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

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Decolonize Turtle Island!

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Nov 272017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

OLYMPIA-UNIST’OT’EN-GASPESIE-SECWEPEMCUL’ECW
DECOLONIZE TURTLE ISLAND

For the last 10 days, an encampment has been blocking the train tracks that lead out of the Port of Olympia, preventing fracking proppants from being sent to North Dakota and Wyoming. In addition to standing in the way of capitalism and environmental destruction, the blockade has created an opening in which we can interact in new, liberated ways. We have made many new friends, deepened existing relationships, and experienced the joy in sharing our lives without regard for profit.

We wish to send greetings and express solidarity with Indigenous resistance to capitalist expansion across Turtle Island. From the lands of the Nisqually and Squaxin tribes, to the shores of the Wedzin Kwah on Unist’ot’en Territory, to the walls of the Tiny House Warriors of Secwepemc Territory, to the Mi’kmaq struggle on the Gaspesie Peninsula, we wish to acknowledge and honor those whose land we currently fight on and those who fight against the industrial mega-machine alongside us, near and far. Our fight against fracking proppants is also a fight against LNG pipelines, Keystone Oil, and many more; but more broadly the struggle against extractivist industry is a struggle against colonization.

A Freedom of Information Act request revealed that last year’s week-long rail blockade cost oil giant Halliburton two fracking operations, and in turn Halliburton severed ties with the Port of Olympia. While we do not wish to see the Port of Olympia transition to some sort of greenwashed “progressive” capitalism – merely polishing that giant turd of colonization – we celebrate the sheer level of chaos and impact on Halliburton. Sometimes it feels as though no attack on capitalism or the state will ever be enough to cause any real damage, but it’s moments like these that remind us that the death machine is more vulnerable than we might think.

Warm greetings to everyone searching for the cracks in leviathan’s armor-
For total freedom,
-some guests on the southern tip of the Salish Sea

Call for a Week of Action from the Committees for Territorial Defence and Decolonisation

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Nov 212017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Block the extractive economy

Support the river camp

November 24-26 upcoming, the Liberal Party will meet up for Québec City. These ferocious partisans of the extractivist economy are going to authorize a new reglementary regime for the hydrocarbon extraction that is already a bigger threat than ever before vis-à-vis the water, the planet, and everything that lives upon it. Their determination to privilege the oil capitalists and the mining magnates, despite increasingly loud opposition, demonstrates that only a social force of real consequence can interrupt their activities. It is in this sense that we in the Comités de défense et de décolonisation des territoires (“committees for territorial defence and decolonisation”) call for a week of actions from November 24 to December 2 so as to find each other in the struggle, maintain pressure, attack the infrastructure of the death economy.

Since the River Camp was set up, in Gaspésie, at the foot of the road leading to the wells of the Junex oil company, it’s been clear where the line is: on the one hand, those who want to protect territory; on the other, those who land subjugated by a logic of exploitation. Despite the threats of injunction, a renewal in the resistance movement has emerged from discussions, meetings, and the call for the formation of support committees. The proposal of linking Earth liberation and decolonization is making the rounds and engendering new possibilities. And just as much, it deals with some burning questions. What’s happening in Gaspésie is an inspiration for resistance everywhere, on top of teaching us hatred for colonial institutions.

We need to remember that, under pressure from the traditional Mi’kmaq council, the regions’s band councils and the oil companies reached a temporary agreement about the the stoppage of works last August. Petrolia, however, has gotten a pass from these same councils to start seismic tests close to protected areas. All colonial institutions stand together in pursuit of their destructive oeuvre.

Thus the announcement of the Energy East project was only a short respite for those who wish to protect land. More than ever we must build upon our strength, forge a network of solidarity, and move on to action. This is why we are calling for folks to step out once again before the snow comes to cover up the ravages of the oil companies. Step out, and by all means necessary, reinhabit all worlds.

Download the french version here

Committees for territorial defence and decolonisation

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Nov 162017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Download and Print Here

A breach was opened by an now well-known anonymous group . Their autonomous action to reoccupy the territory demonstrated the inseparability of ecological and decolonial perspectives. By blocking Junex’s oil project and by affirming the legitimacy of traditional Mi’kmaq sovereignty on the territory, their action made space for new possibilities of successful struggle. This call to organize is done with the audacious spirit of the first barricades, now fallen.

Since the dismantling of the barricades, the River Camp has become a central anchor in the fight against fossil fuels and fracking in Gaspesie. Beyond being a place of meaningful daily existence, the camp furthers efforts to build a force to oppose the economy of death, brought about by the extractivist state and the fossil fuel industries that it finance. By rallying inhabitants from everywhere in Gaspesie, in the rest of Quebec and the Maritimes, this space has proved that it has great potential in terms of creating encounters and alliances.

