Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information

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To the International Anarchist Movement: Three Security Proposals

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Nov 172024
 

From the No Trace Project

This text is addressed to the international anarchist movement, which we’ll define as the sum of individuals fighting for anarchist ideas around the world. This movement is in conflict with its natural enemies — the State, fascist groups, and so on — and must protect itself if it is to survive in this conflict. In this text, we make three proposals for the international anarchist movement to consider in the coming years in order to allow anarchists to continue attacking while limiting their chances of getting caught.

1. Share knowledge internationally

Our enemies organize internationally through cooperation between police and intelligence agencies and new developments in science and technology — the increasing precision of DNA forensics and the proliferation of drones being just two examples. This means that a repressive technique used in one country may soon appear in another where it is not yet being used. It also means that an effective countermeasure used by anarchists in one country may be effective in another. We should therefore share knowledge of repressive techniques and countermeasures on an international level.

Ideally, any experience of repression or experimentation with countermeasures that might be of interest to other anarchists should be written up, translated into several languages, and made public. When anarchists are arrested and brought to trial, we can often obtain court documents that reveal how they were caught: we should exploit this and publish analyses of such documents, bearing in mind that information obtained in this way may be partial or distorted. We should experiment with new countermeasures and write and publish reports on these experiments (except in cases where the State might adapt and weaken the countermeasure by reading the report). We should try to collect information at the source: read police training manuals, steal police files, analyze data leaks from police servers.

A specific feature of the international anarchist movement is its decentralization. We see this not as a weakness but as a strength: in addition to preventing the hierarchies inherent in centralized organizations, it makes it harder for our enemies to target us because they cannot topple the whole movement by disrupting one part of it. However, this decentralization also makes it harder for us to share knowledge across borders. To overcome this, we see two options: developing informal bonds with other anarchists by meeting at international book fairs and other events, and using the Internet. We propose using the No Trace Project as an international platform to share the knowledge that is suited for sharing on the Internet, not as a replacement for informal bonds but as a useful supplement to spread information beyond existing informal networks.

2. Establish a security baseline

Anarchists who carry out direct actions should analyze the risks associated with their actions and take appropriate precautions: dress anonymously, be mindful of video surveillance and DNA traces, and so on. However, this is not enough. If only those who carry out actions take precautions, it is easier for our enemies to target these individuals. This is, firstly, because they stand out: if only a handful of comrades always leave their phones at home, for example, this could be an obvious starting point for an investigation with no other specific leads. And secondly, because our enemies can get information about them through their friends who do not carry out actions: if someone doesn’t use social media but is mentioned on their friends’ social media, for example, an investigation could query their friends’ social media to get information about them. We should therefore establish a security baseline that everyone in anarchist networks agrees to follow, including those who have never carried out direct actions and have no intention of doing so.

We can’t say what this baseline should be, as it will depend on each local context, but we can give some ideas. As a bare minimum, everyone should help hide information from our enemies by not speculating about who is involved in an action, not bragging about one’s own participation in an action, not talking to the police, and encrypting any computer or phone used for conversations with other anarchists using a strong password. Discuss sensitive matters exclusively outdoors and without electronic devices, and don’t make it obvious to your social environment who you are having sensitive conversations with (e.g. don’t ask someone to “go for a walk” in front of people who aren’t involved in the project being discussed). In addition, we think everyone should stop using social media (and definitely stop posting photos of other anarchists, even with their consent, because this helps the State map anarchist networks) and leave their phones at home at all times (not just during actions). Carrying your phone with you has security implications for everyone you interact with.

It can be difficult to convince people to follow such a security baseline, especially if they think they have no personal interest in following it. If someone is reluctant, we should remind them that it’s not just their security that’s at stake, but also the security of other anarchists around them who may be carrying out or planning to carry out direct actions. Everyone who wants actions to happen has an interest in making anarchist networks as difficult as possible for the authorities to repress.

3. Explore new horizons

Our enemies evolve over time as they refine their strategies and techniques. We should prepare not for the battles that already took place, but for those yet to come. We should therefore go beyond our current security practices, anticipate the evolution of our enemies, and develop new countermeasures.

Here are three issues we think the international anarchist movement should explore in the coming years.

Drones

Aerial surveillance is rapidly becoming cheaper and more efficient. How should we react to the presence of police drones at riots, anarchist events, and so on? How can we detect or take down drones? Should we prepare for the risk of drones being used for routine aerial patrols, and if so, how?

