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

Galt blockade (GASPESIE): Call for action!

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Aug 072017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On stolen Mi’gmaq territory, far from our barricades, we see the river that flows into the majestic Baie de Gaspe. In the distance, we see the forest, that was infinite, being devoured piece by piece by the colonial industries. The greediest of this world have come to extract these oil wells.

Starting yesterday, we intervened and helped to reassert Mi’gmaq juridiction on the illegitimate property of Junex. On the road leading to the Galt Wells, we have set up a blockade and a camp as an act of solidarity with the land and water protectors of Turtle Island.

Because we are against extraction of petroleum and this world of colonial violence. Because we refuse to let Junex do fracturation, exploration, stimulation, injection, massaging or any other type of extraction. Because of the catastrophic threat that Junex currently poses this territory, our camp will last as long as necessary so that these violent projects will remain blocked forever.

Alongside the Indigenous land and water protectors who are helping to reoccupy this area of stolen Mi’gmaq land, we call on others to join our defence against this assault. While we are already many, we need more and more support as we help to protect the land and waters from this state-sponsored project.

Within these grounds, a sacred Mi’gmaq fire will be lit, signifying a united front against the violence of colonial industries and a reassertion of Indigenous stolen nationhood on occupied land. We invite all land and water protectors, warriors and settler allies as we take on this collective struggle together. As a negation of violence against the Indigenous lands, waters and communities, we stand and we will not be defected.

You can help by joining us on the barricades or by taking initiatives to support the blockade and the camp. See the map for how to join us. More details about how to join the barricades will come: Galt is located between Gaspe and Murdochville on the 198, about 20 km from Gaspe. Please, share!

Transphobic, far-right, anti-Muslim “Students in Support of Free Speech” have disastrous evening in Montreal

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Jul 302017
 

The transphobic, far-right, anti-Muslim Students in Support of Free Speech (SSFS) group from Toronto had a disastrous evening today in Montreal. Their planned recruitment event, a Montreal Pub Night, never happened. Instead, the Toronto SSFS President, Mari Jang, and the wannabe Montreal President, Oliver Marshall, spent several hours in a downtown police station filing a police report regarding their cancelled event. There were no arrests or injuries.

Just hours before their scheduled pub night, SSFS had to move their event away from Grumpy’s Bar because the staff and management at Grumpy’s, a Concordia lefty hangout, clearly indicated to SSFS that they were not welcome (instead, Grumpy’s organized their annual fundraiser in support of community group Head and Hands Sex Ed For Youth Project, which is queer and trans inclusive).

Provided with no platform at Grumpy’s, SSFS announced a last-minute move to Trois Brasseurs just a block away. More than an hour before any SSFS individuals or sympathizers arrived, their reserved table was occupied by Montreal-area anti-racists. In all, at least 60 anti-racists mobilized both inside and outside Trois Brasseurs, to make sure there would not be a platform for transphobia or Islamophobia in Montreal. Inside, during the evening, only about 4 individuals tried to attend the SSFS event. They were engaged in discussion and, in at least one case, an individual, when informed about the SSFS’s transphobic and racist affiliations, disassociated with the event and left.

Meanwhile, Oliver Marshall and Mari Jang never attended their co-organized event. Instead, Oliver Marshall was seemingly chased away from the vicinity of Trois Brasseurs, and he spent the evening in the police station, accompanied by Mari Jang and her partner. The police did not seem to be taking the frivolous complaint seriously and, in Mari Jang’s own words, there was an “almost assault.”

The flyer passed out to explain the action today by local anti-racists is included in full below, as well as links providing background to SSFS and their support for transphobic, Islamophobic, far-right views.

— This is a personal report from one observer and participant in today’s anti-racist action.

No Platform for Transphobia or Islamophobia in Montreal!

Students in Support of Free Speech (SSFS) is a Toronto group that since its start has supported a far-right political discourse. We are part of a group of Grumpy’s regulars, Concordia students, and others who object to the presence of Islamophobic, racist, and other far right groups.

