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Quebec City: If you’re not anti-fascist, what are you then?

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Sep 062017

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Québec City, September 5, 2017 — Earlier today a group of anti-racist/anti-fascist organizers dropped a series of banners. This action is a part of an ongoing and decentralized struggle against Québec right-wing extremists and white nationalists promoting xenophobic, anti-immigrant and racist views. The banners, displayed prominently along major arteries during the morning commute, read “Si tu n’es pas anti-fasciste, t’es quoi alors?” (Translation: “If you’re not anti-fascist, what are you then?”)

Anti-fascism is anti-racist action.

We denounce the practices of scapegoating and fear-mongering that targets Muslims and other racialized immigrant groups. Such practices both implicitly and explicitly blame these groups for the consequences of neoliberal capitalism.

We also denounce the state detention of Haitian and other migrants for fleeing across arbitrary borders without the approval from the colonial state as well as the recent, highly-mediatized campaign against a man of colour for his political activism.

This is not a time for debate or false equivalencies. Far-right groups are growing in visibility and influence in Quebec – they promote and defend white supremacy and ongoing colonialism, often with the tacit support of the police. White nationalists have drawn the lines of engagement, demonstrating hatred and contempt for immigrants, people of colour, Indigenous peoples, people of non-Christian faiths and backgrounds, and anyone else who disagrees with their political vision. In this context, there is no principled neutral position. We call on people everywhere to join us in taking anti-fascist action.

How to make molotovs!

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Sep 042017

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Disclaimer: This video is intended purely for informational purposes only, and does in no way encourage or condone any illegal activity.

Languages: français | українська

We think that it’s important for confrontational tactical knowledge to be widespread for the coming storms of revolt. Confrontational tactics can make us safer, because the police become afraid. We need to be careful when playing with fire, but with care, molotovs can greatly increase our power in the streets.

Ingredients:

Empty 500ml beer bottles
Gloves
Gasoline
Motor oil
Funnel
Gauze or strips of t-shirt
Duct tape

Never touch any of your materials without gloves, to avoid transferring fingerprints.

First, fill the beer bottle half-way with a mixture of 2/3 gasoline and 1/3 motor oil. Adding motor oil makes the fire burn longer and bigger. Leaving empty space in the bottle makes it fill with gas-fumes, which will make the molotov more explosive.

For the fuse (shirt or gauze), tie a knot that will fit in the entrance to the bottle, 1 inch from the top. The fuse should reach the gasoline. If you turn the bottle upside down, the knot should hold. Use duct-tape to make the opening more air-tight, because gasoline evaporates.

For larger molotovs, you can use a wine bottle that has a cap you can twist back on. Perrier works too.

Beer-bottle molotovs can be transported in the packaging. Seal them in a garbage bag to diminish the smell of gasoline, and to keep them clean of fingerprints.

It’s safest to not wait more than 30 seconds to throw after the molotov is lit.

Stay safe! Stay fierce!

The River Camp is there to stay!

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Sep 032017

From Camp de la Rivière

Yesterday’s torrential downpour forced us to have a slow evening. Lit by the glow of candles and lulled by the drip of raindrops on tarps, some of us played Scrabble, while others read out loud. Today, despite the constant drizzle, the mood remains energetic at the River Camp. We have learned that Junex will suspend work for four months, providing time for the MMS as well as the band councils of Gespeg, Gesgapegiag and Listuguj to hold public consultations for the residents of these three reserves to give input on fossil fuel development projects on unceded Mi`gmak territory.

Three weeks ago, an anonymous blockade of the access road to the Galt sites considerably destabilized the oil company, which until this point had been operating under the radar as much as possible, not even having held a preliminary public consultation on their project. We want to underscore the fact that this new development, which was announced yesterday by the band councils, would probably never have happened without the enormous efforts of the many people struggling on the ground: those who were active during the blockade, the indigenous people and settlers who have been working together at the River Camp, as well as the environmental groups who have been struggling for years in Gaspésie.

The River Camp is alive, active, and here to stay. The temporary halt of Junex’s work is no guarantee that the work will stop forever, nor does it signal the end of fossil fuel exploitation on the territory. We are thus determined to pursue this struggle. The River Camp is a place for organizing, sharing information and exchanging ideas. The need for such spaces, which inspire and make waves far beyond the limits of the camp as such, remains essential. We want an active public conversation, one that takes place horizontally, and it is this that we will continue to nurture. The strength of the relationships created or maintained by the camp is significant.

