Action

Arkéos, Drop the McGill Contract Now!

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Oct 162022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Important Update: Monday, October 17, 2022

It has come to our attention that certain phrasing of our previous communique requires immediate correction and clarification. We deeply respect and honour the hard work the kahnistensera have done, so in an effort to address certain concerns we would like to communicate the following.

Since the colonial institutions involved in supporting McGill’s New Vic project have apparently attempted to use this action against Arkéos to threaten the kahnistensera and their ongoing court case, the organizers of the action want to add the following update to our statement below: we planned and carried out this action completely independently of the kahnistensera and did not communicate with them about it in any way. Our use of the word “accomplices” in the original communique was influenced by broader anti-colonial anarchist discussions around the use of that word in other contexts, with our working definition being that ”the work of an accomplice in anti-colonial struggle is to attack colonial structures & ideas.” (See here.) We also wish to redirect you to this engaging text about similar issues, titled “On the question of allies”, which can be found here. Our point isn’t to squabble about term usage, but rather, to give context as to why we chose this term. In retrospect, we realize the use of this term was not appropriate given the ongoing, separate and independent legal battle the kahnistensera are involved in.

Again, let us reiterate, under no circumstances are we working for or on behalf of the kahnistensera. As settler anarchists, we decided to take our own initiative to attack Arkéos, without any involvement from the kahnistensera. This is an autonomous action, we alone claim it. We see Arkéos as another obstacle McGill has put in the way of the kahnistensera to prevent them from conducting a proper non-instrusive forensic investigation. Arkéos will be proceeeding with an intrusive dig, which is against the public demands of the kahnistensera.

In the realm of the legal fight that is set to reconvene in court on October 26th, McGill, and to some extent, Arkéos, are using this action to strategically try to undermine as well as cast doubt upon the goodwill and honourable way the kahnistensera have fought this legal battle. There is ample evidence throughout history that shows the state, the police and/or corporate entities working together with the media to create narratives of doubt, conspiracies, and mistrust between all parties acting in solidarity with an Indigenous-led campaign. This is often referred to as a tactic of counterinsurgency.

Let us once again redirect the attention to the real culprits: McGill and Arkéos who are collaborating in acts of colonial violence for profit. With such a short timeline to stop Arkéos, it is imperative for independent groups to use a diversity of tactics while respecting the Kaianereh’kowa (the Great Law of Peace). Such autonomous organizing is not new, this is how anarchists have worked in other anti-colonial struggles.

Friday October 14, 2022

Since the eviction of the camp from the Royal Vic site on Tuesday morning by police, McGill’s contractors have begun their excavation of the site, putting up fences and hiring a security guard who himself doesn’t seem to know who he is working for. They have already stripped the asphalt and broken ground, and reports say that the archeological firm Arkéos is planning to start the digging of sensitive material on Monday.

The Kanienkeha Kahnistensera (known in English as the Mohawk Mothers) have opposed the New Vic Project multiple times over the past several months. They initiated a court case against McGill and the SQI (Société québécoise des infrastructures), who are behind the renovation project in April of this year. The Kahnistensera are presently awaiting their next date in court against McGill, which will come on October 26, long after Arkéos has stripped the earth around their historical village.

We as settler anarchists and accomplices decided to attack Arkéos today, because we want them to know that they must be accountable for working on this colonial project for McGill. This university, founded with profits from selling the products of the slave trade and from stolen Haudenausaunee Trust Fund money, has yet again acted in total disregard of Indigenous sovereignty by ignoring the legitimate demands made by the Kahnistensera, the guardians of the land under the Great Law of Peace.

We demand that Arkéos takes responsibility for the work they are doing for McGill. After McGill cancelled consultations with the Mohawk Mothers, Arkéos has still not met with the Mothers to address their concerns over the excavation. Despite a flurry of calls and emails to Arkéos to cancel their involvement in the project, Arkéos has continued their participation in this excavation without any consultation with the Kahnistensera. Arkéos is not an apolitical actor in this struggle, as they prepare to work behind fences and guards while they desecrate a historical Indigenous cultural site.

Maybe it shouldn’t come as a surprise, considering the past of that very company. Indeed, Arkéos has been founded by engineers who needed archeologists and anthropologists to legitimize construction projects. It’s definitely not the first time that Arkéos stands hand in hand with the Quebec Settler colonial state, as they have been involved in Hydro-Québec projects on Eeyou Istchee, mining projects on unceded Nitassinan, pipeline projects in the south of so called Québec as well as various gentrification projects in the so called cities of Montréal and Québec.