In their declaration of support at the Junexit banquet, two traditional Mi’kmaq chiefs wrote that “after the fall of the barricade, the fight has only begun. Relationships are forming between the Mi’kmaq District Chiefs, as well as native and non-native water and land protectors. We call on all groups and individuals concerned for the protection of the water and the land on the territory of Gespegawagi to give their support, and to join the struggle here.”

The call for a week of action was a success in multiple regions, seeing banner drops, occupations, protests, and train blockades. The cause, taken up by ecological as well as decolonial activists, became a symbol of the defense of the territory, of the necessity to protect the land and the forms of life we belong to. “Everything to lose, nothing to gain”. Even more than just opposition to projects of extraction, we want to express our attachment to the territory and the threat oil poses to that which we hold dear.

To think about the follow up of this struggle, and how to continue it, to see how we can contribute to the multiplication of these conflicts, we propose to friends, comrades, allies, and accomplices, to meet where they are – in forms favoring both autonomy and the expansion of the struggle.

Defeating Catastrophe

Ecology and Decolonization

Not a day goes by without another part of the globe ravaged by the phenomenon of global warming, not a day goes by that doesn’t remind us of the dramatic decrease in biodiversity every year. Under the effects of widespread fossil fuel extraction, catastrophe erupts into our daily life, painting a somber future. The derailment of a train full of oil destroys an entire village. Sudden climate change paralyses an entire region. What we call catastrophe is really nothing other than the norm of an economy founded on acceleration and growth.

Fossil fuels, intended to free us from dependance on the sun, have rendered us dependent on the institutions and infrastructures that produce them. Beyond those who want to delay or speed up the end of the world, a spark of life is given shape by combatting projects of the economy of death, and re-inhabiting the world.

Dispossessed, we are disconnected from others, each individual in their little personal situation, blind to the violence needed to keep this system in place. Defending the territory means breaking this little ball. It means to re-learn how to live with that which surrounds us and to work with those who constitute us. To break the normal tempo of the economy, to find ourselves again.

The blockade of Junex’s project in Gaspesie, and the camp that followed, are spaces that allow us to gather and organize ourselves against that which ravages the world. These spaces are linked to the territory, and weave new paths.

But if the disaster that is the oil economy seems self-evident to us, we must remember that from the point of view of native people, the relationship to this disaster is conceived differently. For them, this catastrophe is a reality that has been in process for 500 years. The destruction of the environment goes hand in hand with the dispossession that preceded it. Their perspective reveals the colonial character of modern history. It let us understand that the development of the economy would never have been possible except through dispossession and exploitation. This system still functions today, under the same logic, and Junex is the ultimate example.

To pose the question of defending the territory in “America” inevitably implies thinking about the process through which the extractivist economy and its instututions have been able to grow. This process is colonization, that is to say, pillage, destruction, and occupation of native territories. From an indigenous perspective, defending the territory is therefore inseperable from the struggle for decolonization. In this process, ancestral sovereignties repressed by 500 years of colonization have to be revived and put in the forefront. For the ecological activists, this implies creating non-native worlds capable of living without dispossessing others of land. Through a common struggle against that which threatens us and for the survival of new and ancient traditions, worlds that have up until now been incompatible can meet each other. This meeting must take into account the colonial order,so as to destroy it. By doing this we can address shared problems.

The construction of the “Americas” was nothing other than a long violent process to take over territories and resources. The fossil fuel industry is the new fur trade. The decolonial perspective offers a way to think about this tragedy. To interrupt History, we must block that which creates it – that’s to say, the infrastructure of the extractivist economy. The mobilizing force that can emerge from concrete alliances between the ecological and decolonial perspectives, between natives and non-natives, is the harbinger of a victorious struggle. The possibility to win against this world, and to create others, is in our hands. Let’s seize it!

What to do?

“Moving forward while questionning”

The proposed form of committees is designed to favor autonomy and local initiative. In supporting the River Camp, we believe in the importance of re-territorializing these struggles. The idea of combining defense and decolonization, for us, provides a shared sense of meaning without needing to work in a programmatic manner. Each location, each setting brings a different reality, without a universal solution. This is why we choose a humble path: “moving forward while questioning.” We must use the conditions on the ground to start and expand theses struggles in order to act directly, while also organizing for the long term.To do this, we suggest several directions for the coming months.

I. Know the Territories

It is first necessary to investigate. Practicing investigation means learning how to designate the enemy by making him appear concretely via his plans and policies. We must understand how they think, so that we can identify their endgame and prevent it. This stage, which is already under way, consists in identifying and understanding the projects of the extractivist economy throughout the territory and their links with the colonial program. These links can be found in the current development of the territory and in the omnipresence of extraction infrastructures. The territory is fractured by inequalities and united by a network of communication and transportation infrastructure. It is necessary to grasp its functioning, methods and, more particularly, to understand how this extractivist policy leads to the underdevelopment and loss of sovereignty for the inhabitants of the peripheral regions. In the same gesture, we must bind ourselves to resistance and understand the enemy from the point of view of what they mean. Links should be made between the people who live on the land and struggle to defend it. This involves learning to hold dear to what they love and to hate what threatens them, to share life.

