There’s lots of smack to be said about Santa and, as anarchists, we aren’t big cheerleaders for the bearded guy; but we can appreciate that his sneaking game is on point. So a few of us celebrated this year by doing some sneaking of our own.
Late into the night on Christmas 2021, a call was answered to attack the banks and funding sources of the CGL pipeline that is being forced on the Wet’suwet’en people. Banks – like RBC – are very easy targets as they have many branches across the cities we live in that are relatively unguarded at night. A Hamilton branch, on Upper James, was one such branch visited and redecorated.
We entered the first doors of the bank and filled their three ATM card slots with glue. We then additionally superglued the lock on the door into the bank. On the way out we left a message “NO PIPELINES ON STOLEN LAND” on the doors for all to see. This was a very easy and replicable action that we encourage others to take up. It is possible that the continued attack against banks like RBC will begin to eat into their pipeline profits (if we can cost them enough money) and convince them to withdraw financial support for the project. And, if not, it’s a real cathartic “fuck you” against the institutions destroying everything good in this world.
As we head into this liminal space between Christmas and New Years, some of the darkest days of the year, we are reminded to take stock of what still matters to us and what we hope to bring into our lives in the coming trip around the sun. As we head into what might be another COVID winter, we encourage all our comrades to look into the warmest parts of their hearts where we all still want prisons and banks to burn and for our friends to hold our hands and dance around the flames. For as long as we keep those sparks alive in our eyes, everything is still possible.
We went out last night to do a fire extinguisher paint job on the facade of the RBC branch located at the corner of Mont-Royal and Papineau in so-called “Montreal”. In the context of the call by the Gidimt’en clan for an international week of action to defund Coastal GasLink, we acted in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en who continue to defend their Yintah and who recently re-established Coyote Camp. Our solidarity will not be interrupted by the new lockdown in progress here.
Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en, Coyote Camp, and land defenders.
Fuck CGL, fuck the RCMP, fuck RBC, down with Canada!
On the week of December 20, we are hosting an International Week of Action to Defund Coastal GasLink. Banks and private equity corporations are bankrolling Indigenous rights violations and destroying our shared climate.
Their lack of accountability in financing colonial violence and land theft from Indigenous people is unacceptable. We are all in this together! We all have a responsibility to stand up to big financial institutions that invest and keep the fossil fuel industry going full force.
With no green sustainability transition in the foreseeable future, all of humanity and our kin are at dangerous risk. With the fires and floods that happened recently in the south of so-called British Columbia we can’t let any more time pass while big banks are fueling our demise.
Hold an action in your city or your town, we know it’s close to the end of the year, we need to make sure RBC doesn’t slip through the cracks and slither away!
Banner drop, hold a Rally/March at the RBC headquarters/building, have a sit-in, jam up phone lines, spread the awareness!
See this Google Doc for the week of action toolkit and to join us for a mobilization call to take action.
Comments Off on Report-back from a Rail Blockade in Saint-Lambert
Dec082021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
On Saturday, more than sixty people acting in solidarity with Wet’suwet’en land defenders blocked the CN main line in Saint-Lambert south of Montreal for over six hours. It was the longest rail blockade in Quebec since the winter of 2020, interrupting Via Rail service and immobilizing six freight trains. These notes reflect the experience of a couple participants in Saturday’s blockade.
Nostalgia mixed with anticipation as we arrived at the tracks where they cross rue Saint-Georges, with banners ready to hang across the rail crossing and no police in sight. It was a bright morning, temperatures just below freezing and the ground snowless, a contrast with that first night in February 2020, when temperatures sunk to 25 below and snow could be piled into mounds atop the rails.
On Wet’suwet’en territory, 4000km to the west, land defenders continue to fight the construction of the Coastal GasLink pipeline. Weeks after raids on the Gidimt’en Checkpoint and Coyote Camp saw 30 arrests, calls to come to the Yintah have been renewed and supporters already refuse to accept the latest invasion as defeat, setting fires on roads and blocking CGL work. Their actions inspire ours.
