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Tisseur Inc. Awarded GC Contract to Build Migrant Prison

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Jul 112019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Three years ago, the Canadian state invested $138 million to expand its migrant detention system, including plans for a new migrant prison in Laval. Since then, a multiform struggle has arisen to stop the construction of this prison. Companies such as Lemay, Loiselle, and Englobe have been continuosly reminded that anyone who chooses to implicate themselves in this project can expect major delays at every stage of the project.

Two years ago, the architecture and engineering firms Lemay and Groupe A were awarded the first contracts to design the new prison. In January of this year, a contract for the General Contractor (GC) was opened for bidding. Just like the architects and engineers, the GC will be intimately involved in every stage of construction. Along with a number of yet-to-be-exposed subcontractors, the GC will be directly undertaking the construction of facilities intended to cage migrants.

Just over a week ago, the CBSA quietly awarded the GC contract to a company based in Val David called Tisseur Inc. Tisseur is a construction company with a history of building schools and bridges, and at $50 million, this is by far the biggest contract they have received to date. They have already posted over a dozen job listings online since signing this contract.

Just like Lemay, Tisseur wants to market themselves as a “socially responsible” enterprise. Their website boasts about their green construction projects and prominently features their code of ethics. But just like Lemay and others, Tisseur is eager to profit from the misery and violence that the Canadian state inflicts on migrants. They shouldn’t expect to do this quietly.

Tisseur may think that scoring such a major government project is their big break, but the recent history of companies such as Lemay, Loiselle, and Englobe suggests that this could instead be the beginning of costly tribulations.

Fuck Borders. Fuck prisons. Fuck everyone who profits from and maintains them.

See you soon.

Staying Out Means Fighting Back! Solidarity with Cedar

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Jul 112019

From North Shore Counter-Info

SPEECH given at the SOLIDARITY WITH CEDAR & DROP ALL CHARGES AGAINST PRIDE DEFENDERS demo, MONTREAL, July 28th.

Thank you so much for coming – everyone – beautiful queers and trans people, anarchists of all stripes, anti-fascists – allies. It is going to be an amazing night of sending our love and solidarity to our friends in Hamilton and Cedar in prison. To start out with we have a just a few things to say…

We come together today, on the ancestral territory of Anishnabeg and Haudonousanee peoples, more specifically the unceded land of the Kanien’kehà:ka Nation, in order to protest and show our queer and trans rage following the events of the last week. It is important to be stated that the colonial mechanism that stole this land in the first place, allowing so called Montreal to be built, also targeted the cultural terrain of sexuality and gender for hundreds of years. While many of our identities are so different, the concepts and notions of gay or queer or trans that non-indigenous people use are constructed in reaction to, and from white Christian colonial and capitalist culture. The very fabric and fibre of these words, while clearly imperfect, is not new, and pays hommage to the people whose bodies were born into conflict with the heterocolonial project. We recognise that numerous indigenous cultures respected more than two sexualities and genders, celebrating their two-spirited community members. For five hundred years the colonial project of the State has attacked these people, trying to extinguish or assimilate them. But indigenous land sovereignty is inseparable from sovereignty over bodies, sexuality and gender self-expression. We honor the fighters who have struggled long and hard to restore sexual diversity and gender fluidity back into their cultures and we recognize our queer struggle as being intertwined with an anti-colonial struggle as well.

On June 15th, 2019 in Hamilton, “Ontario”, Pride was attacked by a group of far-right homophobes, christian fundamentalists, neo-nazis, and queer bashers. As they did in 2018, they arrived with massive homophobic signs and banners, and immediately began to scream insults and slurs. They aggressively harassed individuals, made jokes about rape, and threatened physical violence. Things quickly escalated as the bigots violently confronted people who were holding a fabric barrier in an attempt to block them from disrupting Pride. Initiated by the far-right activists a brawl broke out – queers who refused to allow their presence to go unchallenged were attacked, but fought back. Several friends were injured and required medical attention. The police did nothing during this hour-long conflict, and only stepped in at the end when there was nothing left to do. The haters knew they couldn’t sustain their presence any longer, and welcomed the police escort out of the park. After being kicked out of Pride, this same group chased and assaulted queer youth in the neighbourhood, and then went on to attack people at Toronto Pride the following week.

