Action

Montreal: vandalism against gentrification

Nov 232014

For several years, the St. Henri neighbourhood has been undergoing many changes: a walk along any part of rue Notre Dame will bring you face to face with the new foodie restaurants, high-end boutiques, art galleries, and ”drinkeries” catering to the residents of all the canal-side condos, replacing the dollar stores and flea markets.

Although gentrification of a neighbourhood is more than just new businesses and nice-looking storefronts, we decided to render some of our disgust with gentrification by vandalizing two such examples with fire extinguishers filled with paint. One is Notorious, a high-end barbershop with owners proud to wear Versace outfits, offering services such as a $1000 golden shave, and Campanelli, a coffee shop and fashion boutique which also sports a mural of Louis Cyr, former cop and lauded ‘heroic’ figure in the history of St. Henri. Famous as a Strongman, he was enlisted by the Montreal Police force to bring to heel the untameable Village des tanneries, where today we find Campanelli. Cyr was unable to bring law and order, and was beaten up and kicked out by the locals early on in his career. It is indicative that Campanelli has chosen to highlight this particular figure, and a classic example of the ways in which local histories become distorted to erase resistance and to valorize boot-kissers. We hope Campanelli faces a similar fate to that of Cyr: failure.

These businesses play an active role in the ”revitalisation” of the neighbourhood, and contribute to pushing out the poor in favour of young yuppies with considerable income and who are always in search of the new trend – whether in terms of food, beer, fashion, or even neighborhood. Unable to afford the new price of living and facing greater police harassement, a method of social cleansing that pushes undesirables further and further from downtown and central areas, precarious workers, the unemployed, and all other marginalized of society are always on the losing end of this ”revitalisation”.

We see this action as part of a struggle against colonialism and as a gesture of solidarity with indigenous self-determination and soverignty. While we recognize that our struggle in Montreal, occupied indigenous territory, isn’t at all comparable to indigenous struggles in form or content, we engaged in this action in solidarity with those in struggle against exploitative projects, including pipeline construction and other resource extraction schemes.

We think that one of the best ways to act in solidarity is to struggle in our own context against common enemies: the forces of repression and displacement, including capital and the police. In this sense, inspired in part by the struggles against threats to the territory and water on lands already stolen from indigenous peoples, the threats that participate in this ongoing process of colonisation and genocide of indigenous peoples in Canada, we attacked the forces that further alienate us from our surroundings and push us out of the spaces we inhabit.

Some anarchists

Rail Lines Blocked in Solidarity with Indigenous Communities in Conflict with the State

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Apr 212014

From SabotageMedia

On the morning of April 8th, 8 train lines running through Montreal were blocked by disrupting the rail signals.

This action was done in response to ongoing efforts of colonization and repression by the state against indigenous communities across Turtle Island. Colonization and its enforcers are responsible for the missing and murdered indigenous women who have lost their lives as a result of this racist, imperialist society. This action was done in solidarity with recent and ongoing efforts of different communities to honor the lives of these women and to disable the capacity of their assassins.

Rebels, indigenous folk and workers alike have targeted the train lines as an apt means for disrupting the flow of capital and these systems of domination. Historically and presently the railways have acted as a necessary toll for imperialism and colonization.

CN has chosen to build its infrastructure across indigenous territory as another act of stealing land from autonomous communities.

As anarchists we are invested in contributing to an active disruption of domination and state power.

Strength and love to those facing ongoing repression for their actions, and to the families and loved ones of those lost in this war.

Some anarchists

Molotov attack on police parking lot

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Feb 232014

From SabotageMedia

Media are reporting that thursday evening (20 February) at least two police cars in the parking lot of police station 27 in Ahunstic had been damaged by molotovs. Apparently a 26 year old man has been detained and interrogated.
That’s all the info we have for the moment.

Yuppie businesses attacked in Hochelaga

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Dec 052013

From SabotageMedia

We heard through the media that on the night of November 26 to 27, yuppie businesses in Hochelaga were once again attacked.