The police want a dialogue
The Service de police de l’agglomération de Longueuil (SPAL) counts 546 officers and has jurisdiction over the fifth largest city in Quebec by population, of which Saint-Lambert is part. Fady Dagher, chief of the SPAL since 2017, has made the news for “trying to change the face of policing” in the south shore suburb. His efforts have been described as “humanizing” and even “revolutionizing” the police. The SPAL recently received $3.6 million from the Quebec government for developing a “police de concertation“, through training programs that focus on prevention, a better understanding of social issues, and constructive dialogue.
What does this have to do with our rail blockade? While on the Island of Montreal, we would have had SPVM holding tear gas launchers and threatening us somewhere within the first hour, we were instead greeted by unarmed negotiators telling us they respected what we were doing and that, furthermore, a city bus had been commissioned and brought to the rail blockade to allow us a place to warm up. While the offer was declined and it became obvious that the negotiators’ real mission was intelligence-gathering, the light police presence (and music!) allowed the mood to stay cheerful and gave people time to set up dozens of small barricades along a 500-m stretch of the train tracks with railroad ties and tree branches, which would take CN workers time to clear once we left. The thin line of police even retreated off the railway when the crowd advanced on them and demanded they return to the sidewalk.
A de-arrest
The masks fell at lunchtime. Two kind comrades had arrived with a box of samosas, but the police were denying them entry to the train tracks, cutting them off from the blockaders. Our complaints did not sway the dozen cops present, so a team exited the tracks to escort the comrades and their food offerings into the blockade. That is when an employee of the SPAL tackled a blockader to the ground, choking him and punching him in the head. Demonstrators quickly surrounded the cop, de-arrested the comrade, and pushed the cop back. Though some samosas had fallen onto the street during the melée, all were recovered, and the box was carried onto the railway, where all comrades regrouped safely and the blockade continued. Those were without a doubt the best-tasting samosas we can remember.
Stopping trains
The sky clouded over, and snow was falling by early afternoon. A handful of SPAL reinforcements arrived. Journalists climbed the ridge on one side of the tracks to get pictures from a different angle. Half an hour or so after lunch, the police liaison officers re-entered the blockade to inform us that we were committing a crime and breaking federal rail safety laws. They said the Sûreté du Québec (provincial police) were on their way. Chants of “Shut Down Canada” drowned out some of their words; cheers went up when they informed us that six freight trains were stalled. We watched trains come to a halt and retreat into the train yard to the south of us throughout the day, but we weren’t counting. The blockade went on.
Trying to leave Saint-Lambert
Around 3pm, it was clear that our numbers would soon be dropping, while the police would soon have better-equipped reinforcements. With the tracks still barricaded and requiring careful inspection, we left in a demo into the town of Saint-Lambert. SPAL cruisers followed closely, trying to drive through the crowd at least twice. We reached Victoria avenue, the main commercial street of Saint-Lambert, which is where we would disperse.
The violence that police would soon target us with does not compare to the violence of being removed from your land by RCMP pointing assault rifles at you, but we think it is still important to document. Shortly after the demonstration was no longer a cohesive group holding the street, cops began several chases targeting individuals they believed to have taken part. Four violent arrests were witnessed in the area of the dispersal, in each case the person targeted was significantly outnumbered by cops. A SPAL officer tasered one person prior to arresting them.
Until next time
In the future, we hope we can be inventive and unpredictable in our dispersals and come into actions with several possible departure plans that account for different levels of escalation that may occur during the action. Recently in Quebec City, a rail blockade left in a demo along the tracks, exited through a hole in a fence next to a university campus and was immediately able to blend into crowds of students.
Despite the arrests, we left with renewed confidence in our capacity to hold down a blockade for longer than an hour or two and energized for upcoming solidarity actions. We’re impressed by how we collectively handled the different forms of police pressure we faced and refused to play the cops’ game of “dialogue”.
