In this episode of Based Camp, Malcolm and Simone Collins dissect the viral chaos from the 2026 NDP Leadership Convention in Canada, where “equity cards” turned policy debates into a full-blown oppression Olympics. What started as yellow cards for “gender equity” (letting anyone not identifying as a cis man jump the speaking queue) quickly spiraled as delegates printed their own colored cards for race, indigeneity, disability, and more—leading to endless bickering over who was the most oppressed and deserved to speak first.

We laugh at the absurdity (and yes, they still elected a white guy), but we go deeper: How do these systems develop? Why do progressive coalitions inevitably fracture over hidden hierarchies of oppression? And most importantly—how can this self-sabotaging dynamic be strategically triggered to expose the contradictions in identity politics?

From the “progressive stack” to real-world examples like Occupy Wall Street and internal leftist schisms (Palestine vs. Black activists, anyone?), we explore how allowing even one group special privileges creates a cascade that destroys institutions from within. A masterclass in why equity isn’t equality—and why this parasitoid-like behavior accelerates the collapse of woke-infected organizations.

If you’ve ever wondered how to make the left eat itself without direct confrontation, this one’s for you. Grab your popcorn (and maybe some colored cardstock).

Episode Transcript

Malcolm Collins: [00:00:00] I think too often we see something like this and we laugh about it, and what we don’t see is.

Oh, oh. That’s a trap that we can lay out in the future. You say, well, as a cis man, I believe that trans women. Should always be able to speak first due to their oppression was in our society.

Simone Collins: You just gotta kick it off. Yeah. You know, you just, you drop in. Yep. Yep. Mm-hmm. And you walk

Malcolm Collins: out,

and then, but as a white man. You know, you can’t understand what it feels like to be black and to see a trans woman speak before me and then I say, whoa, you are right.

We need to create a table with a hierarchy of oppressed categories. Mm-hmm.

And of course, I will recuse myself because. I have no role in this

Simone Collins: conversation. No. Yeah, no.

Would you like to know more?

Malcolm Collins: Hello Simone. I’m excited to be here with you [00:01:00] today. Today we are going to be diving deep into, we have seen it on other rightwing YouTubers, commentators, podcasters. There was a sort of viral conference or a series of events at a conference where points of privilege cards were assigned at the NDP.

Conference, which is the Canadian political Party, which is in the process of falling apart right now. It helps very little power at this point in fighting where one speaker, and I won’t subject you to too many clips of actually what’s happening at the conference because either you have already seen them or they are just so cringe.

They’re a little painful to watch, I’m gonna be honest.

Speaker 2: Hi, Akua friend, prong pronouns.

She her Whippy Ontario. I would like to echo the sentiments of my friend Robert here yesterday, this card. Was used in an inappropriate matter.

And while I understand in Ontario, we know this is [00:02:00] equity, even if that this was also used inappropriate in terms of gender. I want everyone to be mindful that these cards for individuals like myself who identify as a black woman have no value outside of this space. Hey, look at that. Look at that. No s**t.

Many of us are living in most the most oppressive conservative governments across this country. I’m from Ontario. A lot of you are dealing with this in places like Alberta as well as Saskatchewan. To abuse. The privilege of this card means that we don’t allow individuals like myself with intersections that have been used for unpaid labor.

To build this party, that means that they go unnoticed and that they are disrespected. I want people to be mindful of what this card means as we continue convention. It’s not enough to say that we believe in gender equity, and it’s not enough to say that we are intersectional and value [00:03:00] social justice if we do not model that behavior inside and outside of this space.

Thank you.

Malcolm Collins: But putting up these, these various colored cards that represent. Specific social grievances whether it’s, you know, being black or trans or trans and black or you know, native or et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. And basically getting upset that people with other cards are getting to speak before them or their card isn’t being given enough import.

