Anti-Colonialism

Call to Disrupt the Nature Champions Summit

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Apr 012019

From Printemps tout le temps [Facebook page]

April 24th and 25th, Montreal will host a “Nature Champions Summit” bringing together “major philanthropists, business leaders, non-governmental organizations, United Nations agencies, Indigenous leaders and environment ministers from around the world”.

While the planet burns, the poorest populations suffer the violent consequences of ecological disasters, and animal species rapidly disappear, politicians hope to gather peacefully for one more congress. We don’t need yet another summit organized by the Canadian state, known for its extractivist economy, and which just bought a pipeline for 4.5 billion dollars, telling us that a “new partnership” between a handful of ministers and major capitalists will save us from the climate crisis. These “Nature Champions” are responsible for the catastrophe in progress. There is no way we can let them continue to administer disaster with their hollow promises.

April 24 and 25, 2019, let’s disrupt their summit! Let’s multiply actions and demonstrations to show that the “Nature Championship” will be won by those who defend the water, the land, and all that lives on it, not by those that exploit them.

Queen Victoria Statue in Montreal attacked with green paint in advance of Demonstration Against Racism and Xenophobia

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Mar 242019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Montreal, March 24, 2019 — A landmark bronze statue to Queen Victoria, unveiled in 1900 and located on Sherbrooke Street at McGill University, was vandalized last night, in advance of the upcoming Demonstration Against Racism and Xenophobia.

Queen Victoria statues in Montreal were targeted at least three times last year: this past Christmas Eve by Santa’s Rebel Elves, on Victoria Day by the Henri Paul Anti-Monarchy Brigade, and on St. Patrick’s Day (2018) by the Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade itself.

According to Séamus Singh of the Brigade: “This year we decided to wait one week after St. Patrick’s Day, to better time our action with anti-racist organizing in Montreal.” The Brigade emphasizes, however, that they are not involved directly or indirectly with the organization of today’s important anti-racist march.

Lakshmi O’Leary, also a member of the Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade, explained: “Actually, we had to spend a considerable amount of time to remove the thick plastic covering which has kept the statue hidden since December, when it was covered in red paint on Christmas Eve.” She added: “We left the hood on Queen Victoria’s face, since, if Irish and Indian anti-colonial rebels in the last century had their way, she would have been properly hanged for her crimes.”

The Brigade asserts that the presence of Queen Victoria statues in Montreal are an insult to the self-determination and resistance struggles of oppressed peoples worldwide, including Indigenous nations in North America (Turtle Island) and Oceania, as well as the peoples of Africa, the Middle East, the Caribbean, the Indian subcontinent, and everywhere the British Empire committed its atrocities.

The statues are also an insult to the legacy of revolt by Irish freedom fighters, and anti-colonial mutineers of British origin. The statues particularly deserve no public space in Quebec, where the Québecois were denigrated and marginalized by British racists acting in the name of the putrid monarchy represented by Queen Victoria.

Queen Victoria’s reign, which continues to be whitewashed in history books and in popular media, represented a massive expansion of the barbaric British Empire. Collectively her reign represents a criminal legacy of genocide, mass murder, torture, massacres, terror, forced famines, concentration camps, theft, cultural denigration, racism, and white supremacy. That legacy should be denounced and attacked.

Last night’s action is motivated and inspired by movements worldwide that have targeted colonial and racist statues for vandalism and removal: Cornwallis in Halifax, John A. Macdonald in Kingston (Ontario) and Victoria (BC), the Rhodes Must Fall movement in South Africa, the resistance to racist Confederate monuments in the USA, and more.

In the words of another Delhi-Dublin Anti-Colonial Solidarity Brigade member, Udham Connolly: “Our action is a simple expression of anti-colonial and anti-imperialist solidarity, and we encourage others to undertake similar actions against racist monuments and symbols that should be in museums, not taking up our shared public spaces”

Séamus Singh concludes: “This time, however, we are not asking for this statue in particular to be taken down; as long as it remains vandalized with green paint, with Queen Victoria’s head in a hood, it can stay up.”

John A. Macdonald Monument in Montreal vandalized on International Day Against Racism

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Mar 222019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

MONTREAL, March 17, 2019, 5am — At dawn today, on the International Day Against Racism, the racist and colonial John A. Macdonald Monument (1895) was again vandalized with paint.

This time, the #MacdonaldMustFall group in Montreal claims responsibility. Our action is undertaken in solidarity and support with worldwide actions and mobilizations against racism and fascism, including #UniteAgainstRacism demonstrations across Canada, coordinated by the Migrant Rights Network.

The vandalism this morning marks at least the sixth time that the Macdonald Monument has been vandalized in the past two years (previous actions, by our count, on November 12, 2017, June 27, 2018, August 17, 2018, October 7, 2018, and December 24, 2018).

