News and Analysis

Toronto Police Approaching People to be Confidential Informants

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Jul 132024

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

In case you missed it, Toronto Police have recently been attempting an old tactic against Palestinian solidarity organizers: soliciting arrestees to become confidential informants.

While this isn’t a new tactic, the blatant and concerted attempt to conjure informants in community organizing spaces is.

Writing this, I know of at least four separate individuals approached by police.

Each approach has been similar: the individual is arrested, charged, and then prior to being released, approached by a detective from Toronto Police’s Hate Crimes & Extremism Unit (HCEU).

Many major municipal police forces in so-called southern Ontario have a HCEU, usually nested within their “Intelligence Division”. These are the units that track and gather intel on protests, organizers, and mobilizers. The municipal units together form a provincial network – the Hate Crime Extremism Investigation Team (HCEIT) – which attend trainings together, document and share intel in various ways, and work closely with provincial and federal intelligence bodies.*

The detective’s approach is very straightforward: they inquire whether the individual knows what a “confidential informant” or “CI” is. The detective suggests that perhaps the individual has concerns about the actions of some of their comrades, and they tell the arrestee that if they have information to share it doesn’t need to happen through their lawyer. In some cases there’s an insinuation that the detective could talk to the crown on their behalf if were to provide information, but without promising anything.

It’s worth noting that we have seen police make informational approaches to individuals in the GTHA area before.

In Hamilton during the height of Landback Lane we saw the OPP approach an individual, suggesting they may be concerned about what people they knew were up to. Likewise, Hamilton Police have previously coerced people in to coming to the police station under the guise that they were being charged. Instead they were solicited for information, then released. As well, during escalating anti-line 9 organizing, at least one individual in the Waterloo region was approached by an intelligence body to inform on people.

In each of these cases – as well as the recent Toronto examples – the individuals being approached were “newer” or peripheral to organizing (at least locally). Police intentionally choose to approach these individuals because they believe:

The individual may not have the support of others at that time, and out of duress (real or imagined) may give information
The individual has yet to develop core politics of the struggle (i.e. ACAB/Don’t talk to cops)
The individual may not have developed attachment to the people or struggle they’re being asked to inform on, and more likely to give up information as a result

While police may most often approach folks new to the scene, this isn’t good reason to exclude those new enthusiastic folks from our spaces or movements – but it is a good reason we need to take the time to get to know folks coming in to our scenes and circles as often as possible. Building genuine relational movements means people are better supported (not just in moments of repression, but especially then), and more likely to move us towards building movements that can grow in both size and risk-taking, while resisting repression.

Remember: Don’t talk to cops!

A Mini Primer on Informants

People might agree to inform because of:

Fear/Isolation
- This could be fear of their legal predicament, or something police have done to covertly or overtly threaten them, or both. Especially fear in isolation/without support.
Attention, self-importance
- Making themselves important to someone, even if it’s a fucking pig.
Conflict/Bad Politics
- They don’t have ACAB politics – they believe police will solve whatever issue they have with whomever or whatever, or they’re pissed at someone (in combo with bad politics)

Which leaves us with: What can WE do, collectively, to dissuade or render CI’s useless?

Have and continue building good security culture and OpSec practises
Create opportunities in movements (especially) for people to question and understand anti-cop politics, even if it’s via an anonymous zine library or reading group. Learn to have hard conversations.
Actively & proactively counter fear of repression by discussing it, creating opportunities for connection and relationship building with others experiencing it or likely to experience it – both in private groups and larger ones.
Build a culture of support, debrief, openness & transparency about repression, police & police approaches
Build skills, spaces, and support for conflict resolution in community. Police are adept in creating or inflaming controversy, and it’s only leaning in to hard conversations that will move us clearly through those moments.

Other Things to Remember:

Police don’t need to arrest someone to approach them to be a CI
We give police intel in many other ways – work on things in your control. Security culture. Operational security. Tech security. Be cognizant of everything you’re doing on frontlines while under surveillance: Are you taking photos on your phone and immediately posting to a key social media account? Are you always talking to the same few people right before a big decision is announced?
Someone disagreeing with you, your ideas, or your politics does not mean they’re a cop, informant, infiltrator, or disruptor. This type of thinking can paralyze us, and is ignorant. Large movements attract a huge number of people with difference backgrounds, experiences, ideas, all at varying moments in their political development. Your differences may mean you need to have some conversations or even reconsider collaborating – but that can usually be done amicably.

And finally, some affirmation: Police making a concerted effort to flip people means they want information – which means they don’t have the information they’re hoping to have. This is good news, and in some ways may even indicate that reasonable security practises are already working. Keep at it!

* Further notes on Hate Crime Extremism Units

The following police department HCEU’s form the provincial Hate Crime Extremism Investigation Team (HCEIT): Guelph, Hamilton, London, Ottawa, Waterloo, Durham, Halton, Oxford, Toronto, York Region, Peel Region, Stratford, Brantford, Niagara.

