Good Night Atalante

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Aug 192019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On the night of August 12th, 2019, three members of Atalante Quebec were attacked.

Atalante is a small group of fascists whose members have taken part in numerous attacks in recent years (starting with the knife attack at the Coop L’Agité in Quebec City). The group takes inspiration from CasaPound in Italy and Bastion social in France in an attempt to revive fascist ideology. Its members are antisemitic, homophobic, transphobic and colonialist. They shall not pass.

Roxanne Baron and Jonathan Payeur had their Jeep destroyed (windows smashed and skunk juice sprayed inside).

Jean Mecteau had his home and tattoo shop vandalized (NAZI SCUM and 161 (Antifascist Action) graffiti and black paint on his door and windows).

Why them?

Any of the members or sympathizers of Atalante could have been targeted. This time, it struck these three pieces of trash.

Roxanne Baron and Jonathan Payeur are members of the Quebec Stompers, the street gang associated with Atalante. Jo is also a former anti-racist skinhead who crossed to the wrong side. Today he considers himself Atalante’s sergeant-at-arms, he was the one who accompanied Baptiste Gilistro and Louis Fernandez, two young recruits, during the attack on the LvlOp bar in December 2018.

Jean Mecteau is the bassist of the band Légitime Violence, the leading group of the province’s fascists. He is also the owner of the tattoo shop Jhan Art, and he frequently does tattoos with Nazi or fascist references for his friends.

This action is in solidarity with all the victims of the far right, in Quebec City, Hamilton, Montreal, Lyon and everywhere else.

Vague Bleue 2: Xenophobes Suffer an Epic Defeat in Trois-Rivières

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Jul 302019

From Montréal Antifasciste

The second edition of the “Vague bleue” (Blue Wave), a marginal social movement drawing in the xenophobic and Islamophobic dregs from the national-populist milieu, took place on the 27^th of July in Trois-Rivières. Since the first edition that took place in Montreal on the May 4^th, Montréal Antifasciste has documented the individuals and groups that took part in the xenophobic protest, including its “security” contingent, who is little more than a collection of cranks fantasizing about beating up antifas.

The Vague bleue 2: about 75 xenophobic clowns walk in Trois-Rivières. Photo credit: Francois Giguère, from Facebook.

Unfortunately for them, the second edition was an epic failure. While 300 people showed up to their Montreal event, the Vague bleue 2 in Trois-Rivières barely attracted 75 people. Many groups were notably absent, including La Meute, the folkloric losers from the Front patriotique du Québec, and the pseudo-militiamen of the Groupe de Sécurité Patriotique.

The security team surrounding this second edition was made up of a handful of people from Steven Dumont’s entourage in Storm Alliance and the pathetic “Les Gardiens du Québec” crew. It is definitely worth noting that Les Gardiens du Québec now counts white supremacist Michel “Mickey Mike” Meunier amongst its members, and although he was only admitted to the group a few weeks ago, just before the protest he helped get his bonehead friend Joe “White Poser” Arcand into the group as well. With these two new members, the true colours of the so-called Guardians of Québec are starting to show.

The Vague bleue 2 ends up in a parking lot… Photo credit: Casse sociale

After having their protest literally diverted by the antifascist/antiracist mobilization, the VB2 found itself (again) in the middle of a parking lot, isolated and unnoticed. During the open mic segment of the day, Diane Blain (the person notorious for screaming nonsense at Justin Trudeau in 2018) gave an extremely racist speech that summarizes perfectly the essence of what most VB2 participants (and the wider national-populist movement) think:

“We have so many enemies here, in Québec: the federal government, federast (sic) journalists, the Muslims, the Jews, the Anglos, the Sikhs…”

Her speech was filmed and subsequently shared hundreds of times in less than 24 hours, before Youtube deleted the video as hate speech. This stuff is so unbelievable it can’t be made up.

Of final note, Pierre Dion, one the national-populist milieu’s mascots, was arrested before the march even started, allegedly because he sent a private message to TVA “journalist” Yves Poirier to the effect that “Trois-Rivières, on the 27^th, I’m going to be there, and there’s gonna be blood everywhere.”

Police are here to protect…

A massive police presence was deployed in the heart of Trois-Rivières, essentially to repress the antiracist counter-protest and to let the 75 clowns from the Vague bleue protest in the city with their message of exclusion. In addition to the riot police spread out all around the city center, we saw a drone flying above Des Forges Boulevard, as well as SQ and local police boats on the river (photo credit: André Querry).

SQ blocks the way to the anti-racist demo. Photo credit: Annie Ouellet

At around 1:30PM, some SQ riot police squads arrived with their vehicles and surrounded the TRès Inclusif counter-protest to keep it from leaving its departure point, resulting in the classic game of cat and mouse in the streets, with the antiracist/antifascist protest managing to elude the riot police and get to the spot on Des Forges Boulevard where the Vague bleue march was supposed to end. The riot cops gradually formed a perimeter to contain the 150 or so counter-protesters (left at this point) in this spot, which led to a few minor incidents, including the SQ using pepper spray at least twice.

At this point, the VB’s plans had already been thwarted, and the SQ was forced to reroute their march into a parking lot a bit to the east.

We know that the police outright lied to antiracist organizers on multiple occasions:

They said that only the municipal police would be deployed, not the SQ; in fact, the SQ were there in large numbers and were clearly calling the shots.
They were told that the antiracist protest couldn’t take place at Place du Flambeau, because another event was taking place there; this wasn’t true and the square was empty.
They were told that the pedestrian section of Des Forges Boulevard wouldn’t be blocked; not only was it blocked in multiple places, access was also blocked a few blocks deep in every direction. Multiple people reported having their bags searched before being allowed to enter the area’s perimeter.

Of equal note regarding the collaboration between the authorities and the VB2 was the provision of a city bus to bring the protesters back to their starting point. Here they are from inside the bus, trying very hard to sing a shitty song from the sixties:

A successful mobilization for antiracists and antifascists

Anti-racist demo occupies the space where the Vague bleue was supposed to end its march, in front of the Frida coffee shop. [Cover photo credit: Annie Ouellet]

On our side, between 200 and 250 people from multiple antiracist and antifascist groups and collectives from Trois-Rivières, Montreal, Quebec City, Ottawa, Sherbrooke, and elsewhere came out in force in response to TRès inclusif’s callout, successfully putting forward a message of inclusivity and thwarting the Vague bleue 2’s plans in Trois-Rivières.

After a few minutes of confusion and difficulty agreeing on a plan (primarily complicated by the creeping police buildup, which voided the initial plans for the protest), a spontaneous rush by the antifascist forces helped the protest elude the police, get to Des Forges Boulevard, and seize the supposed end point for the Vague Bleue 2 protest, the space in front of Café Frida (the coffee shop that had been harassed and threatened by the organizers of the VB2 over the preceding weeks).

After a few tense minutes face to face with the SQ, a breakout group of 20 antifascists was able to get to the upper level of the promenade, where they could look down on VB2’s depressing parking lot party and mock the participants.

A poster put up in Trois-Rivières by the TRès inclusif collective. Photo credit: François Giguère

One final note: it’s important to mention the huge work of preparation, information, and mobilization that was done between the two Vague bleue events, notably by TRès Inculsif and Montréal Antifasciste, but also by other antiracist and antifascist groups, whether in person or online and on social media, to counter the xenophobic and Islamophobic discourse being spread by the VB participants. A special shout-out to the comrades who pushed through a final demobilization effort by creating fake accounts of the VB2 organizers 48 hours before the event in order to spread confusion and doubt about whether or not the event was cancelled. The always brilliant John Hex call this tactic a “cyber-attack” by “the oligarchy.” Lol. Nice work!