This November 27th, 2021, the Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes (CLAC) called for a demonstration in front of the RCMP offices near the Atwater metro in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en people. This call was supported by over twenty Montreal organizations. Thus, despite the cold and the huge police presence, there were more than 750 demonstrators who responded to the call with breathtaking energy, allowing to defend the right to protest in the face of an out of proportion police force.
Marlene Hale and Eve Saint, two Wet’suwet’en activists, gave speeches at the beginning of the demonstration, both highlighting the violence of RCMP interventions they have witnessed for years on their Yintah. Marlene Hale’s brother and his wife, both Wet’suwet’en elders, were arrested on November 18th during an RCMP raid in the Yintah. The two elders had to be sent to hospital because the RCMP confiscated their medication. Eve Saint, who was arrested in 2020 during the police raid that shut down the Canadian economy for several weeks, saw her sister victimized earlier this week and criminalized for defending her territory. The criminalization of indigenous people claiming territorial sovereignty must stop. Nothing else can be expected from a colonial state that lives only on mining, both here and abroad.
As usual, the CLAC deplores the brutality of the SPVM, which has once again beaten protesters, used pepper spray and made baseless arrests. The SPVM also systematically blocked the streets leading to the ultra-rich Westmount neighborhood, forcing us to change our route several times. The slogan “The police, at the service of the rich and the fascists”, chanted repeatedly, took on its full meaning. The message of the SPVM is clear: it will do everything it can to prevent us from defending the land and put an end to these colonial pipelines. One more reason to get rid of the police! Down with the SPVM! Fortunately, despite all the attempts of the police to prevent us from going north, then south, then east, the demonstrators managed to repeatedly thwart the police lines. As usual, without the efforts of each and every one of you, the police would have been able to maintain political control over the authorized demonstrations, and for that we warmly thank you.
The call of the CLAC to take to the streets on November 27th was in response to the many calls from the various Wet’suwet’en clans — including the Gidimt’en clan — for anyone who could not come to support the Wet’suwet’en locally to organize solidarity actions from coast to coast.
Since the violent arrests in the Yintah, many indigenous and non-indigenous communities have held demonstrations, blockades of railroads, bridges and ports to demand the removal of the RCMP and Coastal GasLink from Wet’suwet’en territory. Today, the CLAC and all the organizations endorsing the protest have joined our voices to theirs. Solidarity actions will continue as long as the RCMP and CGL continue to illegally occupy Wet’suwet’en territory.
Solidarity with the people who resist! Down with the colonial state! The struggle has just begun! The pipelines will not pass!
PS: A message sent to us from @landbackskyler of 1492 LandBackLane to all the people who are currently organizing in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en. Listen to the end!
The struggle continues
Given the efforts (or lack thereof) of the mainstream media to ignore the actions in solidairty with the Wet’suwet’en people, it is important to outline that the resistance is active everywhere in Quebec against Coastal GazLink for many months!
October 2nd: Attack on an RBC branch: https://mtlcounterinfo.org/rbc-targeted-in-solidarity-with-wetsuweten-land-defenders/
October 3: Banner drop in solidarity with the Gidimt’en clan: https://mtlcounterinfo.org/banner-drop-in-solidarity-with-gidimten/
October 8: Call to action from the Gidimt’en camp: https://mtlcounterinfo.org/alloutforwedzinkwa-call-for-a-week-of-action-october-9th-15th/
October 9: Rail blockade in Pointe St. Charles: https://mtlcounterinfo.org/rail-lines-blockaded-in-solidarity-with-gidimten-week-of-action/
October 15: Railway blockade in St-Édouard-de-Maskinongé: https://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2021/10/st-edouard-de-maskinonge-blocage-de.html
October 26: Night attack on five RBC branches: https://mtlcounterinfo.org/rbc-fucks-around-rbc-finds-out/
