Look, these attacks are dishonest, divisive, and designed to intimidate us into backing down—but it won’t work...
This is an important – and sensitive - issue for many Albertans, and we can’t afford to be knocked off course by over-the-top political attacks or hysterical fearmongering.
UCP Wide Email, Danielle Smith, Nov. 18th 2024
The United Conservative Party is working to make me (Bunker Admin, Thatreallyblondehuman) a non-person. I believe that within the next three years, I will loose rights, including the vote, access to healthcare, ability to drive, and potentially the right to own property in Alberta.
Why do I think this?
First, the writing is on the wall; we are lead by incremental christian nationalist fascists.
The provincial government has been completely captured by people like this:
White culture is the air you breathe and the water you swim in. You speak our language, you exist in our civilization, you transact in our economic system. Your whole life occurs in the world we built. Be grateful that we shared it with you.
@DavidJPba (David Parker)
Parker just has to tell his "subscribers" what to do because it's in the name of God. Those subscribers are incredibly loyal and obedient and thanks to Parker, highly organized.
Rick Bell, Calgary Sun
Second, they have already taken all the above rights away from trans children.
They are actively trying to kill off the next generation of trans people. It is already happening. The UCP have overwhelming endorsed policies that will continue to build hate against me and my community. Why should we believe they would do anything otherwise?
My gender identification is X on my Alberta Drivers License. This government ID is what allows me to own property, access healthcare, drive, and vote. The UCP has decided that I must make the following choice to be able to do any of these things:
I refuse to do this. I will be fighting this coming moment with my entire being. All the resources, knowledge, and skills available to me will eventually have to be concentrated on this; otherwise I risk loosing it all.
They are already killing us. Our rights are already dead.
When I talk to liberal friends, I can just feel that they think this is a exaggeration. "They wouldn't really do that, it is just talk" is the most common line. They often don't bother to even reflect for a second why a trans person, who is trained in recognizing these signs, is saying this too them.
The UCP have already limited the vote, started gerrymandering in municipalities, and openly revile the democratic process. They are going to destroy most public institutions while using hate for trans (among other minorities) folks as political cover. It is a playbook that repeats through history so regularly that the last major moment has it's own wikipedia page.
First they came for the trannies. They hate liberals as much. How long before the exaggeration is at your door? How long until it smashes your union or books you for having the woke mind disease?
Conditions
We have over 4000 people living without permanent housing in Edmonton. Their are several hundred on the street. This winter we, as a collective society, will participate in record numbers of people freezing to death. The breadlines downtown are astonishing. Unemployment rates are nearing 9%. Rents have never been higher. The sheer amount of suffering happening in the "wealthiest" province is shameful.
The provincial government is using this pain, suffering, and chaos to further erode all peoples rights. As they scream about trans people in bathrooms, they are expanding their influence into municipal politics. While they talk about what gender of soccer team kids should play on, they are taking control of all police forces in Alberta. In the legislature they are discussing if trans people should use bathrooms in public while they introduce involuntary booking (aka cover for black shirt squads to book people for the "woke mind virus").
This will not slow down. This will not stop. Now that the government has caved to the most extreme elements of the United Conservative Party, there is blood in the water. They must accelerate, they must try to eat it all.
Overcoming
This moment in Alberta's political history will be remember for the strength of its people; in particular the queer community. We will write the truth; a government tried to kill us, and despite this, we thrived.
We will not get through this using the liberal playbook. There is no amount of emails, lawn signs, or gatherings, that will sway this government. They are popular. They are ideological. They know that the .37% of Albertan's that are trans will have run into the same issue I have; liberal straights whose cognitive dissonance allows them to look the other way.
How do we fight? How do we thrive?
We empower each other with the tools to publish knowledge, to make space, to have ourselves heard. We build up the community organizations that are needed in every corner of the province that keep people safe.
I have written some on this subject:
- Distributed Digital Organizing is The Way Out
- How not to get got making content v2
- If you do politics who is reading your secrets - why you should de-corp your software stack
I ask you to help; support trans people and organizations. Share this article. Sign up for the newsletter.