The restaurant Le Chasseur and the Le Valois, In Vivo and Bagatelle bistros windows were smashed and graffiti was painted.

Here is a leaflet left behind, taken from media and which we’ve translated from french:

You and your collaborators of gentrification, you come here, in Hochelaga to rot us with your 25 bucks table d’hôte, your crap condos and your hip businessman ideals. It seems quite obvious that your not welcome here. Your presence makes us want to vomit. We know the song too well. Under your cheerful young entrepreneur and unscrupulous airs, your only goal is to colonize our neighborhoods and adapt them to your interests. You have big cash and the cops for your SECURITY and that’s how you plan to succeed. Well you better get the fuck out of here because we want nothing of your sanitized world.

You are not safe in our neighborhood. Your owners union can do nothing against us.
Against your aggression, we attack. Tell your friends and your bourgeois insurance companies that Hochelaga is a hostile environment for investors and will remain so.

In solidarity with all those who struggle.

Team Denis Coderre office vandalized

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Nov 072013

From SabotageMedia

Par les medias nous apprenons que pendant la nuit du 22-23 octobre l’entrée de l’édifice ou se trouve le local de l’Équipe Denis Coderre dans l’arrondissement de Rosemont-Petite-Patrie a été vandalisée.

Les portes et les vitres de la façade de l’immeuble, situé sur le boulevard Saint-Michel à l’angle du boulevard Rosemont, ont été fracassées.

« P6 » et « A » ont été peints en noir à côté de l’entrée.

Québec Ministry of Public Security vehicles attacked

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Nov 072013

from anarchistnews

Recently, we paid a visit to the parking lot of the Ministry of Public Security of Quebec at 600 Fullum, and doused their official vehicles with paint stripper and slashed the tires.

The Ministry of Public Security of Quebec is responsible for, among other things, overseeing the municipal and provincial police and provincial prisons. Ultimately, it is the ministry that is responsible for all aspects of the conditions of imprisonment in Quebec – from the conduct of the police to the items available in canteen.

As we write this, there are two ongoing shows of resistance to the prison system in Canada. One is a hunger strike undertaken by detained immigrants in Ontario who are not accused of any crime, but are detained awaiting deportation proceedings. Their demands include better treatment and an end to detention of immigrants without criminal charges. The hunger strike is now in its fifth week.

The second is a work strike in many federal prisons across the country to protest the recent 30% pay cut for all federal prisoners. The government justifies the pay cut by claiming they are taking room and board from the prisoners. Not only do prisoners already have to work to maintain their own prisons but they will now have to pay to be imprisoned. This pay cut is part of a broader trend in which prisoners face worsening conditions – from longer sentences, stricter parole, double-bunking, and fewer programs in prison.

Solidarity to prisoners in struggle; for an end to all prisons and police.
And to Youri and Guillaume, G20 prisoners, in Bordeaux provincial prison in Montreal.

Attack in Hochelaga against gentrification

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Sep 232013

from anarchistnews

Over the night of September 5, we broke the window of the office of Carole Poirier, Partie Québécois representative in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve. With an extinguisher filled with paint (sprayed into the broken window) the interior of Carole’s office was completely covered. Walls, carpet, computers, everything. On the outside wall, “FUCK LA PROPRIÉTÉ PRIVÉE – GRÈVE DES LOYERS” was written. This action was done in solidarity with those being evicted from the Moreau lofts, and as a fuck you to politicians who all work hand in hand with landlords to render the neighbourhood sterilized and policed.

Solidarity demo at Immigration Detention Centre in Laval

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Sep 232013

from Montréal mediacoop

Video
Camera: Aaron Lakoff and Otto Buxton
Post-prod: Submedia.tv

On August 11, 2013, around 100 migrants and their supporters descended on the Laval immigration detention centre just outside of Montreal, to denounce the Canadian government’s practice of locking up and deporting non-status people. The demonstration was held in conjunction with Prisoner Justice Day, which is marked every year on August 10 to commemorate the lives of those who struggle and die behind bars, and to reaffirm people’s commitment to abolishing jails. Some people came by bus, and others came on bike, and when they arrived, they were determined to make enough noise so that migrants inside the detention centre could hear their message.

