The Inner Strength of a Political Prisoner
Published by: AUTONOMOUS TRUCK(ER)S(Substack)
Tony Olienick
It has been nearly two years since Jerry Morin, Chris Carbert, Chris Lysak, and Tony Olienick were arrested in relation to their participation at the Coutts, Alberta Freedom Convoy protest site. They have been denied bail, and their trial is not set to begin until May 2024, a full 27 months after their arrests. Regular readers of this Substack will know that these men are being railroaded by their own government, in a situation akin to how many of those arrested in relation to January 6 incidents in the United States were treated. Kept for long periods of solitary confinement, or often being housed with murderers, rapists, or merchants of opioid poisons, and also being denied necessary health care, one might see this as analogous to Guantanamo Bay being brought to Canada by the wicked and evil Justin Trudeau. In my own life, while all of this is going on, I have been on something of an internal journey, and in the process of renegotiating philosophical and spiritual positions I once held.
Through all of my writings and advocacy, and through the dark days of Covid insanity, it has been, to a great extent, people of faith who have supported my work, and acted in solidarity against the fundamentally draconian actions of state, corporation, media, and ruling class; conversely, it is those whom I once considered fellow travelers in secularity and atheism, whom have replaced God with the state, that have been my primary antagonists.
I have seen social media screenshots of past associates who hadn’t the courage to pick up the phone and discuss these matters in person, and it is revealed that they have succumbed to the narrative controllers, and allowed hate to overrule the fullness of love that would have otherwise occupied their hearts. It is in this zeitgeist quagmire, however, that I have come to know some truly beautiful people, and two of them have suggested books to me which speak greatly to both my own journey away from atheism, and to the situations that the Coutts Men have found themselves in. Having begun to read them, while also communicating with those men in Alberta, held in the carceral purgatory known as ‘remand’, I have witnessed a through-line between the wisdom and journeys described in these books, and the light that I see shining from inside Tony Olienick, despite his two years of grossly immoral incarceration. More on that light below some selections from these books.It is a point of great pride and privilege that I can now call
Farahn Morgan a friend. Farahn is the author behind the Long Road Home Substack, and writes for numerous other publications, including County Highway and Real Clear Books, and wrote this beautiful piece about her return to Appalachia.
I met Farahn on a recent road trip, this particular highway caravan itself a pivotal moment for the journey happening inside, and she suggested to me "The Pilgrim's Progess", a 17th century work of Christian Allegory by a man named John Bunyan.
Bunyan wrote this work, which has never been out of print and is considered by most to be a classic, while imprisoned for the heinous crime of holding religious services outside of the rules of The Church of England, who may as well have been an arm of the state at the time. Those familiar with the harassment of Artur Pawlowski by authorities in Canada should see the connection here, and if you don’t know or remember Pastor Artur, here he is passing righteous judgement against the enforcers of the Covid Regime and its idiotic strictures.
Another book recommended to me recently is "On The Consolation of Philosophy" by the Roman philosopher Boethius.
In recent travels, both along the great expanse of America’s Mid-West, and through the inner recesses of my own soul, I have come to know and to meet a gentleman by the name of Nathaniel Marshall, whom you might recognize from the The Blue Scholar Substack, and from an interview with Nathan I posted here recently.