Major Media White Washes Yellow Vests Movement and Convoy to Ottawa: Ignores Racism, Antisemitism, Islamophobia, Homophobia, and Misogyny Endemic to Reactionary Movement

On Tuesday last week, "The National" on CBC uncritically profiled the Yellow Vests movement and provided a forum for overt hate groups such as the former Nouns of Odin now going by the name the Clann. There was little to no mention of the racism rife within the movement and no mention of the violent threats directed towards political figures on the left (or at least those the reactionaries consider to be on the left). As bad as this coverage was, news papers including the "Calgary Herald" and "Toronto Star" provided even worse coverage.

Story: Yesterday CBC The National aired a segment misrepresenting the Yellow Vests Canada movement and it makes no mention of the extent of hate & death threats which characterize the Canada movement. Factcheck: https://t.co/BtB9L6k7m8 #cdnpoli h/t @VestsCanada @ARCCollective

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 14, 2019

Reporting on hate movements and hate groups that misrepresent themselves is difficult. It requires deep research/observation of less public-facing spaces, and/or building on the investigative work of orgs (happy to help) like @VestsCanada @ARCCollective. That didn't happen here.

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 14, 2019

While we have concerns about how The National reported on the Yellow Vests Canada mvmt convoy, both the Calgary Herald and Star have published stories with zero reference to the overt racism & death threats which have come to characterize Yellow Vests Canada. Do better. #cdnpoli

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 14, 2019

Visit the Yellow Vests Canada Facebook page. It's self-evident their main concern isn't oil and gas, but Muslims, Trudeau, leftists and conspiracies. For the overt racism, death threats, and conspiracy theories about how the Fort Mac fire was done by Muslims, see @VestsCanada.

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 14, 2019

FYI @TorontoStar @calgaryherald @CBCTheNational @goldsbie @JesseBrown @CANADALAND.

Here are the articles in question: https://t.co/17Lus3A7HKhttps://t.co/aD0Lm7TL0u

Also see: https://t.co/7pMgfj1wibhttps://t.co/BtB9L6k7m8

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 14, 2019

Several outlets have reported on the Yellow Vests Canada convoy without making reference to the overt racism and death threats which have come to characterize the movement. In response, we sent a press release with the facts to every newsroom in Canada. We hope it helps. #cdnpoli pic.twitter.com/z0RKK1EVla

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 15, 2019

I rarely ascribe intentions to bad reporting. Few news orgs set-out to mislead the public. But a CBC radio report just described a convoy of trucks heading to Ottawa as a movement "with one simple message..Pipelines". Not 1 mention of #YellowVestsCanada or anti-immigrant activism

— Jesse Brown (@JesseBrown) February 15, 2019

It was so bad, even Faith Goldy was angry, though I somehow suspect she was angry for different reasons:

The articles however provided cover for right-wing politicians to be able to support the event since they could now claim, citing these news sources, that the Yellow Vest sponsored convoy to Ottawa is solely about oil pipe lines despite what they themselves know to be true:

Jason Kenney and Doug Ford just endorsed the far-right, anti-immigrant United We Roll/Yellow Vests Convoy https://t.co/dCgOijoUr0 #cdnpoli #abpoli #onpoli

— North99 (@wearenorth99) February 17, 2019

ARC and especially Yellow Vests Canada Exposed and the Canadian Anti-Hate Network have been exposing the racism and violent rhetoric behind the reactionary Yellow Vests movement in Canada for more than two months. We've done what the major media hasn't done; critically examine the ideology underlying this movement and bring to light the people behind it. Those include people like this guy:

Dave Selvers is the organizer for the Yellow Vest Convoy in Sault Ste. Marie:

In a "Sault This Week" article from early January, members of the local Yellow Vest group which included Selvers stated:

George Brown, an active member of the Yellow Vests wants to make clear that he and fellow Yellow Vests are not against immigration. 

It just needs to be “done legally and fulfil needs for Canadians”, to help Canada’s homeless and destitute, Canada’s veterans and first nations, Brown said. 

Yellow Vesters are not against helping those who must flee their countries because of violence and corruption, he added. 

“Those in the middle east both Christian and Muslim need to be looked after”.