October 29: Creative action in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation: https://www.facebook.com/events/597222391408154/
October 29, 10AM: Rally and demonstration in Rimouski: https://www.facebook.com/events/959337418324282/?ref=newsfeed
November 16: Road block of Notre-Dame Street during rush hour: https://mtlcounterinfo.org/rush-hour-traffic-blocked-in-montreal-in-solidarity-with-gidimten-and-likhtsamisyu/
November 19: Fires lit on railroads in Point Saint-Charles: https://mtlcounterinfo.org/shutdowncanada-tire-fires-on-tracks/
November 19: Railway blockades in Lanaudière: https://ucl-saguenay.blogspot.com/2021/11/communique-dans-launaudiere-des.html
November 22: Railway blockade in Mile End: https://mtlcontreinfo.org/blocage-des-voies-ferrees-en-solidarite-avec-les-defenseurs-des-terres-wetsuweten/
Night of November 22 to 23: Rail sabotage at the Port of Matane: https://contrepoints.media/fr/posts/sabotage-ferroviaire-au-port-de-matane
November 24: Road blocks during the afternoon in Kahnawake: https://beta.ctvnews.ca/local/montreal/2021/11/24/1_5680145.html
November 24, 11AM, Rimouski: Rally in support of the Wetsuwet’en in front of the Rimouski MP’s office: https://www.facebook.com/events/429317545519501
November 27, noon, Gaspé: Solidarity rally – From the Wet’suwet’en to the Kurds, Cradle of Canada (179 Montée Wakeham): https://www.facebook.com/events/440130890857892
November 27, 1PM, Rimouski: Demonstration in support of the Wetsuwet’en in Rimouski, Cégep de Rimouski: https://www.facebook.com/events/999156030631342
November 27, 1PM, La Pocatière: Solidarity rally with Wet’suwet’en, Cégep de Lapocatière: https://www.facebook.com/events/233884522179279
December 1, noon, Quebec City: Solidarity rally with the Wet’suwet’en nation, Place Limouloise, Limoilou, Quebec: https://www.facebook.com/events/260558849433179
There is nothing left unsaid. RCMP Out. CGL off the Yintah. Defend the Wedzin Kwa.
This is an act of genocide. An active genocide. An armed invasion by the colonial state.
There is nothing left to say: they do not listen to words. So just do; that is what we have done.
One recent evening, allies/accomplices went out into the night to pick up where others may have left off in the spring of 2020: targeting rail infrastructure.
Using various methods (detailed below for your reference, education and delight!) we disrupted rail all over so-called southern Ontario throughout the night, hitting nearly a dozen different spots on both CN and CP rail lines. We did this in heartfelt solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en defending their Yintah from destruction, and fuelled our actions with the justified rage we feel towards the RCMP and state for once against invading their territory on behalf of a private corporation.
Rail was a harbinger of colonized settlements and the genocide of Indigenous peoples across so-called Canada, and also an indefensible way to target the kkkanadian economy, so we find it an ideal target as people unable to be standing shoulder to shoulder with the Wet’suwet’en land defenders.
While some crews opted for the copper wire method, others found inspiration in other means of targeting railway circuits – including severing low voltage track circuits and the arson of railway signal bungalows.
Each method used will have tripped the automatic block signalling system into its failsafe setting of “occupied track” – meaning all rail traffic on the impacted track comes to a stop until checked out and in some cases repaired. This also means interferences were safer than any of the militarized RCMP’s three unjustified raids on Wet’suwet’en people.
We encourage others to join us in action. Use your words to inspire others to action – not to beg for change from government bodies complicit in an active genocide.
Shut it down. That’s all there is left to do. Never Cede Never Surrender. Burn it to the ground if that’s what it takes.
As promised; an educational.
Rebels have long since targeted railway infrastructure through the use of the copper wire method. That is – to securely connect two parallel rails with conductive copper wire. This method is meant to simulate the short-circuit that happens when train axels enter railway blocks. The wire can be attached to cleaned rail heads or fishplates, but more ideally to the joint wires on fishplates. The latter method requiring a small gauge of copper wire, and having the most secure connection.
But there are many elements of track circuits and rail protocol that can be targeted.
