Rohan Kumar Pall – Citizen Journalist – Ottawa Canada – WARCAMPAGN

Recalling the “World’s Most Interesting Man” – who lived in the moment and promoted fine beverages – I was pleasantly surprised to discover Citizen-Journalist Rohan Kumar Pall – Ro for short – who takes extraordinary risks to uphold the libertarian view of Western Society and truly live in the moment. Please hang on for a casual description of his recent work. My respect for him begins in the mid 80s when I entered a Toronto shopping mall in a part of town known for it’s street-gangs. A tight looking group of youths walked by. I avoided contact for obvious reasons. Up ahead sat a lone Sikh – an older man reclining on a bench but watching myself and the others. I have no idea where he’d been or what he’d done, but his stare was terrifying. I recalled thinking I’d rather take on the group of youths if push ever came to shove.

From that tradition came Rohan – now branded as Warcampaign on YouTube with the greeting “HAIL” – Honor-Accountability-Integrity-Loyalty. Ro immigrated to Canada from the UK and settled down with his family in the Ottawa area as a computer programmer. His quick-wit and sense of humor led to joint-ventures with a West-Coast American and the pair invested a lot of time exploring the lighter side of struggles in US and Canadian culture. But they didn’t simply follow predominant trends in pop culture. This may have earned them some opposition. When the Canadian trucker-convoy started heading towards Ottawa, Ro hit the streets as a livestreaming citizen-journalist and made a point of mixing with everyone: farmers, truckers, indigenous people, immigrants, French, English, street preachers, refugees, atheists, you name it… The two-week spectacle of patriots, veterans, ?strangers from across the country with Canadian flags on hockey-sticks high-fiving each other, barbecues, bouncy-castles for kids and ordinary citizens lugging jerry cans of diesel (for trucks) had a profound impact on Ro. He saw the spirit of average citizens – not being orchestrated from the government, but from love of culture and shared values. To be sure, there were a few counter-protestors and Ro made a point of interviewing these people whenever they were willing to talk.

It was by following Ro’s livestream that I was able to see a cross-section of humanity in downtown Ottawa. On the final day of the protest, he was up there on the front line with people of all backgrounds – singing, praying and yelling “I love you” to the riot police. While livestreaming with his West-Coast buddy (and 10,000+ people watching), Ro’s sense of humor kept him above the fray. He asked for his audience’s opinion on which riot-cop would be best suited to give him a beating. When he suggested maybe the attractive cop directly opposite him, the officers behind quickly pulled her back from the front line and out of sight. His viewers then suggested that only the biggest, fattest officer should lay a beating on Ro.

Since the mass of Canadians in Ottawa that day was being publicly characterized as an outdated fringe group, I was surprised to see people from all over the planet standing together. Only the dozen or so citizen journalists who stuck it out were showing these views. At the front you could see members of the Sikh community trying to reason with officers who had been trucked, bussed and flown in from literally everywhere. The purpose of this article isn’t to take sides. The reader can draw their own conclusion. What I would like to do is acknowledge citizen journalists like Rohan Kumar Pall who deliver a more accurate message to an information-deprived generation.