Perspectives on the blockade: Local experts weigh in on the Ambassador Bridge protest

Nearly one month after the blockade of the Ambassador Bridge, experts with the University of Windsor met for a three-hour virtual discussion of an event that surrounded the school's campus. 

Here's three key points from some of the presentations.

A physical protest's virtual success 

Many of the protesters who parked vehicles along Huron Church Road or drove out to support the blockade carried smartphones and live streamed the event to followers online. 

Vincent Manzerolle, assistant professor with the University of Windsor's Department of Communication, Media and Film, watched hours of those videos during the week-long event.

He found that people protesting became content producers, broadcasting their content to other protesters. 

"What we have witnessed is a cross-border media spectacle in which participants and audiences are simultaneously engaged in the production, distribution and consumption of content that feeds back into the event itself," said Manzerolle. 

He called it a feedback loop that shows the success of these demonstrations are "deeply embedded" within platforms like YouTube, Reddit and Facebook — and the biases that come with them.

"While the occupation of physical space is among the most significant aspect of these events, I believe the success and effectiveness of these events also rests with the variety of media platforms, devices, tools and practices that produced them as an integrated and highlight participatory media spectacle," said Manzerolle.

Manzerolle cited the work of activist and researcher Dallas Smythe, who suggested the product created by media was the audience, not the content created. 

"The audience is often mobilized to act, to participate, a kind of labour of attention," he said. 

"If you are not paying for the product, you are the product."

'A great deal of caution'

Police and politicians have been criticized for allowing the demonstrators to block the bridge and hold the blockade for the better part of seven days, causing a ripple effect that forced automotive plant closures and financial hardships. 

"I think a lot of this has to do with politics," said Manoj Mate, the Canada research chair in international trade law at the University of Windsor's Faculty of Law.

"It's sensitivity also of elected leaders and concerns about where things could lean politically and what could the backlash be if they move too quick."

Mate said there was "a great deal of caution" from all levels of government in handling the blockade. 

"One narrative here is that it was the private sector that arguably pushed the state, or filled the gap, if you will, of state governance initially in part because so much was at stake," said Mate. 

One of the key moments during the blockade was when the Automotive Parts Manufacturers' Association filed a request for a court injunction to end the protests at the Ambassador Bridge.

Mate said part of that was because the private industry was able to demonstrate financial losses where the municipality would only be able to argue the public harm, which could lead to interpretation. 

The blockade and race

Danardo Jones, an assistant professor at the University of Windsor law school, spoke on policing and critical race theory. He brought up a question: what if the blockade protesters were Black?

"I think most Canadians, particularly Black Canadians, would not even make that comparison," said Jones, citing an aspect of critical race theory known as racial reversal.

"It's the notion to be able to see things as what they are is to imagine them for what they might be," he said.

Jones said he spoke with Black friends, family and colleagues ahead of his presentation and asked them to imagine if all the protesters were Black. 

Jones said those he asked told him he was crazy — one person said they'd call his mother to check on him if he were to ever plan something like the blockade.

"The very thought of 100 or 200 Black bodies... blocking critical infrastructure or uttering threats of violence or death toward the prime minister, using Black children as bridge and roadway obstructions or stalling a multi-billion dollar a day international trading hub for several days is just unimaginable," said Jones.

He said that Black people have dealt with harsher punishments from police for doing other things that do not reach the level of public impact like in Ottawa and Windsor. 

"My point here is not to say police should have met the protesters with the kind of violence Black people are so accustom to," he said. 

Jones cited emergency legislation that was brought in by both the provincial and federal government to remove protesters in Windsor and Ottawa, which he said was not needed.

"The police would not use the tools that they had at their disposal to stop something that was so blatantly criminal," said Jones. 

"There is a certain racial undercurrent here that hasn't been teased out so far, and that's important for us to look at."