II. Build Autonomy

The extractivist system depends on the circulation of resources from the peripheries to the center. In order to oppose this, our networks must allow us to respond swiftly and join actions rapidly once a call is launched. Building autonomy is first and foremost aimed at reuniting forces to combat what is devastating the territories. It is a matter of instilling a new force in protest movements and reinventing them through old and new traditions; these forms of life which allow us to live on the land necessarily teach us to fight against what threatens it. The effort is therefore multifaceted : to build a combative ecological movement, to support the traditional forms of indigenous sovereignty and to regain power over our lives. To do this, we must make our world habitable, that is to say, to re-discover material means, knowledge, imagination and existential meaning to hold in both desertion and confrontation.

III. Block Flows

To those who live in the city and for whom the world seems impossible to recapture, an important role is to bring confrontation by attacking symbols, infrastructures, enemies that threaten the forms of life we ​hold dear. In the city, as elsewhere, the modernization and development of the extractivist capitalist economy must be compromised until it becomes untenable. The survival of this economy depends on its ability to (1) extract resources and (2) to circulate them. Our tactical considerations must stem from this simple observation. Our mode of organization must enable us to effectively support the struggles that are taking place on territories beyond colonial borders, to help them to expand and to channel resources that allow their continuation.

We propose these steps in order to multiply blockades and actions in the coming months. The success of the actions that are undertaken will depend on our ability to build strong long-term relationships of trust that enable complicity, and a reciprocity that binds us together. The movement we propose to develop implies a profound deconstruction of the relations of power present between us, infused into our minds by colonial ideology. Thinking about decolonization involves projecting oneself into a broader time period than a campaign or a camp. In the end, we want to make moments when one lives and moments when one struggles inseparable.

Deepening ideas, Furthering the Struggle

The formation of a committee aims to bring those who wish to articulate ecology and decolonization in the fight for the defense of territories together. Committees allow for greater participation and coordination of efforts. They can both support the River Camp and organize themselves on their own territory. To build the committees and prepare to continue the fight against the oil companies, we propose some themes of activities and actions for the coming months. We plan to organize a training weekend and committee meetings in the coming months. In the meantime, it’s about maintaining tension, investigating ongoing projects, and building strong relationships.

Propositions

Organize support for the River Camp : Ensure a physical presence, provide equipment and money. People living in the camp decided to spend the winter there. We must therefore stay aware of the needs that will be expressed in the coming weeks in relation to this challenge.

Investigate and build solidarity : Go to meet people in struggle. It is fundamental to get to know the territorial defense struggles are built on bonds with those who engage in them.

Organizing autonomous actions : Targets and forms of action are numerous. The addresses are easy to find as long as the enemies are identified. Organinzing actions is both a way to connect with each other by including new people and raising the tone against extractivist economy projects.

Organizing discussion around books : For an Amerindian Autohistory / Red Skins White Masks / Carbon democracy. Political power in the era of oil / Wasáse indigenous pathways of action and freedom / The Anomie of the Earth: Philosophy, Politics, and Autonomy in Europe and the Americas / Decolonization is not a metaphor / 1492, the occultation of the other / Coloniality of Power and Democracy in Latin America

Establish fundraising activities : We must finance the continuation of the camp, the struggles in progress and the legal defence of those arrested during the blockage and the week of actions.Il faut financer la suite du campement, les luttes en cours et la défense des arrêté.es du blocage et de la semaine d’actions.

Organize screenings : Kanehsatake, 270 years of resistance / The Restigouche events / Does the Crown want to wage war on us? / For the survival of our children / Our nationhood / Kouchibouguac (List of films on offer available on the NFB website)

Produce agitation and information material : It is important to publicize the activities of committees through posters, leaflets and other dissemination tools. As well as to expose the population to ecological and decolonial issues.

Organize training for action : When time comes to implement actions or intervene in those already in progress, it is fundamental to know how to do it by minimizing the danger that we will run and maximize the one we represent: ABC of an occupation, preparation of medical teams, training in street tactics and survival in the forest, learning how enemy technologies work and those that can be useful to us.

Participating in the organization : During the next mothns, it would be interesting to circulate in the areas that have meant support for the River Camp. We propose to set up a conference tour.

Adopting positions of support in a general assembly

To organize discussions on Camp de la Rivière events with people who participated in the fight: campdelariviere@gmail.com To contribute to the next publications of the newspaper and build the network of committees: cddt@riseup.net

Alton Gas Blockade

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Nov 152017
 

From sub.Media

During the fall of 2016 Mi’kmaq opponents of the Alton Gas project, supported by non-Indigenous allies, set up a truckhouse along the banks of the Shubenacadie River near the Alton Gas brine dumping site. This year, they set up a Treaty Camp along the entrance to the Alton Gas work site, effective blocking the company from working on the project. This camp continues to this date, and needs on-going support and donations.