Facial recognition technologies

In 2023, a journalist tracked down German left-wing militant Daniela Klette, who had been in clandestinity for decades, by using facial recognition technology to match a decades-old photo of her with a recent photo from Facebook taken during a dance class. What can we do against this threat? How can we prepare for the increasing integration of facial recognition technology into public video surveillance systems?

Lack of insight into police activity

Until a few years ago, radio scanners were used by anarchists to monitor police frequencies, for example to learn about nearby police activity while carrying out a direct action. In most contexts, this is now impossible because police communications are encrypted. Can we develop new techniques to functionally replace radio scanners or, more generally, to gain insight into police activity in a given area?

About the authors

We’re the No Trace Project. For the past three years, we’ve been building tools to help anarchists understand the capabilities of their enemies, undermine surveillance efforts, and ultimately act without getting caught. We plan to continue in the years to come. We welcome feedback. You can visit our website at notrace.how, and contact us at notrace@autistici.org.

This text is available as a zine (in Letter and A4 dimensions).

Let’s prepare ourselves, and may luck be on our side.

So, What Do We Do Now?

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Nov 082024
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

So the fascists won in the united states, in france, in italy… and they’re banging at our door. What do we do now? Well, we do what we’ve always been doing: We organize!

Build an immigrant support network

Lots of people will be forced to flee the states. The threat of “denaturalization” (a fancy word for deporting anyone non-white) means that a lot of racialized people might be forced to leave the united states in a hurry. A lot of LGBTQ+ people, and especially trans folks, will be looking for shelter very soon, due to transphobic and queerphobic laws.

Americans are currently looking to build an underground railroad to help bring people to safe places. We should therefore make sure that there are actually safe places for them here. As long as canada marks the united states as a safe country, a lot of these people might end up here without a legal status. The drawback of a more social state like ours is that we rely on that state for a lot of our services. Therefore, infrastructure for people without a legal status here in Tio’tia:ke is rather limited.

The Immigrant Workers Center (iwc-cti.ca) works with people with precarious status and will need support. Solidarity accross borders (solidarityacrossborders.org) is also building support for people with precarious status and will also need help.

Assist your local antifascists

We’re not exactly in a safe place either here. Fascism is also on the rise here. The legault government is inching everyday to full-blown fascism, and the federal conservatives might be elected on a very far-right mandate. And that’s without taking into account the actual nazis and their apologists. Contact your local antisfacsist crew (in Tio’tia:ke see montreal-antifasciste.info) to see how you can help, or create your own crew! At the very least, take down any sign of fascist presence. Don’t let them take any hold in your neighborhood!

We’ve also seen a recrudesence of punk and metal shows, despite the recent closure of friendly scenes. These shows have been mostly apolitical, and if we’re not careful, they can be taken over by fascist crowds. Hosting friendly merch tables can help remind people of what is at stake, and the importance of kicking out fascists and nazis from our shows.

Build alternatives to lost services

One of the main issue in the united states, and possibly soon in canada, is access to abortion services, and gender-affirming hormones. But there was a time when we could take care of most of these services ourselves. The older trans generation might remember a time when trans people would meet at people’s home to learn how to cook their own estrogen and testosterone. The american Four Thieves Vinegar Collective (fourthievesvinegar.org) provides this service by teaching people some basic pharmaceutical skills. 

Another solution could be to build a health clinic cooperative. The Clinique Communautaire Pointe-Saint-Charles (ccpsc.qc.ca) is an example, and have been providing health services to the Pointe for decades now. While these cooperatives are theoretically bound by the laws of the land, it could be a lot easier to do some additional services on the side than at an hospital or state-owned clinic. This might be crucial for people without status, for instance.

Prepare for climate catastrophes

At this stage, climate catastrophes are to be expected. The current “leaders” of the world have made their policy to ignore the climate crisis. We cannot expect any action to address it in the forseeable future. Protective measures will probably protect richer neirghborhoods, to the expense of others. We’ve already seen sea walls being built to protect white-owned houses, and consequently pushing the water surges into racialized neighborhoods.

We got hit hard this summer in Laval, but it was nothing compared to what we’ve seen in Asheville (north carolina) and Valencia (spain). The Firestorm Books collective in Asheville provides some information of what they did after the catastrophe. There are also a number of anarchist mobile intervention units ready to intervene following a tornado storm or a hurricane. They are often quicker to respond than state resources, especially less affluent areas.

While we’re not currently in a tornado or hurricane-prone area, this might change soon. We could use such resources.