The #MacdonaldMustFall group reminds the media: John A. Macdonald was a white supremacist. He directly contributed to the genocide of Indigenous peoples with the creation of the brutal residential schools system, as well as other measures meant to destroy native cultures and traditions. He was racist and hostile towards non-white minority groups in Canada, openly promoting the preservation of a so-called “Aryan” Canada. He passed laws to exclude people of Chinese origin. He was responsible for the hanging of Métis martyr Louis Riel. Macdonald’s statue belongs in a museum, not as a monument taking up public space in Montreal.

Macdonald statues should be removed from public space and instead placed in archives or museums, where they belong as historical artifacts. Public space should celebrate collective struggles for justice and liberation, not white supremacy and genocide.

Help Build a New Resistance Camp on Wet’suwet’en Territory!

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Mar 202019

From Sovereign Likhts’amisyu

Likhts’amisyu Spring Construction Camp: APRIL 28, 2019 – MAY 18, 2019

The Likhts’amisyu Clan, one of the five clans of the Wet’suwet’en Nation, will soon be asserting their sovereignty by creating a new, permanent land reclamation on their territory. In doing so, they are requesting support with their upcoming Spring Construction Camp, scheduled to begin on April 28th, 2019.

For almost ten years, the Wet’suwet’en have been resisting an array of oil and gas pipelines with the purpose of transporting bitumen from the Alberta tar sands and fracked gas from Northeastern B.C. to the Northwest Coast for export. The focal point of these efforts have been the Unist’ot’en Camp, a long-standing territorial re-occupation which was built directly in the path of the proposed pipeline corridor. Years of resistance have caused multiple multi-billion-dollar projects to be delayed and/or cancelled, however, this winter, the Coastal GasLink pipeline corporation obtained an injunction, and in January, the RCMP raided the Gidim’ten Access Checkpoint, which had been established on the road leading to the Unist’ot’en Camp. Several days later, CGL and the RCMP breached the gate at the Unist’ot’en Camp.

It is important that people realize that this fight is far from over. The events of December and January should be regarded as one phase in a struggle that has been going on for a decade. A new phase of struggle will begin in the Spring of this year, and it may prove to be the decisive one. Part of the strategy is to stymie CGL by blocking them at multiple points. Whereas at the beginning of December, there was one resistance camp on Wet’suwet’en territory, there are now three, and a fourth will be beginning soon. We encourage all committed land defenders to plan to participate in the struggle on Wet’suwet’en territory this Spring and Summer.

The Sovereign Likhts’amisyu Camp benefit from the leadership of two renown warrior chiefs, Smolgelgem and Dsahayl. Smolgelgem (also known as Toghestiy and Warner Naziel) co-founded the Unist’ot’en Camp and has been a driving force in the Wet’suwet’en resistance, and in the indigenous sovereignty movement of Turtle Island. Dsahayl, also a Likhts’amisyu chief, has decades of experience fighting for Wet’suwet’en rights, particularly in regards to fishing and conservation. The two of them are organizing with the full support of their clan behind them.

The new Likhts’amisyu Camp will be strategically located in order to impede the ability of the Coastal GasLink corporation to force their pipeline through Wet’suwet’en land.

The chiefs state: “We will be building permanent buildings on our territory in an effort to assert our precolonial rights and jurisdiction on our lands. We will be asking for help from volunteers to assist in fundraising, building a cabin, a kitchen dining and a bunk house, and also the associated outbuildings.

We plan on the Construction Period being between April 28th until May 18th. This initiative will likely start with site prep before April 28, 2019 with site preparation and logistical planning. It will also likely continue after May 18, 2019, with finishing off the construction projects.

We are looking for people who have carpentry, electrical, and log construction experience. We are also willing to invite people who have little to no experience with any construction trade skills but who are solid and willing to help out with the construction projects. This is a great opportunity to learn new skills off of skilled trades people. We also hope to start a large garden on the site for growing food. First Aid skills and Cooking skills are also essential personnel to have at our camp.”

We are also requesting help in other areas as well, such as fund-raising. If you would like to offer assistance in any way, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

For more information, please visit www.likhtsamisyu.com or email likhtsamisyu@gmail.com and/or lihtsamisyu@riseup.net.

Open Letter to Climate Strikers

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Mar 152019

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

Preface: We wrote this text to distribute at a climate strike demo on Friday, March 15th. It’s a work in progress, but we wanted to share it ahead of time in case it inspires others to steal some or all of these words for cities elsewhere. Change it to fit your context.

First of all, thank you. Thank you for giving a shit. For deciding that there are futures worth fighting for, even when the future being imposed on us looks increasingly bleak. The good news is that you are here, with your body, along with so many others around the world. Today we have a chance to acknowledge that we are connected to each other and to the living and non-living beings on this planet, in ways that are far more complex and beautiful than any #hashtag could express.