For more information, visit the Stop Alton Gas website.

Thousands Attend Anti-fascist Demo in Montreal

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Nov 142017
 

From sub.Media

Anti-racists in Montreal have built a coalition of over 150 groups in the struggle against fascism, and on Sunday they staged their first demonstration—a massive, festive “fuck you” to nazis. The night before the demo, some people redecorated a statue of John A. MacDonald, Canada’s first Prime Minister and an architect of indigenous genocide.

For more info go to Montreal Antifasciste’s website.

November 12th, Against Hate or Just Racism?

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Nov 132017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On November 12th, 2017 a demonstration of about 5,000 people snaked through Montreal under the banner “large demonstration against hate and racism”. This was a good show of force, and tactically an important step on the part of the organizers in a context where far-right groups have been able to match or out-mobilize anti-racists at times in recent months. The demonstration was clearly organized under a left coalition type of model, and as a result, suffered from some rather questionable populist language in their mobilizing call-out. Some of us were a bit concerned about a possible drift towards the de-contextualizing and delegitimizing of the concept of “hatred” which could likely come around to bite anarchists and other radicals in the ass in the future.

Some of us came to participate in the demonstration with critical solidarity, what follows is the text we handed out to participants in the demo and passers-by:

(some will recognize that the bulk of it is taken from Against the Logic of Submission, by Wolfi Lanstreicher)

Hatred

Many of the people at this demo are incensed by the whole drift towards fascism and other forms of authoritarianism in the current political climate. However, there is a constant tension to be consistent with one’s own values and ethics, for the sake of practicality, and especially in times of mass anxiety. With that in mind, as anarchists, we offer a critical take on the discourse of being “against hate”.

Having made the decision to refuse to simply live as this society demands, to submit to the existence it imposes on us, we have put ourselves into a position of being in permanent conflict with the social order. This conflict will manifest in many different situations, evoking the intense passions of the strong-willed. Just as we demand of our loves and our friendships a fullness and intensity that this society seeks to suppress, we want to bring all of ourselves to our conflicts as well, particularly our conflict with this society aimed at its destruction, so that we struggle with all the strength necessary to accomplishing our aim. It is in this light, as anarchists, that we would best understand the place of hatred.

The present social order seeks to rationalize everything. It finds passion dangerous and destructive since such intensity of feeling is, after all, opposed to the cold logic of power and profit. There is no place in this society for passionate reason or the reasonable focusing of passion. When the efficient functioning of the machine is the highest social value, both passion and living, human reason are detrimental to society. Cold rationality based on a mechanistic view of reality is necessary for upholding such a value.

In this light, the campaigns against “hate” promoted not only by every progressive and reformist, but also by the institutions of power which are the basis of the social inequalities (not referring to “equality of rights” which is a legal abstraction, but to the concrete differences in access to that which is necessary in order to determine the conditions of one’s life) that incorporate bigotry into the very structure of this society, make sense on several levels. By focusing the attempts to battle bigotry onto the passions of individuals, the structures of domination blind many well-meaning people to the bigotry that has been built into the institutions of this society, that is a necessary aspect of its method of exploitation. Thus, the method for fighting bigotry takes a two-fold path: trying to change the hearts of racist, sexist and homophobic individuals and promoting legislation against an undesirable passion. Not only is the necessity for a revolution to destroy a social order founded on institutional bigotry and structural inequality forgotten; the state and the various institutions through which it exercises power are strengthened so that they can suppress “hate”. Furthermore, though bigotry in a rationalized form is useful to the efficient functioning of the social machine, an individual passion of too much intensity, even when funneled into the channels of bigotry, presents a threat to the efficient functioning of the social order. It is unpredictable, a potential point for the breakdown of control. Thus, it must necessarily be suppressed and only permitted to express itself in the channels that have been carefully constructed by the rulers of this society. But one of the aspects of this emphasis on “hate” — an individual passion — rather than on institutional inequalities that is most useful to the state is that it permits those in power — and their media lapdogs — to equate the irrational and bigoted hatred of white supremacists and gay-bashers with the reasonable hatred that the exploited who have risen in revolt feel for the masters of this society and their lackeys. Thus, the suppression of hatred serves the interest of social control and upholds the institutions of power and, hence, the institutional inequality necessary to its functioning.