SSFS claims to be apolitical and solely about freedom of expression but they have only platformed far right individuals and organizations. The SSFS supported the Halifax Proud Boys who disrupted an Indigenous ceremony. The SSFS supported professor Jordan Peterson after he openly mocked trans students.

SSFS are an attempt to mainstream the hate spouted by others by packaging far right discourse into a more palatable form. Their rallies attract violent provocateurs across the rightwing spectrum such as white supremacist and neo-Nazi Paul Fromm who spoke at their rally in Toronto on July 15th.

We are here to assert our freedom of speech to say the SSFS is not welcome in Montreal. We are here to say hate is not welcome in our spaces. We denounce the SSFS as a far right group that provides a platform for transphobia, Islamophobia, and racism. We encourage you to support Grumpy’s and their fundraiser for Head & Hands!

Background Info:
– Info about the racist Proud Boys disruption in Halifax
– Info about the Students in Support of Free Speech Rally in Toronto for Halifax Proud Boys
– Info about transphobe Jordan Peterson, openly supported by Students in Support of Free Speech
– The Warning Signs of Fascism on Campus; using “free speech” as a cover for extremism

Squatex equipment arsoned in Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc

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Jul 212017
 

From the Mass media

Heavy machinery of the oil company Squatex was set aflame in the middle of Thursday night in Sainte-Jeanne-d’Arc.

The company has already carried out drilling in the area. The equipment was parked on the grounds nearby.

Emergency services were dispatched to the site of a fire around 8:30 Friday. The fire, which is now under control, is considered suspect by police.

It would have started during the night. An inspector and arson technician were called to the site.

The SQ estimates the cost of the damage at several thousand dollars.

Report-back from Garam Masala anti-caste, anti-Hindutva disruption at Montreal’s “Festival of India”

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Jul 122017
 

GARAM MASAMA (Groupe d’Action Révolutionnaire sud-Asiatique de Montréal / Montreal Alliance of South Asian Leftists and Allies) had a successful intervention at this weekend’s misnamed and offensive “Festival of India”. We exposed it as a Hare Krishna and caste-Hindu sect event that does not represent India in any way. We passed out almost two-thousand flyers, had dozens of conversations with supportive and curious folks, but also had to deal with hostile and violent Hare Krishnas and their right-wing caste-Hindu accomplices (as these videos from the Saturday intervention attest). Nonetheless, our anti-caste message of “Hindutva must fall, an India for all” was heard loud and clear all weekend, raising awareness about grassroots and pluralistic movements in opposition to chauvinism and bigotry in South Asia and here.

In addition to physical and verbal assault, the right-wing caste Hindus at the falsely named “Festival of India” bizarrely placed filled garbage bags and cans around our GARAM MASALA crew on Sunday. We were taking up space in the middle of the event, so the garbage inconvenienced everyone. It might seem bizarre, but in the skewed outlook of caste/varna Hinduism, and specific caste-based insults (“dogs” … “dirty” … “sudra”) aimed at us all weekend by people wearing overt caste signs, it was a specific dismissal of us as no better than garbage. We didn’t take it as an insult (since we reject caste and caste-based bigotry) but it was a reminder of the vile caste-based discrimination, bigotry and violence faced by India’s low-caste and out-caste populations (and practiced in the diaspora). It reminded me personally of my visit to a group of garbage pickers in Chennai (Madras), and their courageous struggle for better conditions and resistance to discrimination based on caste. Those workers represent the grassroots struggles against caste and Hindutva (high-caste Hindu hegemony) in India.

Text of flyer passed out at the “Festival of India” in Montreal:

Stop caste-based violence!
Indian culture is not just Hindu!
Hindutva must fall: An India for us all!

THIS IS NOT AN INDIAN FESTIVAL
The so-called “Festival of India” is directly complicit in the marginalization of India’s multiple religions and cultures. It is also a festival that promotes practices directly linked to the violent subjugation of India’s religious minorities.