Since these events, the Hamilton Police have felt quite threatened – communities that feel empowered to use force to defend themselves undermine their unquestionable authority. Over the course of the last week, the police have consequently been targeting and harassing known queer anarchists in the city as punishment for folks standing up for themselves. Our dear friend Cedar (who wasn’t even present at the event!) was arrested on Saturday, and was on hunger strike for five days. They will stay in jail until a lengthy probation hearing, a vengeful and punitive measure carried out by the police because Cedar publicly criticized the police’s actions. Later this week, two other queer friends have been arrested and charged with probation breaches based on suspicion of being present at Pride. Not a single homophobe was charged all week, despite the widespread circulation of their names, faces and videos of their violent actions, until public pressure finally forced the police to charge Christopher Vanderweide with assault with a weapon. We oppose the colonial prison system, but the repression the police directed to those they suspect as Pride defenders first is once again truly revealing of their age-old position and purpose: protecting racists, misogynists, and homophobes.

Queer might involve our sexuality or our gender, but to us it means soo much more. It’s a territory of tension that we must defend. We stand in solidarity with Cedar and those accused in connection with this event, as well as any queers held in prison for bashing back. As queers and trans people, we know that our existence has been fought for bravely by those who have come before us, not only against homophobes and neo-nazis but also against the police. Queer militancy has a long lineage. We remember, 50 years today, the Stonewall Rebellion, on June 28 1969, as a four-day anti-police riot led by Black and Latina drag queens, kings, and transsexuals, like Marsha P. Johnson et Sylvia Rivera, in New York’s Greenwich Village. It went on to become a rebellion that was both gay and trans, for in the words of Queen Allyson Ann Allante, a fourteen year old participant at the time, “because it was the first time that both came together to fight off the oppressor and it set a good precedent to do it many times since. It was a big milestone for both communities because they were both in unity to fight the common oppressor, which at that time was the police and the mafia, who controlled the gay clubs.” While remembering the flying bricks and high heels exploding from gay trans anger, we can’t forget that the gay liberation movement that blossomed systemically tried to silence and marginalize the participation of trans women of color, trying to centre attention on a white gay respectable narrative. We see this tendancy 50 years later and we know that our communities still have internalized and externalized transmisogyny and racism to work on, and we see the imperativeness of fighting common enemies like the police or the far-right, shoulder to shoulder. We remember police attacks here in Montreal, stemming back to the attack in Truxx Bar when 143 party goers were arrested and charged for indecency in 1977. We remember also Sex Garage in 1990, when the SPVM descended on 400 gay club goers, violently beating them with their batons and the ensuing 36 hour fight. We know that queer and trans homeless youth and sex workers still face police repression constantly on the streets – the only reason that the Gay village of Montreal is now this far East of downtown is that in the lead-up to both Expo ’67 and the 1976 Summer Olympics, the SPVM carried forth a brutal criminalization campaign on the city’s queers – beating up and arresting many people as well as closing down bars. We know that worldwide queer people, especially those who are racialized, are disproportionately attacked, criminalized, incarcerated and even murdered. American transphobic hate crimes have tripled in the last five years and we see a similar trend here – our work is so far from being over! Yesterday the 11th American trans person to be murdered this year was found in Kansas City – Brooklyn Lindsey, yet another black transwoman trying to live her life. We remember Sisi Thibert, who in September 2017, was stabbed in Pointe St. Charles, Montreal. This sadness and pain stays with us always. Our existence will continue to be threatened unless together, we fiercely defend ourselves, our friends, as well as the spaces we create. But marginalized people are doing that on the daily. The far-right group that mobilized in Hamilton is not too different from far-right groups that have been fought against in Quebec. Queers are coming together, like in Hamilton and countless times before, to hold, feed, listen to, and fight for each other. We know that we need to make ruins of domination in all of its varied and interlacing forms and that none are free until all are free. Fighting back is always legitimate. We are going to dance and take up space tonight, be beautiful and revolting together, as a way to blend our queer love and queer rage for the fucked up attacks on our friends in Hamilton and the police’s consequential repression. We know that we are strong together – let’s fucking show it. We are here tonight to say :

Drop all charges against Pride defenders, free Cedar now!

Queer liberation and total freedom.

A War Against Queers

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Jul 022019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In the past few weeks, the state has once again revamped its war on queers. A few days before Hamilton police targeted Cedar for arrest, Quebec city police bragged online about using plainclothes cops to entrap 11 queer men who were consensually cruising. These targeted attacks will not be tolerated. Fuck the police.

Solidarity with Cedar and with all queers facing repression.

Solidarity Statement with Cedar Hopperton and the Radical Queer Community in Hamilton

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Jul 012019

From Montréal-Antifasciste

Two weeks ago, the LGBTQ2 community in Hamilton, Ontario, was targeted for a unprecedented attack by a coalition of individuals from fundamentalist Christian groups and far-right groupuscules like the Wolves of Odin, the “Yellow Vests,” and the Canadian Nationalist Party.

Furthermore, the tense relationship between the radical queer and trans community and the police in Hamilton was exacerbated by the manifest indifference police showed to the far-right trolls, instead moving against the queer and trans folks who took measures to defend themselves… while giving the far-right attackers a free hand!

Since June 22, Cedar Hopperton, a trans anarchist militant deeply involved in those communities, has been on hunger strike while being detained for “breach of conditions.” The police accuse them of having violated their conditions by participating in a “demonstration” (a gathering that was part of the LGBTQ2 Pride celebrations in Hamilton, last June 15). The fact is that Cedar was not at this event, and everything suggests that the Hamilton police are dogging Cedar because of numerous public anti-police statements, particularly in opposition to a police presence at events organized by the LGBTQ2 community.

On the afternoon of June 15, the violence began when the abovementioned far-right militants gathered at the edges of the Pride parade, in Gage Park, to intimidate and harass participants and their allies, reciting Bible passages and shouting anti-LGBTQ2 slogans. The radical queer and trans community had anticipated this (there was a similar incident in 2018) and had built a screen out of fabric that stood several meters high to block from view any acts of intolerance directed at the parade. However, some of those intent on disrupting Pride, annoyed about having their harassment disrupted in this way attempted to skirt this barrier, eventually coming to blows with parade participants. Obviously, our comrades couldn’t let this happen without defending themselves. During the resulting melee some of them were seriously injured, primarily by the attacks of two individuals among the far-right trolls, Chris Vanderweide and YlliRadovicka, alias John Mark Moretti.

In subsequent days, rather than seeking to apprehend the authors of this very well documented violence, Hamilton police chose to target our comrades who defended themselves! As well as Cedar, four other people were arrested and released on promises to appear.

It’s worth noting that as the police allowed them to run rampant the same far-right bags of shit descended on a Toronto Pride event on the weekend of June 22–23 to deliver the same sort of violence upon members LGBTQ2 community and its allies.

These events took place in a context where, since a militant demo was held on March 3, 2018, the Hamilton anarchist community has been targeted repeatedly by both the police and the far-right groups active in southern Ontario. The anarchist space The Tower has been vandalized a number of times, raids have been carried out, and far-right trolls brag online about providing police with anarchists’ personal information.

Clearly, these far-right attacks are unacceptable, and obviously our comrades will defend themselves with the means at their disposal. That the police chose to act against the victims of the violence who were doing nothing more than defending themselves, rather than the authors of the violence, only serves to prove that the police feel no real solidarity with the LGBTQ2 community, and any statements that suggest they do are nothing more than public relations on the part of an institution that has proven itself to be profoundly hostile to the aspirations of minority groups. This is more evidence that social movements cannot and never should have any confidence in the police services.

Montréal Antifasciste and its sympathizers and allies wish to express their unshakeable solidarity with the Hamilton LGBTQ2 community and demand the immediate release of Cedar Hopperton and that all charges be dropped against all those arrested for actions to defend the LGBTQ2 community on June 15.

¡No pasarán!

Montréal Antifasciste, June 28, 2019

Update: Chris Vandeweide was finally arrested on June 26^th… as well as two more members of the queer community who defended Pride, bringing to five the number of queer comrades arrested for defending themselves.

“Vague bleue,” the Last Stand of Québec’s Far-Right Soldier Wannabes

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Jul 012019

From Montréal-Antifasciste

When the so-called Vague bleue [Blue Wave] began it seemed like a breath of fresh air for the identitarian nationalist movement, however it now appears that the organizers failed to draw the lessons of the last several years and are intent on repeating the same mistakes.

After the first edition of the Vague bleue (VB1) in Montréal, on May 4, 2019, a number of far-right voices (e.g., Alexis Cossette-Trudel, from Citoyens au Pouvoir, and Donald Proulx, of the Parti Patriote) were heard criticizing the presence of militias with paramilitary affectations at a gathering meant to be family friendly and open to all. The presence of these organizations was the sole reason Montréal antifascists mobilized in such large numbers to oppose the event. This particular point of discord opened fissures in the alleged unity of this new identitarian coalition.

With only a month until the “Vague bleue (part 2)” (VB2), called for Trois-Rivières, on July 27, which is shaping up to be even sillier than the first edition, Montréal Antifasciste is taking the opportunity to put names to the faces of these different “security” teams (who find themselves encased by hundreds of cops every time they mobilize) and of the “paramilitary” groups that fancy themselves Québec’s future army, but which have the discipline of a litter of kittens and arm themselves with material sold online for paintball enthusiasts.

Notably, all these self-important, wanabe “security” goons make up about a quarter of the Vague bleue as a whole…

Groupe Sécurité Patriote (GSP)

The GSP began as the security team of the tiny Front patriotique du Québec clique, but under Robert Proulx’s stewardship increasingly established it’s autonomy. Made up of about fifteen people with a handful of sympathizers, the GSP specializes in providing “security” at far-right demos and events, going as far as working with the Soldiers of Odin, an anti-immigrant group that includes neo-Nazis among its members. Following a squabble with the Canadian chapter of the III% paramilitary militia, part of the Québec III% chapter joined the GSP. Of all of the groups of this kind that mobilized for VB1, the GSP is the largest and most obstreperous. Its members are extremely fond of taking group photos, particularly posing with a “Action antifasciste” flag that the police seized and gave to them during a demonstration in Ottawa in 2018. One regular member of the GSP security team, found loyally at his post at VB1, is Stéphane Dufresne, the Rambo from Saint-Charles-Borromée who suggested carrying out false flag terrorist attacks “pour réveiller les crisse d’endormis” [to wake up the slumbering idiots].

Its membership is stable, but GSP has tense relations with a number of groups and individuals. Following the tiff mentioned above, it is likely that GSP won’t be part of the VB2.

If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Robert Proulx	Christian Quevillon	Bob Giroux	René Beaudreault
Sylvain Lacroix	Jo Michaud	Stéphane Dufresne	Denis Fortin
Jean-Pierre Colerette	Vicky Graveline	Mario Dallaire	Robin Simon
Patrick Picard	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
Name unknown	Name unknown	GSP

Ragnarok Nordique Society (RNS)

RNS is an odd little group, made up of a handful of losers from various groupuscules, including Martin Fontaine (alias Rednek Fontaine and Rednek Breault), former member of that flash in the pan La Horde, a splinter from La Meute that never really got off the ground. RNS’s original project was to found an (obviously white) survivalist community in the Laurentians. We spotted RNS members at VB1 in full paramilitary regalia, looking like renegade GI Joes from the burbs. Martin Fontaine was also at the GSP picnic on June 8, easily recognized in his tactical vest emblazoned with the surname “Rednek.” In reality, it seems that RNS is more about role playing than about any genuine political project, but nonetheless we will continue to keep an eye on these pseudomilitary survivalists with open ties to the far right and its ideas.

For the reasons mentioned above, it is likely that RNS will not take part in the VB2. If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Martin Fontaine

Éric Dionne

Keven Molloy Gohier

Ragnarok Nordique Society

Les Gardiens du Québec (LGDQ, and its so-called “On-the-Ground Organizational Support”)

This tiny group of militant Islamophobes formed around the family of Martine Tourigny and Stéfane Gauthier (from Bécancour), with Guillaume Bélanger, Nathalie Vézina, and a few others, is seen as the key organizer of VB1, because the movement’s initiator Jonathan Héroux, alias John Hex (from Trois- Rivières), is to all intents and purposes the sole member of his groupuscule, “Le Québec Libre en Action.” These so-called guardians of Québec took advantage of the Vague bleue to promote themselves and recruit some new members, including the infamous Luc Desjardins, key among the rabid conspiracy theorists of the utterly bizarre “Gilets jaunes Québec,” and a very close friend of both the notorious Islamophobe Pierre Dion and the loud and proud white supremacist Michel Meunier.

Stéfane Gauthier	Guillaume Bélanger	Carl Dumont	Nathalie Vézina
Luc Desjardins	Jean-Marc Lacombe	Medrick Tourigny	Richard Sauvé
Name unknown	Les Gardiens du Québec (just that…)

Défense Fortifiée Storm Alliance

Storm Alliance, John Hex’s launching pad and an organization he remains very close to, provided key Vague bleue organizers (among them Nadia Fradette, alias Nadia Dumont) and some muscle (in the form of its DFSA security team), while nonetheless keeping a certain distance. Nonetheless, we couldn’t help but notice that Storm Alliance members were out in great numbers at VB1. DFSA, led by Steven Dumont, Storm Alliance’s second in command, is a fairly standard security team that openly exhibits a ready willingness to get into it with its opponents.

If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Steven Dumont	Éric Trudel, head of Storm Alliance	Dave Tregget, founder and former head of Storm Alliance	Mario Roy
William “Dou”	Nancy Sirois	Stéphane Laflamme	Michel Meunier
Gérald Bédard	Patrick Bilodeau	Alex Maltais	Mikky Poitras
Yannick Veilleux	André Lavigueur	Vincent Hamel	Natacha Pelchat
Bruno Lemay	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
Jean-Philippe Labbé	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown

La Meute

Even though La Meute was discreet in its participation in VB1, we easily spotted a number of them in the “phantom” security team (no colours, dressed like your average Joe and Jane) gathered around Stéphane Roch, one of La Meute’s key leaders until the recent implosion. François Cousineau, the leader of Clan 06 (Montréal) made an appearance as well. Always fretting about its image, this has become the established La Meute strategy: send a few people so they can say “we’ve been here from the beginning” should the Vague bleue actually gain some traction, but not sporting their colours lest the whole thing become a boondoggle —a strategy that hasn’t stopped the group from eviscerating itself internally for the past few weeks, to our great satisfaction.

If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Stéphane Roch, member of “the Guard”	François Cousineau, “Gardien” of Clan 06, Montréal	Mario Millaire	Tonio Sergerie
William Johnson	Rhoda Bourque	Bertrand Jocelin	Alain Giroux
Name unknown	Alias June Leloup	Name unknown	Name unknown
Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
La Meute’s “security” crew at the Vague Bleue.

Miscellaenous characters …

Jonathan Héroux, aka John Hex, the Vague bleue’s main organizer.	Stéphane Gagné, aka the General Lee of Mauricie, a rabid islamophobic goofball, who’s also onenly racist and sexist.	Guy and Denis Boulanger, of the Front patriotique du Québec.
Donald Proulx, of the Parti patriote.	Maxime Morin and Guillaume Beauchamp, the duo behind far right video project DMS.	A random douche with a t-shirt of neo-fascist organization Atalante.
David Leblanc, a notorious white supremacist, member of the Soldiers of Odin Québec, wearing a “The North Race” sweatshirt.

The Vague bleue, a Futile Attempt to Revitalize an Islamophobic Far Right

A year ago, we would have been unsettled by the emergence of a phenomenon like the Vague bleue, but these days the whole thing seems to be falling apart all on its own. After having met with firm and unwavering resistance in Montréal, losing access to their sound truck and being confined in small area (a strategy that seems to have paid off for antifascists!), public pressure forced the organizers to postpone Vague Bleue 2 in Trois-Rivières.

Even if the Vague bleue arrived a little too late, it’s pretty clear that the ideas of the national-populist groups that it represents have made inroads to the very heart of power with the election of the CAQ and the passing of anti-immigrant and Islamophobic laws. In this regard, it is interesting to note that at the moment that Bill 21, which constrains people from wearing religious symbols, passed at the Assemblée Nationale, the most visible far-right organizations (La Meute, Storm Alliance, etc.), with their extremely convoluted vision of the secularism underlying this law, are in disarray and/or decline, while some other groups have recently disappeared altogether.

While there are things to celebrate about this debacle, there is a clear risk of these national-populist groups will restructure themselves in new ways and push for increasingly discriminatory measure against religious minorities and immigrants.All the more so, given that they will find a government ready to listen, if not entirely sympathetic. And that is why we need an antiracist and antifascist struggle now more than ever.

The work has only begun. Join us in this struggle!

After Amherst, it’s Macdonald’s Turn! John A. Macdonald Statue Vandalized Again

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Jun 282019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

For at least the 8th time in less than two years, the racist and colonial John A. Macdonald Monument (1895) in Montreal has been vandalized by anti-colonial artists.

Between the two nationalist holidays in Quebec – St-Jean Baptiste Day on June 24 and Canada Day on July 1 – the #MacdonaldMustFall group in Montreal once again targeted the controversial statue, this time with blue paint, for an anti-colonial message.

Since the last time the Macdonald Monument was targeted in May 2019, Amherst Street in Montreal was officially renamed Atateken Street. The word Atateken signifies brotherhood, sisterhood and equality between people in the language of the Kanienʼkehá꞉ka. James Amherst, a British General, advocated and practiced genocide against Indigenous peoples.

If Amherst’s street name can be replaced, the John A. Macdonald Monument can also be removed from public space and instead placed in archives or museum. Public space should celebrate collective struggles for justice and liberation, not white supremacy and genocide.

As in previous communiqués, the #MacdonaldMustFall group in Montreal reminds the media and public: John A. Macdonald was a white supremacist. He directly contributed to the genocide of Indigenous peoples with the creation of the brutal residential schools system, as well as other measures meant to destroy native cultures and traditions. He was racist and hostile towards non-white minority groups in Canada, openly promoting the preservation of a so-called “Aryan” Canada. He passed laws to exclude people of Chinese origin. He was responsible for the hanging of Métis martyr Louis Riel.

Contact: MacdonaldMustFallMontreal@protonmail.com

Solidarity with Pride Defenders, Free Cedar!

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Jun 272019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Queer might involve our sexuality or our gender, but to us it means so much more. It’s a territory of tension that we must defend. We stand in solidarity with Cedar and those accused in connection with this event, as well as any queers held in prison for bashing back. As queers and trans people, we know that our existence has been fought for bravely by those who have come before us, not only against homophobes and neo-nazis but also against the police.We remember Stonewall as a four-day anti-police riot and an explosion of gay trans anger birthing the way for liberation movements to come. We know that queer and trans homeless youth and sex workers face police repression constantly on the streets and that queer people, especially those who are racialized, are disproportionately attacked, criminalized, incarcerated and even murdered. Our existence will continue to be threatened unless we fiercely defend ourselves, our friends, as well and the spaces we create. None are free until all are free.

Drop all charges against pride defenders, free Cedar now!

For Background:
https://north-shore.info/2019/06/19/hamilton-pride-2019-reportback/
https://north-shore.info/2019/06/22/this-is-why-you-werent-invited-hamilton-police-target-queers-fighting-back/
Fundraising is needed for legal fees!
Please donate here: the-tower.ca/donate or thetower@riseup.net

On Guilt & Innocence: A Response to Arrests Following Hamilton Pride

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Jun 242019

From North Shore Counter-Info

Statement by The Tower

It’s been a very intense and revealing week since Hamilton Pride. We helped our friends heal, debriefed our strategies, and circulated as much information about the people who attacked us as we could. The videos and statements have gone viral, the outrage is visceral. Homophobic white nationalists attacked Pride, they were confronted by a huge group of queers, the police did nothing and then took credit for stopping the attack, the mayor backed the police despite hundreds of witnesses, and the homophobes walk free. While the helmet-wielding maniac who smashed our faces continued his crusade in Toronto, posing for celebrity pictures with a new helmet and brutally attacking at least one more person (you can watch the video here: http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.com/2019/06/violence-after-pegida-march-northern.html), the police were busy banging on the doors of known queer anarchists in Hamilton, lurking in backyards, and shaking down our entire community.

On Saturday they arrested Cedar Hopperton for allegedly violating their parole conditions, and later issued a press release that accused them of attending the Pride events and confronting the bigots. This only magnified the outrage, and over a hundred people came together that night outside of the police station to demand Cedar’s release. Others participated in a phone zap that flooded the police station with hundreds of calls demanding they let them go. Social media has exploded with condemnations of the arrest, and people of all political stripes seem to agree on one basic fact: criminalizing people who defended Pride from vicious right-wing attacks is fundamentally wrong.

But here’s the thing: Cedar Hopperton was not at Hamilton Pride. They weren’t masked up, they weren’t there holding a sign, and they weren’t involved in any confrontation. They weren’t there at all. They weren’t anywhere close to Gage Park that day. Instead they stayed home and offered support to those who left the park bloodied, battered, and shaken. As the papers reported, they did come out with supportive statements of those defending pride during an LGBTQ advisory committee meeting in the days after. Standing at a pedestal in city hall, Cedar argued that police are not and should never be part of the queer community, and applauded those at pride who stood up for themselves in the face of violence. Cedar’s arrest is a clear and calculated retaliation for these statements, and an attempt to muddy the waters by equating what happened at Pride with what happened on Locke Street last year.

