“Our leaders and police force weren’t helping. There wasn’t anyone fighting back,” Katarina says.
“We noticed a lot of inaction in Ottawa and throughout Canada. “And there was this huge gaslighting by the media. “We’re watching destruction of property, harassment, people getting up in locals’ faces and telling them to take their masks off,” she says, adding that there have also been reports of assaults from locals in the area. The city’s mayor has declared a state of emergency, and life for Ottawans has largely come to a standstill. Katarina says that life in Ottawa - particularly in the downtown area, which is home to many low-income and unhoused populations - has been hell since the trucker convoy. According to Katarina, a PhD student at a university in Ottawa and one of the leaders of the #RamRanchResistance (she requested that her last name be withheld to avoid being doxxed), it all started with counterprotesters going into the truckers’ Zello channels to get information about their organizing. The term “Ram Ranch Resistance” initially stemmed from Canadian counterprotesters entering chats organized by convoy supporters on Zello, a push-to-talk walkie-talkie app somewhat similar to the voice chatting platform Clubhouse. Meet the Beatle: A Guide to Ringo Starr's Solo Career in 20 Songs 'Silence of the Lambs': 'It Broke All the Rules' The lyrics played in the chat are from “Ram Ranch,” a 2012 porno-metal classic by Grant MacDonald that ascended to meme status thanks to lyrics like, “Eighteen naked cowboys wanting to be fucked/Cowboys in the showers at Ram Ranch/On their knees wanting to suck cowboy cocks/Ram Ranch really rocks.”
Welcome to the #RamRanchResistance, a loosely organized counter-movement to the trucker convoy. They’re removed from the chat before they can continue to the next lyrics: “BIG, HARD, THROBBING COCKS WANTING TO BE SUCKED.” “EIGHTEEN NAKED COWBOYS IN THE SHOWERS AT RAM RANCH,” a voice screams. In a recent chat on a Zello channel titled “Windsor Convoy 2,” a group of people supporting the trucker convoy - a Canadian protest against vaccine mandates and lockdowns - started an impromptu singalong for the national anthem, “O! Canada.” “Our home and native land,” one person sang off-key, followed by another, crooning just as poorly, “True patriot love with all our sons command.