In this perspective, we reaffirm our call for a week of actions, starting with a demo in Gaspé on the 4th of September. Join us for the march at 14h, after a delicious corn roast! And pass by the Camp by the River at any time, whether for a brief stay, to talk around the fire, or for a long term involvement. We also invite you to our banner-making and circus workshops, as well as a slam night on September 2nd. The last rays of summer sunshine are giving way to the coolness of autumn, and we are still there, enthousiastic and determined.

Refugees Welcome: statement from Jaggi Singh

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Aug 312017

Hi everyone – I’m back in Montreal after two days and one night in the Quebec City police jail. Thank you to everyone for their solidarity and support, particularly folks who attended court (both inside and outside) and for the various people — Arij, Emilie, Enrico, Rich — who provided legal support in different ways. Thanks for everyone in Quebec City who mobilized to attend court (including an old anti-Summit of the Americas 2001 comrade who testified on my behalf) and to folks in Montreal who were organizing behind-the-scenes (including the folks at Montreal Antifasciste who wrote this useful communique.

While I represented myself in court, I was definitely supported in other ways that allowed me to concentrate on the task at hand which was getting released with minor conditions. Thanks to everyone who sent a message of support as well; those messages are very meaningful to me.

This whole episode is farcical, amusing, and troubling, but also a distraction from the real issue of collectively confronting and opposing the rise of the racist, anti-immigrant, far-right in Quebec and elsewhere.

The criminal charge of impersonating Hall of Fame Quebec Nordiques left-winger Michel Goulet is particularly preposterous. The charge isn’t that I allegedly refused to identify, but that the cops (and Crown) seriously think I was pretending to be the great goal-scoring Goulet. When I was younger, I did pretend to be Goulet, with my pre-signed Titan hockey stick, but never thought it would result in a serious criminal charge.

Other aspects of this case — being arrested and cuffed inside a restaurant in Montreal and driven to Quebec City on an arrest warrant, held overnight, paraded for the media in handcuffs, Crown objecting to bail — add to the farce. This includes the Crown declaring me a menace to Quebec City, trying to keep me detained until trial, and insisting on conditions of release which would have banned me from Quebec City and forced me to provide fingerprints.

[I have previously won a case where it’s established that fingerprints cannot be obliged from any defendant for summary charges, including all cases at Montreal or Quebec City Municipal Courts, and this precedent can now be applied more widely. For more details about fingerprints, consult here or here.]

In a regular scenario, the cops would have simply mailed a “promise to appear” on the relatively minor charges, and I would have simply showed up for a court date, with minimal to no fuss. Instead, in the aftermath of the Mayor of Quebec City declaring me a “cretin” and saying he “hates” me, and far-right racist protesters mobilizing to get me arrested, the Quebec City cops, a Municipal Court Judge (who signed the warrant) as well as Crown prosecutors were all complicit in creating a legal show with no relation to the relatively minor and non-serious charges I am facing. (For background, here’s my reply last week to the Mayor of Quebec City).

The main evidence used against me at the bail hearing was the following LCN/TVA interview I did on August 21, the day after the Quebec City protests. For the cops and Crown, this video is supposed to show I’m a dangerous person.

Over the past week-and-half, we’ve seen the Mayor of Quebec City, Crown prosecutors, various mainstream media, as well as the cops, repeat the racist and false talking points of the far-right concerning me and my role in protests (“Singh gang”, “leader of violent protesters”, etc). They are the mainstream, suit-and-tie, expression of racist skinheads, like this guy (watch from 1:35).

Overall, the actions of the legal authorities in Quebec City, the cops and the Mayor are troubling and dangerous, and simply re-iterates the important of grassroots, autonomous organizing against racism and fascism.

All in all, I was able to get a lot of sleep (the only thing to do while in detention, and I’m able to sleep anywhere), remind myself of the support that is out there, and re-commit to organizing together with so many of you against the racist, anti-immigrant far-right, in Montreal, in Quebec City and everywhere. Let’s continue to organize!

Open the Borders! Refugees Welcome!