Those of us who desire the destruction of power, the end of exploitation and domination, cannot let ourselves succumb to the rationalizations of the progressives, which only serve the interests of the rulers of the present. Having chosen to refuse our exploitation and domination, to take our lives as our own in struggle against the miserable reality that has been imposed on us, we inevitably confront an array of individuals, institutions and structures that stand in our way, actively opposing us — the state, capital, the rulers of this order and their loyal guard dogs, the various systems and institutions of control and exploitation. These are our enemies and it is only reasonable that we would hate them. It is the hatred of the slave for the master — or, more accurately, the hatred of the escaped slave for the laws, the cops, the “good citizens”, the courts and the institutions that seek to hunt her down and return him to the master. And as with the passions of our loves and friendships, this passionate hatred is also to be cultivated and made our own, its energy focused and directed into the development of our projects of revolt and destruction.

Desiring to be the creators of our own lives and relations, to live in a world in which all that imprisons our desires and suppresses our dreams has disappeared, we have an immense task before us: the destruction of the present social order. Hatred of the enemy — of the ruling order and all who willfully uphold it — is a tempestuous passion that can provide an energy for this task that we would do well to embrace. Anarchist insurrectionaries have a way of viewing life and a revolutionary project through which to focus this energy, so as to aim it with intelligence and strength. The logic of submission demands the suppression of all passions and their channeling into sentimentalized consumerism or rationalized ideologies of bigotry. The intelligence of revolt embraces all passions, finding in them not only mighty weapons for the battle against this order, but also the wonder and joy of a life lived to the full.

Whether you call yourself an anarchist or not, to cling to this ruthless political system at a time when, in most peoples’ eyes, it’s legitimacy is in severe decline is to put the ball completely in the court of reactionaries like Trump, La Meute and Storm Alliance or alternatively, progressives like Trudeau, Zuckerberg, and the NDP. The open and outright white-nationalists and the liberal progressives are simply two sides of the same coin, based in the same progression of the same western civilization. Hence the same discourse around law, order, civility and rights.

While the right takes the mistakes of the anti-globalization movement and turns it into a racist “rebellion” against neoliberalism, towards economic nationalism, we must begin to articulate our own rebellion against this society. A rebellion that takes this as the battle of life against death that it is, one that acknowledges a complete break with the present order as the only realistic solution to our problems. Not only must we organize for self-defense against racists, and respond to the attacks of the powerful against the poor and marginalized. But we must also organize to create our own power and resources for ourselves, build relationships that chip away at whiteness and patriarchy, and launch attacks against the institutions of white-supremacist, colonial, Canadian society.

For a healthy hatred of white-supremacy, capitalism, authority and all social hierarchies!

Some anarchists

Not our website, but good for staying aware of local anarchist initiatives: mtlcounter-info.org

Colonial and Racist John A. Macdonald Monument defaced

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Nov 122017
 

From the Anti-Racist Resistance Collective of Montreal (CRAM)

(The Anti-Racist Resistance Collective of Montreal (CRAM) anonymously received a link to the following video earlier this morning: https://vimeo.com/242431388 … The video includes a link to the callout below. We are sharing this info with the public, but we are not responsible for this action.)

MONTREAL, November 12, 2017 — On the eve of an important demonstration against hate and racism in Montreal, a group of anonymous local anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-capitalist activists have successfully defaced the historical monument to Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, located in downtown at Place du Canada.

According to Art Public Montreal: “Among the monuments erected to the memory of Macdonald, the one in Montréal is the most imposing and elaborate.” The monument, built in 1895, is also now covered in red paint.

– A video of the action is available here (posted anonymously online on vimeo):
https://vimeo.com/242431388

– Photos of the defaced monument are available here:
http://i64.tinypic.com/63ubfa.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/2jdffac.jpg

– A photo of the original monument is available here:
https://tinyurl.com/yctxbyuk

The individuals responsible for this action are not affiliated with today’s anti-racist demonstration (www.manif12novembre.com) but have decided to target the John A. Macdonald statue as a clear symbol of colonialism, racism and white supremacy.

The action today is inspired in part by movements in the USA to target public symbols of white supremacy for removal, such as Confederate statues. It’s also motivated by decolonial protests, like the “Rhodes Must Fall” movement in South Africa. As well, we are directly inspired by protests by anti-colonial activists – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – against John. A. Macdonald, particularly in Kingston, Ontario, Macdonald’s hometown. We also note efforts elsewhere in the Canadian state to rename the schools named after Macdonald, including a resolution by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario who denounced Macdonald as the ‘architect of genocide against Indigenous people.’ The defacing of the Macdonald Monument is also appropriate in the context of the whitewashing of Canadian history this year during the “Canada 150” celebrations, and various calls to action, including the ‘375+150 = Bullshit’ graffiti action this summer.

With all that inspiring and amazing anti-colonial and anti-racist activity targeting statues and other symbols, we decided to make a little contribution from Montreal.

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. Macdonald’s statue belongs in a museum, not as a monument taking up public space in Montreal.

Videos, photos and text of this action have been shared anonymously with some Montreal-area anti-racists, to distribute more widely, and to inspire more on-the-street anti-colonial actions locally.

