Montréal Counter-information

Last Wednesday, April 15th, my friend got arrested at UQAM. Security agents followed him in the hallways. They called the cops who made the arrest. He spent the night at the Operational Center. He was supposed to get released at the municipal court but the judge moved the inquiry to the next day. He spent that night at the Rivière-des-Prairies male prison in northern Montreal. The next day; Friday the 17th, we organized a picket in support at the municipal court and waited all day for his turn. We were about 30 people. After the inquiry, the judge denied bail before trial. Until then, he will serve time without trial at Rivière-des-Prairies. The judge’s main argument is that if he had freed our friend, it would damage public opinion and that the population would lose faith into the justice system. He also spoke of the importance to preserve the public’s trust into the management of that justice system; in concern to a «well-informed public», he said. He was talking about the people who read the newspapers and watch the news on television every night, basically, thus an hymn to the mass media.

Contrary to what the judge stated, our friend is paying the price alone for a movement already strongly repressed, meaning that his imprisonment is nothing but political.

Facing the political and judicial violence ongoing at UQAM in the context of the injunction against strike mandates, and the relentless profiling that students and their allies are being put through, we can only revolt. Our friend is clearly being used as an example in order to strike fear and shut down the voices of dissent. We do not believe in the justice system but it is easy to feel lonely and powerless against such hegemonic power. We acknowledge the fact that we are in a “war” were two sides with opposite and irreconcilable interests are fighting each other, thus meaning that we have to organize to protect ourselves more so that we can stay dangerous while confronting the state and his minions. This is why masking ourselves is appropriate. Even if your friends and the security guards recognize you, it is still harder to do so with the surveillance camera that will be used to incriminate you.

Our friend is not a martyr, he is not a hero nor a leader; what happened to him could’ve happened to anyone of us.

That is why we are calling for active solidarity without dissociation or condemning of all the people criminalized by the State, at all time and in the context of the actual strike movement, may it be for the reason of disruptive actions, protests or facing injunctions. This solidarity expresses itself with a collective responsibility towards the well being of each and every one of us. Denouncing criminalization with protests or pickets, opposing targeted arrests and snitching, bringing legal, financial and moral support (letters, fundraisers, etc) and demanding the removal of charges, copwatching, taking care of the wounded, staying close together. Those are the basis of a resistance culture that we must nurture and develop. The legitimization of tendencies that advocate the less possible gain, are less dangerous and maintain a status quo that divide the movement and isolate radical thinking. We believe on the contrary that it is by the continuity of the movement, it’s expansion and intensification that we can aspire to a more just society. Police repression and it’s consequences on short, middle or long term is an attack with no common measure against this ongoing movement.

We won’t back down.

You can write support letters to our friend and leave them at L’Insoumise (the Montreal anarchist bookstore), at Café Aquin (in UQAM-Hubert Aquin Pavillion or at La Déferle (« anarchist social space » in Montreal).

You can also contribute to the fundraiser, write to us for more infos:
groupedesoutien@riseup.net

There will be a picket in front of the municipal court on April 29 at 9:30
AM.

All the prisoners are political prisoners!

Down to all the prisons!

International call for solidarity actions – 13th-17th April 2015
Against repression at the University of Quebec (UQAM) and everywhere

On March 21st 2015, students from Quebec (Canada) launched a political strike against austerity measures and hydrocarbon extraction. Our social movement takes place in the context of generalised repression, where demonstrations are forbidden and brutally clamped down upon through various municipal by-laws. Thousands of people have thus been arrested in the last three years, receiving $640 of fines for the luckiest and criminal charges for the rest.

For weeks now we have been confronted with even greater repression, inside the walls of our university. The movement as a whole has shown great courage, responding blow for blow to this repression, but now we need your help.

These last days a sequence of events has weighed us down:

– At the end of March, nine students were summoned from UQAM’s executive counsel. Without the possibility of any appeal, and bypassing normal procedures, these students are threatened with the university’s most severe sanction: their definitive expulsion. In some cases, they are accused of acts that go back to winter 2013.

– UQAM has ordered a court injunction forbidding us to prevent courses from being held, as well as ANY activity related to the strike.

– On April 8th, after students had interrupted courses, UQAM’s administration called the police, who arrested 21 people inside the university. They are now forbidden from approaching the university and also face criminal charges.

In reaction to all this, since April 8th, general assemblies from various departments have decided to continue the general strike, adding these demands:

To cancel the court injunction and of the judicial repression of the social movement.

To forbid police on campus

To abandon prosecution against the nine political expulsions

We need your help!

This is a call for an international week of solidarity actions from April 13th-17th 2015. Our university, UQAM, cares a lot for its public image, so we invite you to take action, to the extent of your means and possibilities.