Speaker 5: There is a point. Let’s hear the point on microphone one. I am sorry. Just real quick point of personal privilege. I understand there’s very little time and, uh, for, for delegates to speak, but early on the mic, I, it’s hard as a racialized and transgender delegate to sometimes use this card and, and speak up, speak to somebody in front of me in line and ask, Hey, [00:04:00] this pertains to multiple intersecting parts of my lived experience.

Speaker 4: I’d like to speak. I was rejected, um, when I talked and it, it’s frustrating when. These are my rights being directly under attack right now in Alberta, and that a, a cisgender woman had spoken, uh, over me, and I understand her rights are important too. This pertains to her too, but I, I don’t know. I, I, I hope that in the future, the, the, the federal MDP will also have a broader interpretation of the, the equity cards for speakers.

That’s all. Thank you. I will invite delegates to assist me in better using the card, by forming a straight. Straight line behind the microphone, um, with a prominently displayed equity card. If I see speakers ahead of you who are not holding a card prominently, it would be wrong of me to guess about their gender identity, and I will come to you.

Speaker 5: This applies so far according to your rules for gender identities other than a dude,

Malcolm Collins: [00:05:00] And so I saw this. And a bunch of people were making fun of it on the surface level, and I was like, well, okay. I agree that it’s funny, but. What’s actually going on here? Like, how is this system developed? How is it actually supposed to work? What was the intended hierarchy of the cards? Who decided this hierarchy?

Did any of them storm out of the room yelling at people? You know, like.

Simone Collins: And I would say it’s, it wasn’t just the cards and the points of privilege. There was also an issue with, they, they, they wanted to give plenty of airtime or at least a pathway for people to express grievances or request for adjustments based on their disabilities.

For example, people being like, I have a sensory issue or the, the translation device doesn’t work very well for me. And so because they decided to, I guess, formalize a means of complaining that into public space, you know, and allowing for like their disabilities to be heard they, they kind of demonstrated why.

Maybe it’s better to not care

Malcolm Collins: because [00:06:00] to not allow these people anywhere near positions of power.

Simone Collins: Yeah,

Malcolm Collins: they did.

Simone Collins: Because you can’t get anything done if you have to hear every single stupid complaint. If you have to accommodate everyone’s sensitivities, nothing gets done

Malcolm Collins: hilariously. By the way, this was about electing somebody and they ended up electing a white guy at the end.

Simone Collins: They did not. No. Are you serious?

Malcolm Collins: They did. They did? Yeah. Oh. Elected a white guy over 50% of the vote too. 53%.

Simone Collins: Point of privilege.

Malcolm Collins: Point of privilege. Right. So, but I also then wanted to go into, so we’re gonna go over it for this event. Then what we’re gonna do is look at the recent history of this stuff like.

Have other events done stuff like this? Have any of them done it worse? Have any of them done it better? Did any of them have clearer delineations between the various discriminated groups for which ones are at the top and which ones are at the bottom?

Simone Collins: So dystopian, like, I’m so glad I’m a delta. I’m so glad I’m an alpha.

Like I go to my little place [00:07:00] and I have my square piece of paper that indicates my status. And like, is this not some kind of sci-fi dystopia?

Malcolm Collins: What, what was e even worse about it is the vast majority of the time it just seemed like people excited to show off whatever their quote unquote point of privilege was and not, and then make a complaint like, this device isn’t perfect for my sensory issues.

Instead of actually say something that contributed to whatever was going on at the event, right? Like it sounds. Terrifyingly bad to be around. But okay, so what happened? I’m gonna start with the big strokes for people who just want to, ‘cause anyway, if you watch your videos and you’re like, your videos are, are too long, right?

Our videos are structured so that you can get most of the takeaway of the video in the first 10 to 15 minutes. And then after that we’re just sort of exploring the topic deeper, riffing, talking about family stuff. But I, I wanna try to get the core ideas out there at the beginning to not waste your time so that you can [00:08:00] easily hop off...