Hundreds Stand with Ukraine at Rally in Victoria

Hundreds have answered the call of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress to stand with Ukraine at a rally in Victoria, BC, this Sunday. And since the number one cause of homelessness is of course war, I decided to attend as well.

The idea was to line up alongside Douglas Street, from the Ukrainian Cultural Centre at Cloverdale Street all the way downtown. I made a rough estimate of the attendance at about 13h00, at which point the crowd had reached Hillside Avenue, which gives about 600 people.

Some couldn’t wait for the rally to make it downtown and headed straight to Pandora Avenue, all the way to Yates Street.

So, was it enough to make a difference? Well, this isn’t a classical protest and the Canadian government is already sympathetic to Ukraine’s plight, so the bar to meet is fairly low; all that Canadians have to do is keep showing their government they care about world peace and stability. The mob can be powerless half a world away, but don’t forget this war isn’t decided on the field of battle, but in the court of public opinion, which is nowadays global, and Putin’s administration cannot stand in complete isolation, both at home and abroad.

See also: Ukraine Versus Russia in the Court of Public Opinion.