Given his association with the paranoid M103 protests though, one might pause to question Selvers' own (as well as the movement in general) commitment to protecting refugees and supporting immigration:

In fact the Canadian Anti-Hate Network has reported that this Yellow Vest Convoy supporter and local organizer has a long history of posting racist, Islamophobic, and misogynistic comments on social media:

NEW: Sault Ste. Marie Yellow Vests organizer Dave Selvers calls immigration minister @HonAhmedHussen an “ugly n***** . . . responsible for flooding Canada with useless n***** muslim terrorists.” #YellowVestsCanada convoy to arrive there imminently #cdnpoli https://t.co/ZOV2VN8i8l pic.twitter.com/gZ0r1OTnb0

— Canadian Anti-Hate Network (@antihateca) February 17, 2019

My own dive into his Facebook profile found a gun-obsessed, conspiracy-minded individual who revels in his hatred of Muslims and "non-white" Canadians and who has called for the execution of Canadian politicians:

Southern Ontario Skins: A Cast of Stooges Part XII

It's been a while since ARC has published a story about our favorite, bumbling, bonehead, basket-cases (I was going for some alliteration for humorous effect .... it sort of works if you're willing to be charitable). The reason for this is mostly because there hasn't been all that much to say. Of those who were active members or associates of the London, Ontario-based hate group, Max Hynes appears to be the only one active aside from Dan Hall and Toronto Creativity Movement leader Wes Smith both of whom generally confine their racism to social media these days. Hynes for example is one of the moderators of Kevin "No-Show" Goudreau's White Canadian Nationalist Front:

And my goodness how sad is it that Hynes is willing to subordinate himself to.... well....

In any case it seems that most of the membership has either been kicked out or left of their own volition because hanging out with a roided out (allegedly) rage freak with the intellectual capacity of a doughnut whole wasn't all it was cracked up to be. Still the original cast of stooges, from Dan Hall and Adrian Graves to Luke Northmore and Brodie Walsh were all entertaining in their own way.

ARC's favorite SOS bonehead though was, and always will be, Jeremy Crawford:

ARC's long time readers could hardly forget Crawford. In May 2014, Crawford contacted ARC with the hopes of joining the Southern Ontario Skins because (a) he missed the "Anti" part of "Anti-Racist Canada" and (b) he's an idiot. He was sent a message but didn't reply so we thought that he had managed to realize he had made a mistake in contacting us.

However, on July 1 he finally replied resulting in the most entertaining and enlightening month-long email exchange this writer had ever been a part of.

For those unfamiliar or those who enjoyed it the first time, feel free to reacquaint yourselves with that article. I'll happily wait. Here is is again.
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Okay, are we ready to continue?

In that exchange we learned that Crawford considered his extensive criminal record and prison history to be the sort of curriculum vitae that Hynes and the SOS would be impressed by. And sure enough there was ample examples online including the following:

• Gun lying in middle of road leads police to 10 more
• Two arrested following raid

Not long after Crawford FINALLY clued in, he did meet up with Hynes and the gang and received that t-shirt he was desperate to get his hands on:

After that and aside from a few rather brief mentions as a result of his social media activities, we sort of forgot about Crawford and as the SOS began to decline into relative obscurity, ARC stopped paying much attention to the gang entirely.

Then, last night, I suddenly wondered what Jeremy Crawford had been up to in the years since we last heard about him last? I mean, it was a completely out of the blue thought that popped into my head whereas I was contemplating whether or not to have a grilled cheese sandwich.

So I fired up the ol' interweb machine and did a quick search of his name:

Crawford: Uploaded to Facebook on September 22, 2017

I'm sure this will totally not come as a surprise:

Sarnia man stole phone and assaulted stranger 

By Neil Bowen, Sarnia Observer
Tuesday, November 22, 2016 10:41:01 EST AM 

A Sarnia man's lengthy criminal record for violence contributed to a nearly nine-month sentence for assault and theft. 

Jeremy Daniel Crawford, 35, pleaded guilty Monday in Sarnia court to the theft of a man's cell phone and the assault of another man when he threatened to use a hammer.

Court Appearance for Michelle Erstikaitis

Michelle Erstikaitis appeared in court today and has been charged with attempted murder. In a previous court appearance, Ms. Erstikaitis had with her an item that might make her friends Paulie and Canadian Creativity Movement leader Wes Smith scratch their heads a bit:

But the designated dangerous offender was clutching a Qur’an as she appeared briefly in an Old City Hall courtroom Tuesday to face charges for allegedly slashing a U.S. Consulate security guard.

Not that we actually believe for a moment she is a Muslim now, just as we questioned her commitment to the cause of "White Nationalism."

Still, isn't it interesting that Paulie, who had inexplicably championed her for years, has remained silent?

