Anti-Colonialism

Committees for territorial defence and decolonisation

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Nov 162017

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

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A breach was opened by an now well-known anonymous group . Their autonomous action to reoccupy the territory demonstrated the inseparability of ecological and decolonial perspectives. By blocking Junex’s oil project and by affirming the legitimacy of traditional Mi’kmaq sovereignty on the territory, their action made space for new possibilities of successful struggle. This call to organize is done with the audacious spirit of the first barricades, now fallen.

Since the dismantling of the barricades, the River Camp has become a central anchor in the fight against fossil fuels and fracking in Gaspesie. Beyond being a place of meaningful daily existence, the camp furthers efforts to build a force to oppose the economy of death, brought about by the extractivist state and the fossil fuel industries that it finance. By rallying inhabitants from everywhere in Gaspesie, in the rest of Quebec and the Maritimes, this space has proved that it has great potential in terms of creating encounters and alliances.

In their declaration of support at the Junexit banquet, two traditional Mi’kmaq chiefs wrote that “after the fall of the barricade, the fight has only begun. Relationships are forming between the Mi’kmaq District Chiefs, as well as native and non-native water and land protectors. We call on all groups and individuals concerned for the protection of the water and the land on the territory of Gespegawagi to give their support, and to join the struggle here.”

The call for a week of action was a success in multiple regions, seeing banner drops, occupations, protests, and train blockades. The cause, taken up by ecological as well as decolonial activists, became a symbol of the defense of the territory, of the necessity to protect the land and the forms of life we belong to. “Everything to lose, nothing to gain”. Even more than just opposition to projects of extraction, we want to express our attachment to the territory and the threat oil poses to that which we hold dear.

To think about the follow up of this struggle, and how to continue it, to see how we can contribute to the multiplication of these conflicts, we propose to friends, comrades, allies, and accomplices, to meet where they are – in forms favoring both autonomy and the expansion of the struggle.

Defeating Catastrophe

Ecology and Decolonization

Not a day goes by without another part of the globe ravaged by the phenomenon of global warming, not a day goes by that doesn’t remind us of the dramatic decrease in biodiversity every year. Under the effects of widespread fossil fuel extraction, catastrophe erupts into our daily life, painting a somber future. The derailment of a train full of oil destroys an entire village. Sudden climate change paralyses an entire region. What we call catastrophe is really nothing other than the norm of an economy founded on acceleration and growth.

Fossil fuels, intended to free us from dependance on the sun, have rendered us dependent on the institutions and infrastructures that produce them. Beyond those who want to delay or speed up the end of the world, a spark of life is given shape by combatting projects of the economy of death, and re-inhabiting the world.

Dispossessed, we are disconnected from others, each individual in their little personal situation, blind to the violence needed to keep this system in place. Defending the territory means breaking this little ball. It means to re-learn how to live with that which surrounds us and to work with those who constitute us. To break the normal tempo of the economy, to find ourselves again.

The blockade of Junex’s project in Gaspesie, and the camp that followed, are spaces that allow us to gather and organize ourselves against that which ravages the world. These spaces are linked to the territory, and weave new paths.

But if the disaster that is the oil economy seems self-evident to us, we must remember that from the point of view of native people, the relationship to this disaster is conceived differently. For them, this catastrophe is a reality that has been in process for 500 years. The destruction of the environment goes hand in hand with the dispossession that preceded it. Their perspective reveals the colonial character of modern history. It let us understand that the development of the economy would never have been possible except through dispossession and exploitation. This system still functions today, under the same logic, and Junex is the ultimate example.

To pose the question of defending the territory in “America” inevitably implies thinking about the process through which the extractivist economy and its instututions have been able to grow. This process is colonization, that is to say, pillage, destruction, and occupation of native territories. From an indigenous perspective, defending the territory is therefore inseperable from the struggle for decolonization. In this process, ancestral sovereignties repressed by 500 years of colonization have to be revived and put in the forefront. For the ecological activists, this implies creating non-native worlds capable of living without dispossessing others of land. Through a common struggle against that which threatens us and for the survival of new and ancient traditions, worlds that have up until now been incompatible can meet each other. This meeting must take into account the colonial order,so as to destroy it. By doing this we can address shared problems.