Learn to disobey

While it can be tempting for some to perform a highly visible action, this is not something that most people can do. That doesn’t mean that you can do nothing! Every little can help : Forget to ask for identification before giving a service. Mark a lifesaving medication as lost, and give it to people without status. Loose the police’s request for information, or return it with the wrong information, to the wrong address. Confer with colleagues to refuse to apply racist, sexist policies. 

The legault government recently pass the racist bill 96, which forces government employees to speak french to the people who come for services. What we’ve seen in practice is that almost every worker disobey that law, despite having received a  stern directive to apply it. Most government employees will speak to you with the language you prefer, despite the law forbidding them to.

This refusal to obey is significant. This is what we need in a fascist state. Well, we won’t cry if certain (or all!) embassies were to burn down during the night, but this is not something most people are willing to do. Learning to disobey, this is something we all can do, and should learn to do.

Conclusion

This aim of this little article is just to give you some hints on what you can do. There are many other things we will need! The key is to be curious, observant, and imaginative. Look around you, talk to your comrades, and see what people are missing, determine what needs to be done. The old approaches got us into this mess: maybe it is time to find new ones.

One thing is certain: they want to drag us all into the night. The least we can do is to be kicking and screaming!

Sabotage of Ottawa factory producing parts for Israel’s F-35 warplanes

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Nov 042024
 

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

Earlier this week a group of people sabotaged Gastops’ factory in Ottawa, the only place in the world where engine sensors are produced for Lockheed’s F-35 combat jets — including the ones dropping 2,000 pound bombs on Gaza. We cut the wiring inside all of the heat pumps on the Gastops roof, locked them out with official Ministry of Health and Safety lock-out tags, shut off the gas, broke the handles for their systems, and cut the lines to their backup communication system on the way out.

The following letter and photos were left on site:

It’s worth noting that we disabled their heat pumps as it begins to get cold here in Ottawa and as displaced people in Gaza and Lebanon plead with us to help them secure shelter, blankets, clothing, as they freeze in displacement camps. Earlier this month an Ottawa neighbour lost her uncle while he returned to his home in Gaza attempting to bring back blankets for the children so they would not freeze to death. He was murdered by air strike while doing so, likely by an F-35 that Gastops supplies parts to.

People growing tired of politicians continuing to support the slaughter of civilians in Palestine and Lebanon will continue to escalate actions seeking peace and an end to these war crimes.

Call to Action Against the PRGT Pipeline

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Nov 022024
 

Anonymous submission to BC Counter-info

As of August 2024, construction work has started on the Prince Rupert Gas Transmission (PRGT) pipeline. The project is owned by Western LNG and the Nisgaa Nation, the latter which has allowed for construction to start on their land first, the rural Nass river valley that sits adjacent to the Pacific ocean. State and industry are committed to developing an “energy corridor” through the remote region. The nearly completed and fiercely contested Coastal Gas Link pipeline was the first pipeline in the southern energy corridor, and PRGT is the first pipeline projected for the northern energy corridor. The line is set to end at Ksi Lisims LNG terminal (Nisgaa owned as well) where liquid and natural gas would be stored and prepared for export to international markets by tankers. LNG is being sold as a green alternative for those looking to shift away from coal. But the green transition is a lie. We know that energy, and its current reorganization, is inseparable from domination, capitalist exploitation and the extractivist logic that devastates the land. We propose attack.

Social tension is rising against PRGT. Multiple sites of resistance have been brewing across North-Central BC. In 2016, during the first attempts at construction, the Madii Lii camp was set up to blockade access to the pipeline right of way in the Suskwa valley in Gitxan territory. The camp remains to this day. Northwest of there, another Gitxsan blockade has been set up on the Cranberry Connector, the northern of the two roads into the Nass valley. Gitxsan people have a long history of defending their land, notably some anti-logging struggles in the 80-90’s, and expressing their solidarity with their Wet’swuwet’en neighbors by blockading railways. We stand in solidarity with native resistance, which will likely snowball into more blockades in key areas of the project. Conjointly, as anarchists we have our own projects of destruction. Autonomous attacks allow us to expand the methods of struggle, to engage in conflict at our own pace, how and where we sit fit, and to not compromise our visions and values. We propose an offensive struggle of diffuse blows carried out by affinity groups in dispersed formation, as others have said, to act without forming compact columns, without building permanent indefensible encampments. Instead, we seek to extend diffuse hostilities over a large terrain. 

