The two-day congress of the Platforma network in Brussels brought together hundreds of anti-war activists, some of whom are still active in Russia. On stage hung the theme of the gathering: “Standing Together for Ukraine and for Freedom.” Around 300 people gathered under it, including Russian activists, Ukrainian human rights campaigners, and delegates from the EU and beyond.

The deployment of the police, including specialized units, to disrupt protest activity and movement building has continued into our own era, but it is also important to understand that more everyday police functions centre on forms of social control that are linked to the political priorities of the ruling establishment.

There are multiple theses competing for narrative leadership to explain dealignment and surging working class support for right-wing populism. One less discussed factor in the drift of working class voters away from traditional values and politics is the problematic role and capacity of the labour movement to influence working class political outlooks and choices.

Pretty much everything that we might find redeemable about Canadian society has come as a result of community-based struggles and social movements. Yet, most people have little awareness of the historical significance of collective action because public memory practices rarely recollect, never mind detail, histories of activism.

Not only does the focus on antisemitic incidents draw Canadians’ attention away from the death toll in Gaza and the muzzling of Canadian voices condemning it, it also amplifies calls by representatives of CIJA, B’nai Brith Canada and other mainstream Jewish leaders for more severe repressive measures against peaceful opposition to Israel’s genocide.

If Canadians accept the flimsy, speculative pretexts offered by university authorities to crush peaceful protest, we risk the further erosion of our political rights and freedoms. If these rights may be trampled underfoot on university campuses without legal challenge, where are they protected? Constitutional lawyers, don your armour.

I was recently arrested for social media posts critical of Israel and spent five days in jail to win the right to respond to Dahlia Kurtz, the Zionist influencer who pursued harassment charges against me. My experience fits in with a long history of Canadian police and intelligence services targeting critics of Israel—and includes close ties to their Israeli counterparts.

Those who stand up for just social and economic causes have long faced repression by the Canadian state. In this moment, the struggle for Palestinian liberation is the most unifying cause for people who want to build a better world. For this reason, it is no surprise that anti-genocide activists like Yves Engler are being targeted.

As we see in the case of ongoing efforts to criminalize disruptive forms of climate protests, establishment thinking is embracing the idea that stricter limits must be set on the freedoms that have been conceded by liberal democracies. You can object to the destructive conduct of fossil fuel companies, but if you challenge their operations you will be treated as a terrorist.

The unfolding climate catastrophe, growing inequality, the disintegration of the country’s social safety net, and the rise of profoundly reactionary yet increasingly viable political forces at home and abroad make it imperative for Canadian socialists to develop strategies to begin to substantively challenge Canadian elites at the national scale.