The construction of the “Americas” was nothing other than a long violent process to take over territories and resources. The fossil fuel industry is the new fur trade. The decolonial perspective offers a way to think about this tragedy. To interrupt History, we must block that which creates it – that’s to say, the infrastructure of the extractivist economy. The mobilizing force that can emerge from concrete alliances between the ecological and decolonial perspectives, between natives and non-natives, is the harbinger of a victorious struggle. The possibility to win against this world, and to create others, is in our hands. Let’s seize it!

What to do?

“Moving forward while questionning”

The proposed form of committees is designed to favor autonomy and local initiative. In supporting the River Camp, we believe in the importance of re-territorializing these struggles. The idea of combining defense and decolonization, for us, provides a shared sense of meaning without needing to work in a programmatic manner. Each location, each setting brings a different reality, without a universal solution. This is why we choose a humble path: “moving forward while questioning.” We must use the conditions on the ground to start and expand theses struggles in order to act directly, while also organizing for the long term.To do this, we suggest several directions for the coming months.

I. Know the Territories

It is first necessary to investigate. Practicing investigation means learning how to designate the enemy by making him appear concretely via his plans and policies. We must understand how they think, so that we can identify their endgame and prevent it. This stage, which is already under way, consists in identifying and understanding the projects of the extractivist economy throughout the territory and their links with the colonial program. These links can be found in the current development of the territory and in the omnipresence of extraction infrastructures. The territory is fractured by inequalities and united by a network of communication and transportation infrastructure. It is necessary to grasp its functioning, methods and, more particularly, to understand how this extractivist policy leads to the underdevelopment and loss of sovereignty for the inhabitants of the peripheral regions. In the same gesture, we must bind ourselves to resistance and understand the enemy from the point of view of what they mean. Links should be made between the people who live on the land and struggle to defend it. This involves learning to hold dear to what they love and to hate what threatens them, to share life.

II. Build Autonomy

The extractivist system depends on the circulation of resources from the peripheries to the center. In order to oppose this, our networks must allow us to respond swiftly and join actions rapidly once a call is launched. Building autonomy is first and foremost aimed at reuniting forces to combat what is devastating the territories. It is a matter of instilling a new force in protest movements and reinventing them through old and new traditions; these forms of life which allow us to live on the land necessarily teach us to fight against what threatens it. The effort is therefore multifaceted : to build a combative ecological movement, to support the traditional forms of indigenous sovereignty and to regain power over our lives. To do this, we must make our world habitable, that is to say, to re-discover material means, knowledge, imagination and existential meaning to hold in both desertion and confrontation.

III. Block Flows

To those who live in the city and for whom the world seems impossible to recapture, an important role is to bring confrontation by attacking symbols, infrastructures, enemies that threaten the forms of life we hold dear. In the city, as elsewhere, the modernization and development of the extractivist capitalist economy must be compromised until it becomes untenable. The survival of this economy depends on its ability to (1) extract resources and (2) to circulate them. Our tactical considerations must stem from this simple observation. Our mode of organization must enable us to effectively support the struggles that are taking place on territories beyond colonial borders, to help them to expand and to channel resources that allow their continuation.

We propose these steps in order to multiply blockades and actions in the coming months. The success of the actions that are undertaken will depend on our ability to build strong long-term relationships of trust that enable complicity, and a reciprocity that binds us together. The movement we propose to develop implies a profound deconstruction of the relations of power present between us, infused into our minds by colonial ideology. Thinking about decolonization involves projecting oneself into a broader time period than a campaign or a camp. In the end, we want to make moments when one lives and moments when one struggles inseparable.

Deepening ideas, Furthering the Struggle

The formation of a committee aims to bring those who wish to articulate ecology and decolonization in the fight for the defense of territories together. Committees allow for greater participation and coordination of efforts. They can both support the River Camp and organize themselves on their own territory. To build the committees and prepare to continue the fight against the oil companies, we propose some themes of activities and actions for the coming months. We plan to organize a training weekend and committee meetings in the coming months. In the meantime, it’s about maintaining tension, investigating ongoing projects, and building strong relationships.