Fishplate Wires
On modern tracks, rails are welded together at their joint ends, and secured to each other with fishplates and bolts to form designated blocks. The blocks are monitored through various sensors for interruptions in electric frequencies, which trigger relay signals in certain situations. The welding of joint ends interferes with conductivity in some instances, and wires are added to increase the current. If the current is interrupted by poor conductivity, the block defaults into its failsafe of “occupied”.
a fishplate is a bolted plate that secures two welded rails together
The wires can be found at many rail joints, and appear either as one wire joining the rails at the top of a fishplate, or two wires coming out each side of the fishplate. Cutting one of more of these wires at various joints interferes with the circuit, and will default the signal block into an “occupied” status. It requires no acquirement of copper wire – just a handy pair of good snips or small bolt cutters.
Signal Bungalows
Signal bungalows relay information collected by various elements of track circuitry to rail conductors and central traffic control areas. They are often found at road crossings, and sometimes between sections, depending on what sensor equipment is installed on that particular stretch. They are often grey or steel and look like small sheds on pillars, with the electric cables running up into the bottom through plastic or metal housing.
Signal bungalow
Interference with these signal relays is immediately detected and initiates a track shutdown. Most bungalows have secure locks – don’t bother trying to use bolt cutters on the locking stem, but they can be accessed by using an angle grinder, or by using cutters to target the metal tabs which the locks are threaded through, with the use of prybars. Some bungalows are known to have external cameras – so careful scouting and careful doing.
Exploiting Rail Protocol
As allies/accomplices/dissidents, one of our greatest strengths against the state or organized bodies is our own flexibility and adaptiveness – often a quality hierarchical systems or organizational bodies don’t have. Rail safety protocols mandate decisions for train engineers, and can be exploited where a specific situation can be replicated.
One such protocol for railway conductors and engineer staff is mandated protocols to emergency flagging. In the daytime emergency flagging can be literal red flags at the trackside, which are an indicator to conductors to stop or slow. In the rail blockades of 2020, we saw this protocol exploited in order to secure track sections for occupation. Similarly, at nighttime, red fusees or flares between the affected rail track mandates the engineer to reduce speed or stop under the railway safety act. The vigorous/violent waving of any object trackside also mandates the conductor to immediately stop.
While these disruptions are impermanent, they do slow down, stop, and disrupt rail movements and are yet one more way to engage in rail disruptions.
Comments Off on #ShutDownCanada: Banner on 720 West-Bound, Tiohtià:ke
Nov252021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
This morning in Tiohtia:ke, a large banner reading “ALL OUT FOR WET’SUWET’EN” was installed on the 720 Westbound. It was insured that the banner be secured with rope and that no road signs be blocked to make sure the highway is safe for drivers.
We act in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en Nation and Gidimt’en clan. On November 19th, 2021, RCMP violently raided unceded Gidimt’en territory, removing unarmed Indigenous women from their land at gunpoint on behalf of TC Energy’s proposed Coastal GasLink pipeline. Among other land-defenders, spokesperson Sleydo’, Corey Joyahcee Jocko, and Jocey Alec (Chief Woos’ daughter) were illegally removed from their own Cas Yah Yintah where they are protecting the sacred headwaters Wedzin Kwa. They were illegally and brutally detained for four nights and five days, where they were denied access to water and food.
These unlawful and brutal actions further prove that the C-IRG and the RCMP must be abolished. The injunction under which they act has no jurisdiction on unceded Wet’suwet’en land. It is nothing but an inadequate piece of law that has been used to violate Human Rights, Indigenous Rights, and Wet’suwet’en Law.
This guide is an improved version of the practical section of the To Settlers, By Settlers callout that we recently re-published. Thank you to the reader who brought it to our attention.
The aim of information here is to disrupt rail flow, not be a catalyst for derailment or accidents, which could further injure life or land.
As always, we encourage folks to think about your heart, as well as the longevity of these actions and overall struggle; a gentle reminder that you are being careful with yourselves, fingerprints and DNA – for everyone’s safety – and that repression often follows action.