— Jaggi Singh
#JeSuisMichelGoulet #NousSommesMichelGoulet

No Borders: No One Is Illegal

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Aug 312017

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

This past weekend, a group of Montreal anti-racist organizers and graf writers collaborated in an effort to remind people living in Montreal and throughout Québec that no one is illegal: there is no such thing as illegal migration. The piece went up underneath the rue Sherbrooke overpass between the Stade Olympic and Parc Maisonneuve.

Montréal is on unceded Kanien’kehà:ka territory that has also long served as a gathering place for many First Nations. The Canadian nation-state was founded and continues to rely on the ongoing dispossession and displacement of Indigenous peoples from their territories, cultures, and languages. Borders are an illegitimate, state-imposed apparatus that serve to divide and displace people and communities and then make such divisions appear natural.

Borders promote settler nationalism, reinforce state power and control, and protect the economic and political interests of the capitalist elite. There can be no rightful Canadians within geographic borders established through theft and genocide.

There. Can. Be. No. Justice. On. Stolen. Land.

Public statement in solidarity with activist Jaggi Singh, arrested in Montreal for having “impersonated” Nordiques’ Michel Goulet in Québec City

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Aug 312017

From Montreal-Antifasciste

Montreal, 29 August 2017 — This morning, August 29, Montreal activist Jaggi Singh was arrested and charged with resisting arrest and taking another person’s identity, for having jokingly given his name to police as former Nordiques’ player Michel Goulet on August 20. He is being transferred to Quebec City, where he is to appear Wednesday morning at 9 am in Municipal Court. This arrest came in the context of a far right hate campaign targeting Jaggi, including a petition promoted by the notorious racist group La Meute, demanding his arrest; a campaign that has been taken up by right-leaning political figures and members of the media over the past week.

More specifically, the absurd charges relate to Jaggi’s participation in an antifascist demonstration in Quebec City on August 20 where he was briefly arrested. Close to a thousand people took to the streets that day to protest against an anti-immigrant demonstration organized by the far right group La Meute. Jaggi spent the entire demonstration talking on a megaphone, playing music, and dancing with children, in front of the police. At a certain point the police took him into custody, but then released him after just half an hour. At the time, he released a public statement on his arrest, which can be read here .

While he was the only person arrested that day, Jaggi was not the organizer of the August 20th demonstration and had no official leadership role during that demonstration.

Nonetheless, the far right in Quebec considers Jaggi to be the leader of a conspiracy of antifascists, the federal government, and nefarious global elites. On social media, fascists and conspiracy theorists share memes making him out to be a larger than life figure, a kind of local puppet master responsible for anything done by the far left in Montreal. As such, they blamed him for the August 20th demonstration, which saw La Meute humiliated inside a parking garage for hours, and for violent incidents which took place that day. An online petition demanding Jaggi be arrested and charged with various offenses was started by and disseminated by members of the far right, including members of La Meute, the Front Patriotique du Quebec, Storm Alliance, and the Mouvement Républicain du Québec, amongst others.

That the far right are scapegoating one person of color for all the opposition they encounter is not surprising. However, the situation was exacerbated within days of La Meute’s August 20th defeat, as Quebec City Mayor Regis Labeaume publicly blamed ‘Singh’s gang’, and was quoted in the media stating ‘I hate Jaggi Singh’, declaring him persona non grata in the provincial capital. The Journal de Montreal followed up with a hit piece entitled ‘Jaggi Singh Superstar’ by Richard Martineau, as former PQ Minister Bernard Drainville had Jaggi on his radio show and demanded that he condemn all of the violence that took place on the 20th, scoffing when Jaggi explained that he was simply one participant in the demonstration and not in a position to make any blanket condemnations.

This is the toxic context in which Jaggi was arrested this morning. Not for the first time, political figures, journalists, and the far right have collaborated in developing a narrative which has subsequently had serious consequences for people’s lives. This is a pattern that has played out repeatedly since the first racist ‘reasonable accommodation’ crisis, and has only intensified through social media, especially in the current context against refugees crossing into Canada. While Singh is only one person, in no way anyone’s leader, it is important to condemn this dynamic for the way in which it has been weaponized time and again against social movements and oppressed people here.

We are calling on progressive allies, antifascists, and those who care about civil liberties, to show support to Jaggi and all others targeted as a result of the August 20th demonstration, and by the far right more broadly. One way to do this is to be present to show your support at the Quebec City Municipal Courthouse tomorrow morning at 9am. Rides are being organized from Montreal.

-30-

alerta-mtl@antifa.zone