The usual media bungling

The mainstream media totally ignored or weren’t interested in the Vague bleue phenomenon, partly because the nationalist-populist crowd are obsessed with conspiracy theories about the media and refused to speak to them this time. That said, the two articles that came out about the VB2 were particularly terrible. The Radio-Canada article displayed a blatant disregard for research, while the one in the Nouvelliste was a VB2 puff piece, incredibly including an extremely racist quote from Stéphane Gagné (Trois-Rivières’ narcissistic racist who calls himself “General Lee of the Mauricie”), and a second quote from an Amnesty International representative who felt it important to mention that “antifacists were looking to make trouble”, while “the Vague bleue wasn’t looking for confrontation”. Question to Amnesty International: Are we to understand that a calm racist and xenophobic protest is better than a disruptive antiracist and antifascist protest? Is Vickie Schneider’s quote (which racists will use to their advantage) an official Amnesty International position? (Update: Amnesty International issued a statement on July 30 condemning “the hateful comments made at the Vague bleue rally in Trois-Rivières” and stating that Vickie Schnieders was “speaking in her personal capacity and that her comments do not reflect Amnesty International’s official position”. Thank you for this clarification, it is appreciated.)

Our work is only beginning

As we’ve written before, the present situation in Quebec is far from good for those of us who care about the health and quality of our society. The CAQ’s regressive orientation regarding immigration and the way it forced through the Loi sur la laïcité de l’État are signs of a government that shares the political aims of racist and xenophobic groups like those that organised the Vague bleue. Furthermore, it’s not insignificant that while the SQ was essentially doing the work of Trois-Rivières’ xenophobes, François Legault (the premier of Quebec) was promoting Mathieu Bock-Côté’s book on Twitter, agreeing with the reactionary sociologist’s outdated brand of nationalism.

While the Vague bleue organizers are already talking about a third edition in Quebec City, it seems likely that the anti-racist movement we are trying to build across the province will have to mobilize again in the coming weeks, months, and unfortunately, perhaps even for years to come.

A small exercise…

The absolutely wild trip that is the Vague bleue crowd’s online banter has already gotten people used to their tenuous grasp of the French language, so we’re not going to focus on that.

Let’s see if the people who think they represent “the people” are any better at math: 75 clowns in a population of 8.3 million people represents what percentage of “the people”?

Answer: 0.00001%

You’re not “the people”. You’re 75 clowns.

Atalante and Its Supporters — Part 3: Louis Fernandez et Baptiste Gilistro… the French Factor

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Jul 262019

From Montréal Antifasciste

Since the article “Unmasking Atalante” came out in December, we’ve produced two follow-up articles concerning, respectively, the “influencer” Heïdy Prévost’s and the folk band Folk You, two cultural (or metapolitical) phenomena at the periphery of Atalante. It is difficult to precisely measure the impact our work might have on the morale and activities of this neofascist group, but we have noted fewer public outings in recent months, and those that did occur appeared to involve the same small hardcore group of militants, with the exception of a recent photo-op in Montréal, where clearly every possible sympathizer was mobilized for the occasion.

While some of those involved had no inhibitions about openly displaying their adherence to a fascist-inspired ideology, a number of the members and sympathizers we have already exposed chose to stay in hiding under their rock. It should come as no surprise, then, when we continue to shine a light on this pile of Nazi shit.

Deprived of any respectability and finding its political ambitions blocked, in recent months, Atalante’s core group seems to have fallen back into the violent subculture from which it originally emerged. Unable to effectively establish the organization locally, Atalante members are traveling overseas more often (particularly to France and Italy) and further developing their ties to international fascism, as can be seen by the French NSBM band Baise Ma Hache coming to Québec in June to play a concert with Légitime Violence. (A concert that, it should be noted, was disrupted by antifascists, who forced the fascists to chaotically regroup and hold their concert later that same evening at Bar Le Duck. No love lost here for the bar’s management, who welcomed the Nazis with open arms. Don’t hesitate to let them know how you feel about that.)

Even the launching of Atalante’s first book, Saisir la foudre [Ride the Lightening], last March, occurred without any fireworks, which is not normal behaviour for this group, which barely exists outside of social media and generally trumpets even its most minor exploits with carefully staged grandiloquent photo displays. Could it be that this first opus fell far short of its author’s intellectual ambitions. You’ll forgive us for thinking that that is probably the case.

In reality, it would seem that Atalante as a political organization has become a sideshow, while the street gang at its origin, the Québec Stomper Crew, is breathing new life — particularly since a sad little Nazi from France decided to join!

>> See “The Québec Stomper Crew, Rock Against Communism, and Légitime Violence” section of the “Unmasking Atalante” article.

It’s no secret that the Stompers have cultivated an intimate relationship with violence. There are reasons to believe that gaining admission to the“crew” is contingent upon a rite of passage or initiation that involves committing an act of aggression or other crime in the group’s name.

We could cite the example of Yannick Vézina (alias Yann Sailor), who seems to have become a full-patch member of the Québec City Stompers shortly after participating in an attack on an antifascist militant.

In a more recent example, it seems that Sven Côté (alias Svein Krampus) got his official colours on the evening of the attack on the Page Noire book store, in December 2018.

Group photo of the Québec Stomper Crew, in December 2018. In the middle, Sven Côté, freshly “patched”.

In recent months, we have easily identified two other Stompers “prospects,” one of whom has even received his gang colours. Both of them come from France and are among the rare new Atalante members: Louis Fernandez and Baptiste Gilistro.

Hit a CEGEP student and win your colours!

Louis Fernandez came to our attention after his December 2018 arrest for a physical attack on a young client at the Lvlop bar in Québec City. This violent act seems to have been motivated by hate (he asked his victim several times if he was “antifa” before pummeling him). Although police found an Atalante sticker in his wallet, the twenty-five-year-old Fernandez denied any knowledge of the group. We can now assert that it is beyond doubt that Louis Fernandez knows the members of Atalante intimately, as he became an official member of the Québec Stomper Crew following this attack.

Un preview d’Instagram, Louis Fernandez reçoit ses couleurs du Québec Stomper Crew, juin 2019.

Louis Fernandez receives his Québec Stompers colours in this Instagram preview, June 2019.

Un preview d’Instagram, Louis Fernandez exhibe une bague figurant l’emblème « White Power », juin 2019

Louis Fernandez shows off a “white power” ring in this Instagram preview. With Sven Côté and Roxanne Baron, June 2019.

Louis Fernandez s’entraîne avec des militants d’Atalante, juillet 2019

Louis Fernandez training with Atalante militants, July 2019.

Unsurprisingly, a summary examination of his tattoos proves that Fernandez is a genuine neo-Nazi “de souche.” Here he is moving his pisspot leader Raf Stomper’s washing machine:

Tattooed on his left arm, Louis Fernandez has an effigy Léon Degrelle, a Belgian Nazi collaborator much admired by European neo-Nazis, and the insignia of the Légion française des combattants, an organization created by Marshal Pétain during the Vichy regime that cooperated closely with the Waffen-SS. On his chest he sports a tattoo of a pair of Doc Martens with white laces, a symbol used by “old school” boneheads to show their support for “white power.”

“Ça ne colle pas, je suis un fils d’immigré et immigré moi-même” [It doesn’t add up. I’m the son of immigrants and an immigrant myself], Fernandez said at his bail hearing. However, here he is easily recognizable taking part in an Atalante postering run. At least it’s not one of the numerous anti-immigrant posters the group has produced and posted over the years…

Louis Fernandez participe à une action d'affichage avec Atalante, hiver 2019.

Louis Fernandez participates in an Atalante postering action in, winter 2019.