To Arkéos, we would like to say this: next time, if you don’t wanna cry over a couple of spilled boxes and some dirt on your luxurious couches, maybe dont get involved in fucking colonial contracts.

Sincerely, a couple of anarchists.

Stop the New Vic Renovation!

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Oct 112022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Update – 11 October: Next Steps for Anti-Colonial Direct Actions Against McGill’s New Vic Project

The camp that was setup on October 10th against upcoming excavation work by McGill was evicted by police this morning. There is currently excavation equipment on site, fences are being erected, and work is planned to begin October 12th by the McGill-hired archeological firm Arkéos. Even though they are supposedly investigating Indigenous archeological remains, Arkéos has had no discussions with the Mohawk Mothers, and is not equipped to a forensic investigation for unmarked graves. Please send them as many phone calls, emails, and faxes as you can in the next 48 hours to let them know that this work should not be going ahead without the direct involvement of the Mohawk Mothers and that Arkéos should withdraw from the project.

Phone: 514-387-7757
Fax: 514-382-5659
Email: info@arkeos.ca

Respect Kanien’kehà:ka sovereignty, support the search for unmarked graves

Follow our Twitter @stopthenewvic to find out how you can provide on the ground support

We are settler anarchists who have initiated an anti-colonial solidarity action to block the renovations of the former Royal Victoria Hospital, which McGill University has said they plan to begin working on in early October as part of their campus expansion project. We are disturbed but not surprised that McGill would insist on pushing ahead with this work despite concerns that it may destroy forensic evidence of unmarked graves in the area. McGill has already invested immensely in this campus expansion project, and the possible discovery of unmarked graves would be a financial loss and tarnish their pro-reconciliation public image. We are taking direct action to stop their renovation work before it covers up the truth of their own violent history.

We have started this action on October 10th, so-called Thankgiving Day in Canada, and Columbus Day in the US. Such holidays represent the ongoing colonial violence of the settler-colonial state. We believe that there can be no peace on these lands until the colonial states of Canada and the US are abolished. We give thanks to the Kanien’kehà:ka people, who after centuries of resistance to colonization, continue to fight to defend these lands. We give thanks to the Kanien’kehà:ka women who have done extensive research, made this information public, and taken action to address the problems with this New Vic renovation project.

The Kanien’kehà:ka kahnistensera (Mohawk Mothers) are a group of women from the Mohawk communities of Kahnawake and Kanehsatake. Based on the kaia’nereh’ko:wa (the Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee confederacy), the kahnistensera are considered progenitors of the Kanienke’hà:ka nation, own and are the caretakers of the land and the soil, including Tiohtiá:ke (so called Montreal). They are declaring that McGill stop planned renovations of the former Royal Victoria Hospital, that there be an investigation of the area for unmarked graves, as well as further study of Indigenous archeological sites known to be in the area. The investigation would be to find bodies of victims of CIA and Canadian government funded MK-Ultra psychiatric torture experiments that took place in the 1950s and ’60s at the Allan Memorial Institute, which is directly adjacent to the Royal Victoria.

The kahnistensera refer to the testimony of survivors of the MK-Ultra experiments, who say there were also Indigenous children being brought to the Institute and experimented on at that time. In recent years, thousands of unmarked graves have been found using ground-penetrating radar on the grounds of former residential schools for Indigenous children. A forensic investigation of the grounds of the Allen Memorial and the Royal Victoria, supervised by the kahnistensera, could determine the truth about some of the terrible things that happened there. The planned renovations would risk destroying this evidence, and must be stopped before an investigation can happen.

In April 2022, the kahnistensera filed a legal claim to the Superior Court of Quebec to stop McGill and the Société Québécoise des Infrastructures (SQI) from proceeding with the renovations and the next date in this process is October 26th. As usual, it is very unlikely that the colonial courts will take the demands of the kahnistensera seriously and do anything to stop the colonial university and state from proceeding with their plans. That is why it is important for all of us who support Kanien’kehà:ka sovereignty on this land to organize ourselves in solidarity with the public calls of the kahnistensera against the renovations.