On any given day, 400 to 500 migrants are confined behind the walls of detention centres across the country. The past decade has witnessed a significant increase in the number of migrants detained, with 82,000 detained from 2004 to 2011 and an additional 13,000 detained since 2011. Following the implementation of mandatory detention policies through Bill C-31, all those entering by so-called `irregular means` may face up to one year in detention.

Silhouettes depicting loved ones who have been removed and bright banners were hung to the fence. Messages of solidarity in Arabic, Hungarian, Spanish, Urdu, English, and French were read aloud, while remnants of clothing were strung along the length of the wall, symbolizing the violence experienced at border crossings around the world.

During the picnic, someone on the inside informed the organizers that, because of the demonstration, visiting hours had been cancelled all day, prisoners were being punished by having prayer time revoked, being prohibited from smoking, and being confined to their rooms.

Enraged by this news, people rushed back to the outer fence of the detention centre and began banging on its metal gates. Soon after, the gate was torn down and a group of protestors breached the perimeter and managed to take their rage directly outside the buildings where migrants are caged.

In the end, no arrests were made. While the act of tearing down the wall was symbolic, it was still one step towards taking down all prison walls and borders that separate people throughout the world.

Luxury businesses in Hochelaga vandalized

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May 212013

While the yearly anticapitalist demonstration was in full swing in Old-Montréal, vandals had a field day in Hochelaga-Maisonneuve, Montréal.

Around 6:30pm, suspects tried to arson the rental business of cars and trucks Jean Légaré, at 3035 rue Hochelaga (note: well-known to rent to police during demonstrations).

The police confirm that at least one incendiary device was thrown against one of the windows of the building, which did not break however.

No suspect was arrested in relation to this event.

Several hours later, at the end of the evening, suspects vandalized the façade of several condos and businesses of the place Valois with yellow paint.

Situated at the intersection of rues Valois and Ontario, the place Valoisl was launched in 2007, and includes first-floor businesses, condos on the upper floors, and a large public square.

The storekeeper’s in the area are of the opinion that these disgraceful acts are directly tied to the anticapitalist demonstration which took place several hours earlier downtown.

“We know it, the condos are often targeted as well as several businesses in the place Valois offering expensive products, luxurious, said a storekeeper. There are those who see the space as a symbol of capitalism in the neighborhood”.

Accounts confrimed having seen three suspects take flight after having papered the walls with paint.

As of yet, no arrests have been made by police.

Leur presse – Journal de Montréal (Maxime Deland/Agence QMI), 02/05/2013 à 21h11

Four banks attacked in Montreal

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Apr 272013

from anarchistnews

During the last week, several of us decided to self-organize and pass to the attack.

Because capitalism is totalitarian.

Because financial institutions, Desjardins banks included, are agents of this domination. Because they are responsible for the financial crisis, yet always come out on top. Because the condition of their existence is the negation of ours.

Because the politicians, no matter the party, are also agents of this system. Because they accept the rules of a game in which we are first to lose. Because they blindly embrace the hegemonic ideology of zero deficit, of State austerity measures, of growth and profit at any price.

Because the banks are the pillars of this structure which objectifies us, trades us, commodifies us.

We attacked and smashed four banks with rocks, hammers, and paint in the neighborhoods of Hochelaga and Plateau-Mt-Royal. We also vandalized the ATMs.

We know that we only struck the symbols of this domination. But the conflict takes place everyday; when you have to pay to eat, pay to go to school (which is itself subsumed to the reproduction of Capital), when the landlord comes for the rent, when the repossession agency knocks at the door.

Solidarity with the Pacific Northwest Grand Jury resistors who, despite the risk of imprisonment, refuse to bow down to the demands of the State and Capital.

– some anarchists

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