On Monday, July 29, Louis Fernandez must make a court appearance at the Palais de justice de Québec to answer charges related to the Lvlop attack. It would appear that Fernandez was released with a certain number of conditions, including that he not consume alcohol. We truly hope that no one sees the photos and videos of “Lou” with his little comrades, beer in hand and clearly inebriated. A video posted only a few days ago shows him chilling in France, sipping pastis.

Louis Fernandez fait bonne chaire avec le noyau dur d’Atalante et des Québec Stompers, mars 2019.

Louis Fernandez enjoying a meal (and beer) with the Atalante and Stompers hard core, March 2019.

Louis Fernandez, bière à la main, avec Roxanne Baron et Jonathan Payeur.

Louis Fernandez, beer in hand, with Roxanne Baron ad Jo Payeur in June 2019, in Raphaël Lévesque’s new backyard, June 2019.

Louis Fernandez (dans la cabane), bière à la main, le jour du déménagement de Raphaël Lévesque. À genoux, Baptise Gilistro.

Louis Fernandez (in the playhouse), beer in hand, on the day of Raphaël’s Lévesque’s move. Kneeling, Baptise Gilistro.

We know that on the evening of the attack at Lvlop, Louis Fernandez was not alone. According to witnesses, he was with at least two other people, including Jonathan Payeur (alias Jo Stomper), an Atalante underling and one of Raphaël Lévesque’s minions. We also know that he was in the company of a couple, one of them a young student from France who has previously been spotted at Atalante actions: Baptiste Gilistro.

From Toulon to Québec: another French immigrant expatriate fascist!

Baptiste Gilistro is a twenty-three-year-old student from Toulon, France. He comes from a bourgeois family and is the son of a top-level member of the French army, Colonel Thierry Gilistro (who now works for Dassault Aviation. A shout-out to dad while we’re at it!). During his graphic design studies at the Université Laval, Baptiste met Étienne Mailhot-Bruneau (alias Sam Ox), Atalante’s graphic artist and a member of the Québec Stompers. A quick look tells us that they have collaborated on a number of school projects and shared a prize when they completed their bachelor’s degree. It would appear that Baptiste is still studying at the Université Laval. (It’s worth noting that as part of his studies he produced a video clip for Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project, a fairly left-wing band.)

Baptiste Gilistro, with family.

We know that Baptiste Gilistro is no stanger to Atalante’s hard core, because he has been socializing with them for over a year now. He has also taken part in a number of street actions and hikes out in the bush with Atalante members (… as well as being complicit in an assault against lefty students!) It seems he only got closer to the Québec Stomper Crew over time, since he’s been spotted at most of their private events, including Raphaël Léveques’ move to a new home.

Baptiste Gilistro participe à une action de distibution de vivres d’Atalante, en janvier 2018.

Baptiste Gilistro during an Atalante action in June 2018, June 2018.

Baptiste Gilistro en randonnée avec d’autres militants d’Atalante, en juillet 2018.

Baptiste Gilistro during an Atalante action in June 2018, June 2018.

Baptiste Gilistro avec une partie du noyau dur d’Atalante et des Québec Stompers, à l'hiver 2019.

Baptiste Gilistro with some of the Atalante and Stompers core group, in the winter of 2019.

Baptiste Gilistro participe à une action d’affichage d’Atalante, en janvier 2018.

Baptiste Gilistro participates in an Atalante postering action in January 2019.

Baptiste Gilistro avec une partie du noyau dur d’Atalante, date mars et en avril 2019.

Baptiste Gilistro with some of the Atalante’s core group in March and April 2019.

The inevitable debacle continues…

Nothing is going according to plan for Atalante: its leader Raphaël Lévesque probably dreamed of a show trial following the Vice Québec affair, but the attack at the Lvlop and Louis Fernandez’s involvement may be about to steal the show. The kind of media noise that its members’ escapades attract to the organization is far more likely to undermine its legitimacy process and distract it from its political objectives than to generate the positive attention it needs to grow.

You can count on us to insist on rooting them out. We have not said our last word.

To sum up, it can be said that: 1) Louis Fernandez is a full member of Atalante and the Quebec Stompers following the Lvlop attack; 2) this assault was not a fortuitous act, but a premeditated attack motivated by political reasons, and; 3) Atalante can only recruit and retain in its ranks a minority of characters gravitating towards neo-fascist circles.

Solidarity Statement with Cedar Hopperton and the Radical Queer Community in Hamilton

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Jul 012019

From Montréal-Antifasciste

Two weeks ago, the LGBTQ2 community in Hamilton, Ontario, was targeted for a unprecedented attack by a coalition of individuals from fundamentalist Christian groups and far-right groupuscules like the Wolves of Odin, the “Yellow Vests,” and the Canadian Nationalist Party.

Furthermore, the tense relationship between the radical queer and trans community and the police in Hamilton was exacerbated by the manifest indifference police showed to the far-right trolls, instead moving against the queer and trans folks who took measures to defend themselves… while giving the far-right attackers a free hand!

Since June 22, Cedar Hopperton, a trans anarchist militant deeply involved in those communities, has been on hunger strike while being detained for “breach of conditions.” The police accuse them of having violated their conditions by participating in a “demonstration” (a gathering that was part of the LGBTQ2 Pride celebrations in Hamilton, last June 15). The fact is that Cedar was not at this event, and everything suggests that the Hamilton police are dogging Cedar because of numerous public anti-police statements, particularly in opposition to a police presence at events organized by the LGBTQ2 community.

On the afternoon of June 15, the violence began when the abovementioned far-right militants gathered at the edges of the Pride parade, in Gage Park, to intimidate and harass participants and their allies, reciting Bible passages and shouting anti-LGBTQ2 slogans. The radical queer and trans community had anticipated this (there was a similar incident in 2018) and had built a screen out of fabric that stood several meters high to block from view any acts of intolerance directed at the parade. However, some of those intent on disrupting Pride, annoyed about having their harassment disrupted in this way attempted to skirt this barrier, eventually coming to blows with parade participants. Obviously, our comrades couldn’t let this happen without defending themselves. During the resulting melee some of them were seriously injured, primarily by the attacks of two individuals among the far-right trolls, Chris Vanderweide and YlliRadovicka, alias John Mark Moretti.

In subsequent days, rather than seeking to apprehend the authors of this very well documented violence, Hamilton police chose to target our comrades who defended themselves! As well as Cedar, four other people were arrested and released on promises to appear.

It’s worth noting that as the police allowed them to run rampant the same far-right bags of shit descended on a Toronto Pride event on the weekend of June 22–23 to deliver the same sort of violence upon members LGBTQ2 community and its allies.

These events took place in a context where, since a militant demo was held on March 3, 2018, the Hamilton anarchist community has been targeted repeatedly by both the police and the far-right groups active in southern Ontario. The anarchist space The Tower has been vandalized a number of times, raids have been carried out, and far-right trolls brag online about providing police with anarchists’ personal information.

Clearly, these far-right attacks are unacceptable, and obviously our comrades will defend themselves with the means at their disposal. That the police chose to act against the victims of the violence who were doing nothing more than defending themselves, rather than the authors of the violence, only serves to prove that the police feel no real solidarity with the LGBTQ2 community, and any statements that suggest they do are nothing more than public relations on the part of an institution that has proven itself to be profoundly hostile to the aspirations of minority groups. This is more evidence that social movements cannot and never should have any confidence in the police services.

Montréal Antifasciste and its sympathizers and allies wish to express their unshakeable solidarity with the Hamilton LGBTQ2 community and demand the immediate release of Cedar Hopperton and that all charges be dropped against all those arrested for actions to defend the LGBTQ2 community on June 15.

¡No pasarán!

Montréal Antifasciste, June 28, 2019

Update: Chris Vandeweide was finally arrested on June 26^th… as well as two more members of the queer community who defended Pride, bringing to five the number of queer comrades arrested for defending themselves.