An autonomous struggle against the PRGT pipeline project begins by looking at the tool and capacities we currently have, identifying what we need to learn and acting from that without delay. The project spans thousands of kilometers, the offices, homes and interests of the companies behind it are spread throughout Canada and beyond. An expansive practice of attack can identify and target these diverse sites. Below are lists of companies involved in the project as well as links to a map of the project’s right of way. More work should be done to identify additional companies involved and the findings should be shared via counter info sites.

Companies involved in PRGT project

  • Ledcor – Is a construction company operating primarily in Canada and United States. Ledcor operates in a wide range of industries, including the construction of buildings and civil infrastructure, technical services such as communication networks, forestry, mining, property development and management, transportation, marine operations, and several energy projects, including oil, gas, and Liquefied Natural Gas. Ledcor is leading the current phase of infrastructure upgrades necessary to begin pipeline construction. Ledcor is currently upgrading or maintaining roads, bridges, man camp sites etc.
  • Bechtel– Is an American engineering, procurement, construction, and project management company. Bechtel is managing the construction of the PRGT pipeline.
  • McElhanney – provides surveying, engineering, GIS & remote sensing, community & transportation planning, landscape architecture, environmental services, and more. McElhanney has been and continues to be responsible for surveying and monitoring of environment for the PRGT project. They have over 30+ locations across Western Canada. A McElhanney office near the PRGT project was the target of an anonymous arson in late September: https://bccounterinfo.org/2024/10/12/arson-attack-in-terrace-bc/

Resources

October 30th – Devil’s Night

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Nov 012024
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

October 30th – a small crew broke into the all-too-warm night to recall the long tradition of mischief, rebellion, fear, revelry, and ritual often associated with this transitory time of year. Pry bars were wedged in the cracks of this rotting hellscape we call ‘city’ , holes in welded metal walls became new opportunities for exploration far beyond the eyes of security cameras, burnt out rooftops were made for cloudgazing if nothing else, and a beautifully abandoned wasteland of a building currently being converted into condos (corner St. Catherine and Leclaire) received a new paint job. We do this for the feeling of joy in criminality, to assist our bodies in remembering what it means to feel autonomous. If we practice enough, perhaps these ecstatic nights will imprint our actions on our bodies, so that they may become a part of our daily lives.

Block NATO

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Oct 302024
 

From the Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes

From November 22nd to 25th, NATO’s parliamentary assembly will be in Montreal for its mortifying circus. From a military alliance during the Cold War, NATO has today become the armed wing of Western countries, imposing its bellicose policies throughout the world. Faced with these war profiteers, it is imperative that we make our voices heard and combat their destructive logic. 

The impact of NATO on our policies is huge:

  • Increases to military budgets: This summit comes at a time when NATO is pressuring the Canadian government to increase the share of its GDP devoted to the armed forces to 2%, a 50% increase, while the Canadian government has already increased its military investments by 41% from 2014 to 2021. 
  • Destruction in the name of United-Statesian imperialism: Let’s not be fooled by the sterile language of Western forces; NATO’s interventions, far from being strategic and precise, are rather excessively powerful, disproportionate and imprecise. NATO destroys everything in its path, spreading misery and encouraging the multiplication of armed groups, all to preserve the interests of its member states, principally the United States, pillar of the alliance and giant of the military-industrial complex. This imperialist logic keeps the peoples of the Global South poor and dependent on the Global North.​​​​​​​
  • Aiding and abetting the Palestinian genocide: So-called Canada is complicit in the genocide in Palestine by contributing to the supply of weapons, facilitating economic and academic partnerships and, above all, by its unwavering support for Israel, NATO’s central ally. It is through military support for Zionist forces that NATO is able to maintain a strategic foothold in the Middle East, in order to advance the political and economic interests of its members.

Peace will not be won at the point of a gun, but by putting an end to imperialism and capitalism. It is in honor of all the colonized peoples of yesterday, today and tomorrow, here and elsewhere, that we call on your courage and determination to walk the streets with us!

On November 22, let’s take it to the streets en masse to make our anger heard! Let’s unite to remind States the world over that their hands will always be stained with the blood of the exploited, no matter how much they try to hide it in velvet gloves or laughable summits!

Together, let’s block NATO and affirm our rejection of militarism, imperialism and colonialism!

Date and time:
Friday, 22 November 2024 – 17:30

A journal written in 3 weeks in preparation for the NATO Parliamentary Assembly from November 22 to 25, 2024. The full document in pdf. Or just the English or French version.

