TESLA TAKEDOWN VANCOUVER

WE ARE

a diverse nonpartisan group of people in Vancouver.

We are watching with concern as the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or "DOGE," dismantles social programs, erases government departments and infrastructures, and captures the personal information of citizens south of the US border.

Even as DOGE demolishes the US government, the US president is threatening Canada's sovereignty, directly and through his officials, in speeches and in media. He mocks Canada's prime minister as "governor" of a US territory and calls Canada "the 51st state." His key advisor and enabler wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, that "Canada is not a real country." (February 24, 2025)

That advisor and enabler is Elon Musk.

Elon Musk is the owner of X. When he bought Twitter in 2022, he slashed its staff and eliminated content moderation. He uses the renamed X and its algorithm to boost far right content. His posts and his algorithm have intervened in elections in the US and Europe. He is likely to intervene more aggressively in Canada's upcoming federal election as well.

Musk is the boss of DOGE, but he has never been vetted or approved by the US Congress. He was personally appointed by the US President to slash the work of government, especially related to equity and inclusion, climate change, and help for less privileged citizens.

In posts on X, Elon Musk has endorsed Pierre Poilievre, the leader of Canada's Conservative Party.

Musk is also the CEO of Tesla. Tesla sells cars at several locations in Vancouver. North America's largest Tesla service facility is now being constructed in Vancouver's poorest neighbourhood and Canada's poorest postal code. Tesla is a major source of the money funding Musk's (and the US president's) political activities. Because of protests across North America and Europe, the value of Tesla stock is in free fall.

At the US president's inauguration in January, Musk gave two fascist (or Nazi) salutes from the stage. Musk boosted a social media post arguing that Hitler committed neither murder nor war crimes. Instead it was public sector workers who were responsible for 6 million murdered in the Nazi genocide and for the imperial aggression that annexed Czecholovakia, invaded Poland and France, and started World War II. (Forbes, March 13, 2025)

We believe that peaceful protest is politically effective. Protest makes the views of ordinary citizens visible and the voices of ordinary citizens heard.

We are protesting Tesla for several reasons: