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

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From Embers: Talking SubMedia with JR

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Jan 312019
 

From From Embers

SubMedia is an anarchist video collective based in Montreal. Founded in 1994, they have been putting out high-quality video for more than two decades, featuring satirical takes on the news, “riot porn”, explanations of anarchist concepts, calls to action, and more, always with a strong dose of humour. Their latest project is called Trouble, and features in-depth interviews about a new theme each month. Check with your local anarchist community space to see if they are screening monthly screenings – if not, start your own!

I sat down with JR, a member of the SubMedia collective, to speak about the trajectory of the project, some philosophical questions about anarchist media, the spectacle of resistance and repression, their recent coverage of the crisis at Unist’ot’en, and more.

Call for submissions of texts and activities: NO JUSTICE? NO PEACE!

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Jan 292019
 

From the Collective Opposed to Police Brutality

This year’ s March 15th will be the 23rd annual demonstration against police brutality. State brutality must be denounced, whether this brutality is coming from police, politicians or judges. Especially considering the massive over reach of the criminal injustice system this year alone.

Was there any justice for Nicholas Gibbs, assassinated in broad daylight? by the so-called “peace officers?” Is there any justice for the migrants? for which we refuse to give the quality of life that was stolen from them by canadian companies abroad? Is there any justice for the people? of Unist’ot’en and Wet’suwet’en, taken away yet another time from their ancestral lands? Is there any justice for environmental activists? imprisoned for blockading projects leading to our own destruction? Is there any justice for all minorities, whether racial, religious, queer and/or native, which are constantly profiled and imprisoned by a system trying to erase their very existence?

As is the case every year, the COBP is organizing an anti-police week this year focusing on the theme of” No justice? No peace!” We invite everyone (groups and individuals) that wishes to contribute to the cause to do so by co-organizing events or submitting articles, essays, comic books, drawings or poems that will be published in the annual edition of our collective’s newspaper, État Policier.

This year, the anti-police week will be happening from Sunday, March 10th to Friday, March 16th.You can contact us at cobp@riseup.net before February 22nd, 2019, to announce your anti-police activities. Mark your calendars!

All submitted texts will need to be a maximum of 2 pages and can be written in English, French or Spanish. The authors that wish to get their texts translated into another of these three languages must do so on their own. We also invite you to provide images or pictures that illustrate or relate to your text, if you wish to do so. The 2 pages maximum, however, includes the use of images. Please contact us as soon as possible if you plan to submit an essay or a drawing for the journal. Your essays and drawings must be submitted at cobp@riseup.net by February 15th 2018 at the latest.

The active fight against the police represents first and foremost a stand for anti-colonialism, anti-racism, feminism, queer rights and intersectional equality. The material chosen for the journal will aim to underline the importance of giving visibility to individuals and groups that are systemically oppressed by the police on a daily basis. Because the judiciary system, the political system, and their state agent lap dogs) RCMP, SQ and SPVM, etc.) have nothing to do with protecting minorities. Their role is to answer to the needs of the better off: the rich and privileged. Their role has nothing to do with justice, and all with the defence of the castle of the privileged. A castle which is, every day, less sustainable, and less acceptable. An injust society is a society which cannot be peaceful. No justice? No peace!

The COBP

29 January: Day of Action against Islamophobia

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Jan 262019
 

From Montréal Antifasciste

Almost two years ago, on January 29, 2017, Alexandre Bissonnette entered a mosque in Quebec City in Canada and in the course of a few minutes, murdered Azzeddine Soufiane, Mamadou Tanou Barry, Khaled Belkacemi, Aboubaker Thabti, Ibrahima Barry and Abdelkrim Hassane. Nineteen others were injured, many severely.

What follows is a list of events commemorating the massacre on Tuesday, January 29, that we at Montréal Antifasciste are aware of. Please note that inclusion of an event does not necessarily indicate endorsement of the event or organizers. Thank you to those comrades who helped put this list together.

Presence in front of the offices of François Legault
8:30am to 9:30am in front of the HBSC building; corner avenue McGill College and Sherbrooke

Commemoration Event: Victims of the Quebec City mosque shooting
noon at the mezzanine of the McDonald Engineering building, McGill University
https://www.facebook.com/events/557027084765626/

Rally/Vigil in Montréal Nord
4:30pm at the corner of Henri Bourassa and Lacordaire
www.facebook.com/events/1203012229847708/

Commemorative Vigil and Workshop on Islamophobia in Côte des neiges
Vigil at 5:30pm at the corner of Plamondon & Van Horne (Plamondon metro)
To be followed by a workshop on opposing Islamophobia at 4755 Van Horne, office 110, at 6:30pm
https://www.facebook.com/events/381473549078387/
info: cdnseleve@gmail.com

Rally/Vigil in Verdun
5:30pm in front of Verdun metro
after the rally, we are invited to warm up at the Islamic Centre of Verdun, refreshments will be served
www.facebook.com/events/1927861947311168/
info: verdunlibre@gmail.com

Panel, “Face à l’islamophobie: lutte et résistance”
6pm in room D-R200, Pavillon Athanase-David, UQAM
Panel with Arij Riahi, Laïty Fary Ndiaye et Idil O. Kalif
www.facebook.com/events/365849160865598
Inscription obligatoire (sans frais): criec2@uqam.ca

Other events will be added here : https://www.facebook.com/January29Action/

Also, on February 2:

Community Dinner at the Khadijah Mosque in Pointe Saint-Charles
2385 Centre St, Saturday February 2, 2019, 17:30-19:00

This event is meant to bring the different religious, local and activist communities together to discuss issues and social problems that concern us all. This event is also being held to commemorate the victims of the January 2017 shooting at the Islamic Cultural Centre of Québec City and in solidarity with Muslims who are targeted every day in small and large ways, including as targets of the so-called secularism law that the current CAQ government intends to pass. There will be short presentations from local activists and community members addressing a number of pertinent topics, followed by a community dinner. To help us determine how much food to prepare, please RSVP! soupercommunautaire2019@gmail.com; Khadijah Mosque 514-691-8331

Also check out the list of events during Muslim Awareness Week (January 25-31) : https://ssm-maw.com/activities/

Ibrahima Barry
Mamadou Tanou Barry
Khaled Belkacemi
Abdelkrim Hassane
Azzedine Soufiane
Aboubaker Thabti

We refuse to forget. We reject Islamophobia and racism.

Attacks against OSHA Condo Advertising Billboards

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Jan 262019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Last night and the one before, different crews bombarded the colonial-themed advertising billboards for the new condo project OSHA with paint.

The OSHA Condo project is simple: the destruction of Hochelaga. How? With the arrival of more than 200 condo units (selling for between $200 000 for a 2 and a half and more than $500 000 for a 4 and a half). Meaning 300 to 500 more yuppies in our neighborhood, and in a particularly sensitive location home to many of those tossed aside in recent decades by different real estate developments. The arrival of opulence, where misery reigns. Raising the number of cops and patrols, of expensive eco-ethico-responsible-biodegradable stores, of chic restaurants daring to name themselves “Les AffamÉes” (“the starving”) in one of the largest food deserts in Montreal. A social cleansing in every respect.

Adding insult to injury, the owners decided to use an indigenous theme. The billboards’ use of an image of the encounter between peoples reinforces the idea of a peaceful and consensual exchange between colonizers and first peoples. We shatter this image. The Americas were built in violence. Montreal is a city made possible by a genocide. Its modernization rests since its foundation on the exploitation of stolen land. The OSHA condo project is only the latest, most pathetic example.

And you thought we would let you do as you like? The plurality of groups currently organizing against the construction of these condos testifies to the feeling of anger, widely shared in the neighborhood, against this latest offensive of gentrification. In the months to come, the forms of contestation and sabotage will multiply. Despite the advances of gentrifying projects in Hochelaga, an expertise of struggle against them has developed, and there is no doubt we will put it to use.

These attacks are just a first warning
We are many and we are determined
These condos don’t stand a chance

Weak Points of Canada’s ‘Resource’ Exploitation Economy

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Jan 142019
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

“Observant individuals can easily identify many such critical bottlenecks across Canada. They share several common characteristics:

  • they are of immediate and significant value to businesses and governments;
  • they concentrate valued resources or essential economic functions;
  • they are located at the intersection of related transportation systems, thus allowing protesters to use their scarce resources efficiently;
  • most are far from major national security resources and forces, thus complicating the deployment and maintenance of these forces;
  • most are close to First Nations communities that would likely be neutral if not active supporters of insurgents and would provide safe-havens and logistical support to main participants;
  • all are high profile assets the disruption of which would attract (for governments) troublesome national and international political and media attention; and
  • all are vulnerable (i.e., value multiplied by the ease of disruption).”
    Canada and the First Nations: Cooperation or Conflict?

For more info on the weak points, check out:

Transportation Infrastructure in Canada

Vulnerable Infrastructure Bottlenecks by Province

20 Worst Traffic Bottlenecks in Canada

Reportback from the 2018 Montreal New Year’s Eve Noise Demo

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Jan 132019
 

Anonymous Submission to MTL Counter-info

On New Years Eve 2018, a crowd of around 150 people gathered near Henri Bourassa Metro on the island of Montreal to take three school busses out to Laval, Quebec. Every year since 2014, and intermittently in the years prior to 2014, people gather outside prisons in the Montreal area to set off fireworks, wish people in prison a Happy New Year, and show our opposition to prisons, borders, and the industries and governments that sustain them.

After a brief bus ride, we stood together outside our first stop, the Federal Training Centre’s Minimum Security prison at 600 rue Montée Saint-Francois. Stretched out along Montée Saint-Francois with nothing but a regular chain link fence separating the living units from the road, the Federal Training Centre Minimum is the only stop on our route where we can see people’s faces in the windows. This year was no exception. Dozens of people stood in their cell windows waving and shouting back to us as we set off fireworks, played music, and yelled greetings. We showed off our banner, which read “Happy New Year! Free all prisoners!” and chanted “Pour une monde sans patrons, ni flics, ni prisons!” (For a world without bosses, cops, or prisons).

Our second stop was at Leclerc, a provincial prison for women. This year we were able to get closer to the gates than last year and after setting off fireworks and blasting music, we noticed lights flickering on and off in the windows of the prison! This prison is set far back from the road and we were excited to know that people inside could hear us and see us. Leclerc has been denounced over the years for having horrendous conditions, most recently in early December 2018 by a coalition of groups in Quebec. The cells are so cold that prisoners have to sleep with their coats on and the water is undrinkable. While we wouldn’t settle for nicer prisons in our fight for a better world, we think it’s horrible that prisoners in Leclerc have to deal with such shitty conditions!

Next we stopped at the construction site for the new migrant prison that is currently being built. We pointed out the construction site to the crowd and filled them in on the plans for the new prison. Overseen by architecture and engineering firms Lemay and Groupe A, the new migrant prison is part of a government overhaul to spiff up the deportation machine. The government claims the new building will have a warm wood interior and be designed to “not feel like a prison” despite plans for just as many security cameras and fences as one would expect. We think these plans are all bullshit and fully expect the new prison to turn out the same as the regional federal prisons for women built in the 90s and 00s with high security units, cameras everywhere, and no budget left for programming because the security costs ran so high. That is, if we don’t manage to stop the construction first!

Then we walked up the road to the migrant prison that is currently in operation. We set off fireworks and shouted to folks (including the kids!) inside. Some drummers in the crowd kept a good beat going. The MC’s reminded us of the hunger strike against the government’s “alternatives to detention” plan that imprisoned migrants in Ontario carried out in September of this year. This plan includes introducing an electronic monitoring program and contracting the John Howard Society and the Salvation Army to create “parole-type” programs for migrants. We think it’s all a way to control and monitor more and more migrants who come to this country, who are often fleeing situations of violence that Canadian imperialism helped create. Shame on the John Howard Society and the Salvation Army for taking these contracts! And fuck the government’s plan to increase deportations by 30% in the coming years! For a world without borders or prisons!

Our fifth stop was at the Federal Training Centre – Multi level. This prison has a wall and two fences around it, so it’s always hard for us to get close and always hard to tell if anyone inside can see or hear us at all. Despite that, we set off fireworks and shouted to folks inside. Our sound system battery had died by this point, so we meant to read out a statement from our imprisoned friend Cedar in Ontario, but didn’t have the lung power to do it with no sound system. Solidarity to Cedar and everyone else who has to spend this holiday behind bars! We’re thinking of you all and fighting to make it so no one ever has to spend New Years inside!

Finally, we walked back up the road to pass the Federal Training Centre Minimum one last time and say our goodbyes. On this second trip by the prison, a few people had come out of the buildings to stand in the yard despite the cold and they waved and yelled to us from across the fence and line of cops. A hearty fuck you to the cops who insist on standing between us. Some folks in the crowd sang the Helicopter Song and tried to teach everyone some new lyrics to Ke$ha’s We R Who We R. We set off the last of our fireworks and headed to the buses.

This New Years Eve Noise Demo tradition feels super important to us! Thanks to everyone who came out, we were thrilled with the number of people that showed up this year. Solidarity to folks inside fighting the system from in there!

Jacques Cartier Bridge Blocked in So-Called “Montreal”

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Jan 132019
 

From sub.Media

At 8:00am on the morning of Jan 8th, a group of roughly 25 people shut down the Jacques Cartier Bridge – a vital transportation corridor in so-called “Montreal” – in response to the RCMP’s attack on the Wet’suwet’en.

This Is Not Over

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Jan 102019
 

From unistoten.camp

The Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs have by absolutely no means agreed to let the Coastal GasLink pipeline tear through our traditional territories.

On January 7th at the Gidumt’en access point, the RCMP used excessive and brutal force. We expected a large response, we did not expect a military level invasion where our unarmed women and elders were faced with automatic weapons and bulldozers.

While the chiefs have a responsibility to protect the land, they also have a duty to protect our land defenders. Our people faced an incredible risk of injury or death and that is not a risk we are willing to take for an interim injunction.  The agreement we made allows Coastal GasLink to temporarily work behind the Unist’ot’en gate. This will continue to be a waste of their time and resources as they will not be building a pipeline in our traditional territory.

This injunction was against Warner Naziel, Freda Huson, and Jane and John Doe as individuals.  Our efforts over the past month made the RCMP, Coastal GasLink, and the colonial governments recognize that this is not an issue of individual “protestors” but rather an issue of our house chiefs’ jurisdiction to make decisions on our own lands.  We have fought for many years to make this point by politely telling it like it is. Now, with the world watching, with our voices reverberating around the globe, we have turned the tables.

There can be no question now that this is an issue of Wet’suwet’en Rights and Title. We have demonstrated that this fight is about more than a pipeline; it is about the right of Indigenous peoples around the world to exercise Free, Prior, and Informed Consent.

We have the power to tell the governments of the world that enough is enough, rather than being plowed down by force today or tomorrow. We will use our voice to continue this battle by asserting our Rights and Title.

This week, the Canadian state laid siege to our land behind the smokescreen of “reconciliation.” We see through their attempts to further colonial violence and remove us from our territories. We remain undeterred, unafraid, and unceded.

This fight is far from over.

We paved the way with the Delgamuuk’w court case and the time has come for Delgamuuk’w II.  We have never had the financial resources to challenge the colonial court system, due to the enormous price tag of an Aboriginal title case.

Who will stand with us to make sure this pipeline does not go through?

Who will support our work to reclaim our territories and assert our right to Free, Prior, and Informed Consent?

Who will insist that Indigenous peoples have the right to say NO to projects that inflict violence on our people and territories?

WAYS TO SUPPORT:

We are are humbled by the outpouring of solidarity and support for our Wet’suwet’en people. We expect RCMP aggression at any time. We are still fundraising for our legal battle in the colonial courts. Please donate.

⭐ DONATE to Unist’ot’en Camp Legal Fund

⭐ DONATE to Gidimt’en Access Point

⭐ COME TO CAMP: Supporters in the local area wanting to do something should head to KM 27 now. Meet at the junction of Morice River Road and Morice West where people are gathering to plan additional responses to this incursion.

⭐ HOST A SOLIDARITY EVENT: See the International Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en event page. We are conducting peaceful actions as sovereign peoples on our territories, and ask that all actions taken in solidarity are conducted peacefully and according to the traditional laws of other Indigenous Nations. Forcible trespass onto Wet’suwet’en territories and the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands must be stopped. Provincial and federal governments must be confronted.

⭐ SIGN THE PLEDGE: Join thousands of organizations and individuals in signing the pledge in support of Unist’ot’en

⭐ CONTACT REPRESENTATIVES: This page has been set up so you can send an email directly to relevant Federal cabinet ministers and BC Provincial cabinet ministers calling on  the RCMP and Coastal Gas Link to respect Unist’ot’en/Giltseyu-Dark House on their unceded lands.

#unistoten #wetsuwetenstrong #thetimeisnow #wetsuweten #nopipelines #notrespass #unistotencamp

ACTION ALERT – International Call to Action for Gidimt’en Access Checkpoint

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Jan 072019
 

Alert – RCMP attack imminent – Stay up to date (7 January, 11am)

From Unist’ot’en Camp

The 22,000 sq km of Wet’suwet’en Territory is divided into five clans and 13 house groups. Each clan/house group manages the use of their own territory. Unist’ot’en homestead sits on Gilsteyu Dark House Territory and manager of this territory is  house group better known as Unist’ot’en. From the Widzin Kwa bridge at 66 km passing the bridge going down to 44 KM it becomes Gidimt’en Territory. The Unist’ot’en clan cannot decide or make decisions regarding Gidimt’en Territory. That would be against Wet’suwet’en Law.

______

UPDATE: THIS IS THE EVENT PAGE for International Solidarity with the Wet’suwe’ten. Please follow for updates. 