Propositions

Organize support for the River Camp : Ensure a physical presence, provide equipment and money. People living in the camp decided to spend the winter there. We must therefore stay aware of the needs that will be expressed in the coming weeks in relation to this challenge.

Investigate and build solidarity : Go to meet people in struggle. It is fundamental to get to know the territorial defense struggles are built on bonds with those who engage in them.

Organizing autonomous actions : Targets and forms of action are numerous. The addresses are easy to find as long as the enemies are identified. Organinzing actions is both a way to connect with each other by including new people and raising the tone against extractivist economy projects.

Organizing discussion around books : For an Amerindian Autohistory / Red Skins White Masks / Carbon democracy. Political power in the era of oil / Wasáse indigenous pathways of action and freedom / The Anomie of the Earth: Philosophy, Politics, and Autonomy in Europe and the Americas / Decolonization is not a metaphor / 1492, the occultation of the other / Coloniality of Power and Democracy in Latin America

Establish fundraising activities : We must finance the continuation of the camp, the struggles in progress and the legal defence of those arrested during the blockage and the week of actions.Il faut financer la suite du campement, les luttes en cours et la défense des arrêté.es du blocage et de la semaine d’actions.

Organize screenings : Kanehsatake, 270 years of resistance / The Restigouche events / Does the Crown want to wage war on us? / For the survival of our children / Our nationhood / Kouchibouguac (List of films on offer available on the NFB website)

Produce agitation and information material : It is important to publicize the activities of committees through posters, leaflets and other dissemination tools. As well as to expose the population to ecological and decolonial issues.

Organize training for action : When time comes to implement actions or intervene in those already in progress, it is fundamental to know how to do it by minimizing the danger that we will run and maximize the one we represent: ABC of an occupation, preparation of medical teams, training in street tactics and survival in the forest, learning how enemy technologies work and those that can be useful to us.

Participating in the organization : During the next mothns, it would be interesting to circulate in the areas that have meant support for the River Camp. We propose to set up a conference tour.

Adopting positions of support in a general assembly

To organize discussions on Camp de la Rivière events with people who participated in the fight: campdelariviere@gmail.com To contribute to the next publications of the newspaper and build the network of committees: cddt@riseup.net

Alton Gas Blockade

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Nov 152017

From sub.Media

During the fall of 2016 Mi’kmaq opponents of the Alton Gas project, supported by non-Indigenous allies, set up a truckhouse along the banks of the Shubenacadie River near the Alton Gas brine dumping site. This year, they set up a Treaty Camp along the entrance to the Alton Gas work site, effective blocking the company from working on the project. This camp continues to this date, and needs on-going support and donations.

For more information, visit the Stop Alton Gas website.

Colonial and Racist John A. Macdonald Monument defaced

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Nov 122017

From the Anti-Racist Resistance Collective of Montreal (CRAM)

(The Anti-Racist Resistance Collective of Montreal (CRAM) anonymously received a link to the following video earlier this morning: https://vimeo.com/242431388 … The video includes a link to the callout below. We are sharing this info with the public, but we are not responsible for this action.)

MONTREAL, November 12, 2017 — On the eve of an important demonstration against hate and racism in Montreal, a group of anonymous local anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-capitalist activists have successfully defaced the historical monument to Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, located in downtown at Place du Canada.

According to Art Public Montreal: “Among the monuments erected to the memory of Macdonald, the one in Montréal is the most imposing and elaborate.” The monument, built in 1895, is also now covered in red paint.

– A video of the action is available here (posted anonymously online on vimeo):
https://vimeo.com/242431388

– Photos of the defaced monument are available here:
http://i64.tinypic.com/63ubfa.jpg
http://i68.tinypic.com/2jdffac.jpg

– A photo of the original monument is available here:
https://tinyurl.com/yctxbyuk

The individuals responsible for this action are not affiliated with today’s anti-racist demonstration (www.manif12novembre.com) but have decided to target the John A. Macdonald statue as a clear symbol of colonialism, racism and white supremacy.