WHAT’S THE PROBLEM?
We are a group of South Asians who oppose the Festival’s decision to:
– Advertise this event as “Indian”, though they themselves state it only celebrates the Vedic (or Hindu) tradition. This is part of an oppressive history that equates Indian identity with Hinduism.
– Promote Hindu/Vedic practices and beliefs that are directly linked to the violent subjugation of India’s minorities. This includes the abhorrent caste system which segments society into rigid, hierarchical, groups.
– Organize this Festival in conjunction with the colonial MTL 375 festivities.

The pretext for today’s “Festival of India” is offensive and completely erases the history of resistance by Indigenous peoples in North America and on the Indian subcontinent. It makes invisible the destruction caused by colonialism and imperialism. Here’s an insulting excerpt from the official Festival of India website:

“For centuries, the interest of European explorers to discover cultural wealth of India has driven them to amazing findings, such as the discovery of the North American continent itself. We may remember that there is a good historical reason why we call the native population of this continent ‘indians’. Today the cultural wealth of India continues to inspire and attract the world, and we are presenting you an unforgettable opportunity to taste the flavours of this ancient tradition – so different, but so welcoming!”

India’s minorities are currently experiencing a wave of Hindu-nationalist violence. The failure of the “Festival of India” to acknowledge India’s plurality makes the organizers complicit in this violence. This is especially important given the current state of Indian politics.

In India the government is ruled by a Hindu-nationalist party whose leader, complicit in the 2002 genocide of Muslims in the state of Gujarat, promotes the idea that India is synonymous with Hinduism (or should be forcibly made so). Empowered by the government, mobs of Hindu extremists have been lynching non-Hindus in the name of “cow-protection”. We are horrified to see the same beliefs and practices being insidiously disguised as an apolitical cultural exchange with food, yoga and dance.

WHO ARE WE?
We are a Montreal-based group called “GARAM MASALA” (an acronym for “Groupe d’Action Révolutionnaire sud-Asiatique de Montréal / Montreal Alliance of South Asian Leftists and Allies”) who share progressive politics: anti-caste, anti-colonial, feminist, in support of Indigenous and adivasi self-determination, against all forms of oppression including sexism, homophobia ableism, and racism, including Islamophobia and anti-Semitism; support for progressive secular social justice movements on the subcontinent, and here in North America. We also confront and challenge all forms of oppression that exist within South Asian diasporic communities.

Info: GaramMasalaMontreal@gmail.com

A “Vegetarian Act” of Vandalism Strikes Boucherie Grinder

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Jul 052017
 

On Wednesday morning this week, the butcher shop Boucherie Grinder was struck with two bricks. The display windows which house the shop’s ornately-hung meats in full view were not broken, only receiving marks, due to the strength of the glass. A message was attached to the projectiles:

“This is a vegetarian act. We consider that your hideous and infectious establishment requires a long and ostensible intervention. Cease the mutilation and sale of non-human animals. Starting today, June 27th, 2017, more and more speciesist institutions like yours will be vandalized in Montreal. Thank you for understanding that animals, like humans, are not for sale. Together for a 100% vegetarian future.”

Fuck Canada: VIA Rail celebration of colonial genocide covered in the colours of green anarchy

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Jul 012017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Politicians, cops, capitalists and bootlickers across the territories of so-called Canada are celebrating the genocidal legacy of colonial civilization with a year full of grotesque spectacles. Canada tries to whitewash 150 years of colonial violence with fighter jets adorned with the colors of the Canadian flag, concerts and parades, and VIA Rail commuter train advertising.

We see nothing to celebrate about the genocidal campaign waged against indigenous peoples, ecological devastation, or the establishment of a State which represses our wild desires and steals our capacity to live free. Instead, we celebrate the resistance of indigenous peoples across Turtle Island; from the Gitwilgyoots peoples resisting the construction of a massive LFG (liquified fracked gas) terminal on their territories, to the Mi’kmaq resistance to fracking on their territories.

Earlier this morning, we defaced the Canada 150 propaganda on the side of the VIA Rail train headed from Tio’Tia:Ke (“Montreal”) to Gichi Kiiwenging (“Toronto”). We wanted to celebrate an anti-colonial July 1st a little early, because colonialism isn’t reserved to a few days on the calendar. This is the same railway that was blockaded in solidarity with Standing Rock last November.