As settlers and anarchists, we attempt to act as accomplices in Indigenous-led fights to abolish the settler-colonial-imperial-capitalist state and insititutions, such as McGill. We also recognize that Kanien’kehà:ka sovereignty in this place goes beyond this current campaign. We support the kahnistensera’s broader vision of a university which has been renamed to not pay homage to a colonial slaveholder, has repaid its financial debts to the Haudenosaunee peoples, has stopped all military research, and is governed by the kahnistensera in accordance with the kaia’nereh’ko:wa.

BC Counter-info is Now Live!

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Sep 152022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

https://bccounterinfo.org is now live! We at BC counter-info have gone to great lengths to create a secure and accessible platform for anarchist and anti-authoritarians of all stripes to upload their stories of inspirational revolutionary actions happening across so called ‘BC’ and eventually to help broadcast others from around the world. We encourage all ‘BC’ comrades to submit their handiwork using the portal provided in the submit section of the website, after reading the security tips provided. If you have any suggestions on ways to improve the site, especially around security, or to tell us how much we suck, don’t hesitate to email us at bccounterinfo@riseup.net or alternatively you can use the submission portal for one-way secure messages. If you have submissions that fall outside the area known as ‘BC’ please submit to existing sites, and we will share them automatically in a separate feed. Stay tuned for further updates to the site, we have big plans! BC counter-info is an onion service with a public facing URL. Our onion address is: bcinfosst3tgmyfar6sessdkpkaxrc5sdjagvxvkbu6z74yhin7e5gid.onion

Railway Blockade on Unceded Nitassinan (Saguenay)

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Sep 092022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Wednesday evening, a collective of Indigenous and settler activists blocked the Roberval-Saguenay railroad belonging to the multinational corporation Rio Tinto in solidarity with the National Committee for First Peoples’ Rights which is paralyzing for a third consecutive day the railroad line located at the border of Labrador and Schefferville, which is used by the mining company Tata Steel. The solidarity blockade lasted one hour. These actions have the objective of reminding the governments that the members of the Indigenous communities in this country will no longer accept any compromises regarding criminal acts committed against them.

The band councils of Uashat mak Mani-utenam (ITUM) and Matimekush-Lac John are suspected of having obtained the majority of electoral votes through corruption, fraud, extortion, and breach of trust. The alleged acts took place between 2019 and 2022 and involved nearly $1.8 million in bribes and favors of various kinds. In the official complaint formulated to the Sûreté du Québec by the First Peoples’ Rights Committee, a list of evidence coming directly from ITUM’s accounting system shows that there were, without the knowledge of the members, approximately 325 billing payments from registrants for an approximate amount of $1,780,000. This amount would be the result of a contract signed with the mining company IOC Rio-Tinto in 2020, in which Chief Mike McKenzie’s team would have hidden the legal meaning of the numerous clauses of this agreement from the members, which would have had the effect of giving away, in an exclusive manner and without any time limit, all future rights to decision-making about exploitation of natural resources on the unceded Great Nitassinan, the territory of the Innuat people!

Today’s action by the collective in Saguenay is a reminder that the Iron Ore Company of Canada (IOC) and the band councils, which are nothing more than organizations of colonial assimilation set up by the federal government, are not masters of unceded Nitassinan. Agreements signed illegally, by extortion, without the consent of the entire Innuat people, will never again be tolerated. The mining companies have been destroying and polluting the territory of the Innuat for several decades. Our action is a direct act of ancestral sovereignty of the First Peoples. We have been perpetuating this ancestral governance for thousands of years. We are also acting for future generations to leave them a healthy land and to perpetuate our ancestral rights, our sacred relationship with Assi (the Earth) and all living beings. Enough is enough! Today we are acting in the name of a movement by Indigenous people and their allies, to denounce these criminal acts sanctioned by the Canadian and Quebec courts. We call for the multiplication of solidarity actions in relation to this struggle.

Your Cancer, Courtesy of Capitalism

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Sep 092022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Many cities in Quebec are home to one or more industries that destroy the environment and make the inhabitants sick.

In Rouyn-Noranda, Glencore benefits from a right to pollute that has allowed it to pocket billions for decades. The flora, the fauna, and all living things are affected. Vulnerable people, pregnant women, babies, and children, are particularly affected. All of this is indirectly with the permission of the Ministry of the Environment, who issues the remediation certificate that allows for exceeding the standards for emissions of a cocktail of heavy metals: arsenic, lead, nickel, chromium, cadmium, etc. These exceptions to compliance with provincial standards are an easy way for shareholders to profit.