The Messe des Morts 2024: The Return of National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM)

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Oct 282024
 

From Montréal Antifasciste

The Messe des Morts (MdM) is a Montréal music festival that, according to the “About” section of the festival’s Facebook page, sets out to “satisfy those who like their metal dark and hateful!” The event is primarily organized by Martin Marcotte under the auspices of his label Sepulchral Productions. It is mainly devoted to black metal and its local scene, Québec Black Metal, a largely underground but highly developed music scene that is particularly fond of shocking themes, including Satanism and gore, reflecting a taste for non-conformity and an urge to provoke and transgress.

What we will be discussing below, however, goes far beyond mere provocation.

The 2016 edition of the MdM made headlines following the announcement of the participation of the Polish band Graveland, a black metal band associated with the National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) subgenre. The term “national socialist” refers to the German political party better known by its common abbreviation: the Nazi Party.

National Socialist Black Metal, as its name suggests, wallows in Nazi apologetics and explores dark themes that include the racial superiority of “white” Europeans and the glorification of the Holocaust (sometimes directly and explicitly, but often obliquely or implicitly), frequently accompanied by references to paganism, Norse and Germanic gods, Scandinavian mythology.

Graveland’s history is punctuated by more or less direct links with the NSBM movement. For more on this subject, see: Graveland : Du Black Metal d’extrême droite bientôt à Montréal

Following an outcry over Graveland’s inclusion in the MdM program and an intense campaign by anti-fascists in the weeks leading up to the event, culminating in a demonstration outside the Plaza Theatre on the evening and the intervention of riot squad, the band was prevented from playing and was forced to vacate the stage. In the end, the evening was cancelled.

After that, the festival, still organized under the Sepulchral Productions banner, became more discreet (although the 2017 edition was also problematic). . . until this year.

Sepulchral Productions seems to be making an unfortunate return to its roots this year: at least three bands belonging to the NSBM subgenre (or in some way adjacent to it) have been announced in the 2024 lineup (November 28-30).

Here’s an overview of this year’s bands and their NSBM links.

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Marduk :

This Swedish band is particularly fond of macabre World War II themes. Although the band denies any connection to NSBM or in any way glorifying Nazism, with its members describing themselves as nothing more than history buffs, oddly, they systematically explore “historical” themes from the point of view of the Third Reich, the Wehrmacht (the German army), and the SS (elite Nazi units, responsible in particular for the extermination of Jews). The show they intend to present on the third evening of MdM 2024 is entitled Panzer Division Marduk, the title of their 1999 album and a direct reference to the armored divisions of the German military during the World War II.

The band’s Nazi monomania is evident from the lyrics on this page: [http://www.darklyrics.com/m/marduk.html]

Marduk’s most recent album, Viktoria (2018), is a return to the themes explored on their previous records, revisiting various episodes from the World War II. . . always from the Nazi point of view. The song “Werwolf” refers to the clandestine resistance plan of the same name that the Nazis hatched in 1944 to address their potential defeat. “Equestrian Bloodlust” is in reference to the 8th SS Florian Geyer cavalry division. “Narva” evokes the battle of Narva and the Narva battle detachment known as “the European SS.” “Viktoria” refers to the Nazi military marching song “Sieg Heil Viktoria.” And on it goes.

Finally, a cursory search of the band’s online merchandise reveals, among other things, t-shirts adorned with the emblematic SS Totenkopf (skull and crossbones) and the Third Reich’s imperial eagle emblem, alongside the warrior imagery associated with the band’s records, including Panzer Division Marduk.

A sample of Marduk’s Nazi t-shirts, to give you an idea of the iconography you can expect to see at Théâtre Paradoxe on November 29 and 30….

Nazism and the glorification of German military during the World War II, SS units in particular, are clearly not incidental elements in Marduk’s work but consistent central and recurring themes.

The group has, in fact, had its share of controversies in recent years (see links below). In 2017, two of its members were identified as having purchased material from the Nordic Resistance Movement, Scandinavia’s largest neo-Nazi movement. As a result, a Marduk show was cancelled in Oakland, thanks to pressure from Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area. Last year, the band’s bassist was filmed giving a Nazi salute at a show, after which the band was forced to sack him.