“Vague bleue,” the Last Stand of Québec’s Far-Right Soldier Wannabes

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Jul 012019

From Montréal-Antifasciste

When the so-called Vague bleue [Blue Wave] began it seemed like a breath of fresh air for the identitarian nationalist movement, however it now appears that the organizers failed to draw the lessons of the last several years and are intent on repeating the same mistakes.

After the first edition of the Vague bleue (VB1) in Montréal, on May 4, 2019, a number of far-right voices (e.g., Alexis Cossette-Trudel, from Citoyens au Pouvoir, and Donald Proulx, of the Parti Patriote) were heard criticizing the presence of militias with paramilitary affectations at a gathering meant to be family friendly and open to all. The presence of these organizations was the sole reason Montréal antifascists mobilized in such large numbers to oppose the event. This particular point of discord opened fissures in the alleged unity of this new identitarian coalition.

With only a month until the “Vague bleue (part 2)” (VB2), called for Trois-Rivières, on July 27, which is shaping up to be even sillier than the first edition, Montréal Antifasciste is taking the opportunity to put names to the faces of these different “security” teams (who find themselves encased by hundreds of cops every time they mobilize) and of the “paramilitary” groups that fancy themselves Québec’s future army, but which have the discipline of a litter of kittens and arm themselves with material sold online for paintball enthusiasts.

Notably, all these self-important, wanabe “security” goons make up about a quarter of the Vague bleue as a whole…

Groupe Sécurité Patriote (GSP)

The GSP began as the security team of the tiny Front patriotique du Québec clique, but under Robert Proulx’s stewardship increasingly established it’s autonomy. Made up of about fifteen people with a handful of sympathizers, the GSP specializes in providing “security” at far-right demos and events, going as far as working with the Soldiers of Odin, an anti-immigrant group that includes neo-Nazis among its members. Following a squabble with the Canadian chapter of the III% paramilitary militia, part of the Québec III% chapter joined the GSP. Of all of the groups of this kind that mobilized for VB1, the GSP is the largest and most obstreperous. Its members are extremely fond of taking group photos, particularly posing with a “Action antifasciste” flag that the police seized and gave to them during a demonstration in Ottawa in 2018. One regular member of the GSP security team, found loyally at his post at VB1, is Stéphane Dufresne, the Rambo from Saint-Charles-Borromée who suggested carrying out false flag terrorist attacks “pour réveiller les crisse d’endormis” [to wake up the slumbering idiots].

Its membership is stable, but GSP has tense relations with a number of groups and individuals. Following the tiff mentioned above, it is likely that GSP won’t be part of the VB2.

If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Robert Proulx	Christian Quevillon	Bob Giroux	René Beaudreault
Sylvain Lacroix	Jo Michaud	Stéphane Dufresne	Denis Fortin
Jean-Pierre Colerette	Vicky Graveline	Mario Dallaire	Robin Simon
Patrick Picard	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
Name unknown	Name unknown	GSP

Ragnarok Nordique Society (RNS)

RNS is an odd little group, made up of a handful of losers from various groupuscules, including Martin Fontaine (alias Rednek Fontaine and Rednek Breault), former member of that flash in the pan La Horde, a splinter from La Meute that never really got off the ground. RNS’s original project was to found an (obviously white) survivalist community in the Laurentians. We spotted RNS members at VB1 in full paramilitary regalia, looking like renegade GI Joes from the burbs. Martin Fontaine was also at the GSP picnic on June 8, easily recognized in his tactical vest emblazoned with the surname “Rednek.” In reality, it seems that RNS is more about role playing than about any genuine political project, but nonetheless we will continue to keep an eye on these pseudomilitary survivalists with open ties to the far right and its ideas.

For the reasons mentioned above, it is likely that RNS will not take part in the VB2. If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Martin Fontaine

Éric Dionne

Keven Molloy Gohier

Ragnarok Nordique Society

Les Gardiens du Québec (LGDQ, and its so-called “On-the-Ground Organizational Support”)

This tiny group of militant Islamophobes formed around the family of Martine Tourigny and Stéfane Gauthier (from Bécancour), with Guillaume Bélanger, Nathalie Vézina, and a few others, is seen as the key organizer of VB1, because the movement’s initiator Jonathan Héroux, alias John Hex (from Trois- Rivières), is to all intents and purposes the sole member of his groupuscule, “Le Québec Libre en Action.” These so-called guardians of Québec took advantage of the Vague bleue to promote themselves and recruit some new members, including the infamous Luc Desjardins, key among the rabid conspiracy theorists of the utterly bizarre “Gilets jaunes Québec,” and a very close friend of both the notorious Islamophobe Pierre Dion and the loud and proud white supremacist Michel Meunier.

Stéfane Gauthier	Guillaume Bélanger	Carl Dumont	Nathalie Vézina
Luc Desjardins	Jean-Marc Lacombe	Medrick Tourigny	Richard Sauvé
Name unknown	Les Gardiens du Québec (just that…)

Défense Fortifiée Storm Alliance

Storm Alliance, John Hex’s launching pad and an organization he remains very close to, provided key Vague bleue organizers (among them Nadia Fradette, alias Nadia Dumont) and some muscle (in the form of its DFSA security team), while nonetheless keeping a certain distance. Nonetheless, we couldn’t help but notice that Storm Alliance members were out in great numbers at VB1. DFSA, led by Steven Dumont, Storm Alliance’s second in command, is a fairly standard security team that openly exhibits a ready willingness to get into it with its opponents.

If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Steven Dumont	Éric Trudel, head of Storm Alliance	Dave Tregget, founder and former head of Storm Alliance	Mario Roy
William “Dou”	Nancy Sirois	Stéphane Laflamme	Michel Meunier
Gérald Bédard	Patrick Bilodeau	Alex Maltais	Mikky Poitras
Yannick Veilleux	André Lavigueur	Vincent Hamel	Natacha Pelchat
Bruno Lemay	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
Jean-Philippe Labbé	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown

La Meute

Even though La Meute was discreet in its participation in VB1, we easily spotted a number of them in the “phantom” security team (no colours, dressed like your average Joe and Jane) gathered around Stéphane Roch, one of La Meute’s key leaders until the recent implosion. François Cousineau, the leader of Clan 06 (Montréal) made an appearance as well. Always fretting about its image, this has become the established La Meute strategy: send a few people so they can say “we’ve been here from the beginning” should the Vague bleue actually gain some traction, but not sporting their colours lest the whole thing become a boondoggle —a strategy that hasn’t stopped the group from eviscerating itself internally for the past few weeks, to our great satisfaction.

If you have information on the members of this group, please write to alerta-mtl @ riseup.net

Stéphane Roch, member of “the Guard”	François Cousineau, “Gardien” of Clan 06, Montréal	Mario Millaire	Tonio Sergerie
William Johnson	Rhoda Bourque	Bertrand Jocelin	Alain Giroux
Name unknown	Alias June Leloup	Name unknown	Name unknown
Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown	Name unknown
La Meute’s “security” crew at the Vague Bleue.

Miscellaenous characters …

Jonathan Héroux, aka John Hex, the Vague bleue’s main organizer.	Stéphane Gagné, aka the General Lee of Mauricie, a rabid islamophobic goofball, who’s also onenly racist and sexist.	Guy and Denis Boulanger, of the Front patriotique du Québec.
Donald Proulx, of the Parti patriote.	Maxime Morin and Guillaume Beauchamp, the duo behind far right video project DMS.	A random douche with a t-shirt of neo-fascist organization Atalante.
David Leblanc, a notorious white supremacist, member of the Soldiers of Odin Québec, wearing a “The North Race” sweatshirt.

The Vague bleue, a Futile Attempt to Revitalize an Islamophobic Far Right

A year ago, we would have been unsettled by the emergence of a phenomenon like the Vague bleue, but these days the whole thing seems to be falling apart all on its own. After having met with firm and unwavering resistance in Montréal, losing access to their sound truck and being confined in small area (a strategy that seems to have paid off for antifascists!), public pressure forced the organizers to postpone Vague Bleue 2 in Trois-Rivières.

Even if the Vague bleue arrived a little too late, it’s pretty clear that the ideas of the national-populist groups that it represents have made inroads to the very heart of power with the election of the CAQ and the passing of anti-immigrant and Islamophobic laws. In this regard, it is interesting to note that at the moment that Bill 21, which constrains people from wearing religious symbols, passed at the Assemblée Nationale, the most visible far-right organizations (La Meute, Storm Alliance, etc.), with their extremely convoluted vision of the secularism underlying this law, are in disarray and/or decline, while some other groups have recently disappeared altogether.

While there are things to celebrate about this debacle, there is a clear risk of these national-populist groups will restructure themselves in new ways and push for increasingly discriminatory measure against religious minorities and immigrants.All the more so, given that they will find a government ready to listen, if not entirely sympathetic. And that is why we need an antiracist and antifascist struggle now more than ever.

The work has only begun. Join us in this struggle!

Solidarity with Pride Defenders, Free Cedar!

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Jun 272019

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

On June 15th, 2019 in Hamilton, “Ontario”, Pride was attacked by a group of far-right homophobes, christian fundamentalists, neo-nazis, and queer bashers. As they did in 2018, they arrived with massive homophobic signs and banners, and immediately began to scream insults and slurs. They aggressively harassed individuals, made jokes about rape, and threatened physical violence. Things quickly escalated as the bigots violently confronted people who were holding a fabric barrier in an attempt to block them from disrupting Pride. Initiated by the far-right activists a brawl broke out – queers who refused to allow their presence to go unchallenged were attacked, but fought back. Several friends were injured and required medical attention. The police did nothing during this hour-long conflict, and only stepped in at the end when there was nothing left to do. The haters knew they couldn’t sustain their presence any longer, and welcomed the police escort out of the park. After being kicked out of Pride, this same group chased and assaulted queer youth in the neighbourhood, and then went on to attack people at Toronto Pride the following week.

Since these events, the Hamilton Police have felt quite threatened – communities that feel empowered to use force to defend themselves undermine their unquestionable authority. Over the course of the last week, the police have consequently been targeting and harassing known queer anarchists in the city as punishment for folks standing up for themselves. Our dear friend Cedar (who wasn’t even present at the event!) was arrested on Saturday, and was on hunger strike for five days. They will stay in jail until a lengthy probation hearing, a vengeful and punitive measure carried out by the police because Cedar publicly criticized the police’s actions. Later this week, two other queer friends have been arrested and charged with probation breaches based on suspicion of being present at Pride. Not a single homophobe was charged all week, despite the widespread circulation of their names, faces and videos of their violent actions, until public pressure finally forced the police to charge Christopher Vanderweide with assault with a weapon. We oppose the colonial prison system, but the repression the police directed to those they suspect as Pride defenders first is once again truly revealing of their age-old position and purpose: protecting racists, misogynists, and homophobes.

Queer might involve our sexuality or our gender, but to us it means so much more. It’s a territory of tension that we must defend. We stand in solidarity with Cedar and those accused in connection with this event, as well as any queers held in prison for bashing back. As queers and trans people, we know that our existence has been fought for bravely by those who have come before us, not only against homophobes and neo-nazis but also against the police.We remember Stonewall as a four-day anti-police riot and an explosion of gay trans anger birthing the way for liberation movements to come. We know that queer and trans homeless youth and sex workers face police repression constantly on the streets and that queer people, especially those who are racialized, are disproportionately attacked, criminalized, incarcerated and even murdered. Our existence will continue to be threatened unless we fiercely defend ourselves, our friends, as well and the spaces we create. None are free until all are free.

Drop all charges against pride defenders, free Cedar now!

For Background:
https://north-shore.info/2019/06/19/hamilton-pride-2019-reportback/
https://north-shore.info/2019/06/22/this-is-why-you-werent-invited-hamilton-police-target-queers-fighting-back/
Fundraising is needed for legal fees!
Please donate here: the-tower.ca/donate or thetower@riseup.net

On Guilt & Innocence: A Response to Arrests Following Hamilton Pride

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Jun 242019

From North Shore Counter-Info

Statement by The Tower

It’s been a very intense and revealing week since Hamilton Pride. We helped our friends heal, debriefed our strategies, and circulated as much information about the people who attacked us as we could. The videos and statements have gone viral, the outrage is visceral. Homophobic white nationalists attacked Pride, they were confronted by a huge group of queers, the police did nothing and then took credit for stopping the attack, the mayor backed the police despite hundreds of witnesses, and the homophobes walk free. While the helmet-wielding maniac who smashed our faces continued his crusade in Toronto, posing for celebrity pictures with a new helmet and brutally attacking at least one more person (you can watch the video here: http://anti-racistcanada.blogspot.com/2019/06/violence-after-pegida-march-northern.html), the police were busy banging on the doors of known queer anarchists in Hamilton, lurking in backyards, and shaking down our entire community.

On Saturday they arrested Cedar Hopperton for allegedly violating their parole conditions, and later issued a press release that accused them of attending the Pride events and confronting the bigots. This only magnified the outrage, and over a hundred people came together that night outside of the police station to demand Cedar’s release. Others participated in a phone zap that flooded the police station with hundreds of calls demanding they let them go. Social media has exploded with condemnations of the arrest, and people of all political stripes seem to agree on one basic fact: criminalizing people who defended Pride from vicious right-wing attacks is fundamentally wrong.

But here’s the thing: Cedar Hopperton was not at Hamilton Pride. They weren’t masked up, they weren’t there holding a sign, and they weren’t involved in any confrontation. They weren’t there at all. They weren’t anywhere close to Gage Park that day. Instead they stayed home and offered support to those who left the park bloodied, battered, and shaken. As the papers reported, they did come out with supportive statements of those defending pride during an LGBTQ advisory committee meeting in the days after. Standing at a pedestal in city hall, Cedar argued that police are not and should never be part of the queer community, and applauded those at pride who stood up for themselves in the face of violence. Cedar’s arrest is a clear and calculated retaliation for these statements, and an attempt to muddy the waters by equating what happened at Pride with what happened on Locke Street last year.

Because of the way the legal system and the media work, their revenge has already done it’s damage. National news covered the fact that Cedar Hopperton was arrested for their involvement in a confrontation at Pride Hamilton. Even some of Cedar’s supporters carried the narrative (understandably), explaining that “Cedar was only there defending queer people”. The police fabricated a story, and within 24 hours it had become a national truth.

Despite the fact that they weren’t at Pride, Cedar could spend weeks in jail just waiting for a parole hearing in order to make their case. In order to speed this process and apply pressure on the Hamilton Police, Cedar has begun a hunger strike. We don’t have any other details as of now, but we know that since being arrested on Saturday morning Cedar hasn’t eaten anything. We need people to mobilize around this, to help spread the word, and to make sure Cedar’s case doesn’t get lost in the weekly news cycle.

To be clear, this isn’t about Cedar’s “innocence” per se. We know the word “criminal” is only used to devalue someone’s actions or humanity, and we don’t believe that breaking a law makes someone either good or bad. We are putting this statement out because we feel that it is important to state publicly: the claim that Cedar was involved in the events that took place at Hamilton Pride is categorically untrue and unfounded. At the same time, that doesn’t mean that other queers that may be arrested should be supported on the basis of innocence. What folks did that day at Pride was self-defence and they do not deserve to be arrested. We need to be upset at the police for falsely accusing Cedar AND for targeting those of who were there and tried to protect our community.

The police have said it repeatedly to the media, they aren’t finished. They’re almost certainly going to arrest other people who were involved in defending Pride, with or without evidence. Like Cedar, we too will feel the sting of arrest, the trauma of strip searches, the horrors of jail, and the humiliation of a bail hearing. The police will continue to do everything they can to get us fired from our jobs, to terrify our families, and jeopardize our housing. At no point will any of the cops involved be held accountable. That is what the police do. Often they exercise this kind of routine violence without even being seen, but this time all eyes are on them. Queers across the country are watching Hamilton right now to see how this unfolds. Hamiltonians are fuming mad about the naked injustice of this situation. People aren’t as easily tricked or distracted as the police would like us to be.

The most threatening thing to the police are communities that feel empowered to use force to defend themselves because it undermines the thing they hold most dear – their unquestioned authority. The arrests and intimidation being used by them now are punishment for us standing up for ourselves.

This is far from being over. Please stay diligent. Please keep holding the police accountable and watch for updates about others who may be arrested. The amazing feeling of being in this together has been the most validating and important thing to us. And Cedar must have felt amazing hearing the fireworks being set off yesterday outside the jail. Thank you, thank you, thank you for your solidarity.

For Background:

Hamilton Pride Report Back

https://north-shore.info/2019/06/19/hamilton-pride-2019-reportback/

Statement on Police Targeting Queers

https://north-shore.info/2019/06/22/this-is-why-you-werent-invited-hamilton-police-target-queers-fighting-back/

Atalante and Its Supporters—Part 2: Folk You! And the Far-Right Infiltration of Folk Music

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May 292019

From Montréal Antifasciste

Recently Montréal Antifasciste published a long exposé on the neo fascist organization Atalante Québec. The article discusses the group’s international ties, as well as identifying key members in Québec City and Montréal.

The section devoted to the Rock Against Communism (RAC) band Légitime Violence made it clear that for recruiting purposes this sort of organizing inevitably strives to make inroads into certain milieus, especially the countercultural music scene, metal music in particular, tattooing, politics, the universities, and the computer gaming world. As such, the work of identifying these people has only begun.

In the coming months, we will be publishing a series of short articles titled “Atalante and Its Supporters.” Our goal is to expose public figures who are members or close sympathizers of Atalante, and who play a role in popularizing and normalizing the organization.

In this second part, we will be focusing on the folk scene and introducing you to the group Folk You!, three of whose members have links to the far right, and to Atalante Québec in particular. These links go a long way to explaining why Légitime Violence have an assured place to play when they want to do a show in Québec City: Studio Sonum.

Sylvain “Vevin” Cloutier, the “Repentant”

Sylvain Cloutier, alias “Vevin,”with his tattoos of the Ste-Foy Krew, 1488, et the black sun on proud display.

The most recent photo on Sylvain “Vevin” Cloutier’s Facebook page shows him sporting a t-shirt of the far-right metal band Graveland. The photo is datedJanuary 25, 2019 and was taken at a concert by his group Neurasthene.

“De suprémaciste blanc à chanteur folk” [From White Supremacist to Folk Singer] is the title of a March 2018 Le Soleil darticle devoted to Sylvain Cloutier, the vocalist in the group FolkYou. This article is part of the musician’s alleged redemption after his many years as part of the most radical wing of the far right in Québec City.

Ste-Foy Krew, the Fédération des Québécois de souche, neo-Nazi bands like Prison Bound, Elyab, and Dernier Guerrier have all had the “student with a BA in music from the Université Laval” in their ranks. He has also showed up in groups like La Ferraille, where he dressed up like a pirate.

“Être un gros chr… de raciste et être un nazi, c’est stupide. Du racisme et du nazi, tu n’en trouveras jamais dans Folk You.” [Being some big fucking racist or being a Nazi, that’s just stupid]“Vevin” Cloutier insists, adding: “S’il y a des gens qui veulent me faire tomber moi, fine, mais pas le reste de FolkYou. Je ne veux pas que la m…. retombe sur le reste de mon band, car ils n’ont absolument rien à voir là-dedans” [If there are people who want to take me down, fine, but not the rest of Folk You. I don’t want that shit sticking to the rest of my band, because it has absolutely nothing to do with them].

Our research tells us that that statement is total crap. In fact, it didn’t take a lot of work to uncover not one but two other white supremacists who have been associated with Folk You from its very inception

Sylvain “Vevin” Cloutier (on the right) with Atalante member Mathieu Bergeron. The photo was taken at a Légitime Violence concert at Studio Sonum. Note that Cloutier is wearing a neo-Nazi Vinland Misanthropic Division t-shirt.

“Steve Rebel”, the co-founder

Founded in 2014, the hard core of Folk You seems to be Sylvain Cloutier, Félix Latraverse, and someone who calls himself “Steve Rebel.” While it’s not always easy to clearly establish the links between the far right and Folk You, that isn’t the case when it comes to Mr. “Rebel.”

Steve Rebel 4

In fact, the banjo player proudly flies his “1488” tattoo on his knuckles. His most recent Facebook profile photo doesn’t leave a lot of room for doubt about his neo-Nazi allegiance nor does his Totenkopf patch.

A quick explanation, “1488” is code used by neo-Nazi militants of every stripe since the eighties. The 14 refers to the “Fourteen Words,”a quote from David Lane, a member of the neo-Nazi paramilitary group the Order, and the 88 stands for “Heil Hitler” (H being the eighth letter of the alphabet). As to the Totenkopf, it was the symbol worn by the Nazi SS officers in charge of the concentration camps during Hitler’s reign. That doesn’t leave a lot of questions unanswered.

Oddly, it seems that “Steve Rebel” left the group a few weeks before the publication of the Soleil article, in 2018. Coincidence?

Félix Latraverse, le guitariste

16387370_10158220159355422_6093589141273031101_n

The founding trio of FolkYou, “Steve Rebel,” Sylvain Cloutier, and Félix Latraverse (from left to right).

In December 2018, the Montréal Antifasciste collective published a complete dossier on the neofascist groupuscule Atalante Québec. It was while working on this dossier that more information turned up on the third founding member of Folk You, Félix Latraverse, who, it is worth noting, was found marching with Atalante Québec in September 2016.

As well as playing with Folk You from its inception, Latraverse is also the current guitarist in Atalante’s flagship group Légitime Violence. Among other things, this allowed him to tour Europe with the group in November 2018, making the rounds of some of the neofascist strongholds in the old world.

Félix Latraverse with Légitime Violence during the European tour.

Latraverse has been very active musically, particularly in the metal scene, which makes him the right man for the job of creating links between Atalante and its politics and the musical counterculture. Using the pseudonym “Fix,” or sometimes “Ti-Wis,” he has played in a number of groups, including Neurasthène (with Sylvain Cloutier, also part of Folk You), Haeres, Aborgnon, Délétère, Blood Plot, Hollentur, Hymen, Dimentia, and Dèche Charge, to name just a few.

Félix Latraverse took part in a march with Atalante in Québec City, in 2016.

Studio Sonum, a final fallback

We learn in the dossier produced by Montréal Antifasciste that Félix Latraverse works at Studio Sonum in Québec City. And what do you know, the most recent Légitime Violence concerts all seem to have been at Studio Sonum (the group is no longer welcome in the vast majority of performance venues in the capital city). Just another one of those odd coincidences no doubt?

Studio Sonum, in the Saint-Sauveur neighbourhood of Québec City, is home to practice spaces and recording studios for local musicians. Numerous bands have locals there, including La Corriveau and Never More Than Less. The company’s promotional video, which is posted on YouTube, suggests that the members of Légitime Violence are Studio Sonum regulars.