Every few days, another horror story, or another prediction, reminds us that we’re facing an existential threat. Experts no longer study how to prevent climate change, instead they discuss how we might mitigate its effects. We already know that everything is going to change. The question for 2019, for this generation, is: change towards what?

The vultures are already circling.

Corporations ask, “How can we profit?” Whether it’s tapping new oil reserves under the melting glaciers or marketing a ‘green’ product to make us feel comforted, their goal is always profit.

Governments ask, “How do we stay in control?” Whether it’s expanding surveillance programs, or encouraging ‘democratic dialogue’ so long as nothing gets out of hand, their goal is always to consolidate power. The most advanced governments today will do this in the name of combatting climate change. Here in Canada, the government isn’t quite so sophisticated, and still pushes for massive expansions of fossil fuel infrastructure and mining projects, forcing them on indigenous people at the barrel of a gun if they can’t be bought.

Politicians, including some aspiring ones who call themselves ‘activists,’ ask how the growing fear and discontent might be exploited for personal gain. History clearly demonstrates that if we allow these people to lead our movements, they will pull the plug at precisely the moment that we become a real threat to the existing order. Those in power rely on funneling our rage towards dead ends. Let’s get organized, but not behind politicians trying to sell us the latest Hope™.

We don’t know exactly what a ‘better world’ could look like. But like you, we feel that we have to try. We don’t want to just feel like we’re on “the right side of history,” a narcissistic trap. We want to be effective, within an ethical framework that values freedom, autonomy and solidarity. Let’s start taking seriously the idea we might actually have an impact. To that end, we propose a joyful, strategic, and fierce resistance that might include these ingredients:

Transformation, not reform. Capitalism is killing the planet. It is a system based on endless growth, and only serves the rich and powerful. No lifestyle change or government reform is going to touch that. It’s gotta go. Those in power will not simply be persuaded to change their ways and give up the wealth and power they have accumulated through centuries of patriarchy, colonial plunder, and mass exploitation.

The police stand in our way. Maybe you already hold your breath when a cop drives by. If not, remember that even the friendliest cops have to follow orders or get fired. Police are the violent defenders of this rotten system. To even make a dent, many people will have to break a lot of laws, and not just in the “arrest me for the cameras” kind of way.

Let’s build lives worth living. We’re cynical, but we are not hopeless. When we refuse to resign and instead build lives worth living now, we see glimpses of a different future, and start to feel compelled to defend ourselves. We want collective lives rife with empathy, creativity, and openness.

Thank you, again, for showing up. This is the beginning of a long road, or maybe a tightrope. Let’s walk it together, trying to avoid the traps that lay ahead.

– some anarchists

Banner Drop in Solidarity with Unist’ot’en

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Mar 152019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

14th of March, 2019
Tiohtiá:ke, so-called Montréal

This morning at 7:34 AM at the intersection of Papineau and St-Grégoire streets, a banner with the writtings “Solidarity with Unist’ot’en” was erected on a viaduc.

This action is a symbolic gesture in relationship to the 15th of march, on this day two importants protests are to be held, the student protest in defense of climate and the protest against police brutality.

It is important to remember that day in and day out, native peoples find themselves everyday on the frontlines defending against environmental colonialism defended by the police and state institutions.

On the 7th of January of this year, RCMP agents dismantled by force the access point Gidumt’en of the unsuceeded territory of the Wet’suwet’en nation, where is located the Unist’ot’en camp. The native peoples protecting the access point were brutally removed from their territory by the armed forces of the RCMP in order to allow the start of the construction work of the pipeline (Costal GasLink project) of the TransCanada company.

The Unist’ot’en camp, established on the Wet’suwet’en territory since 2009, is an important living environment, that holds a healing center by reconnection to the environment. One of the camps roles is to assure a presence on the territory in order to protect it from the many high-environmental-risk projects that are planned without the consent of the first-nation peoples. Up until now, the presence of the camp has lead to the abandonnement of many pipeline projects.

This banner drop is also a denouncing the hypocrisy of the Trudeau government. The prime minister feigns reconciliation with the first nations, while remaining silent when faced with the recent events in Unist’ot’en. Moreover, his support for the numerous environmentally damaging projects demonstrate an opportunistic immobilism that defies all logic in the current environmental crisis.

“The invasion of the Wet’suwet’en territory by TransCanada is but one example among many that proves the proximity between climate violence, police brutality and native struggles. This banner is a reminder of the convergence between theses struggles as well as a message of solidarity with the peoples who are currently fighting in Wet’suwet’en territories” cries a participant of this action.