Canada’s rail infrastructure played an integral role in the establishment of this settler society built on dead native and immigrant bodies – colonial expansion was contingent upon building these train lines for the transportation of troops and the transformation of “natural resources” into commodities for human exploitation.

This infrastructure continues to play an integral role in the maintenance of the capitalist economy in the territory dominated by the Canadian State. During the Oka uprising, there were widespread solidarity actions throughout the territory of so-called Canada: road and railway blockades, and sabotage of railway bridges and electrical transmission lines. This solidarity was a tangible threat to the Canadian economy and its politicians who tried to crush this indigenous insurgency.

We covered the train in green and black – the colours of an anarchism that is against civilization and domestication. We are settler anarchists who are inspired by indigenous struggles that assert their autonomy by any means necessary, and in the coming times of resistance to pipelines and territorial incursion, we hope that our solidarity will feel significant and impactful. We share a goal with many indigenous struggles of weakening the Canadian State’s power, and want to destroy it completely. If we want to be able to choose how we live, create the social relations we desire, and be free from cops, bosses, politicians and all authority, we see the only option as the destruction of the State, capitalism, and civilization.

Fuck Canada! Solidarity with all those who resist and revolt!

P.S. We used fire-extinguishers filled with paint. If you’re interested in trying them out for yourself, watch this instructional video.


11 x 17″ | PDF

Graffiti campaign: 375+150 = Bullshit!

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Jun 302017
 

Montreal streets covered with anti-colonial, anti-nationalist, migrant justice stencils,
images and graffiti

From No Borders Collective

This week, between the nationalistic displays of June 24 (Quebec holiday) and July 1st (Canada holiday), a group called Le Collectif No Borders in Montreal has covered various areas of the city with anti-colonial, anti-nationalist and migrant justice stencils and images.

Among the messages shared on the stencils, images and graffiti:
375+150 = Bullshit
Construisons une ville sans frontières
Arrêtez les déportations
Open The Borders
Refugees Welcome
Réfugié-e-s bienvenu-e-s
Ils construisent des murs, nous bâtissons des ponts
Ni Canada, Ni Québec. Fuck le 150e
Ni Québec, ni Canada.
Quebec, Canada … same shit, different piles.
Canada 150: Fake News

The images also include a burning Canadian flag.

« ‹ of 2 › »

The action this week is undertaken in opposition to Montreal’s 375 anniversary celebration, and Canada’s 150 celebrations, both public relations displays that mask the colonial and genocidal origins of the City of Montreal and the Canadian state. The action is undertaken in the spirit of anti-colonial resistance, support for anti-racist and anti-fascist struggles, as well as solidarity with migrant justice and a genuine Solidarity and Sanctuary City in Montreal. Le Collectif No Borders also undertakes to reclaim public spaces from corporate, colonial and nationalistic propaganda.

The various stencils and images appeared at various locations in Montreal, including (but not limited to), the neighborhoods of Cote-des-neiges, Parc Extension, Marché Jean-Talon, Villerary, St-Michel, Rosemont, Petite-Patrie, Hochelaga, Mile End, Plateau, St-Henri, Point-St-Charles and downtown Montreal.

We have included below various weblinks that provide more information and context to anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-fascist and migrant justice struggles, but none of the groups affiliated with the links below are directly or indirectly involved with this action.

The photo links also include original stencil images, to encourage others in Montreal and beyond to redecorate their communities, on the streets. We encourage your redecoration efforts and urge you to share your photos with us.

See you on the streets!
— Le Collectif No Borders (lecollectifnoborders@gmail.com)

UNSettling Canada 150

NoCanada.Info / NonAuCanada.Info

Warrior Publications

Canada 150 banners destroyed on Mercier Bridge

Canada150 Installation Defaced in Montreal, and a Proposal

150, 375: rebels come alive!

Fascism & Anti-Fascism: A Decolonial Perspective

Anti-Canada 150 Poster Pack

Solidarity City Declaration / Déclaration pour une Cité sans frontières

Community Alert: Montreal is NOT a Sanctuary City

 

Canada 150 banners destroyed on Mercier Bridge

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Jun 292017
 

Within a week of new banners being installed on Mercier Bridge that celebrate colonial “Canada 150”, several have already been torn to shreds.