Things that make you go, hmmmm.

Soldiers of Odin: Canadians United 4 Canada Ally With Overt Neo-Nazis

On March 7, the founder of the Facebook group Canadians United 4 Canada posted the following message in which she offered her unreserved support for the Soldiers of Odin (SoO).

The Soldiers of Odin (SoO) began in Finland as a vigilante group ostensibly formed to protect women from sexual harassment and assault from the country's immigrant and minority population (which leaves us wondering if they are as concerned about harassment and assaults against women by the majority native European population, but we digress). Though they claim not to be racist, the founder of the SoO has links to the far-right Finish Resistance movement as well as a conviction for a racially motivated assault (my Finish to English translation captures the spirit of the article):

....Soldiers of Odin leader Mika Beach was convicted of assaulting immigrants in 2005. Beach and his friends attacked two immigrants in a restaurant. They beat both victims and his hand was broken, Journal says. Beach was also sentenced for other offenses, including possession of a gun and blade chain in a public place. The offence was racially motivated....

It is noted in the article that another high profile SoO member has and extensive criminal history. Also, some of the membership aren't above lying about their efforts:

The whole story was invented by one man Looper. We are now accused of being liars and just about. We ask all what you humbly apologize that this did happen.

Somehow we have a feeling that they regret getting caught lying rather than the actual lie, but what do we know?

Canadians United 4 Canada don't appear all that concerned with how shady the original Finnish chapter of SoO seems to be in offering unconditional support to the Canadian chapters. The Quebec chapter of the SoO seem to appreciate Ms. O'Farrell's shout-out:

Ms. O'Farrell, founder of Canadians United 4 Canada, wishes to convince her members that the SoO are not racist skinheads and just want to protect Canada and all that we hold dear from the Jihadists at the gate (though she herself show poor judgement in who she adds as friends):

Why don't we test Ms. O'Farrell's claim?

"Cobbsville Redux" or "The Sequel is Usually Worse Than the Original": Part II

When we last looked at Craig Cobb's North Dakota efforts, he had set his sights on a new town. Antler, population 20 (give or take) is just a hop, skip, and jump over the Canadian border and a 50 minute drive from this writer's home town. Unable to resist attention, he publicly announced his intentions on Stormfront which was picked up by local, state, and eventually national media.

Since that announcement, Crusty the Cobb appears to have grown smug assuming that no one will be able to thwart his masterful plans this time. He even started taunting the folks in Leith, the town he first tried to take over and where he was ultimately arrested. Cobb seems to now believe that he will be able to have his conviction thrown out, the inhabitants of Leith arrested for persecuting him, and the sheriff's department stuck with a civil lawsuit for an unconstitutional arrest:

 

We had thought that "Antler, ND" might be Cobb, though we're now leaning towards it being Deborah Dutton. No matter. The world is Craig Cobb's oyster.

Except....

Yeah, you knew the wheels were going to fall off soon:

"Cobbsville Redux" or "The Sequel is Usually Worse Than the Original"

Insanity: 1. the condition of being insane; a derangement of the mind. Synonyms: dementia, lunacy, madness, craziness, mania, aberration.

2. (Law) such unsoundness of mind as frees one from legal responsibility, as for committing a crime, or as signals one's lack of legal capacity, as for entering into a contractual agreement.

3. extreme foolishness; a foolish or senseless action, policy, statement, etc.; folly; senselessness; foolhardiness.

4. doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

5. (Noun) Craig Cobb.

Our readers will no doubt vividly recall Craig Cobb's efforts to take over a small, North Dakota hamlet in order to turn it into a White Nationalist enclave. Our readers will further remember the giddy excitement from some boneheads (such as our own Tomasz Winnicki) and the ridicule of the effort by other boneheads. Finally, our readers will remember the absolute disaster of Cobb's attempt to take over the town which ultimately culminated in his arrest and later guilty plea to keep himself out of prison.

When the debacle had passed and he had been released from jail, Cobb suggested that he was done and was going to retire from the movement, at least as a public activist. Considering his desperate need for attention, we never believed him for a moment.

Guess what Craig Cobb is planning to do again?

How Is Paulie's Campaign Going? Also, A Contest With Real Cash Prize

In one month, Paulie will go down in flames (again) after another election. Then again, winning the election isn't really why Paulie is running:

Yes, yes, we are indeed a cynical lot. But if Paulie can be considered to be good at anything, it is shamelessly promoting himself to his suckers.... er.... I mean donors. 

