From Camp de la riviere
Friends in Sherbrooke did a banner drop yesterday morning on the Terrill bridge, close to the Cégep and downtown Sherbrooke, in solidarity with the river camp and against the oil industry plundering. This small visibility action is embedded within the week of action called for by the camp!
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
During the night of July 13th to 14th, 2017, Forces Écosocialistes [Ecosocialist Forces] took action by arsoning the equipment of the oil company Squatex, located in Bas-St-Laurent. An article describing the act was first published by Radio-Canada, then republished by Mtlcounter-info and finally by Earthfirst. The events were described as “suspicious”, to use the exact wording of the police and the journalist.
Two months have now passed since this attack against the oil company. And it’s in the current context of increased resistance to fossil fuel development on Québécois soil that we decide to affirm the volontary and thought-out character of the action. Our claim arrives, then, following the occupation of the company Junex’s Galt site and numerous banner drops on university campuses. Admirable individuals are rising to affirm their will to expel this oil industry garbage from the territory and we want to commend their courage and determination. We also want to insist on one point: alongside Junex there are other active companies that are just as destructive.
Squatex’s development site consisted of four principal structures. The flames spared just one, containing only certain metal equipment like pipes and other non-flammable objects. The other structures were: a lift truck, the drilling container, and a trailer connected to a water reservoir. They were all doused in gasoline and lit on fire. The pictures available on the Radio-Canada article attest to the success of our action. The spared structure allowed us to write the name of our group in black paint: Forces Écosocialistes [Ecosocialist Forces]. Three separate structures burning simultaneously with a tag well in sight: “suspicious” indeed.
Isn’t it ironic to destroy the oil company with the very substance it wants to put to market? Let’s at least say that if this dirty energy wasn’t available, we wouldn’t have had to destroy it. Like capitalism, it creates the weapons that will provoke its fall.
Many projects are now in progress in Bas-St-Laurent and Gaspésie. The most popular among them is without doubt that of Junex near Gaspé. However, there are other, lesser known projects that equally deserve special attention. That of Squatex – the structures have not yet been repaired, but the company still has the permits – in the Mitis MRC or that of Petrolympic which is coveting the ZEC BSL.
Estimates sent to Radio-Canada by Mario Lévesque, lobbyist and pig in chief of Squatex, suggest that there are potentially 52 million barrels of oil buried in Bas-St-Laurent. There’s lots to make the capitalists salivate and lots of reasons to prepare the resistance.
Certain voices spoke out against the Petrolympic project. First, the ZEC board of administrators fiercely opposed the presence of the oil company. Then, certain indigenous groups also had their say. The mayors of the municipalities of the MRC also took a position against the project. Since then there has been no news, and Petrolympic remains silent as to its intentions. We need to be on guard.
We, as activists, believe in a diversity of tactics. Consequently, we give equal value to occupations, banner drops, and direct actions like the one we proudly carried out. For what it’s worth, we wish to insist on our unconditional support for the anti-oil and pro-environment movement that we all help create.
So Junexit and Squatexit too! Let’s tell Petrolympic: get out! Forces Écosocialistes will work to preserve the environment and will continue affirming that green capitalism, or sustainable development tied to economic growth, is an oxymoron as well as unrealistic, a lie of the ruling class. Open respect for biodiversity, the protection of the climate and natural environments, and the struggle around the various environmental issues can be realized only with the departure of capitalism. And against oil, we will need to target all of our enemies.
FES
In the week of action in solidarity with the River Camp, a banner was dropped on the walkway of Cégep St-Laurent, reading “Fuck oil companies, solidarity against Junex”. Several students distributed fliers announcing a demonstration in solidarity with the River Camp. Due to positions and mandates against hydrocarbons, the AECSL (Student association of Cégep de Saint-Laurent) supports all initiatives that aim to struggle against oil companies. Solidarity!
Resources Quebec – accomplice in pillaging Gaspesie. Junexit.
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Last night, after we climbed like ninjas on top of ministery buildings (with a view of the magnificent Baie-des chaleurs), we hung a banner on the MERN offices (ministery of energy and resources):
Fuck that Resources Quebec that invests loads of cash in oil companies, and fuck that Resources Quebec, and fuck that Quebec! Yooouhouuuu Junex, petrolia, IT’S OVER!
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Inspired by the riots in Hamburg, we burned two luxury cars outside of a condo in St-Henri during the night of July 13. In a neighbourhood where people have to choose between food and rent, don’t be surprised when we set fire to your flagrant displays of class privilege.
We used a simple method: fire sticks half-covered in fire-paste. All the material can be found in a camping store. We lit the fire-paste covered end and placed it in the top corners of the car’s grill, between the headlights. We used two sticks per car. The fire is mostly invisible until plastic or motor oil catches fire, giving you time to leave unseen. Be careful: the fire can easily spread to cars parked close-by.