Whatever you plan to do, don’t hesitate to recount your events, by writing to us at the following address: solidariteactionuqam[at]gmail.com

Against repression, by all means necessary!

Signed: Students and student employees from UQAM

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RESPECT to the strike defenders at UQAM and their allies. It was a full-day battle today (April 8), from early morning till late night. I only observed first-hand the crescendo tonite, after the intervention of what was clearly over 100+ riot police, backed up by bike cops, at the Da Sève Building occupation. The resilience of UQAM resisters is inspiring.

For a sense of what happened earlier today at UQAM, and the solidarity and support shown by students when the cops got called in, check out this video: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViEFO-Wq1DE

There were 21 arrests (some reports of 22) with at least 11 women-identified protesters among the group. There would have undoubtedly been more arrests if not for the fight-back by students. People arrested are facing criminal charges (mischief, illegal assembly). Many of those arrested weren’t released until just a few hours ago.

A student strike is messy, especially with a repressive administration, scab-enabling mainstream media, and certain moderate sectors of the movement that has second-guessed a strike that “this time” is too radical in scope and not firmly controllable. Student strikes are at their heart the grassroots students and their support networks actually enforcing and defending the strike (a much fewer number of dedicated activists, disproportionately the so-called masked radicals, and definitely not mainstream-media friendly).

Because of the police intervention in the afternoon, and the arrests of dear comrades, students and supporters had a spontaneous assembly in the Da Sève Building (near Ste-Catherine & St-Denis) that turned into an open-ended occupation.

I got there after 9:30pm tonite, and the atmosphere at the occupation was festive and rambunctious. Music, dancing, food, conversation, and a lot of debriefing of what’s been happening in the past few days and week, particularly the heavy-handed approach of UQAM administration. There were several hundred people present.

[A musical highlight was George Moustaki’s “Sans la nommer”: www.youtube.com/watch?v=ouaytC9njFU]

I didn’t see anything directly myself, but I eventually saw the aftermath of the systematic removal of UQAM’s pervasive surveillance cameras. Kudos to whoever was involved with that! Amazing work.

Eventually, it was obvious that the police would intervene, after getting a request from the UQAM administration. The SPVM (Montreal police) even tweeted about it: https://twitter.com/SPVM/status/586020599505510400

It was also clear what the police had in mind via their communications on police radio (which I only heard about second and third-hand: it was journalists who were listening to the scanner most intently). The cops were claiming: “we want arrests, not a dispersion” and they made sure to talk about the ambulances that were on-call to deal with anticipated injuries.

I was part of the outside support group, while inside the building was fully barricaded. All available furniture and material – chairs, desks, couches, shelves, recycling boxes, garbage bins – became barricades to keep the cops out. A huge oversize banner – with the expression: Oser lutter, c’est oser vaincre [Daring to struggle is to dare to win] – was used to cover the metro level approach to the main occupation area. Here’s a photo of the banner from a demo: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CBm5UdPUIAM42Ro.jpg:large

Around 12am, the occupation divided into the people barricading inside, and the outside supporters (I was in the latter group). I personally observed at least 100 police officers mobilized to take over the street and break into the occupation. Here’s a video of the cops breaking the doors to get in: www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152634831047583

Meanwhile, outside, the group I was part of (on Ste-Catherine, moving east) was attacked with tear gas and pepper spray, while being pushed back by bike cops and riot cops in succession.

Eventually, I headed back to the QPIRG Concordia mothership, but not before trying to get reports of possible arrests inside. The early reports are of upwards of five or more arrests, which are minimal compared to the numbers who were actually barricaded inside. But, it’s a big building, with lots of spaces to avoid cops, and lots of ways to get out (so, a big fuck you to the SPVM and UQAM administration).

Solidarity with all who kept up the fight inside Da Sève, and of course with everyone who was arrested and now facing criminal charges, and their support people.

[If you’re facing criminal charges and want some support, don’t hesitate to get in touch with Contempt of Court: A Legal Clinic by and for Social Movements / Outrage au tribunal: clinique juridique par et pour les militantes et militants: www.outrageautribunal.net]

Already, there are multiple responses planned today (Thursday, April 9), with at least three demos, starting at 8:45am (rendez-vous: J-M770), another in the afternoon, and yet another night demo slated for 8pm (rendez-vous: Place Émlilie-Gamelin / métro Berri-UQAM).

With the unabashed entry of police, including armed riot police, into the heart of a university campus seen as a linchpin of the social strike against austerity, the ever-evolving Spring 2015 has decisively escalated.

– Jaggi Singh, member of No One Is Illegal-Montreal.

twitter: @JaggiMontreal