A recent publicity stunt certainly suggests the only thing he is serious about is convincing those who still follow him (and it seems to be a shrinking number here in Canada) that he stands an actual chance of winning and thus needs their financial backing. Here he is with the Canadian leader of the violent creativity movement Wes Smith:

Busy Weekend on Campaign Trail -- Mayor of Mississauga 

This was a busy weekend on the campaign trail with extensive literature distribution in many parts of Mississauga. Here we unveil my sharp election banner to inform motorists coming of the QEW gridlock into Port Credit that Paul Fromm is "the motorists' friend."

Hold on there sparky. Mayor of Mississauga? Might be getting a bit ahead of yourself.

I can't help observe two things. First, the traffic. Where is it? Really, it doesn't seem to be so bad.

But assuming traffic is as bad as Paulie claims it to be, we aren't sure someone touting himself as, "the motorist's friend" should be displaying a banner that would inevitably distract said motorists and perhaps result in an accident.

But really, we all knew this already.

The main purpose of this post is to allow our readers to participate in making fun of Paulie:

Oh yes. We certainly couldn't pass of this blank canvas.

As in 2010, we are offering a cash prize to the person who can create the funniest slogan for Pauie's banner. As I am not as affluent at the person who offered the prize the last time, I can only offer $50.00, but it is $50.00 you don't currently have so don't be picky.

Now, I am not as witty (or funny) as Nosferatu, but I did create a few examples to help stoke the creativity of our readers:

Southern Ontario Skinheads Outed

First, and in deference to our friends who actually ARE skinheads, it needs to be made clear that no one in the SOS is actually a skinhead. They've co-opted the look and, to a degree, very selected elements of the skinhead culture, but it's only window dressing. They are, and always will be, boneheads.

And now the boneheads in the SOS are known to more than the relatively small circle who are part of the Canadian racist movement or who make a point of monitoring the movement in Canada. And that is not a good thing if you are an SOS bonehead:

London skinhead party on police radar

By Jennifer O'Brien, Randy Richmond, The London Free Press

Friday, May 9, 2014 10:23:54 EDT PM 
 

Anti-racism activists are warning about the rise of a new neo-Nazi group in Southern Ontario and a celebration planned for the Victoria Day long weekend near London showcasing their strength.

But the man hosting what’s billed online as a White Pride World Wide celebration, and who’s connected to the group, says there’s nothing to fear from either the gathering or white pride views.

“It’s just a birthday party for me and my daughter, too,” said Jared Gilkes of Dorchester, east of London.

“It’s not white power, it’s white pride. All I am about is being proud of our own race. It’s not hatred. It’s about pride in your heritage, not hate.”

Some members of the group, Southern Ontario Skinheads, have been invited because they’re friends and he has joined them on rallies.

“But I’m part of no group. I put up on my (Facebook) wall: anybody that comes leave your attitudes at home,” Gilkes said, shortly before inviting a Free Press reporter and photographer to drop by May 17.

There’s more to the new group than white pride and the long weekend gathering than a simple birthday party, warn anti-racism activists.

“In reality, it appears to be an excuse for members of the Southern Ontario Skinheads from London and Kitchener, like-minded individuals, and a contingent from the biker culture to get together,” said a spokesperson from Anti-Racist Canada.

Anti-Racist Canada, which describes itself as a non-violent collective of people battling hatred, has been monitoring the Southern Ontario Skinheads (SOS) for just over a year.

The group has at least 12 members, the spokesperson said. “Things have picked up during the last few months and there seems to be more growth.”

SOS recently handed out flyers in Kingston in April, and members posted photographs on their Facebook pages of a small run-in with police and some members of the group giving the Nazi salute.

Several members have criminal records and some were connected to Western Canada’s violent Blood and Honour, a white supremacist group involved in physical attacks on non-whites, Anti-Racist Canada says.

Provincial police said they’ve been monitoring the group for some time and know about the party.

....

We had access to the Facebook group announcing the gathering as well so we were able to speak to some of the questions posed by the "Free Press":

May 2014 Bits and Bites

This will be relatively short. First, we would like to provide our readers with what looks to be a bit of a preview:

We have a feeling that the lives of the Southern Ontario Skinheads are about to become a lot more public and, perhaps, a lot less comfortable. And that all might be happening very soon.

