(A French version is attached below.)
"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
It’s hard to say which is more dangerous.
Politicians who vote for the use of unwarranted Draconian powers in order to suppress opposition (or avoid an election they don’t want).
Media who whip the public into a frenzy over false accusations of insurrection.
Police who use violence against peaceful protestors exercising their democratic right to stand with their conscience.
Citizens who support strong-arm tactics to end the discomfort of inconvenient protest.
Or those who take no particular interest in the greatest health failure and government overreach in Canadian history.
Here is an overview of the last couple of weeks…
Democracy itself is still at stake, even with the end of the recent implementation of The Emergencies Act in Canada.
But perhaps more importantly, so is our moral compass.
“We will have to repent in this generation not merely for the vitriolic words and actions of the bad people, but for the appalling silence of the good people."
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
With what has happened these last several days, our country has vilified the very Canadians who are standing for the health, safety, equality, and freedom of future generations.
It is this very human story I feel compelled to tell, especially for those who still aren’t being heard.
Many of the people I met in Ottawa came from countries where imprisoning people and freezing their bank accounts for opposing the government is normal.
They came to escape such previously unimaginable actions in the true north, strong and free.
Catarina had a nervous stomach all the way to the capital city, but she had to be there to support the Freedom Convoy’s protest to end unscientific mandates.
Working in a hospital, she saw first hand that the narrative didn’t fit the facts.
She grew up in a Communist country and, like so many of the first generation Canadians I met in Ottawa, was very disturbed by familiar signs of creeping authoritarianism.
A Polish man and his wife asked to remain anonymous.
Having done their own research on the “vaccine,” they had begged their beautiful and healthy 26-year-old daughter not to get the jab.
Feeling that she couldn’t afford to lose her job, she took it, and died days later.
They had the wherewithal to get an autopsy and showed me the report.
Cause of death was left blank.
This is yet another aspect of the scientific corruption underpinning the crumbling narrative.
A bad experience with someone who changed their daughter’s story to fit their own agenda made them reticent about allowing me to photograph the report.
All I can do is share their story.
At least they were able to get to Ottawa to tell it.
Not everyone could.
François Amalega is one of the people who could not.
On my last night at the convoy basecamp, I met a soft-spoken young woman who was in Ottawa on François’ behalf.
A friend and fellow protestor for nearly 2 years, Pascaline had been arrested herself and was working to get François out of jail.
Because Canada now has the dubious distinction of holding political prisoners without bail.
Like the other immigrants I’ve mentioned here, François Amalega left a country with an oppressive government.
Moving from Cameroon and settling in Quebec was an easy choice for the then 33-year-old.
He had family here, spoke French fluently, had a Masters degree in Mathematics and quickly got a job at a prestigious school.
Exactly 8 years later, in March 2020, François was pursuing his doctorate when the COVID-19 narrative was being introduced by the government and media.
When prestigious French physician, microbiologist, and infectious disease specialist Dr. Didier Raoult recommended hydroxychloroquine as an effective early treatment for C-19, Mr. Amalega was surprised at the mainstream reaction.
The resistance to a safe and proven drug didn't make sense.
He also researched less well-off countries where C-19 mandates were almost non-existent, and saw that they were fairing much better.
(I wrote about many of these HERE.)
When mask mandates were implemented in July of 2020, François participated in his first of many demonstrations.
On February 5, 2021, he resigned from his teaching job at the prestigious private Collège Jean-de-Brébeuf, following his refusal to close his Facebook account.
When curfews were added to Quebec’s arbitrary and unjustified rules, François peacefully defied this mandate as well.
By the spring of 2021, he was handing out pamphlets and in the summer he was organizing public barbecues to help non-compliant citizens connect and feel less isolated.
His refusal to wear a mask, to adhere to curfew, and to follow unscientific mandates and unwarranted court orders would lead to multiple arrests, fines, and jail time.
For the crime of intentionally entering a grocery store to buy bread without a mask, he was tackled to the ground and arrested by 2 police officers.
You can see the video and listen to a Rebel News interview with Mr. Amalega here…
While the mainstream media tried to portray François as some kind of unstable trouble-maker, this interview shows him to be a credible and intelligent man of character, standing up for what he believes to be right.
It struck me that those who use civil disobedience to defy unjust laws are rarely appreciated in their time.
As Black History Month draws to a close, we have celebrated, with the comfort of distance, the lives and peaceful non-compliance of those called “extremists” in their time.
Even the great Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was not loved and appreciated by everyone when he was defying unjust laws and being called names like “rabble-rouser” and “agitator.”
Even those religious leaders who supported desegregation wrote an open letter in the press criticizing his civil disobedience.
His response was his famous Letter From Birmingham City Jail.
The parallels are striking.
Like Dr. King, Mr. Amalega is both an educated and deeply spiritual man, motivated by conscience.
Like Dr. King, Mr. Amalega is a believer in peaceful non-compliance, considering it his duty to defy unjust laws and mandates.
“An individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for the law.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Mr. Amalega has been called a “peaceful warrior” for his calm and unwavering stand against unscientific mandates.
And he has defied court orders based on these principles.
For his troubles, he has been handcuffed, hooded, jailed without bail, and even put in solitary confinement.
But like Dr. King’s, his stand is unbreakable.
“I feel more free within the four walls of a jail cell with a clear conscience than I would standing outside whilst respecting the measures and collaborating with the lie.”