We are an affinity group from Rouyn-Noranda. Today, we are starting a series of symbolic and direct actions against Glencore. We will no longer accept dying to enrich this kind of of ruthless multinational corporation! We have dropped this banner on the cancer research center that is delaying its operations because of hiring difficulties – and we understand! People who work in the health field do not want to come to Rouyn-Noranda to be poisoned.

Schrobenhausen, Germany: Arson on the Yard of Bauer (complicit in building Coastal GasLink)

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Aug 162022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On August 3, a few weeks after the involvement of the German company Bauer in the building process of the Coastal GasLink Pipeline through manufacturing equipment for the drilling process became known, local media report a nighttime fire on the company’s main office yard in Schrobenhausen, Germany.

According to the media, three highly expensive vehicles were set on fire by unknown attackers. At least one of them is one of those phallus-shaped drilling machines, used to rape the earth during pipeline construction processes all over the world. While media photos show this machine completely torched, it is reported that the fires on two other machines could be extinguished, but caused nevertheless huge damages. For sure none of this machinery will be used for the construction of extractivist infrastructure sometime soon, be it at the drilling site near Wedzin Kwa or elsewhere in the world.

Cancel Pride? We’d prefer not to.

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Aug 142022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

At around 9am on Sunday, August 7th, Fierté Montréal informed the public via Twitter that they were cancelling the pride parade. While they initially claimed that there had been an impasse between organizers and the SPVM on questions of ‘security’ following early-morning negotiations, Fierté later retracted that statement, assuring the public that the SPVM had nothing to do with the decision. The current media line coming out of Fierté seems to be that the person responsible for making sure there were enough volunteers on the ground to block off the streets simply ‘forgot’ to do exactly that.

There is something surreal about the speed with which these stories are changing. It should anger us that Fierté can’t give us a straightforward, honest answer. Did they or did they not meet with the cops Sunday morning? What happened between the time they publicly announced that negotiations with the cops had led to an impasse and the time they retracted their statement to assure the public that the decision was, in fact, theirs and theirs alone? Why did Gamache later feel such a need to stress, publicly, how great the SPVM has been? The less said about the narrative according to which someone at Fierté simply ‘forgot’ to come up with 80 volunteers, the better. Why is it that they can’t speak to us plainly?

Angered by the decision to cancel the Parade, queers on social media called for the community to meet at Place Émilie-Gamelin. A spontaneous demonstration, led by queers and anarchists on site, left the square, heading West on Sainte-Catherine Street. There were no paid staff or trained volunteers, but there was a banner, black marker on cardboard, “Queer liberation without authorisation”, and another, “Fuck le cis-tème”. Rather than private security, politicians, or corporate sponsors, we had anti-police chants. We’d like to think the latter put out the right energy, because when we doubled back past the square, the street rapidly filled with more people.

The march continued through the Village, growing in size as it went, and up to Sherbrooke street, where it headed west. The demo was so big that we could never see the back of it from the front; one participant estimates we were at least 40,000 people. Bike cops surveilling the march were overheard telling participants: ‘You really don’t know where you’re going, do you?’ True, but as always, the cops missed the point. Folks might not have known where they were going, but they sure as hell knew exactly what they were doing. Refusing police presence at the march and pushing back against the anti-queer police/security logic which led to the cancellation of the parade, folks chanted, ‘La fierté, sans sécurité’. After the march turned north on Saint-Laurent, folks started chanting ‘Tou.te.s, uni.e.s, contre l’homophobie’, later holding a minute of silence for the victims of HIV/AIDS. The march then headed south and from afar, marchers could see the SPVM’s riot squad gearing up to protect… its headquarters. The march ended at the Quartier des Spectacles, with folks taking advantage of the water-works and blending into the crowd. As the march came to an end, a jock-strap sporting twunk said, ‘You see, this what happens when you say no to the gays’. Indeed.