Sources :

Horna :

This Finnish band has clear links with the NSBM scene. Horna’s former singer is the founder and main member of NSBM band Satanic Warmaster. Horna’s key member and guitarist has long managed a label that has signed other NSBM bands, as well as having himself been a member of a band whose lyrics advocate white supremacy. As for Horna’s current singer, he was keyboardist for the French band Peste Noire, one of Europe’s leading NSBM bands, whose song “La bataille de Sarcelles” [The Battle of Sarcelles], for example, serves up apologetics for a street brawl with Arabs in France (“les ennemis de nos terres”) [enemies of our country] with “battes de baseball et d’autres bâtons de guerre” [baseball bats and other battle clubs] making reference to “fanions à croix celtique” [Celtic cross pennants], a far-right identarian symbol (2021), while the song “Turbofascisme” rationalizes the “fascism” of the “race des Seigneurs” [master race] and the “race blanche” [white race] of “Vieille Europe” [ancient Europe] (2018).

Sources :

Akitsa :

A Quebec band whose stature is partly due to their past collaborations with NSBM groups. In 2004, they produced a split disc with the previously mentioned Finnish group Satanic Warmaster, which includes the song “Six Million Tears,” referring to the six millions Jews killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.

In an interview given in 2004, the members of Akitsa said they had no problem with the NSBM scene:

“[c’est] vrai que l’on doit mettre fin à l’immigration telle qu’elle est maintenant. La plupart de nos pays occidentaux sont envahis par des étrangers avec d’autres cultures que les nôtres. Ils détruisent la culture européenne. C’est la même chose pour les valeurs américaines (ce qui comprend les idées sionistes et les lois en matière de droits de la personne). La philosophie nationale-socialiste a des bons points concernant ces problèmes.” [It’s true that we have to put an end to immigration as it is now. Most Western countries are being invaded by foreigners with cultures different from ours. They are destroying European culture. The same goes for American values (including Zionist ideas and human rights laws). National Socialist philosophy had some good things to say about these problems.]

The slogan integrated into the band’s logo immediately above reads “Me ne frego,” a fascist slogan that is also the title of a split disc released in 2013.

Akitsa’s singer Pierre-Marc Tremblay, alias “Outre-Tombe” [Beyond the Grave], founded the still active label Tour de garde [guard tower] in 2001 and soon began to distribute music by Québec neo-Nazi artists (Arnstadt and Mors Summa). It’s worth noting that the Tour de garde logo clearly evokes SS military crests. Another coincidence, no doubt.

Sources :

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Additionally, Finnish bands Chamber of Unlight and Warmoon Lord, also on the Messe des Morts 2024 bill, are produced by the NSBM label Werewolf Records. Graveland’s former keyboardist now plays with Warmoon Lord.

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All of this clearly paints an extremely problematic picture.

Black metal fans themselves are not mistaken! Here are some of the reactions found on the festival’s and Sepulchral Productions’ pages after the announcement of Marduk and Horna’s appearance:

[Hell yeah. Don’t let antifa cancel this time.]

[Nice!!!! Will you have security in case “antifas” show up!]We strongly feel that these artists cannot be allowed to perform in Montréal. We also refuse to accept the festival’s organizers, first and foremost Martin Marcotte, hiding behind the idea of artistic license. They must be forced to take responsibility for what they are doing: inviting artists who promote and modernize hateful ideologies, year after year, artists who come to our multicultural city to glorify Nazism and fascism. We believe it’s absolutely vital to preserve Montréal’s welcoming, diverse, and inclusive character and, therefore, to make it clear that music with this sort of hateful content has no place in our concert halls.

So who is hosting this particular festival?

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Le Théâtre Paradoxe

Since the 2017 edition of the MdM, the Théâtre Paradoxe, a social economy enterprise in a refurbished church, has been hosting the festival. In an interview with the magazine Sors-tu? in 2022, Martin Marcotte expressed pride in this unusual partnership between blasphemous Black Metal fans and a former Christian place of worship.

“J’ai parlé avec la directrice, on a discuté des controverses, de la médiatisation, je lui ai donné ma version des faits, et elle était OK pour donner une chance à l’évènement.”

[I spoke with the director, we discussed the controversies, the media coverage, I gave her my side of the story, and she was okay with giving the event a chance.]

Three weeks ago, we contacted the Théâtre Paradoxe administration, requesting that, in light of the 2024 programming, they do the sensible thing and to sever their business relationship with MdM. At the time the management told us that they were concerned about the situation and were taking it seriously.

