Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Over the past year, there has been something of a resurgence in anarchist activity in Ottawa, a vibrant community has begun to form, and it feels like the conditions are right for rapid growth in the radical milieu of our city. That is why we say: Resistance is Fertile!
Most visibly, for the first time since the shuttering of Exile Infoshop over 7 years ago, Ottawa now has a anarchist social centre that is not also a punk house. This social centre, known as the Garden Spot (or G-Spot for short) is near Carleton University, and is already serving to bring together radical & leftist students from Carleton, the University of Ottawa, high schools, and the broader community. To build on the current momentum, we decided to hold a series of events of interest to comrades and newcomers alike.
You can find the Facebook event for the week of activities here.
The schedule for the week is as follows:
Monday: DOUBLE WHAMMY
The Truth about Truth and Reconciliation at Faith House
Concerning Violence Movie Screening with Anti Colonial Action at the Garden Spot
Tuesday:
Kurdish Voices on the Rojava Revolution (G-Spot)
Wednesday:
Anarchist Community Organizing (G-Spot)
This event is for people who are currently involved in anarchist projects in Ottawa – please request an invite if you would like to attend.
Thursday:
Closed workshop
Friday:
Daughters of Dust Viewing to celebrate Black History Month (G-Spot)
Saturday: DOUBLE WHAMMY
The Garden Spot is sponsoring a for youth by youth “Alt Art Show”
Canadian Involvement in the Pillaging of Latin America (Faith House)
Sunday:
Black Sheep Supper Club Round #7 (G-Spot)
We have a triple aim with this project: to educate, to inspire, and to provide space in which activists can get to know each other. As always, we will be providing free vegetarian food (with vegan options) at all events. Help procuring, preparing & serving food is always appreciated, as is help cleaning up afterwards.
It is our great pleasure to be able to offer all of these workshops free of charge, although we welcome donations and may pass the hat. 100% of donations will go to the presenters. We are doing all of these events with zero budget.
Since this is for Montreal Counter-Info, we encourage folks to take this info and tuck it into the back of your minds. Abominable shit is always happening in Canada’s capital, and sometimes it makes sense for folks to travel here to express their rage and disgust. At such moments, connections with local organizers become invaluable, and now’s a good time for forward-thinking activists to start building those relationships. Remember, Trump still might come to Ottawa at some point, and if a state visit is announced, there might not be much time to mobilize.
There’s also the massive anti-abortion March For Life, scheduled for May 10th on Parliament Hill, which provides an opportunity to confront the reactionary forces of the patriarchy.
These potential mobilizations aside, it is just a good thing in general to densify the interconnectivity amongst those who want to fight for lives free from the state, capitalism, and oppression, so we encourage folks to travel to Ottawa to build bridges between our communities!