The police who violently enforce gentrification had these encouraging words to say:
“[Montreal police Cmdr. Sylvain Parent] said police have increased their visibility in the neighbourhood in response to the attacks, but it’s hard to stop people who want to commit crimes. “If there’s someone who wants to do something and they see a police officer pass, they’ll wait until we pass by,” he said. “If they really want to do something, they’ll do it anyway.”
Until next time,
Black Masked Winners (BMW) / Anarchistes Uni.es Dans l’Insurrection (AUDI)
Sabotage – a viable solution. Fuck off Junex!
A solidarity action from Cégep du Vieux Montreal.
No fracking on stolen land! Fuck off Junex
A banner drop and flyering at UQAM to kick off the week of action! We’re told that one of the militants encountered a family member of Lavoie, the family of the president and vice-president of Junex. We’re delighted to know that the message will be sent to them directly.
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Last week, a new racist group tried to publicly organize for the first time. Their name is Wolves of Odin[1. Editor’s note: From the Wolves of Odin facebook page – “FOUNDED IN THE WINTER OF 2016, WE ARE AN ORGANIZATION DEDICATED TO THE DEFENSE OF OUR CITIZENS AND WAY OF LIFE. ORIGINALLY ESTABLISHED AS A LOCAL GROUP OF CONCERNED CITIZENS HERE IN MONTREAL, OUR MEMBERSHIP HAS GROWN INTERNATIONALLY, WITH REQUESTS FOR SATELLITE GROUPS OUTSIDE CANADA. THE W.O.O. WAS ORIGINALLY FOUNDED IN RESPONSE TO THE GROWING IMMIGRATION CRISIS THAT IS BURNING OUT OF CONTROL IN MANY PARTS OF EUROPE. WE HERE AT W.O.O. UNDERSTAND THAT IN THE BEGINNING, IT WAS SEEN AS A NECESSITY TO AID OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS THAT HAVE FLED THEIR WAR TORN COUNTRIES. MANY WERE WELCOMED AND PROVIDED FOR, YET MANY HAVE FORCED THEIR WAY IN UNDER THE GUISE OF REFUGEE STATUS, AND MANY MORE HAVE OVERWELMED THE UNDERSTAFFED BORDER CROSSINGS IN MANY COUNTRIES. CRIME RATES HAVE SKYROCKETED UNDER WAVES OF FOREIGN IMMIGRATION, AND THE FACE OF EUROPE HAS BEEN TRANSFORMED FOREVER. IN MANY PLACES OF EUROPE, IT HAS BECOME EXTREMELY UNSAFE FOR THE LOCAL, ORIGINAL INHABITANTS. REPORTS OF THEFTS, ASSAULTS, VANDALISM, RAPE, AND CHILD ABUSE, HAVE BEEN ACREDITED TO IMMIGRATION, IN WHAT WERE ONCE PEACEFUL COMMUNITIES, ATTEMPTING TO DO THEIR PART TO ALEVIATE HUMAN SUFFERING. WE REMAIN STEADFAST IN OUR BELIEF THAT THERE ARE MANY LEGITIMATE REFUGEES FLEEING THE ATROCITIES THAT THEY HAVE FACED IN THEIR OWN COUNTRIES, YET WITH THESE LEGITIMATE REFUGEES, COME MANY THAT WISH TO IMPOSE THEIR LAWS AND IDEOLOGY UPON US AS CANADIANS, AND OTHER CITIZENS OF GREAT COUNTRIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD. WE HAVE OUR OWN LAWS AND SOCIETIES. WE ARE PROUD OF OUR OWN RICH AND NOBLE HISTORIES. OUR ANCESTORS FOUGHT FOR OUR WAY OF LIFE, AND MANY GAVE THEIR LIVES SO THAT WE MAY LIVE FREE, SO THAT OUR FAMILIES AND FUTURE GENERATIONS MAY LIVE FREE. BY REFUSING TO YIELD, WE ARE ANSWERING THE CALL TO HELP KEEP THE LIGHT OF THE WEST BURNING BRIGHTLY. WE ARE THE WOLVES OF ODIN, AND WE WILL HOLD THE LINE”], not to be confused with Soldiers of Odin. They organized a small BBQ in a park in the west of the city. After eating and drinking, they decided to go watch the highly-anticipated boxing match.
Anti-fascists recognized them and came in large numbers to confront them. They then came outside to try to explain how they aren’t racist. Within five seconds, a beer bottle was shattered on one of their heads, and the others were taken care of. One of them ended up being stomped on the ground. Let’s say that they were bruised and bloodied, with three of them seriously hospitalized.
Even though these groups are still small, we want to completely prevent them from growing quickly. We await each of their initiatives with a capacity to strike.
Watch your backs fascists.
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?”)
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.
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.