Prints
Fingerprints can be removed from hard surfaces with isopropyl alcohol. Wipe each item thoroughly in case something gets accidentally left behind or discovered – but aim to leave nothing behind. Where possible, it could be useful to have one person’s sole role be to ensure the tracking and removal of all equipment and debris. Store and pack equipment in a brand new, clean bag and only remove if wearing gloves. Some individuals wear two sets of gloves to ensure the outer set have no chance of print residue, while others wash using isoprpyl.
DNA
DNA can be transferred in a number of ways. Ensure you’re being diligent; don’t touch your face and cough you’re your hands while wearing gloves. You should be masked anyway, but consider wearing a medical mask to reduce droplet transmission. Keep your hair brushed (to remove loose hair) and tied back tightly – even covered. Don’t smoke or spit or drop garbage anywhere near your target area on the day of, or during scouting. Don’t leave anything behind. Be careful not to injure yourself on fencing or sharp corners. Properly dispose of masks, hats, gear, or clothing by burning thoroughly away from the site. Rainy days can be messy but good; they help wash away, displace and contaminate all evidence, including fibre and DNA. While you can use fire to dispose of clothing or evidence after-the-fact, you shouldn’t count on any incendiary materials left on site being burned so completely that DNA can’t be obtained. In other words – don’t use an old rag or t-shirt that’s been kicking around your place to ignite a fire assuming it will be burnt and therefor not leave DNA evidence. You never know if the fire will finish burning the material. Several people have been caught making that error. Sodium hydroxide (aka lye) can be found in some drain cleaners or being used by soap making will dissolve cellular proteins and destroy DNA evidence. The best defense however is to avoid contamination at all with appropriate preparation.
A Note on Bleach: Commercial bleach can destroy DNA enough to keep it from being replicated and tested in a lab for analysis, but it’s most reliable on hard surfaces and not always a sure thing. It does not keep hemoglobin from being detected. Oxidized bleach (such as bleach with hydrogen peroxide) can keep hemoglobin from being detected and therefor tested, but also does not reliably destroy DNA within an appropriate timeline.
Bottomline: If you’re not sure, be sure.
Copper Wire Method
– DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS ON SUBWAY TRANSIT LINES; they carry electricity. – You can use this method when engaging in group NVCD to immediately send a signal to stop all train traffic.
The steel rails of tracks act as part of a track circuit for something called “automatic block signalling” (ABS). A very low voltage is sent through the rails to track sensors to create a loop in sets of geographic blocks. When a train moves along them, the train axle disrupts or shortens the circuit and sensors pick that up to indicate the block is occupied, automatically closing traffic in that area to other trains.
You can replicate the tripping of the circuit sensors by attaching copper wire to opposing rails.
1) Use a higher gauge copper wire for maximum conductivity and wrap it around one rail and across to the other. You can attach to the rails by digging out some rock near a wooden railway tie, or bolts on the tracks if you use a wire brush to take off the rust. Jumper cables work as a quick action – just make sure they’re long enough, but they’re also more expensive than a roll of copper wire.
a rail fishplate
2) Wire two opposing fishplates together. Fishplates are a flat panel of steel bolted onto the side of the rails where each rail section joins another. A fishplate has a plastic/rubber covered wire coming out of one side of the plate. You can strip or move some of this plastic and attach copper wire directly to that, and then attach the other end to the opposing rail, rail bolt, or other fishplate wire (for the best connection). The benefit of this method is that small gauge copper wire will conduct enough to trip the signal, and smaller wire is cheaper. The downside is that sometimes fishplates aren’t right across from each other – you’ll need to scout your location to make sure it’ll work.
TIPS: the copper needs to be touching areas on both rails that are NOT rusty/oxidized and still conducting. HIGH gage copper wire is necessary if your only points of connection are slightly rusty/oxidized. Have a lookout for trains and security patrols. Have a plan before you start wrapping or potentially triggering sensors. You may need a small tool to clear some crushed rock under the rail before wrapping the wire. Find a good spot, dig out both rails, and wrap one rail first. Remember as soon as you trip the circuit by connecting the wire to both rails the ABS will be tripped indicating something is wrong with the track. Get out as soon as you can. Burying the cable with crushed rock, snow or dirt will make it harder to find/spot within the block.