Because of the way the legal system and the media work, their revenge has already done it’s damage. National news covered the fact that Cedar Hopperton was arrested for their involvement in a confrontation at Pride Hamilton. Even some of Cedar’s supporters carried the narrative (understandably), explaining that “Cedar was only there defending queer people”. The police fabricated a story, and within 24 hours it had become a national truth.

Despite the fact that they weren’t at Pride, Cedar could spend weeks in jail just waiting for a parole hearing in order to make their case. In order to speed this process and apply pressure on the Hamilton Police, Cedar has begun a hunger strike. We don’t have any other details as of now, but we know that since being arrested on Saturday morning Cedar hasn’t eaten anything. We need people to mobilize around this, to help spread the word, and to make sure Cedar’s case doesn’t get lost in the weekly news cycle.

To be clear, this isn’t about Cedar’s “innocence” per se. We know the word “criminal” is only used to devalue someone’s actions or humanity, and we don’t believe that breaking a law makes someone either good or bad. We are putting this statement out because we feel that it is important to state publicly: the claim that Cedar was involved in the events that took place at Hamilton Pride is categorically untrue and unfounded. At the same time, that doesn’t mean that other queers that may be arrested should be supported on the basis of innocence. What folks did that day at Pride was self-defence and they do not deserve to be arrested. We need to be upset at the police for falsely accusing Cedar AND for targeting those of who were there and tried to protect our community.

The police have said it repeatedly to the media, they aren’t finished. They’re almost certainly going to arrest other people who were involved in defending Pride, with or without evidence. Like Cedar, we too will feel the sting of arrest, the trauma of strip searches, the horrors of jail, and the humiliation of a bail hearing. The police will continue to do everything they can to get us fired from our jobs, to terrify our families, and jeopardize our housing. At no point will any of the cops involved be held accountable. That is what the police do. Often they exercise this kind of routine violence without even being seen, but this time all eyes are on them. Queers across the country are watching Hamilton right now to see how this unfolds. Hamiltonians are fuming mad about the naked injustice of this situation. People aren’t as easily tricked or distracted as the police would like us to be.

The most threatening thing to the police are communities that feel empowered to use force to defend themselves because it undermines the thing they hold most dear – their unquestioned authority. The arrests and intimidation being used by them now are punishment for us standing up for ourselves.

This is far from being over. Please stay diligent. Please keep holding the police accountable and watch for updates about others who may be arrested. The amazing feeling of being in this together has been the most validating and important thing to us. And Cedar must have felt amazing hearing the fireworks being set off yesterday outside the jail. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your solidarity.

For Background:

Hamilton Pride Report Back

https://north-shore.info/2019/06/19/hamilton-pride-2019-reportback/

Statement on Police Targeting Queers

https://north-shore.info/2019/06/22/this-is-why-you-werent-invited-hamilton-police-target-queers-fighting-back/

Don’t Call the Cops!

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Jun 222019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In the early morning of Monday June 10th, the Montreal police shot a man. A neighbour was having a crisis. Instead of doing anything helpful, they harassed him for hours. They had guns pointed at his head. They finally shot him in the leg through hs own apartment door early monday morning. On Sunday June 17th anarchists in the St-Henri neighbourhood of Montreal put up posters reminding our neighbours to think twice before calling the cops.

St-Henri is famously undergoing a rapid and brutal gentrification process. Gentrification is fueled by social cleansing. This means arresting and relocating people with mental health issues, the poor, drug users, sex workers, and all of us trying to get by in a cruel world. One way to resist the over-policing and gentrification of our neighbourhoods is to stop calling the goddamn cops. We made posters that name all the unarmed people who have been killed by the SPVM in the last few years, because this is fucking serious. Cops will always escalate the situation, we can’t trust them. Instead let’s build relationships of trust between neighbours — Let’s make police obsolete! Please download and share these posters — let your neighbours know that COPS KILL, and share some alternatives to calling the police, so no one else has to have their neighbours blood on their hands.

COPS KILL (to print, 11 x 17″)

12 Things You Can Do Instead of Calling the Cops (11 x 17″)

June 11th: Lemay Vice President’s Car Set on Fire

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Jun 182019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the day of solidarity with long-term anarchist prisoners, the BMW belonging to André Cardinal, parked in front of his private residence in NDG, was set on fire. André Cardinal is the Vice President of Lemay, the architecture firm designing the migrant prison in Laval.

May fires burn for all that the worlds of prison and borders have stolen from us.

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