The action today is inspired in part by movements in the USA to target public symbols of white supremacy for removal, such as Confederate statues. It’s also motivated by decolonial protests, like the “Rhodes Must Fall” movement in South Africa. As well, we are directly inspired by protests by anti-colonial activists – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – against John. A. Macdonald, particularly in Kingston, Ontario, Macdonald’s hometown. We also note efforts elsewhere in the Canadian state to rename the schools named after Macdonald, including a resolution by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario who denounced Macdonald as the ‘architect of genocide against Indigenous people.’ The defacing of the Macdonald Monument is also appropriate in the context of the whitewashing of Canadian history this year during the “Canada 150” celebrations, and various calls to action, including the ‘375+150 = Bullshit’ graffiti action this summer.

With all that inspiring and amazing anti-colonial and anti-racist activity targeting statues and other symbols, we decided to make a little contribution from Montreal.

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.

Videos, photos and text of this action have been shared anonymously with some Montreal-area anti-racists, to distribute more widely, and to inspire more on-the-street anti-colonial actions locally.

We also express our heartfelt support and solidarity with the protesters taking today’s streets in Montreal in opposition to hate and racism, as well as the upcoming anti-fascist mobilization to confront the racist, Islamophobic and anti-immigrant La Meute and Storm Alliance in Quebec City on September 25.

Ni patrie, ni état, ni Québec, ni Canada!
— Some local anti-colonial anti-racists.

You Go No Further, Canada

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Oct 172017

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

October 11th, 1869: A hundred and forty-eight years ago to this date, Louis Riel led a group of Métis to confront land surveyors sent by the newly confederated Canadian state. The surveyors came to define new property lines as a first step in Canada’s control over the Red River territory. This group of Métis physically stopped their work while Riel informed them, “you go no further.” So began the Red River rebellion, an inspiring moment in the long, ongoing history of Indigenous initiatives to fight against and survive the spread of colonialism and its genocidal violence across the continent.

We are non-Indigenous anarchists who chose to commemorate this important day in the history of anti-colonial resistance by vandalizing the John A. MacDonald monument in Place du Canada, Montreal. We spray painted Ⓐ FUCK 150 DÉCOLONISONS

The year 2017 marks canada’s attempts to celebrate the past 150 years of its existence. These efforts include the state trying to position Indigenous peoples within this distorted narrative of nation-building founded upon stolen land, attempted genocide and assimilation. In the face of this ongoing colonial nightmare we see only one way forward: decolonization and the end of canada.

Long live the Indigenous peoples of Turtle Island!
Ni frontière, ni état, ni québec, ni canada!
None are free until we all are free!

“Fascism is imperialist repression turned inward”: Decolonize Graffiti

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Oct 092017

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

“…fascism is imperialist repression turned inward”
-Cope (2015) as quoted in Kesīqnaeh

Following Saturday’s “Open The Borders” demo at the Lacolle Border, the message “DECOLONIZE” appeared along a canal wall in an affluent southwest Montreal neighborhood. This piece provides an opportunity to explicitly outline some links between the ongoing struggle of decolonization across Turtle Island and anti-fascist action. In Fascism & Anti-Fascism: A Decolonial Perspective, Kesīqnaeh makes some insightful links to these struggles while questioning the significance of fascism to Indigenous peoples already combatting colonial violence. For the sake of brevity, a few direct quotations are provided below:

Kesīqnaeh states:

“Fascism is when the violence that the imperialist nations have visited upon the world over the course of the development of the modern, parasitic capitalist world-system comes back home to visit.”
[…]
“In the settler colonial context this violence is one that was perfected within the exceptional state of the expansion of the frontier, the clearing and civilizing of Indigenous People to make the land ripe for settlement, and the carceral continuum that has marked Black existence on this land from chattel slavery to the hyperghetto.”
[…]
“To quote the African People’s Socialist Party, ‘our liberation—and that’s what we must win—will only come about by an all-out struggle to overturn the colonial relationship we have with white power’”. [1. African People’s Socialist Party. 2015. “Colonialism Trumps Fascism in U.S. Elections.” The Burning Spear, September 8.]
[…]
“The principal threat then of fascism to colonized peoples is not one that we would move from a state of having not been subjected to violence from every angle to one where we would face that, but rather that the pacing [of] the eliminative and accumulative logics of settler colonialism would be accelerated.”