RCMP FUCK OFF: Hamilton in Solidarity with Wet’suwet’en

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Feb 042019

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

Late last night as many had their eyes glued to screens cheering on the Patriots in the Superbowl, a small crew of pals got busy taking on one symbol of so-called Canada’s nationalism: the RCMP. Within just minutes a handful of determined folks had destroyed all electronic keypad entries to the building, filled the manual locks with superglue and toothpicks, and dismantled the entry and exit systems to their gated police vehicle lot. Along the west windows we left what we came to say: “RCMP OFF WET’SUWET’EN LAND”.

It has been 21 days since the violent invasion of RCMP into unceded Wet’suewet’en territory, but the armed siege has not ended. This action was intended to bring the battle a little closer to home, so we targeted the Stoney Creek detachment. It’s easy to de-prioritize the many struggles taking place across continents, but it’s always worthwhile to trace the roots of broader struggles closer to home. The RCMP continue to enforce a court order that has no legitimate standing, allowing TransCanada and Coastal GasLink to begin pre-construction for a 670km pipeline through unsurrendered homelands and a healing centre. While the initial spectacle begins to fade urgency remains; people are being removed and kept from their homes at gunpoint, traditional traplines are being destroyed, medicine and berry gathering areas bulldozed, and the pristine land and waters are becoming contaminated with diesel. The RCMP are doing their job as per usual, protecting state and capital. By having the audacity to set up a temporary detachment and checkpoint, they are only further criminalizing those trying to live on and protect their own territories.

Things cannot go on like this: let this action serve as a reminder of the importance of taking action – no matter how small – in the face of colonial capitalist exploitation. The Wet’suwet’en being forced to open their gates to industry under threat from the state was not consent, it is merely an opportunity for allies and accomplices to take action.

Get your friends together, stay up all night scheming, and even when you’re tired GET EVEN!

Attacks against OSHA Condo Advertising Billboards

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Jan 262019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Last night and the one before, different crews bombarded the colonial-themed advertising billboards for the new condo project OSHA with paint.

The OSHA Condo project is simple: the destruction of Hochelaga. How? With the arrival of more than 200 condo units (selling for between $200 000 for a 2 and a half and more than $500 000 for a 4 and a half). Meaning 300 to 500 more yuppies in our neighborhood, and in a particularly sensitive location home to many of those tossed aside in recent decades by different real estate developments. The arrival of opulence, where misery reigns. Raising the number of cops and patrols, of expensive eco-ethico-responsible-biodegradable stores, of chic restaurants daring to name themselves “Les AffamÉes” (“the starving”) in one of the largest food deserts in Montreal. A social cleansing in every respect.

Adding insult to injury, the owners decided to use an indigenous theme. The billboards’ use of an image of the encounter between peoples reinforces the idea of a peaceful and consensual exchange between colonizers and first peoples. We shatter this image. The Americas were built in violence. Montreal is a city made possible by a genocide. Its modernization rests since its foundation on the exploitation of stolen land. The OSHA condo project is only the latest, most pathetic example.

And you thought we would let you do as you like? The plurality of groups currently organizing against the construction of these condos testifies to the feeling of anger, widely shared in the neighborhood, against this latest offensive of gentrification. In the months to come, the forms of contestation and sabotage will multiply. Despite the advances of gentrifying projects in Hochelaga, an expertise of struggle against them has developed, and there is no doubt we will put it to use.

These attacks are just a first warning
We are many and we are determined
These condos don’t stand a chance

Weak Points of Canada’s ‘Resource’ Exploitation Economy

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Jan 142019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

“Observant individuals can easily identify many such critical bottlenecks across Canada. They share several common characteristics:

they are of immediate and significant value to businesses and governments;
they concentrate valued resources or essential economic functions;
they are located at the intersection of related transportation systems, thus allowing protesters to use their scarce resources efficiently;
most are far from major national security resources and forces, thus complicating the deployment and maintenance of these forces;
most are close to First Nations communities that would likely be neutral if not active supporters of insurgents and would provide safe-havens and logistical support to main participants;
all are high profile assets the disruption of which would attract (for governments) troublesome national and international political and media attention; and
all are vulnerable (i.e., value multiplied by the ease of disruption).”
– Canada and the First Nations: Cooperation or Conflict?

For more info on the weak points, check out:

Transportation Infrastructure in Canada

Vulnerable Infrastructure Bottlenecks by Province

20 Worst Traffic Bottlenecks in Canada

Jacques Cartier Bridge Blocked in So-Called “Montreal”

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Jan 132019

From sub.Media

At 8:00am on the morning of Jan 8th, a group of roughly 25 people shut down the Jacques Cartier Bridge – a vital transportation corridor in so-called “Montreal” – in response to the RCMP’s attack on the Wet’suwet’en.

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