HCEIT works with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), Criminal Investigation Services Ontario (CISO), Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Canadian Security Intelligence Services (CSIS) & Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

It’s worth noting that there have been recent and continuous federal, provincial funding being given to municipal hate crime units to investigate “antisemitism” and anti-muslim incidents. Antisemitism is in quotes because the state and some Jewish bodies sees all pro-Palestinian action as antisemitism, not because there have not been instances of such since October – and prior. Regardless, my point is that we are in a moment of heightened state surveillance & repression around pro-Palestinian organizing with some level of joint national and provincial directives happening. Act like it – but keep f*cking shit up!

More Notes on June 6, 2024

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Jul 032024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

A summary of events

At around 4 PM, student protesters entered the James administration building of McGill University and disrupted the Board of Governors’ (BoG) meeting to oppose its complicity in the genocide in Gaza. The BoG is the highest instance of the university and decides in which companies its endowment fund is invested, including Israeli, Zionist and arms companies. Hundreds of protesters formed a support rally around the building, with some creating makeshift barricades with fences and furniture. An hour later, on the administration’s request, a strong police presence arrived on campus, including several dozen riot cops. The latter took control of the walkway east of the building and prevented protesters from protecting the north (back) entrance, thus confining them to the south (front) side of the building.

At around 6:30 PM, cops entered the building through the back entrance. They would soon begin arresting the protesters inside, who had tried to barricade the room they were in as best as they could. Simultaneously, cops brutally assaulted the support rally, using their batons, pepper spray and tear gas to disperse the protesters, who did not go out without a fight.

One particularly funny moment captured here is Deep Saini hiding from his students, cowering behind admin staff ushered out

The level of violence from the police surprised some demonstrators, with cops aiming tear gas or rubber bullet guns at people’s heads and intentionally shooting people with tear gas canisters, in addition to using huge quantities of chemical irritants.

At 7:15 PM, a demo started marching from the UQAM (another university) encampment towards McGill. The march symbolized the end of said encampment and had been announced several days prior; it was therefore not in direct reaction to the James building occupation, though its path might have been rerouted for the occasion. Protesters meandered through the Milton-Parc neighborhood to try to reach the administration building, but their attempts were thwarted by police following them and blocking streets. The demo finally tried to break through the police line on Milton street, just a mere hundred metres east of the James building. Protesters were then met with the violence and pepper spray of bike cops, backed up by riot police. In the disorientation that ensued, the protesters ran away and, one way or another, reached the Lower Field.

The UQAM crowd slowly regrouped there, joining forces with the McGill one. Those who were still good to go started marching again, unabated by the torrential rain. The demo meandered through the streets, with riot cops clearly blocking any road that might lead to the James. Once on Sherbrooke, a Scotiabank window was shattered. The protest continued wandering through Milton-Parc and went east, eventually disbanding on St-Laurent.

Some thoughts

The author of these reflections applauds everyone who partook in the occupation or the demos, and hopes the following thoughts are not taken as negative criticisms, but as things to think about, discuss and debate moving forward.

1. On communication: publicly announcing the BoG meeting on social media would have made the James occupation impossible, as the administration would have called the cops beforehand or moved the meeting online. However, I still think it would have been useful if McGill folks had shared the information with trusted UQAM folks. For one, this could have allowed the latter to advance their demo time and thus join the support rally. This would also have facilitated the exchange of knowledge and material, namely rope to allow the occupiers to escape through the windows and things to block the back entrance. On the last point, I think more intel should have been done to make sure every entrance had been dealt with.

2. On meteorological conditions: the heavy rain created unique conditions with some payoffs. While it might have discouraged more people from attending the demo, it somewhat mitigated the spread of pepper spray and tear gas and provided a good reason to bring umbrellas. Of course, goggles and masks still proved useful that day. The wind also made its presence known: there is footage of riot cops teargassing themselves because of it. Weather conditions and terrain geography (elevation, obstacles) still seem to be relatively unexplored areas of demo planning.

3. On objectives: both the march from UQAM and the subsequent one from Lower Field apparently had the goal of reaching the James. Other than its symbolic significance, this objective makes little sense in my opinion, since the cops had already entered the building before the first march was on its way. Also, the long meandering paths taken did not help reach the destination, as the cops could always see where we were headed. Nevertheless, the persistence and temerity of the protesters is worth acknowledging and commending. Older comrades even said the demo reminded them of combative night demos from 2012.

4. On demo formations: the UQAM demo had a few standoffs with the police, who were adamant on preventing it from getting to the James. As explained in the previous point, I still have difficulty understanding that objective. However, there might come a point in time where similar ones prove crucial in achieving wider goals. I will thus share my two cents on two noteworthy standoffs:

– The first one happened with bike cops preventing further advancing on Prince-Arthur street. After stopping for a brief while, protesters started marching again towards the cops, yelling “Bouge!” (Move!) to give them a taste of their own medicine. Some rocks were also thrown (albeit not very powerfully). Despite the comedic value of the whole scene, the cops did not cede, with some deploying pepper spray and others threatening the crowd with their bikes. The demo thus chose to turn away. In my opinion, the demo did not charge fast enough to instill psychological fear in the cops. It is somewhat understandable though, since the protesters didn’t have much in the way of equipment to neutralize the bicycles.

