I have already pointed out, in a previous post (see Will the Social-Democratic Left Criticize Their Elected Social-Democratic Idols: The Case of the Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow), that Olivia Chow’s class harmony approach is bound to lead her to be co-opted into the status quo:
My prediction for Chow’s election is now even more pessimistic: I predict that she will end up actually expressing at least the same rhetoric at the end of her term in 2027 if not more reactionary views since she will probably become even more co-opted into the status quo than at present.
Her class harmony approach is expressed once more in an article written by Martin Regg Cohn in the Toronto Star, published on October 28, 2023. Cohn wrote the following:
The mayor pointed to a unanimous resolution passed by councillors of all ideologies and identities (Christian, Jewish and Muslim) in the wake of the Hamas massacre and Israeli retalitation. The motion decries “all forms of hate,” notably antisemitism and Islamophobia.
This sounds very democratic and humanitarian. However, her position reminds me of what Anatole France, a French poet, journalist and novelist, once wrote:
The law, in its majestic equality, forbids rich and poor alike to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal loaves of bread.
In forbidding both from sleeping under the bridge, there is a sort of equality, but given the different material circumstances of the rich and poor, the equality in effect leads to substantial inequality and suffering of the poor.
Similarly, by decrying “all forms of hate,” Chow simply ignores the oppression of many Palestinian workers, citizens, immigrants and migrant workers by Israeli employers and government (with, it must be said, the collusion of many Israeli workers). There are good reasons for hating such a government and employers, but Chow’s views ignore the material circumstances which make the hatred of Palestinian workers, citizens, immigrants and migrant workers different in nature from the hate (or lack of hate) by the Israeli ruling class.
Such neglect on Chow’s part finds further expression in her practical politics when she has to make compromises with Doug Ford–a capitalist employer and Conservative Premier of Ontario. Cohn writes:
I asked Chow to explain her complicated relationship with Premier Doug Ford, who famously warned, “If Olivia Chow gets in, it’ll be an unmitigated disaster.”
Politics can be polarizing and demonizing. How does Chow explain their collaboration to her own collaborators who think of Ford as an adversary?
It’s about emphathy versus antipathy.
“He lost a loved one (mayor Rob Ford). I lost a loved one, my late husband (NDP leader Jack Layton),” Chow replied, turning serious.
“At the end of the day, we’re human beings, right?” she continue. “If I just go and debate from an ideological view, we’re very different.”
Actually, she exaggerates their differences. They both agree, implicitly if not explicitly, that it is legitimate to exploit and oppress workers (of course, they will never explicitly say that).
There are, of course, differences. Chow aims to preserve a society dominated by a class of employers with a human face, if possible, whereas Ford more explicitly rules in the name of such a class without as much concern for softening the rough edges of such a society.
Nevertheless, Chow’s humanistic rhetoric hides her actual position as treating both employers and workers on the same level as equal human beings–despite the very different material circumstances in which they live. Thus, she stated the following:
Where we saw United Way and other community organizations sitting alongside corporate CEOs and developers; they’re working together to deliver housing and economic opportunities to the area for the local residents, because they know that they can deliver more for people when they come together and work together. That’s the magic.” [my emphasis]
CEOs in Toronto engage in oppression and exploitation (see, for example, The Rate of Exploitation of the Workers of the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (CIBC), One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto and in Canada , The Rate of Exploitation of Workers at Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part One and The Rate of Exploitation of Magna International Inc., One of the Largest Private Employers in Toronto, Part Two, Or: Intensified Oppression and Exploitation).
Chow’s humanitarian rhetoric, with its neglect of differences in material circumstances, hides a real empathy for the ruling class–and an implicit hate for the working class, at the national and international level. Her humanitarian rhetoric in relation to Palestine and Israel, likewise, hides an empathy for the Israeli class of employers and the Israeli government and an implicit hate for Palestinian workers, citizens, immigrants and migrant workers.
The Abolitionary 