More on that later. In the meantime, we offer our readers the wit, wisdom, and silver tongue of Mr. Hynes who waxes poetically about the nature of the fairer gender:

Yeah, hard to believe these people have a difficult time maintaining relationships. Or forming relationships in the first place. But.... wait.... is that Bernie Miller we see? Why yes it is! Miller has just recently completed his house arrest stemming from an incident in Edmonton which also resulted in Kyle McKee ending up serving a year in jail. It's sort of funny that an ally of McKee, someone who is suspected of being involved in the assault on Hynes in the summer of 2012, would be communicating with Hynes. Even more funny when you consider who Miller is pictured with in Miller's profile photo:

That there sidling up to Miler is Eric Marshall, one of the two men (along with Jessie Lajoie) who assaulted Hynes after being lured into the trap with promises of a sexual encounter with Ms. Kissack.

McKee Associate Convicted and Sentenced in Violent Attack

Leave to go camping a for five days and look at what we missed.

There are a few stories of particular interest to our readers, such as the anti-immigration flyers in Brampton and the "Free Matt Hale" posters being put up by Wes Smith and his friends in the Southern Ontario Skineheads. We'll address those stories at a latter date. However we want to focus on the recent conviction and sentencing of two individuals involved in an attack on the founder and leader of the SOS, Max Hynes. We'll include a little bit of commentary along the way:

Bloody ambush in local park was white power ‘discipline’

Brian Caldwell

KITCHENER — Bad blood within a white supremacy group fuelled the vicious ambush of a former organizer in a Kitchener park almost two years ago.

The masked attack in the summer of 2012 was orchestrated by Kyle McKee, a former Kitchener resident and leader of a Calgary-based neo-Nazi group called Blood and Honour.

For someone who has been in jail as often as he has been, we're surprised that McKee was so careless. He had to have known that his jailhouse conversations would have been recorded.

Then again, maybe he wasn't the one being careless?

Tone Deaf: Southern Ontario Skinheads Post Videos of March

Sometimes, it really is fun to watch the boneheads self-destruct all on their own. Either through infighting or through ultimately counterproductive behavior, the final result is inevitable.

Take the blowback from the failed "White Man's March" that took place last month. The event was really an unmitigated disaster no matter how those in the movement try to spin it. The only people who actually seems genuinely pleased with the outcome of the march in Canada were John Beattie, Paulie Fromm, and the mouth-breathers in the Southern Ontario Skinheads. But even this resulted in a fair amount of online bickering as Beattie, who if we are to be fair is not exactly much of a player in the Canadian scene. That didn't stop both Paulie and the SOS responded then and some other SOS members responded again later:

The crux of Beattie's concern is that he argues, in all honestly correctly, that overt links to Nazism hurts the cause of, "White Nationalists." So Beattie believes while the Neo-Nazi boneheads will one day serve the purpose of protecting the big thinkers like himself (because he actually views himself as a big thinker), they should leave the public relation stunts to folks like Kyle Hunt who organized the White Man's March.

Because certainly Kyle Hunt wouldn't have anything to do with something as distasteful as the Neo-Nazi movement, right?

Well, Beattie might have to get used to being disappointed:

So really, these guys participating in an event in which boneheads are indeed welcome shouldn't be all that much of a shock:

Managed to get the last name we were not certain about.

So, let's shift our focus back to the Southern Ontario Skinheads, shall we?

The life span of groups like the SOS are between 6 months and 3 years, though a few manage to make it to 5 years. They ultimately fail in large part as a result of the inadequacies of the membership itself. Thus far there is nothing in the SOS that lead us to conclude they will be no different. In fact, given what we've seen we think they are already setting up their own imminent collapse.

Much of the membership itself has some problems with self-control. As members of a gang SOS members derive a sense of power as being part of a larger group. And when they feel empowered, they attempt to intimidate (and threaten) their opposition into silence:

 

 

 

It also doesn't help that a number of the folks now in or associated with the SOS have rather extensive criminal records, including one of their more recent members:

Long term survival in groups such as the SOS require self-control and regulation. Does anyone believe the SOS are capable of these feats?

But you don't have to take our word for it. How about from the horses' mouth? In addition to the few photos they posted online, the SOS decided it would be a good idea to video their march through the streets of Kingston. Because, you know, how could that go poorly?

Complaining about the cold? Come on! Do you think Ragnar Lothbrok would complain about the cold? Some viking warriors you guys are!

The following videos are really the ones that are indicative of the mind set of the SOS membership. As you're watching these videos, we want you to consider how the average Kingston resident would react to a gang such as this walking down the street: