the silly here on agriville and so I blocked chuck and guess what: the silly reduced immensely.

[WiltonRanch]

Geesh if I wanted an independent western Canada I’d like to keep the Dags away. Any of you with sheep or collies know what dags are.