After a few e-mail exchanges, the theatre’s administration invited us to a meeting to discuss the matter with the various parties involved. However, from an antifascist point of view that would be completely pointless. There are situations where a clear-cut decision has to be made, and this is one of them. There can be no dialogue between apologists for Nazism and its enemies; that debate was definitively concluded eighty years ago.

In any case, we’ve already heard every element of Martin Marcotte and Sepulchral Productions’ line of defense ad nauseum. There would be the “freedom of expression” issue. We’d hear how these artists publicly deny being neo-Nazis and “don’t really” belong to the NSBM subgenre (although some have questionable backgrounds). Problematic lyrics would be construed as a matter of “second importance” and artistic license. Equally problematic imagery would be presented as an integral part of the subculture. The “real fascists” are those who seek to silence these artists. And so on, and so forth.

All these arguments are nonsense, little more than gaslighting, and are ultimately nothing more than smoke and mirrors.

Since 2017, despite muted hostility, the anti-fascist community had not acted against the Messe des Morts. This year, however, Sepulchral Productions is headlining bands that are widely recognized to be extremely problematic. In our opinion, this crosses a red line, and it’s clear that Martin Marcotte is testing the limits with Théâtre Paradoxe’s administration to see how far he can push this dubious material within the very walls of this socially-minded enterprise.

We understand, of course, that the Théâtre Paradoxe does not endorse the repugnant ideas promoted by National Socialist Black Metal and its apologists. However, the organization does have the power to act decisively by severing its business relationship with Sepulchral Productions, which would send a clear signal and have the Messe des Morts cancelled, or at least confront Marcotte with the consequences of what he is responsible for and force him to come up with a Plan B.

In short, now is not the time for dialogue, but for reasonable positions, consistent action, and consequences.

We invite our sympathizers to contact the Théâtre Paradoxe administration to (politely, but firmly) express their concerns.

info@theatreparadoxe.com

Deputy Director :
asimon@theatreparadoxe.com
(514) 931-5204 ext. 203

More contact info here :
https://www.theatreparadoxe.com/contact
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Towards Another Uprising

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Oct 242024
 

From Act For Freedom Now!

At the end of 2010 an individual act of despair in the town of Sidi Bouzid ignited a daring, enraged, and joyful upheaval that travelled through North Africa into the Middle East and beyond. People defied the oppressive systems they had been immersed in for generations and came together in the streets to topple the political elites at their helm. The authorities, at first stunned by this courageous spirit that they couldn’t understand, then unleashed a cynical and brutal response.

This defeat is still being inflicted on the people in the region, and is also felt all over the world by those who stood in solidarity with the uprisings but were mostly unable to overcome their powerlessness as the uprisings were massacred.

The horrors in the region during the last decade are many. To name some that stick most in my mind: Sisi has turned back the clock in Egypt to military dictatorship with the material support of the US. The regimes in the other North-African countries are paving over any sign of freedom while being coaxed by European countries to shut down the immigration routes over the Mediterranean. Without the murderous military campaigns of Hezbollah and the IRGC in Syria, Assad wouldn’t have survived the uprising. The Iranian regime itself brutally oppressed three different uprisings in the country in the last decade. Most people in Lebanon are in a daily struggle for survival because of the greed of its political leaders while mobs at the orders of Hezbollah beat down street protests. Early on in the uprisings, Hamas, who has shot political opponents in broad daylight on the streets of Gaza, culled attempts at an uprising by rounding up protest organizers and threatening them with murder. Leaders in the region understood once again that they can use any means against the populations under their control without real push-back from outside. Indifference, cynicism and opportunism trump moral appeals, and strategic alliances are always in play. The world churns on. For those of us who have not looked away, how can we not see a connection between Assad bombing Syrian cities into obliteration and Netanyahu razing Gaza?

The authors of “Towards the Last Intifada” (Tinderbox #6) don’t acknowledge these experiences of the last decade. Instead, they propose to join the opposing side of an American geopolitical alliance (keeping true to American centralism in their own way). According to them, the Axis of Resistance shows the path forward for anarchists to struggle against empire. This article seems to confound resistance with ‘the Resistance’. That is to say, they collapse any form of resistance from people in Palestine, and more broadly in the region, into a particular representation, adopting an umbrella term used by states, militaries, para-state/para-military organizations to describe their own activities. The authors of the article warn anarchists against being too sensitive to hierarchy – as if that is the only aspect of ‘the Resistance’ anarchists might find difficult to accept.