Contray to the optics of “good citizen/ good patriot” that right-wing Quebec groups construct in the news and social media–for example, throwing up peace signs or copying an anti-fascist demo chant, “toute le monde deteste les racistes”– they are racist, chauvinistic, anti-migrant and ultra-nationalist. These groups’ hierarchal organizational structures, their leaders and members disguise white supremacist values as outrage for the Trudeau government. But, if it’s the liberals they’re after, why mobilize at the Lacolle border? Their inconsistent messaging betrays their true beliefs. We need to pay attention to how they construct their messages (what, how, when they say something, in relation to what other ideas, and the contexts that these messages are communicated in). It’s not only worthwhile to pick apart the extreme right’s arguments to see the ill-informed and porous political analysis they subscribe too, but also, to think deeply about what is assumed and implied because of these views.

“They all thirst for a new frontier, for recolonization, for territories, for a white homeland. In other words, they thirst for the fulfilment of the settler dream…”(Kesīqnaeh, 2017).

Far away as Montreal’s canal walls might seem from this discussion, there are real connections to be made here. “DECOLONIZE” is a piece done by folks involved in anti-fascist organizing and action. Kesīqnaeh states, “if you want to fight fascism, you have to decolonize.” The people behind the canal’s message want this political analysis to be on everyone’s mind who takes up this struggle against far-right groups across Turtle Island.

“DECOLONIZE” performs aesthetically to disrupt the infrastructures that invisibilize the violent colonial processes that have made it possible for condo developments and affluent entrepreneurial shops to emerge while bringing with them residents and patrons who have little regard for the violent structural arrangements they belong to. These infrastructures organize society according to white supremacist aspirations that deploy anti-Indigenous and anti-Black narratives. While fascism may not necessarily appeal to the white wealthy elite, it’s ideological values sustain the privilege and impunity of those who compete for power in this current socio-political and economic climate. These right-wing groups view the state, it’s policing authorities (yup, they clapped when the riot police showed up at Lacolle), and it’s borders as a kind of legitimate power. However, borders are an apparatus of a settler colonial state founded on stolen land, slavery and genocidal politics. This makes borders illegitimate and this is a call to comrades to take action accordingly.

In the Trenches: Pipeline Sabotage against Enbridge in Hamilton

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Sep 232017

From The Hamilton Institute

Pipelines are war; one built from the insatiable greed of corporations which have normalized violence against the land and its living. Our resolve within this struggle intensifies with each audacious assault Enbridge launches; each time they dismiss the concerns and requests of Indigenous Nations. Every court proceeding. Every act of intimidation. Every lie or false claim of safety or necessity. We’ve had enough.

So back when Enbridge started shipping in pipeline segments for their line 10 expansion, we started sabotaging them.

There are vast networks of pipeline infrastructure throughout Turtle Island. They are indefensible; perfect opportunities for effective direct action that harms nothing but an oil company’s bottom line. It’s in this spirit that we found ourselves going for long moonlit strolls through the trenches of the freshly dug line10 right-of-way. Wherever we felt the urge, we drilled various sized holes into pipeline segments while spilling corrosives inside others.

We do this in solidarity with the Indigenous peoples of this area. A people who have been displaced, threatened and murdered since early colonial arrivals – who still continue to face this violence. Who suffer the consequences of this colonial capitalist society and the industries which drive it.

So – to Enbridge: You’re gonna want to replace every last section of line 10 that’s been laid out so far. We say this because we care for the environment, and don’t care about you – so take it seriously. And for every dollar you pursue from Indigenous Nations or individuals for defending their territories, we aim to cost you ten. #sorrynotsorry

To the public: It’s up to you to hold Enbridge accountable – in everything they do. Don’t let them risk your lives by installing pipelines they now know to be compromised. Don’t let them risk lives by installing pipelines, period.

And lastly, but not least, to our comrades and co-conspirators:

A How-To from the heart

You’ll need 1 a decent cordless drill, 2 a good smaller-gauge cobalt or titanium drill bit – preferably with a pilot point, and 3cutting oil. [Oh, the irony!]