We also express our heartfelt support and solidarity with the protesters taking today’s streets in Montreal in opposition to hate and racism, as well as the upcoming anti-fascist mobilization to confront the racist, Islamophobic and anti-immigrant La Meute and Storm Alliance in Quebec City on September 25.

Ni patrie, ni état, ni Québec, ni Canada!
— Some local anti-colonial anti-racists.

Anti-racist, anti-police

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Nov 112017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On November 7th, early in the morning, we broke the store window of PSP Corp, a manufacturer and distributor of police and security equipment that supplies police forces in the Montreal area. We then sprayed blue paint all over their merchandise with the help of a fire extinguisher. This action was at once anti-racist, against the police, and against the private security companies that are complicit in police infrastructure in our neighborhoods. The police and their supporters are on the front lines of the violent maintenance of the white supremacist social order and the colonial authority of the state and of capitalism. Following the rise of the far right in Quebec, the police has defended racists and allowed them to spread their hate. The far right supports and encourages the maintenance and expansion of the police state and the surveillance measures that systematically target racialized and working-class people. Smashing PSP Corp.’s window and destroying their merchandise is a way of fighting back against surveillance and police infrastructure in our neighborhoods.

This action was carried out in the lead-up to the large demonstration against racism and hate of November 12th. Racism exists in Quebec. Security and surveillance technologies and the industries that grow around them belong to a state and a society built on exploitation, white supremacy, and patriarchy, and all of it on stolen land.

Large Demonstration Against Hate and Racism

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Nov 092017
 

From Manif 12 novembre

November 12, 2PM – Place Emilie Gamelin, Montreal

A Toxic Climate!

For several years we’ve seen the rise of racist hate speech in Quebec. The Parti Québecois’ “Charter of Values” in 2013, the election of Donald Trump in the USA, and the rise of populist, xenophobic political parties in Europe have galvanized the development of the far-right here. These forces have made a splash with their racist polemics. Far from cooling down this process, the Quebec City mosque massacre seems to have propelled this hateful discourse, normalizing it in the public imagination. These small racist and xenophobic groups have since organized multiple demonstrations, mobilized against a Muslim cemetery in Saint-Apollinaire, spread xenophobic messages against Haitian asylum seekers, and generally succeeded in normalizing public fear and intolerance, while at the same time legitimizing their hate-based organizations. Politicians and sensationalistic columnists are not innocent in perpetuating this toxic atmosphere. These opportunistic pyromaniacs are fanning the flames of intolerance, while at the same time ignoring the growing violence of the far-right in Quebec.

Enough! Take Action!

Over the last few months, many groups have started to mobilize in response to this rapidly worsening political climate. Counter-demonstrations have been organized on numerous occasions to confront far-right gatherings. Counter-information produced and disseminated in order to unmask the hatred and latent racism of these organizations. Unfortunately, the far-right still has wind in its sails.

Despite this, we know that we are among the thousands of Quebecers who are worried and outraged by this situation. On November 12th, let’s take the streets in large numbers to express our anger at racism, hatred, and the far-right. Whose streets? Our streets!

  • Oppose racism, Islamophobia, colonialism, sexism, transphobia, and all forms of hate encouraged by the far-right.
  • Support a society without borders, based on solidarity and inclusiveness.
  • Denounce capitalism and austerity, which are the causes themselves – not immigrants or people of colour – at the root of poverty and growing social insecurity.
  • Let’s Call to massively Take to the Streets on November 12th in Montréal

GROUPES SIGNATAIRES (en date du 8 novembre)