Destroying Signal Boxes Signal boxes are part of rail circuits. If you walk railways, you’ve probably seen them as large grey shed like structures, or small grey boxes affixed to poles. These boxes are the receptors and interpreters of ABS circuit signals, road arms, etc. The casings are metal and typically secured closed. The small boxes on posts have cables that emerge, trail to the ground and run to the tracks. Since these wires have electrical components we would advise against simply cutting them unless you have a fair handle on understanding electricity and grounding.
Another method to damage wires and electrical circuits is hot fire. This means more than just dousing the cords in a fuel and walking away (this burns hot but doesn’t last) – it means building and ensuring a hotter, longer lasting fire. One good way to extend the burn of fibre (cotton fabric or cotton balls) is to add petroleum jelly and work it in. You’ll be able to just light that, which acts as a wick. To increase the heat of a fire you can add rubber from bicycle inner tubes or tires. Getting a small established fire like this going either in the circuit box/house or where the cord enters the ground should take care of the circuits and do a fine job delaying rail traffic by activating the ABS system in a longer-lasting way.
Notes: Practice building this kind of fire to see what’s possible. Burning rubber creates toxic fumes. Remember that this is arson – authorities will investigate it more seriously than the copper wire method. Be careful: find a good spot, have lookouts and an entry/exit plan that doesn’t expose you to people, ensure you’re being careful with fingerprints & DNA, properly dispose of any equipment used, have EXCELLENT security culture & practices with your crew.
Destroying Steel Rails
How do you destroy steel rails that hold a lot of tonnage every day? The same way they put them together: welding.
If you don’t happen to have several hundred dollars worth of equipment and an oxy-acetylene torch setup, you can still effectively destroy steel with thermite.
Thermite is a fuel/oxidizer ratio that can be adjusted to burn hot enough to destroy car engine blocks. It’s not particularly dangerous to mix BUT it does burn very hot, and very brightly so take precautions. When properly prepared, this method requires very little on-site time: just place, light and walk away. It also provides maximum physical property damage as the rail or signal box will need complete replacement.
The simplest fuel to use is aluminum powder. This can be collected from older etch-a-sketches or manufactured with (real) aluminum foil in a coffee grinder or blender that you never want to use for it’s intended purpose again. It is also a component in some fireworks (usually the silver ones) and most exploding gun targets (the small foil package or grey dust you’re supposed to mix in). The finer the flakes/powder the easier the ignition and faster the burn. You’ll want a fairly fine powder.
Cautions: very fine aluminum dust is explosive. However, you’re unlike to be able to achieve it with a regular household blender. Just in case, don’t open the blender near any open ignition sources. Very fine aluminum powder is also hard to get out of clothing, equipment, countertops, off skin etc. Be prepared to spend some time doing clean up. Wear a mask to prevent inhalation.
The simplest oxidizer to use with aluminum powder is iron oxide – red iron rust. Again, you can collect chunks of this from old items and turn it into a fine powder, or easily manufacture it by soaking ‘0000 grain’ steel wool in a 1:1 mix of bleach and vinegar in an OUTSIDE area. Plain bleach will work as well. Let it sit for a day to create a paste, which can they be dried and used.
Cautions: mixing bleach and vinegar makes a gas you shouldn’t inhale. While this is the fastest way to produce rust, you need to be able to do it in an outside, ventilated area. Otherwise, go with a single liquid method and give it more time.
You will also need an ignition wick. It takes a hot burn to ignite metal fuel so a lighter won’t work, and a firework fuse likely won’t either. Use either a silver burning (indicative of magnesium component) fireworks sparkler, or a homemade wick of match heads rolled into aluminum foil. We’ve had most luck with the matches/tinfoil method.
Cautions: Sparklers may present some risk of early ignition if the sparks coming off them hit the thermite before anticipated.
Thermite Powder
Mix a ratio of 3 parts (in weight) iron oxide to 2 parts aluminum powder (in weight). Cut or puncture a small wick hole on the side of a container (i.e. tin can). Insert your wick a couple inches so that there will be contact with the mixture in the can, and then fill the container with powder. Place and light where needed.