François Amalega
Many people may find it difficult to understand protest that does not adhere to the rule of law, even if it is non-violent.
In his letter, Dr. King countered this view with the following…
“You deplore the demonstrations that are presently taking place…But I am sorry that your statement did not express a similar concern for the conditions that brought the demonstrations into being.”
In peace-loving Canada, we sometimes forget to look at the cause and instead focus on the symptom.
In our quest for order, we can lose sight of the purpose of conscientious defiance in someone who is described by his friend as, “A man of heart with great moral values", someone "proud to be a model citizen who respects just laws and rules.”
“He believes that every man is free. This is the reason why he not only defies the [health] measures but also the conditions of release. For him, it is a moral duty that every free and sovereign citizen must honour.”
Like Dr. King before him, Mr. Amalega is an admirer of Ghandi and is led by his principles rather than his personal self-interest.
He chose not to go back to Cameroon where the pandemic is almost non-existent, but continues to fight against injustice, and has even called for an independent investigation to look into the tragedy of the first wave of C-19 when the elderly died, “abandoned without any humanity.”
“What is happening right now in Quebec and the world is very serious. Scientifically baseless health measures. There is no public debate and there is intimidation everywhere. A lot of people are suffering from it. There are children who are spending the most fragile and important years of their lives distancing and masked and we will soon be forcing them to be vaccinated.”
François Amalega
It is this lack of open debate that also motivated Dr. King towards civil disobedience.
“As the weeks and months unfolded we realized that we were the victims of a broken promise.…So we had no alternative except that of preparing for direct action, whereby we would present our very bodies as a means of laying our case before the conscience of the local and national community.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I’m sure we’ve all lost track of how many broken promises current governments made, starting with 2 weeks to flatten the curve, through 2 years of continuous mandates, through promising the “vaccine” would stop transmission.
“You may well ask, ‘Why direct action? Why sit-ins, marches, etc.? Isn’t negotiation a better path?’ You are exactly right in your call for negotiation. Indeed, this is the purpose of direct action. Nonviolent direct action seeks to create such a crisis and establish such creative tension that a community that has constantly refused to negotiate is forced to confront the issue. It seeks so to dramatize the issue that it can no longer be ignored.”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
It is exactly this lack of negotiation, of public health debate, of transparency in sharing data that would substantiate even one of the mandates that led to both legal protest and civil disobedience on the part of Mr. Amalega and many of the truckers and supporters who participated in the recent Freedom Convoy.
While François was only one man creating a disturbance, the Freedom Convoy created another that could not be ignored.
And as we are now seeing, the government’s move to crush this disobedience is also crumbling.
And yet Mr. Amalega is still in prison, held without bail.
Ironically, he has spent the whole of Black History Month behind bars.
Not everyone who protests has the strength or courage of conviction of a Dr. King, but Mr. Amalega shares this and another quality with the civil rights leader — both have been called ”extremist."
“…I have tried to say that this normal and healthy discontent can be channelized through the creative outlet of nonviolent direct action. Now this approach is being dismissed as extremist. I must admit that I was initially disappointed in being so categorized.
But as I continued to think about the matter I gradually gained a bit of satisfaction from being considered an extremist. Was not Jesus an extremist in love — ‘Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, pray for them that despitefully use you.’…Was not Abraham Lincoln an extremist — ‘This nation cannot survive half slave and half free.’ Was not Thomas Jefferson an extremist — ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ So the question is not whether we will be extremist but what kind of extremist will we be. Will we be extremists for hate or will we be extremists for love?”
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
I think François’ must share this sentiment.
Like Dr. King before him, he is a practicing Christian.
As his friend, Pascaline, said, “This faith offers him the strength and courage to face all the trials he faces."
"He advocates peaceful civil disobedience since for him freedom of conscience is more important than following liberticidal rules that have no scientific basis. Appealing to the experts, without ever naming them, does not turn the lies of states into truth."
As Black History Month draws to a close, and as both the C-19 narrative and the “extremist” narrative of the Ottawa protest both fall apart, I am struck by the fact that those who are ahead of their time have always been criticized, categorized, demonized, and dismissed.
But the democratization of independent and social media gives us an opportunity to shift the conversation.
While François Amalega’s GoFundMe campaign had raised over $21000 towards paying for a lawyer and fighting $68000 in fines, it was removed due to pressure from pro-mandate groups.
But a new campaign has started and you can donate by sending an e-transfer to jesuisamalega@protonmail.com.
There are 4 people overseeing all donations to ensure all the money gets to Mr. Amalega.
For the password question use, "Francois," and for the answer use, "Amalega."
In addition, Mr. Amalega's first court date is Wednesday, March 2nd in Montreal.
People are being asked to assemble in front of the Montreal Courthouse on Notre-Dame at 9am to support him.
Finally, you can send letters of support to Francois at the Bordeaux Prison through this Facebook page.
We don’t have to wait until justice is celebrated historically.
In fact, we cannot.
History is moving too rapidly and too much is at stake.
When we check our moral compass, we must remember this…
“We can never forget that everything Hitler did in Germany was ‘legal’ and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was ‘illegal.’"
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
EDIT UPDATE: In May of 2022, I had the privilege of meeting Mr. Amalega. He read this article and advised me of some small discrepancies that have now been corrected.
NOW AVAILABLE IN FRENCH 👇
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