How is it that Studio Sonum not only tolerates far-right music groups but even uses an image of Légitime Violence in its publicity? Why does the company provide a space for concerts by the cream of the crop of the Québec neofascist movement? Is this just something that Latraverse wangled, or is the administration complicit in what’s going on? Whatever the case, it’s troubling that a business catering to the public at large allows Atalante’s flag to fly on its premises.

The group Légitime Violence appears in a Studio Sonum promotional video from 2017.

Top: promotional photo taken at the Studio Sonum. Bottom: the most recent Légitime Violence concert in Québec City. Hard not to see that it’s the same place.

A successful infiltration

Over time, Folk You has successfully infiltrated the music scene in Québec City, passing itself off as your run-of-the-mill band. Pulling this off has allowed Folk You to open for folk groups in no way associated with the far right, among them the Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project, Les Chiens de Ruelles, Irish Moutarde, and Capitaine Salaud.

In addition, the group has played at La Ninkasi, the Anti, La Barberie, the Festival celtique de Québec, and the St. Patrick’s Day celebration organized by the Québec City municipal administration. The group has also performed at events organized by the municipalities of Sorel-Tracy and Sainte-Flavie.

Obviously, if the folk scene—generally fairly progressive—can be penetrated by far-right ideas, then no milieu that is immune.Only by deception and obfuscation was the group able to slip through the cracks and perform in spaces that would never tolerate the presence of an openly far-right band.

This makes it clear that everyone involved in cultural production must pay attention and learn about the groups active in their milieu. In this instance, producers, owners of performance venues, and bands have a responsibility to acknowledge the true nature of Folk You. We humbly propose that the “band” be banned without question from all musical networks, full stop.

Martin Lussier, with Montréal Antifasciste

“Blue Wave” hits a wall in Montreal : antifascists force a nationalist identitarian demonstration to hide (yet again) behind the police

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May 072019

From Montréal Antifasciste

Montréal, May 6th, 2019 –The Montreal police (SPVM) was out in force today to protect several hundred Quebec nationalist bigots who had been mobilized by a handful of identitarian groups.

As we reported last week, the “Vague bleue” (“Blue Wave”) was in fact organized by activists associated with Storm Alliance, the Front patriotique du Québec, and various far right keyboard warriors. In the end it was the crème de la crème of Quebec’s frustrated nationalists, wannabe militia members, and flea market patriots – not more than 400 people – who found themselves enveloped by two lines of riot cops in front of the TVA network’s building in Montreal, supposedly to support Bill 21

As to our side, in less than 10 days the Montreal antifascist milieu carried out a solid information campaign and managed to mobilize between 150 and 200 determined people who forced the police to deploy themselves heavily around the nationalist demonstration. A police presence that the antiracists nonetheless managed to get around not one but three times!

While it was certainly a strange day in many ways, in the end we feel it was a success. First, we had a good time circling around the bozos and making the cops run all over the place. Also, if we compare the net result of the identitarian mobilization to our own, we clearly come out ahead. A complete success would have been us physically preventing their event from happening or forcing it to be canceled, but in the context we found ourselves in, such a thing was simply not possible. In such a situation, maintaining maximum pressure becomes the best we can aim for, and that is something we clearly managed to do.

In these terms, note that after three months of intense organization, out of the 2,300 people who confirmed their participation and the 5,400 who signaled their interest on Facebook, only several hundred Catholic-secularitesmurfs answered the call on the day in question. The Catholic-secularites found themselves isolated behind police lines for several hours, without access to water, food, or toilets, where nobody could see or hear them other than the police who were deployed to protect them (and even the police seemed to find them pathetic). What’s more, the lines of cops made it difficult for people who wanted to get in to their demonstration; one needed to be vouched for by someone on the inside who needed to come and meet you as you entered. Such measures were the direct result of the pressure we managed to bring to bear, and helped to reduce the number of people in their blue puddle.

On our side, we had more counter-demonstrators on the ground than Facebook users who had signaled they would be there!

What’s more, our information campaign culminated on May 4th with our distributing 5,000 flyers in the neighbourhood, to people who live in the area, to tourists and passersby. So in some ways the blue-brown demonstration by the nationalist Catholic-secularites helped us to carry out popular education and to deepen our roots in the neighbourhood.

Tactically, we managed to get around the police three times : first on AlexandreDe Sève, a second time on Papineau (where our initial contact with the “Vague bleue” immediately degenerated when police fired tear gas at the antiracists at head level; note that one demonstrator was injured when they received a canister in their face), and a third time, 45 minutes later, when the antiracists managed to regroup, taking up space directly by the “Vague bleue” in front of TVA, at the corner of de Maisonneuve and Champlain. One consequence being that the “Vague bleue” organizers had to quickly move their sound truck, which deprived them of their sound system for the rest of the day!

The third and final chapter of the counter-demonstration took the form of a protracted standoff with the “Vague bleue”, which remained contained by police lines on de Maisonneuve between Champlain and AlexandreDeSève. Once again, the mobility of the antiracists allowed them to carry out ongoing popular education around the identitarian demonstration, engaging in dozens of conversations with people from the neighbourhood (and even with some nationalist demonstrators), and to document the presence of numerous individuals involved with the far right among the ranks of the “Vague bleue”.

Amongst those we identified were many known members of Storm Alliance, the Soldiers of Odin, the Front patriotique du Québec and its security group, La Meute, the self-styled « Gardiens du Québec », a two-bit militia called the Ragnarok Nordique Société (real secular that, by the way) whose leader goes by the moniker Rednek Breault, the antisemitic tweedle dee and tweedledum from DMS (once again, real secular, those monarchist Catholic traditionalists!), « Q Anon » true believers, and all kinds of representatives of Quebec’s brotherhood of keyboard warriors, such as Robert Proulx, Stéphane Gagné, Michel Meunier, Donald Proulx, René Blaireau, Michel Éthier, Stéphane Dufresne… and at least one lost bozo wandering around wearing an Atalante t-shirt.

Finally, it is worth underscoring the irony of this demonstration for « secularism » taking place under the very ostentatious (!) Carillon-Sacré-Cœur, an old version of the Québec flag that is promoted today by the ultra-Catholic wing of the Quebec nationalist movement, including elements of the Fédération des Québécois de souche.

At least one person on the blue side got sunstroke, and we are sorry to say that there was one injury and two arrests on the antiracist side for minor offenses.

///

Overall, this long day out against the identitarian « Vague bleue » was a real success. We certainly had a lot more fun than the boxed in secularites! The neighbourhood defended itself against this passing shower, and reminded everyone that despite the reactionary noise and the intense opposition from the SPVM, Montreal is and will remain antiracist!

///

Photos:

Une revue de presse sommaire :

La Presse :
https://www.lapresse.ca/actualites/grand-montreal/201905/04/01-5224686-manifestation-en-appui-au-projet-de-loi-sur-la-laicite.php

Huffington Post :
https://quebec.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/05/04/quelques-centaines-manifestants-defilent-appui-projet-loi-21_a_23721675/

Radio Canada :
https://ici.radio-canada.ca/nouvelle/1167921/manifestation-projet-loi-21-laicite-montreal-antiraciste-vague-bleue

Reportage de TVA :
https://www.tvanouvelles.ca/2019/05/04/face-a-face-entre-les-partisans-et-les-opposants-de-la-laicite-1

*Le Journal en ligne Le Peuple, l’un des sites les plus prolifiques de la fachosphère national-populiste, parle plutôt de 300 personnes…

“Vague bleue”: The Racist, Islamophobic Fringe of Québec Nationalism Comes Out to Play

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Apr 282019

From Montréal-Antifasciste

What Is the “Vague bleue”?