À deux mains
Action terroriste socialement acceptable (ATSA)
Alternative Socialiste
Alternatives
Antre-Jeunes inc.
Apatrides anonymes
Association de développement des arts martiaux adaptés (ADAMA)
Association départementale des étudiants en philosophie de l’université de Montréal (ADÉPUM)
Association des étudiantes et des étudiants aux cycles supérieurs de l’éducation (ACSE) de l’Université de Montréal
Association des étudiantes et étudiants de la Faculté des sciences de l’éducation de l’UQAM (ADEESE-UQAM)
Association des juristes progressistes (AJP)
Association des Musulmans et des Arabes pour la laïcité au Québec (AMAL-Québec)
Association du Baccalauréat en Études Internationales et Langues de Laval (ABEILL)
Association étudiante de Travail social de l’UQAM (AETS-UQAM)
Association étudiante des cycles supérieurs de science politique de l’UQAM (AECSSP)
Association Étudiante du Cégep de Sainte-Foy (Québec)
Association étudiante du secteur des sciences de l’UQAM (AESS-UQAM)
Association étudiantes du Cégep Saint-Laurent (AECSL)
Association facultaire étudiante de Science politique et droit (AFESPED)
Association facultaire étudiantes des sciences humaines de l’UQAM (AFESH-UQAM)
Association générale des étudiantes et étudiants du cégep de Lionel-Groulx (AGEECLG)
Association générale des étudiants et étudiantes prégradué(e)s en philosophie de l’université Laval (AGEEPP)
Association générale étudiante du cégep de Bois-de-Boulogne (AGEBdeB)
Association générale étudiante du cégep de Drummondville (AGECD)
Association Les Chemins du Soleil (Centre communautaire de loisir, Centre-Sud)
Association of McGill University Support Employees (AMUSE)
Association pour la défense des droits sociaux – Outaouais (ADDS)
Association pour la voix étudiante au Québec/Association for the Voice of Education in Quebec (AVEQ)
Association pour une solidarité syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ)
Association québécoise des organismes de coopération internationale (AQOCI)
Association Québécoise pour la promotion de la santé des personnes utilisatrices de drogues (AQPSUD)
Black Lives Matter – Montreal
Bouffe contre le fascisme / Food Against Fascism (Montréal)
Café Coop Touski
Centre d’appui aux Philippines – Centre for Philippine Concerns (CAP-CPC)
Centre d’éducation et d’action des femmes (CÉAF)
Centre de Santé Meraki
Centre des femmes d’ici et d’ailleurs (CFIA)
Centre des travailleurs et travailleuses immigrants (CTI)
Centre International de Documentation et d’Information Haïtienne, Caribéenne et Afro-canadienne (CIDIHCA)
Centre sur l’asie du sud (CERAS)
Cercle des Premières Nations de l’UQAM
Chinois Progressistes du Québec/Progressive Chinese of Québec (PCQ)
Cinema Politica Corcordia
Cinéma sous les étoiles
CKUT 90.3 FM
Climate Justice Montreal
Coalition BDS-Québec
Coalition Main rouge
Collectif des femmes sans statut de Montréal
Collectif Emma Goldman – Saguenay
Collectif Étudiant de Lutte pour des Lieux Urbains Libérés (CELLUL)
Collectif Hamamélis (Sherbrooke)
Collectif opposé à la brutalité policière (COBP)
Comité B.A.I.L.S. de Hochelaga-Maisonneuve
Comité d’action des personnes sans statut (CAPSS)
Comité d’action féministe contre les discriminations (CAFÉD) de l’Association étudiante des cycles supérieurs de science politique de l’Université de Montréal (AECSSPUM)
Comité d’Écologie et d’Actions Sociales (CÉAS) du Cégep de Victoriaville
Comité Libertad – Cégep du Vieux-Montréal
Comité logement du Plateau Mont-Royal
Comité logement Rosemont
Comité populaire Saint-Jean-Baptiste
Comité pour les droits humains en Amérique latine (CDHAL)
Comité Québec con Ayotzinapa
Comité social centre-sud
Concordia Student Union (CSU)
Concordia Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SSPHR-Concordia)
Conseil central du Montréal métropoliticain de la CSN (CCMM-CSN)
Convergence des luttes anti-capitalistes (CLAC)
DIRA
Divest McGill
Étudiant-e-s Socialistes Université Laval
Étudiant-es socialistes de l’UQAM
Fédération des femmes du Québec (FFQ)
Fédération du Québec pour le planning des naissances (FQPN)
Femmes et féminismes en dialogue
Festival contre le racisme de Québec
Fine Arts Student Alliance (FASA)
Football Antiraciste – Montréal
Front Commun Montréal
Front d’action populaire en réaménagement urbain (FRAPRU)
Front d’action socialiste
Funambules Médias
GAPPA
GARAM MASALA (Groupe d’Action Révolutionnaire sud-Asiatique de Montréal / Montreal Alliance of South Asian Leftists and Allies)
Gerald and Maas
International Women’s Alliance
IWW Québec
Jeune garde
Justice pour les Victimes de Bavures Policières / Justice for Victims of Police Killings Coalition
l’Association Étudiante d’Anthropologie de l’Université de Montréal (AEAUM)
La flèche rouge
La Fondation Canado-Palestinienne du Québec
La librairie l’Euguélionne
La ligue internationale de lutte des peuples – International League of Peoples’ Struggle (LILP-ILPS)
La Marie debout!
La Riposte socialiste / Fightback
Le Collectif de résistance antiraciste de Montréal (CRAM)
le collectif les mécaniciennes
Le Regroupement québécois des centres d’aide et de lutte contre les agressions à caractère sexuel (RQCALACS)
Librairie L’Insoumise
Mandragore, bibliothèque queer
McGill Black Students’ Network
McGill Students in Solidarity for Palestinian Human Rights (SSPHR-Mcgill)
McGill’s Social Worker’s Student Association (SWSA)
Montréal Antifasciste
Montreal Sisterhood
Montréal-Nord Républik
Mouvement Action-Chômage de Montréal
Mouvement Contre le Discours de Haine – Québec
Mouvement d’éducation populaire autonome de Lanaudière (MÉPAL)
Mouvement d’éducation populaire et d’action communautaire du Québec (MÉPACQ)
Mouvement Étudiant Révolutionnaire / Revolutionary Student Movement (MER-RSM)
Mouvement québécois pour la paix
Ni Québec, ni Canada : projet anticolonial
Outrage au tribunal: Clinique juridique par et pour les militantes et militants
P!NK BLOC Montréal
Palestiniens et juifs unis (PAJU)
PINAY (Filipino Women’s Organization in Quebec)
POPIR-Comité Logement
Projet accompagnement Québec-Guatemala
Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie (PASC)
Psychoéducation Sans Frontières
Qouleur
QPIRG Concordia / GRIP Concordia
Québec inclusif
Regroupement d’éducation populaire en action communautaire des régions de Québec et Chaudière-Appalaches (RÉPAC 03-12)
Regroupement des comités logement et associations de locataires du Québec (RCLALQ)
Regroupement des étudiantes et étudiants en Sociologie de l’Université Laval (RESUL)
Regroupement des Organismes Communautaires des Laurentides (ROCL)
Rencontre interculturelle des familles de l’Estrie (RIFE)
Réseau d’action des femmes en santé et services sociaux (RAFSSS)
Réseau des lesbiennes du Québec; femmes de la diversité sexuelle
Réseau québécois des groupes écologistes (RQGE)
Secours Rouge Canada
Semaine d’actions contre le racisme (SACR)
Société Générale des Étudiantes et Étudiants du Collège de Maisonneuve (SOGEECOM)
Solidarité pour les droits humains des Palestiniennes et Palestiniens – Université de Montréal (SDHPP-UdeM)
Solidarité pour les droits humains des Palestiniennes et Palestiniens – UQAM (SDHPP-UQAM)
Solidarité sans frontières – Sherbrooke
Solidarité sans frontières / Solidarity Across Borders
SoPhiA Concordia – Students of Philosophy Association
South Asian Women’s Community Centre / Centre communautaire des femmes sud-asiatiques
Stella, l’amie de Maimie
Students’ Society of McGill University (SSMU)
Syndicat des étudiant.e.s salarié.e.s de l’Université de Montréal (SESUM)
Syndicat des étudiants et étudiantes employé.e.s de l’UQAM (SÉTUE-UQAM)
Syndicat du soutien à l’enseignement à McGill (AGSEM)
Syndicat étudiant du cégep de Marie-Victorin (SECMV)
Syndicat industriel des travailleurs et travailleuses de Montréal (SITT-IWW Montreal)
Table de concertation des organismes au service des personnes réfugiées et immigrantes (TCRI)
Table des regroupements provinciaux d’organismes communautaires et bénévoles (TRPOCB)
Table régionale des centres de femmes Montréal métropolitain-Laval
Table régionale des organismes volontaires d’éducation populaire de Montréal (TROVEP)
Tadamon! Montréal
The Leap
The March 8 Committee of Women of Diverse Origins / Le Comité 8 mars des femmes de diverses origines
The New School at Dawson College
The School of Community and Public Affairs Students’ Association (SCPASA)
Unceeded voices – Decolonizing street art
Union des Africains du Québec et Amis Solidaires de l’Afrique (UAQASA)
Union for gender empowerment (UGE)
Voix juives indépendantes VJI / IJV