TIPS: unless the powder mix is fine and compacted, the burn will be less efficient and produce less heat!
Hard/Cake Thermite
3 parts iron oxide (in weight), 2 parts aluminum powder (in weight), 2 parts plaster of paris (in weight).
Mix the powders together, mix with plaster of paris. Pour into mold (can, etc.), insert wick into cake a couple inches on an angle. Let dry and remove from mould.
Mouldable Thermite
8 parts aluminum powder (in weight), 3 parts iron oxide (in weight), 4 parts clay (in weight). Mix the powders well then add to clay. Insert wick a couple inches. Place where needed and light.
Final Cautions: Because the thermite method damages the rail itself, it presents a risk of derailment. To avoid this risk you may want to trip the ABS circuit by applying copper wire across the rails as well (method one). Again, this is a method police are likely to investigate thoroughly. Make sure all items you’re leaving behind are free of fingerprints and DNA. Have lookouts and careful off-camera approaches. Dispose of or destroy clothing and boots. Thermite burns hot and bright – do not stare after ignition. Very fine aluminum powder is reactive to oxygen and can ignite easily. If water (rain, snow, puddles) is added to burning thermite it will cause an explosion that sends molten iron flying outwards. DO NOT try to extinguish burning thermite with water.
Comments Off on Train Tracks Blocked in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en Land Defenders
Nov222021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Over a hundred supporters of Wet’suwet’en land defenders blocked the CP rail train tracks in the Mile End neighbourhood of Montreal for nearly two hours, following the RCMP raid of Gidimt’en camp, criminalizing the Wet’suwet’en in their long struggle against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. While apocalyptic flooding has devastated the lower mainland, taking out highways and rail lines, and isolating whole cities, the RCMP trespassed onto Wet’suwet’en territory equipped with K9 units, bulldozers, and assault rifles, and arrested land defenders, elders, supporters, and journalists.
We are answering the call from the Wet’suwet’en land defenders for solidarity actions. We support their struggle to defend their lands from destructive fossil fuel megaprojects, and we won’t stand by as the RCMP criminalize Indigenous people for asserting sovereignty in their territories.
This is just one of many solidarity blockades that have been happening from coast to coast. The situation out west is urgent, with CGL preparing to drill under Wedzin Kwa, the river that provides fresh water to the entire Wet’suwet’en territory and far beyond. Participation in economic disruption by settlers is a necessary part of the broad resistance required to force the government and the company to back down.
Just days ago, at the Gidimt’en camp, the RCMP arrested at least 30 people, including the spokesperson Sleydo’, and cut communications from the camp. Sleydo’ said before her arrest, “The Wet’suwet’en people, under the governance of their hereditary Chiefs, are standing in the way of the largest fracking project in Canadian history.”
Comments Off on #ShutDownCanada: Tire Fires on Tracks
Nov192021
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
This morning in Montreal, two tire fires were lit on the CN railway tracks in the neighbourhood of Pointe-St-Charles, at the choke-point of the train yard exit.
Care was taken to ensure there was no risk of derailment. A long straightaway location was chosen, and timing was based on the first scheduled Via passenger train of the morning. As the train approached, an individual stepped onto the track waving two road flares. When the train came to a stop, tires that had previously been filled with cotton towels were placed onto both tracks. They were then doused in gasoline, and the road flares were tossed in from a safe distance to light them up. The action was quick and easy, required few people, and ensured the train was able to stop and not hit the items placed on the tracks. Rail service was interrupted for at least two hours.
We acted in solidarity with the Gidimt’en Clan, who yesterday faced a raid for defending their land, water, and sovereignty. We cannot allow this RCMP action to go unanswered. For every highway blockade, a railway signaling box torched. For every RBC branch deprived of its windows, an RCMP vehicle up in smoke. For every railway blockade, a pipeline valve site sabotaged. All our solidarity with the land and water defenders on the Yintah, let’s answer their calls to shut shit down!