Earlier that day, the SPVM had taken to twitter to let us know that “like every year, we were ready to oversee the event and we will be there for every edition”. It would seem, however, that very few cops were there for this year’s edition. While the SPVM did have a few bike cops present for the march, it was unable to adequately block streets, outpaced by the spontaneity of the march, as marchers looked out for one another rather than relying on police to keep us safe. This is precisely the kind of scenario that Gamache feared when he made a statement discouraging Pride-goers from joining “disorganized” marches throughout the city. This year, however, neither Gamache nor the SPVM had anything to say about what took place. Let’s make sure it stays this way.

Photo: André Querry

Vancouver: Multiple RBC Branches Targeted #AllOutForWedzinKwa

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Aug 092022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Early Monday morning, several small groups targeted 7 RBC branches spread across so-called Vancouver. We damaged locks, smashed windows, and left messages.

RBC continues to provide funding for the Coastal Gaslink pipeline crossing Wet’suwet’en territory. They are violating Wet’suwet’en law and are complicit in the criminalization of land defenders on their own territory.

We have not forgotten RBC. Lack of media attention will never diminish our hatred for CGL and their financiers. State repression won’t take away the joy of destroying their property.

May we find love and solidarity in the struggle against extractive projects.

Fuck RBC. Fuck the RCMP. No pipelines on Wet’suwet’en Yintah.

A Love Letter To The Wet’suwet’en (And Their Allies) Who Fight For The Land

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Aug 042022

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

We heard some Wet’suwet’en Chiefs were visiting Six Nations territory Tuesday. We appreciate the energy and determination the Wet’sutwet’en have shown towards defending the land and lives of their people. We wanted to welcome them to the area.

We cannot be out west with you, but we are with you from here.

In the night of July 31, 2022 several small groups enjoyed the cool evening and – where opportunities presented themselves – took small actions against local rail infrastructure. We see rail as a colonial imposition, forced upon the territories of Turtle Island (and beyond) to expand colonization – and eventually industrialization and destructive extraction. An attack on rail is an attack on those things, and rail is everywhere and indefensible – so it is also an opportunity that is available to most.

Using various methods such as connecting copper wire between fish plates, smashing hot wheel equipment with hammers, and kicking large rocks into track switches we had ourselves a low stress evening which ultimately endangers no one but ourselves, but does create several annoyances for operators.

You, dear reader, can do any of these things too! We can slowly erode this system, as water will do even to rock.

We remember the rail blockades of 2020. We remember the slow build. The energy. We remember people stepping on to railways and wanting to know what was next: wanting more. They were ready to take a stand for the Yintah. For its people. And against our genocidal government and corporations.

We think it will look different – but believe we can get there again. The same way in which the hottest of fires can overwinter in a tree trunk only to burst forth when the time is right, making way for new life and a new world.

We stand with the Haudenosaunee taking back their land.

We stand with the Wet’suwet’en defending their land.

Welcome to the territories of the Haudenosaunee, Missisaugas, Huron-Wendat, Chonnonton, Erie & Petun people.

Signed,

some people.

Call for an International Anarchist Week of Fun August 14th-21st

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Jul 202022

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

We are tired of being serious. We are bored with dry meetings, solemn marches, and being told to read this or that text written to convince people that anarchism is worth their time. We are exhausted with inaction being the consequence of feeling like we have to get everything right.

As anarchists, what we truly want is everything, but in this very moment, what we really want is to have some fun.

We believe that anarchy should be a verb; not just a set of ideas one thinks inside one’s head but of actual follow through on those ideas. We think that being anarchists means that we should fight for a world worth living in, and we believe that any world worth living in absolutely requires insurmountable feelings of joy. Only we can make it happen.

This is a call to action for an Anarchist Week of Fun. August 14th-21st, we want to see anarchists of all stripes to participate in throwing parties, pulling pranks, letting loose, and having some motherfucking fun.

There are many ways to participate and we encourage creativity & innovation. But, if you’re at a loss for how to have fun (as we tend to be), here are some suggestions;

Throw a party. Have an orgy. Ding dong ditch the mayor. Break stuff. Make a fancy meal for your friends. Climb something real high and see what it looks like up there. Pull a friendly prank on another milieu. Pull a mean spirited prank on the city. Have a dance party in the street. Throw a surprise party for a dog. See if you can put your whole fist in your mouth. Render a parking meter useless. Try hormones for fun. Do a banner drop. Piss on a cop’s grave. Troll an open house in your neighborhood. Shitpost irl. The world is your playground. Get out there and have a good time.

Write a report back & submit it to your favorite counter-info website.

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