You Have to Start Somewhere

 Comments Off on You Have to Start Somewhere
Nov 092017
 

From Liaisons

Read also : Expériences de l’émeute du 20 août

In recent days, weeks, and months, new posters and other tags have made their appearance in the territory of Quebec City, visible signs of people who have made the bet of linking themselves to the world by leaving their mark on the walls of the city.

Whether we know their identity makes no difference to us. Liaisons [Connections] is the mask by which they become anonymous to power and open to the world; the reflexive and informative tip of the iceberg. What matters to us are connections created in the fault lines of power and actions to expand them.

This is why we’re making a call

We make a simple call: let’s multiply our presence everywhere in the territory. Everywhere, let’s multiply the fault lines. This way, there is no limit to our praxeological imagination. And why not begin with the walls? We’re starting a mural poetry contest in so-called Quebec City! Pictures received by email will be published directly on the website of Liaisons (liaisons.resist.ca).

Let’s use this occasion to re-learn the habit and experience of acting together in the moonlight. Let’s light up the night with a thousand fires!

Watch out for the cops! One should act quickly, watch one’s surroundings, monitor all the “citizens” who would like to play the heroes of private property (despite this happening rather rarely). We’re never too forward-looking or cautious. If you want a piece of advice or two, from our experience:

  • Taxis are the worst snitches, one should avoid them like the police.
  • If you take photos of your work yourself, use tools like exiftool, which allow you to erase data like the device’s location and model.
  • Sometimes, if we’re expected at night, the best time may be early in the morning or even, with the right tools (stencil and a bag to conceal it), and depending on the spot, in the middle of the day.

Let’s go!

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