With a righteous sense of adventure, prove your stealth ninja skills by getting into the right-of-way. Once you’re in there you’re pretty invisible from the road so long as you’re not fluorescent, adorned in glitter of fucking around with a headlamp too much. Take a breath, take a look, and then find your way to an empty pipeline and start drilling! Go slow [so there’s less noise, reverberation, and friction] and apply enough pressure so that you see metal shavings coming up – and then keep at it for 10 to 15 minutes. Cutting oil will help the process along by keeping the drill tip cool and effective.

Have fun. Stay safe.
And get the fuck out there!

Montreal Against Junex: When All Else Fails, Block The Rails

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Sep 232017

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On Sunday September 10, we mobilized in solidarity with the ongoing resistance against the extractive oil industry in Gaspésie, in particular, Junex and its investors. Corporations like Junex (and their investors) collude with provincial and federal governments. These collaborations exemplify how neoliberal capitalism (as the current economic and political context) functions to sustain the settler-colonial state of Canada. Recently announced legislation allowing for drilling and fracking in rivers and lakes within so-called Quebec demonstrates such complicity to the point of absurdity – the state no longer seems to even care about making it appear that its role is neutral in paving the way for the poisoning of water and land for capitalist profit.

The demonstration met at Cabot Square, whose name was denounced, and a Mi’gmak flag was hung from the colonial statue, as well as a banner that read “Colonisateur ≠ explorateur” [coloniser ≠ explorer]. The first part of this demo wound through downtown before reaching St. Henri. Chants rang out of “Les pétrolières nous font la guerre, guerre aux pétrolières” [The oil industry makes war on us, war on the oil industry]. Some individuals within the demonstration had the goal of reaching the rail crossing at rue Courcelle just north of St. Jacques in order to set-up a temporary blockade. Several times in this south-west neighbourhood the police tried to control our movements, and force us to move in the direction of traffic. However, we evaded their attempts in creative and celebratory ways. There are fews things that can compare to the rush of exhilaration and playfulness some of us felt while out-manoeuvring cops on bikes, in vans, and on foot.

At a critical moment, and to the surprise of the bike cops, the demo veered off St. Antoine and north towards the rail tracks. This part of the demo erupted into a victorious sprint to the tracks where we quickly took the space, set-up the parameters of our blockade, and began serving food. Shortly after, a Via Rail passenger train came into view. This created a lot of concern amongst many people on the tracks–not all trains can stop so quickly. There was a real risk of people getting hit by the train. Freight trains cannot make such stops, taking long distances before coming to a complete stop. The section of rail it would have passed was quickly cleared, but fortunately for us it came to a stop and nobody was injured, and we managed to hold the tracks for over an hour. Police attempts to establish communication with ‘our leaders’ were met with trolling and hostility – police exist to serve and protect the ongoing colonial genocide that ‘Canada’ depends upon. We made the decision to exit the site collectively on our own terms in order to minimize the potential for arrest. Three people face charges for alleged participation in this demonstration.

The demo and rail blockade was a victory. We achieved our goals in creative and ad-hoc ways even when faced with moments of adversity. We put our bodies on the line to show solidairty with those confronting and resisting Junex and their fracking project in the Gaspésie region. It’s not enough to sing songs and sign petitions, we must put real pressure on the infrastructures and people that enable the settler state and society to continue its rampage of the land and indigenous bodies. We respect a diversity of tactics: that’s why the demo in general was a success. People showed up at Cabot Square representing a variety of left-leaning ideologies and ideas about activism. This, in turn, enabled other actions to happen within this space. As a result, we walked away with a feeling of how powerful even a small group of committed people can be against the state, the police, and the corporations.

The following text was read aloud before the demonstration took the streets:

This protest is an answer to the Camp by the River’s call for a week of actions against ‘resource’ extraction economy in Gaspesie, mi’kmaq territory. After the occupation of Junex’s office in Quebec, this grassroots protest wants to spread the word about the ongoing struggle. The ‘resource’ extraction economy’s drilling projects are threatening the waters and the forests, declaring war against all forms of life inhabiting the territory. Taking sides for other possible worlds, we are blocking the streets of the metropolis to bring back to the face of this world the territorial conflicts it created by pillaging the resources it requires.