Big ups to the vandals!

This just in: people still not loving police

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Jun 222017
 

From Instagram

During the morning of June 21, a police car was attacked with bricks in the neighbourhood of Pointe-Saint-Charles. The circumstances of the attack are unknown, as it hasn’t been reported by the SPVM or the media. This begs the question of how often similar acts occur without anyone hearing about them, because they are invisibilized by the institutions that control the flow of information.

It’s impossible to say what inspired such an action yesterday morning and we want to avoid the trap of imposing a political narrative where there isn’t necessarily one. Nonetheless, hearing of this trashed police car brought us feelings of elation and inspiration. We publish this photo because, no matter the circumstances, it’s encouraging to see people fighting back against such an age-old enemy.

Pointe-Saint-Charles is rapidly undergoing gentrification, which has led to an increased police presence in order to facilitate the social cleansing that gentrification requires. Last year, anarchists put a police car in Pointe-Saint-Charles out of service in broad daylight, with similar tactics to what was seen yesterday.

We hope to see resistance multiply to the daily violence of police. We want fear to change sides.

Canada150 Installation Defaced in Montreal, and a Proposal

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Jun 222017
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On Friday, June 16, an installation in Montreal promoting Canada’s 150th year of killing people and taking their land (among other shit), was defaced by some anarchists. A large “Canada150” billboard above a Parks Canada information booth was covered with black paint, while anti-colonial posters were wheat pasted on an adjacent placard memorializing Sir Wilfred Laurier.

The location is alongside the Lachine Canal, and across the street from Atwater Market, both major tourist destinations. The action was timed so that summer weekend crowds wouldn’t miss our redecoration. As of Saturday afternoon, the black paint had not been removed.

Inspiring calls to disrupt Canada150, a celebration of Indigenous genocide, have circulated widely in recent months. As people living in Canadian cities who want to sabotage the economic, political, and symbolic machinery of the colonial state, we encourage a multi-pronged attack in engaging with Canada150.

Highly visible subversive engagement with Canada150 installations, as well as with the usual colonial statues and monuments, can disrupt the official narrative of a diverse yet united country with a history meriting celebration. Here in Montreal, where the 375th anniversary of the city is being celebrated in tandem with Canada150, we can look for opportunities to hit two birds with one stone, so to speak.

Targets are everywhere. Colonization enlists every facet of Canadian capital and state power. On Friday, for instance, the property of Parks Canada, a federal agency that may seem innocuous at first glance, was damaged. Most parks in Canada are on traditional indigenous territories. The conversion of this land into federal and provincial parks is an important part of Canada’s genocidal history and present project. These areas were transformed from homes, hunting, and harvesting territories, where people could sustain themselves and their communities, into very specifically state-managed parks. It is no coincidence that the first National parks were established during the construction of the Canadian Pacific railway, and at the tail-end of the Métis Rebellion.

Direct action targeting hard-to-defend infrastructure (even in and around urban areas) like highways, railways and pipelines can directly impact the revenue streams of government and corporate colonial profiteers. Doing so breaks with the social control on which colonial governance depends. These attacks build the skills, confidence, and collective capacity that are invaluable in periods of intensified collective action.

Through action, we build effective networks for material solidarity with Indigenous frontline struggles. Those of us in cities often have access to substantial funding and other material resources that can cover vital supplies, transportation, and legal costs for Indigenous people defending their land. And we can organize to show up when invited to Indigenous land defense actions, in helpful numbers and with relevant contributions. When engaging in such efforts, settlers need to move beyond an allyship framework and understand our own reasons for participating in anticolonial, anticapitalist projects, recognizing that an anticolonial struggle is inseparable from our own.

We are dedicated to projects that will continue into 2018, strengthening resistance to Canada beyond these twelve embarrassing months of heightened colonial smug self-promotion.

Fuck the 150th, fuck Canada!


11 x 17″ | PDF

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