It is now a year after the bloody incursion of Hamas into Israel. Apart from discourse, the accomplishments of the Resistance so far are: Hezbollah has launched ineffectual rockets that have only inflicted significant damage on a Druze village, Iranian leaders are busying themselves with making appeals to the West to reign in Israel, militias in Iraq attacked a couple of US military bases in the country early on and then fell silent, while only the Houthis seem to have taken Nasrallah’s “Unity of Fronts” seriously. They succeeded in disrupting global shipping routes and have carried out some unexpected aerial attacks on Israel. In the meantime, Israel has wiped out the leadership of Hezbollah, drops bombs on Lebanon on a daily basis, has regularly bombed sites in Syria without retaliation, and commits executions in Tehran. The Axis of Resistance and the Unity of Fronts are mere slogans that obscure the strategic dealings among political, authoritarian organisations and states with their own (often differing) interests. It’s delusional to see it as something else. And Israel is calling the bluff of ‘the Resistance’ with an exponential military escalation.

Israel’s massacres in Gaza, with the material support of the Western countries, are relentless. The apartheid regime in the West Bank and Israel has been built up for decades, leaving almost no oxygen to breathe for those living under its control. Faced with this bleak reality and an overwhelming powerlessness to put a stop to it, anarchists may be looking for an effective resistance (or rather, as it appears, an image of one). But if we want to fight against oppression, we can’t be content with any opposition. Choosing to join one authoritarian, militaristic system against another will not put an end to the horrors of this world – neither in this conflict nor in any other. It is neither inherently defeatist or a sign of privileged indifference to refuse to take sides between warring groups and states. That conclusion can only be reached if we would reduce reality to simplistic representations. Instead, by being open to complexity and specificity, anarchist action can be a liberating endeavor. It is here that we can find affinities, build relationships on a different basis, and muster the strength and courage – or perhaps, humility and passion – to attack. Anarchists find their effectiveness when they can undermine and destroy oppressive systems. We will not find it in a military prowess which, at the end of the day, produces more oppression and misery. And so those that have a spirit of their own and a memory of past rebellions will fight for another uprising.

From the northern coast of the Mediterranean, with a heavy heart and a soul on fire
Early October, 2024

Arson attack in Terrace BC

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Oct 182024
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the morning September 26th four vehicles were severely damaged as well as buildings nearby in an arson attack in Terrace BC.

With a little investigation we realized the vehicles attacked belong to McElhanney a company with a large portfolio providing surveying, engineering, GIS & remote sensing, landscape architecture, environmental services across western Canada. Near Terrace, McElhanney is working on the controversial PRGT pipeline, which has seen resistance via occupations and blockades. Further south the company has used GIS data to help plan work for the controversial TMX pipeline. In north eastern BC, McElhanney has worked on providing data and plans for the expansion of LNG well sites and pipelines.

We stumbled across this information via local media’s republishing of RCMP reports. It seems very little information has been shared by the RCMP. They chose to not publish photos or exact details. This is surprising considering the scale of the attack. Perhaps they would like to keep this news quiet.

Call for Autonomous Acts of Rage Against Colonization Everywhere on Monday October 14th 2024

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Oct 112024
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

“We will need each other to make sure that the flames, if they were to come, clear the area that we will live in together. We will need to clear it of the fuel that would end up repeating the problems we are currently having. We will need to make sure that the seeds, nutrients and soil are scattered beyond our ability to control.” Aragorn

We don’t just want a cease-fire, we want the Right of Return for all Palestinian people, for water to flow, and the traditions to stay alive. We can’t get back the countless lives lost, but we can honor and avenge them. And we will.

For the end of the struggle that is settler colonialism everywhere. Where the land is stolen, consent violated, the old ways forgotten – let it burn.

We hope that every colonizer who robs the lives and dignity of the land and the people on it understands that their great-grandchildren, and their great-grandchildren’s children are not going to be here because of their violence and indeterminate destruction.

We will still be here fighting for the next seven generations, but we will never forget the slaughter, and we will remember to make sure those grandchildren stay afraid of all that is wild.

The united states government now “recognizes” indigenous people’s day alongside columbus day. We must make this impossible to reconcile. We will remain illegible to them, and unknowable to all but each other and the stars above, the water below, and all that of the earth fighting back. We call out to the brave and the humble – all that is striving towards life, while defying management, capture, and domestication with a strength they could never know.

Find the connections, funders, manufacturers, advisors, politicians, gentrifiers, and all enemies of the people and the earth. You know who they are.

Find some friends and haunt those motherfuckers ghosts.

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