We are marching in solidarity with the mi’kmaq people, whom Junex’s and Petrolia’s oil drilling projects confront again with 500 years of brutal colonialism. We refuse to dissociate the question of territories from the decolonial struggle, because the existence of the Dominion of Canada’s political and economic institutions was born from colonialism. Just as Shunbenacadie’s (so-called Nova-Stotia) Mi’kmaq Treaty Truck House is fighting Alton Gaz’s destructive project, the Camp by the River wants to break down the colonial corporation’s grip on the territory. To do so, we must collide with existing bounds with the territory and the ancestral forms of sovereignty which undermine its exploitation and pillaging. For all those reasons, we support the Mi’kmaq Traditional Council and the Mi’kmaq Warrior Society, who have been relentlessly fighting institutions imposed by the colonizers.

We also support Kahnawake and Kanehsatake warrior struggles, and acknowledge that Ti:otake (the island of Montreal) is their territory, and that it once was, before the settlers arrived, a meeting place for indigenous peoples, Kanienkeha:ka, Anishinaabe, Mi’kmaki and Wyandot.

In our defence of the land and the rivers, we aim towards decolonization and support the ongoing struggles. If we are marching today, it’s because one month ago a group of native and non-natives took action and concretely blocked Junex’s drilling project by building a barricade. The central role of oil in the canadian economy was revealed by the sheer quantity of material and effectives deployed by police to put an end to the barricade. The next week, the swat, supported by a SQ tank, took back the land liberated by the earth and water protectors, arresting one of them, Anishinaabe Freddie Stoneypoint. We are also here to denounce this political repression.

Canadian and Quebec institutions relentlessly promote and support the ‘resource’ extraction economy. This situation demands that we find new ways to organize and think our relationships. We can no longer dialogue with what entirely depends of what is killing the territory.

The solidarity we are building will have to take the offensive. What we are trying to protect and the current situation require serious means. The ‘resource’ extraction economy is vulnerable, since its infrastructures are spread over all the territory. By blocking this economy, we are taking the basic means to live and decolonize Turtle island.

If we want to strengthen solidarities across the territory, we must voice History’s most horrible and concealed truths. That’s why our protest begins at Square Cabot, in Montreal, where the city and the State wished to celebrate so-called explorer John Cabot. This servant of english imperialism was never more than the starting point of the biggest genocide in history, just like Cartier for the French. The existence of this statue is an insult to all the peoples who continue their struggle to liberate themselves from their colonial chains.

Ipperwash Crisis in Five Minutes

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Sep 232017

From Sub.media

On September 6, 1995, the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) violently attacked the occupation of the Ipperwash Porvincial Park, by members of the Stoney Point Ojibway band, shooting and killing indigenous land defender Dudley George. But George’s death was not in vain, and to this day, the members of the Stoney Point Band continue to live on the former army base in Ipperwash. As part of our series “Indigenous Resistance in Five Minutes” historian and comic book artists, Gord Hill retells the story of Ipperwash.

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This video features music by Savage Fam. It wad edited by Larry D and shot by Tamo Campos. QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill, OPIRG Guelph, OPIRG Carleton and the Leveller generously supported this project.

This video was produced by sub.Media in so called “Montreal”

Banner drop: no to oil industry plundering

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Sep 182017

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!

Camp de la rivière – some security measures regarding comrades, accomplices, and allies

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Sep 112017

From Camp de la rivière – Galt-Junex

We would like to remind everyone about some security measures regarding comrades, accomplices, and allies. After demonstrations, actions, or any kind of activity that could lead to repression, it’s essential to not publish or publicize photos of the events. If you think it’s absolutely necessary to publish photos, please blur the faces and any distinctive signs that could help identify individual participants. Even if photos can contribute to spreading the struggle or help with legal action taken against the police, they can equally be used by the police and the judicial apparatus to repress actions that we see as important and necessary. Please note that even if they are not made public, pictures could be seized by police in the context of an investigation and trial. It is also important to understand that some people, for various reasons, do not want to be photographed. Given this, in terms of our ethical framework, we find it problematic to spread and circulate photos that implicate comrades, without their consent.

Creating a secure environment allows us to establish a network of trust at the heart of public political actions, and with this, we can take joyous, communal, and diverse actions!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESVY7IOYqBw

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