⭐When conducting solidarity actions, you MUST follow the action protocols as laid out by the Gitimt’en

  • Take action against the provincial government in B.C, federal government of Canada, and Canadian consulate internationally.
  • Demand that the provincial and federal government uphold their responsibilities to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and ‘Anuc niwh’it’en (Wet’suwet’en law).
  • The Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidumt’en Territory are conducting peaceful actions as sovereign peoples on their territories, and ask that all actions taken in solidarity are conducted peacefully and according to the traditional laws of other Indigenous Nations.

______

The following is a statement from neighboring Wet’suwet’en nation and secondary checkpoint heading towards the Unist’ot’en Territory, Gidimt’en Access Point:

Yesterday, members of the RCMP’s Aboriginal Police Liaison met with the Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs and indicated that specially trained tactical forces will be deployed to forcibly remove Wet’suwet’en people from sovereign Wet’suwet’en territory. Police refused to provide any details of their operation to the Dini’ze and Tsake’ze (hereditary chiefs) including the number of officers moving in, the method of forcible removal, or the timing of deployment. By rejecting the requests for information by the Dini’ze and Tsake’ze the RCMP indicated that they intend to surprise and overwhelm the Wet’suwet’en people who are protecting their territories on the ground.

The RCMP’s ultimatum, to allow TransCanada access to unceded Wet’suwet’en territory or face police invasion, is an act of war. Despite the lip service given to “Truth and Reconciliation”, Canada is now attempting to do what it has always done – criminalize and use violence against indigenous people so that their unceded homelands can be exploited for profit.

The RCMP were advised that there are children, elders, and families visiting and present at the Gidimt’en Access Point, to which they did not respond. Since it was established, the Gidimt’en Access Point has hosted gatherings, workshops, and traditional activities for Wet’suwet’en, and provided an essential space for Wet’suwet’en to reconnect with their traditional territories.

Article 10 of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples clearly states “Indigenous peoples shall not be forcibly removed from their land or territories.” Any removal of Wet’suwet’en peoples by the RCMP, or any other authoritarian forces, will directly violate UNDRIP and the Trudeau government’s promise to implement UNDRIP. We are now preparing for a protracted struggle. The hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en and the land defenders holding the front lines have no intention of allowing Wet’suwet’en sovereignty to be violated. In plain language, the threat made by RCMP to invade Wet’suwet’en territories is a violation of human rights, a siege, and an extension of the genocide that Wet’suwet’en have survived since contact.

Canada knows that its own actions are illegal. The Wet’suwet’en fought for many years in the Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa court case to have their sovereignty recognized and affirmed by Canadian law. In 1997, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Wet’suwet’en people, as represented by their hereditary leaders, had not given up rights and title to 22,000 km2 of Northern British Columbia. Knowing that further litigation would be prohibitively expensive to Indigenous plaintiffs (and that pipeline construction could be completed before any significant legal issues could be further resolved) TransCanada and the provincial and federal governments are openly violating this landmark ruling.

The creation of the Gidimt’en Checkpoint was announced in the Wet’suwet’en feast hall, with the support of all chiefs present. Under ‘Anuc niwh’it’en (Wet’suwet’en law) all five clans of the Wet’suwet’en have unanimously opposed all pipeline proposals. TransCanada lawyers have argued that the Unist’ot’en are essentially a rogue group without a rightful claim to Aboriginal title. The Gidimt’en intervention shows that the Unist’ot’en are not alone, and that the hereditary chiefs of all clans are prepared to uphold Wet’suwet’en law in refusing CGL access.

The Wet’suwet’en have laid out a path toward the implementation of UNDRIP, and the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent requirement of international law. Canada has chosen to ignore this path toward reconciliation. We call on all people of conscience to act in solidarity through an international day of action on Tuesday, January 8th, 2019.

Support the Wet’suwet’en by offering physical support to the camps, monetary or material donation, or by taking action where you stand. We are conducting peaceful actions as sovereign peoples on our territories, and ask that all actions taken in solidarity are conducted peacefully and according to the traditional laws of other Indigenous Nations. Forcible trespass onto Wet’suwet’en territories and the removal of Indigenous peoples from their lands must be stopped. Provincial and federal governments must be confronted.

– Gidimt’en Access Point

Donate to Gidimt’en Access Point

Donate to Unist’ot’en Legal Fund

Guiding principals on how to support, and a fact sheet on the Gidimt’en Access Point

Follow and share! Wet’suwet’en Access Point on Gidimt’en Territory

#Notrespass #Wedzinkwa #Wetsuwetenstrong #unistoten #thetimeisnow