The “Vague bleue” is a gathering that will be held on Saturday, May 4, at 2:00 p.m., at the TVA building in Montréal. It was initially announced as an extension of the weekly rallies of the so-called Québec “Yellow Vests” (we’ve written about this in the past), which has held rallies at the same location every Saturday since December 2018. Initially, the main objective of the “Vague bleue” was a call for a popular civic referendum to establish a Québec “citizen’s constitution”, a reworking of one of the Yellow Vest’s demands in France. Initially, the rallies were contextualized as an expression of civic patriotism by identitarian groupuscules generally known for their online and social media activities. The one thing they all share is an obsessive and hard-line attachment to an independentist project that is openly xenophobic and proactively Islamophobic, with barely disguised racism.

The social media echo chamber created by these so-called patriots has coalesced into a “fascistic milieu” of sorts in recent years, where a mix of toxic xenophobic and racist perspectives and fake news spread like wildfire supporting a confirmation bias that affirms conspiracy theories and increasingly radical ideas about immigration, multiculturalism, and diversity, ranging from reactionary comments to full-on fascist theories that draw on information sources moderated by white supremacists and other far-right individuals.

This nebulous movement, largely confined to social media and only occasionally leaving the realm of the virtual world, has seemingly made a few minor adjustments to its usual means of mobilizing, and we may well witness a reconfiguration of the Islamophobic far right in the wake of the “Vague bleue” (the disappearance of some groups, new alliances, fusions, new groups). We will see.

In the early weeks of the organizing, the “Vague bleue” mobilization already differed from other far-right mobilizations, with several hundred people expressing an interest in the event. But the decisive moment came in April, about a month before the rally, when the organizers shifted the “Vague bleue” messaging to focus on support for Bill 21 “on secularism” (which essentially seeks to legalize discrimination by forbidding state employees from wearing religious symbols). In a matter of weeks, the Facebook event blew up: hundreds upon hundreds shared the event and signalled their interest, resulting in the callout being sent out thousands of times. One would not necessarily be remiss in thinking that the many successive mobilizations against Bill 21 in Montréal (in particular, on March 24 and April 7 and 14), some of which included thousands of people, have pushed the Islamophobes to come out of the woodwork for a mass mobilization.

As such, the tiny “Yellow Vest” mobilization has strayed from its initial objective, an eventual Québec constitution, which few people are now talking about, to reorient around a vociferous support for the CAQ’s secularism bill.

To sum up, what we have here is:

a rally of frustrated xenophobic nationalists;
outside the (nationalist) media empire Québécor’s television studios, which daily stoke the fires of xenophobia and Islamophobia in Québec with an army of reactionary commentators;
in support of the anti-liberty and Islamophobic bill advanced by the CAQ, a conservative party leading a majority government!

It’s hard to even imagine something so entirely absurd!

Who’s organizing it? Who’s participating?

A number of organizations and groupuscules have supported the rally by sharing the callout. It is not a straightforward proposition to untangle which of the groups that are mobilizing are more than a “one-man show,” as is, for example, Donald Proulx’s Parti patriote. But we can identify the main groups at the heart of the mobilization, both on social media and, in the case of some of their more overexcited members, “in real life.” Keep in mind that even when these individuals are associated more intimately with one group or another, they associate and interact on Facebook with innumerable other individuals of their ilk.

The screenshots below should suffice to demonstrate that the run-of-the-mill “patriotic” militant is more marked by a rabid Islamophobia than by any genuine concern for the independence of Québec.

— Québec Libre en Action (connected to the Recours collectif contre Revenu Québec), a group formed by Jonathan Héroux (known as John Hex on Facebook) after he left the anti-immigrant group Storm Alliance, in which he used to hold an executive position. His biggest achievement to date was organizing a rally of fifteen people in Malbaie during the G7 summit in Jun 2018. Héroux/Hex appears to be the initiator and main organizer of the “Vague bleue.” He is well regarded in the Québec fascist milieu, with numerous people following the video livestreams he produces at the identitarian right’s various gatherings. Jocelyn Houle, another crank who genuinely believes “the mass media and politicians are controlled by Freemasons”, is another active member of Québec Libre en Action.

— Les Gardiens du Québec is a “security” group that offers “operational support on the ground.” LGDQ is the organization that replaced La Horde, an on-again, off-again splinter from La Meute. Jonathan Héroux designated Martine Tourigny, alias Tina Gauthier, the coordinator of the “Vague bleue.” Martine Tourigny’s partner, Stéfane “Gizmeaux” Gauthier, is another key member of the security group. Éric “Wild Wolf” Rochon is another very active member of this group.

— The Front patriotique du Québec (FPQ) and its Groupe de sécurité patriotique (GSP) led by Robert Proulx gathers together a fair number of the usual suspects found at identitarian gatherings, including Mario Dallaire, Robin Simon, Sylvain Lacroix, and Stéphane Dufresne, who was recently the subject of an article on the Montréal Antifasciste website for proposing a fake terrorist attack. Over the last two years, the FPQ was behind spring demonstrations that in a certain sense were the precursor to the “Vague bleue” (April 23, 2017; April 15, 2018). The GSP is very close to the III % Québec, an anemic imitation of the far-right patriotic militias that arose in the U.S. in 2008. Their mission is to dress up like members of the cast of a GI Joe operetta and “protect” the various Québec identitarian demonstrations against imaginary enemies. It seems that the III%, under the stewardship of its “provincial commanding officer” Éric Vachon, is currently either dormant or in a period of restructuring.

— The so-called « Gilets jaunes du Québec » [Yellow Vests] (which has an extremely tenuous if not nonexistent link to the French movement of that name) brings together a handful of members and militants of various identitarian groups, a variety of free radicals, and a number of “special” people (including the “Patriot Pirate” Michel Éthier, and the Styrofoam goof Claude Roy, among others). Michel Meunier, alias Mickey Mike, a notorious white supremacist who celebrated the massacre of fifty Muslims in Christchurch and hoped for another attack like that against the Muslim community in Québec City in 2017, volunteered to carry out the reconnaissance in the area where the “Vague bleue” is to be held, as well as coordinating the postering. Luc Desjardins, another “Yellow Vest,” is also actively mobilizing for the “Vague bleue.” A key figure in this gaggle of goofs is the super-clown Pierre Dion, whose unquenchable thirst for attention makes his presence a virtual certainty.

— Storm Alliance (SA) (and its security group, the “DFSA,” which stand for Défense fortifiée Storm Alliance [Storm Alliance Heightened Defense]) is also calling on its members to attend the rally. SA, the result of a split within the Soldiers of Odin Québec, made a name for itself by organizing a number of anti-immigrant gatherings in recent years, particularly at the U.S. border. Nadia Fradette, alias Nadia Dumont, a Storm Alliance member, is organizing the buses to the “Vague bleue.”

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Almost all identitarian groupuscules are mobilizing for this rally, the exceptions being La Meute, which, nonetheless, has authorized its members to attend without flying their colours, and hard-line fascists like Atalante or the not-so-secret Nazi Fédération des Québécois de souche.

The fact that the presence of notorious Islamophobes and racists like Michel Meunier among “Vague bleue” organizers and the mountain of evidence of the organizers’ racist intolerance has not led other militants to dissociate themselves clearly exposes the true nature of this event. It’s not a pro-Québec rally but, in fact, an anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rally.

Montréal is and will remain antiracist. The “Vague bleue” is not welcome in Montréal! It is only with the concerted action of the residents of our fine city that we can block the way for xenophobes and reaffirm the city’s welcoming and diverse character.

NO RACISTS IN OUR NEIGHBOURHOODS

Anti-racist demonstration against the xenophobic “Vague Bleue” rally

May 4th, 2019, NOON Métro Papineau

–> https://www.facebook.com/events/395532084510020/

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