– The second standoff occurred on Milton street, where police vans were spread throughout the street and reduced mobility for both sides. Once again, the protesters faced bike cops, but this time, they made contact, as their resolve had hardened. The first three rows respectively held the following items: banner – umbrellas – flagpoles. The protesters held the line for a while, but fell into disarray after the cops made liberal use of pepper spray and riot cops arrived on the scene. I think that with more training, discipline and experience, the demo could have stayed grouped while the medics attended to those who had gotten sprayed. This would have prevented the ensuing disorganized and individualistic retreat. I also think that expanding the demo onto the sidewalks and attacking by the flanks (while still leaving an escape route for the cops) would have proven strategic.

Another tactic worth thinking about when cops deny entry to an area is the splitting of the demo into two or more groups, provided that they remain big enough. Each would take a different road to try and spread the police force thin. This allows the protesters to increase their surface area, i.e. the number of people directly facing the cops instead of waiting in the middle of a crowd. Needless to say, the successful execution of such maneuvers would require prior training and constant communication between the groups.

5. Be like water: our force stems from our ability to be anywhere and everywhere, whether it be at a protest or other actions. According to many comrades, the riot cops’ priority seemed to be to guard the James building. This limited their range of motion, and other types of cops seemed more interested in following the demo than protecting other potential targets, like the Scotiabank. On a broader level, the events illustrate an asymmetry between the people and state forces: the former, like steppe cavalry, have a harder time defending places, but are more agile; the latter, like heavy infantry, are stronger in direct confrontations (unless at a significant numerical disadvantage), but less mobile. While the police has various vehicles at their disposition, they can be slowed down by dragging objects into the street. Now, I am well aware that habit gets a bad rep because it doesn’t really slow down riot cops and can constitute a tripping hazard for ourselves. That being said, in narrower streets, it proved useful in creating some distance from bike cops and vans and giving protesters some time to regroup after a rout.

Union Action at the Head Office of Renaud-Bray

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Jun 292024

Soumission anonyme à MTL Contre-info

La famille Renaud sont des trous de cul notoires de père en fils. Il sont les ennemis de la classe ouvrière et le seront toujours.

Leurs positions et propos anti-syndicaux briment les droits fondamentaux de nous, travailleurs et travailleuses, depuis trop longtemps.

Les affiches, c’est comme un syndicat : « C’est fâchant, parce qu’une fois que c’est arrivé, c’est bien difficile de s’en séparer. »

Maintenant, allez-vous commenter, ou ça aussi, c’est des affaires internes?

Un affront à l’un-e est toujours l’affaire de tou-tes. La classe ouvrière ne vous oubliera pas!

Report-back on the June 6th Riot

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Jun 162024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

June 6, 2024 will live long in our memories.

What happened that day was more than impressive. A riot emerged spontaneously on the McGill campus in response to police violence and a convergence of forces from the student intifada.

Since the media coverage seems to gloss over the strength of youth resistance that day, it seems important to take a look back at the day’s events.

First of all, a demonstration had already been called by the forces of the Université Populaire Al-Aqsa (UQAM), which ended its occupation earlier in the day. Parallel to this, an occupation of the Mcgill administration building was organized by students from the university. It was around this occupation that the riot was organized.

Following a call for support from McGill groups, a hundred or more activists converged on McGill to support the students barricaded inside the building.

The police on the ground acted with excessive aggression in the face of the fairly strong passivity of those present. Physically forcing the students who were blocking the secondary doors towards the main gathering in front of the front door. Hundreds of police officers were then mobilized to secure the area around the building and allow the police officers inside to intervene and arrest the 13 students trapped inside.

The aggressiveness of the police and their ridiculous effort to arrest a handful of students quickly heated things up. The students on the ground began to prepare for a police dispersal operation. While a small line held the west of the area, the forces converged to the east to hold a line against the massing riot police. Aided by more experienced activists, the students then began to stand in collective defense formations. Shortly afterwards, the police attempted a first charge into the lines. Surprisingly, despite pepper spray, gas, shields and truncheons, the lines held firm. While the bulk of the force seemed to be made up of activists new to street confrontations, the lines withstood a police charge and managed to push back the riot line. Perhaps the escalation of violence that the police have been building up since April 15 has succeeded in completing the movement’s efforts at self-pacification. Whatever prompted the people gathered there to stand firm, their actions were more than commendable.

Some of those present then retreated in the face of the irritants, but many of them returned to reinforce the lines. Lines that held off a second charge (notably using fencing, ramps and other obstacles) before a third charge finally broke through the line of students. The ego-stricken police then proceeded to brutalize as many activists as they could. Instead of demobilizing the group, this violence reinforced the militant rage. They gathered in the middle of the campus.

While these clashes were taking place, UPA forces arrived in support. Taking up positions on the other side of the police force, they threatened to entangle the police with the demonstration in support of the south. The students tried to resist, but were eventually forced to retreat to the south entrance of the campus.

The forces of both groups then regrouped on the edge of Sherbrooke and, under the call of the radical forces within the demonstration, took to the streets.

Motivated to go and get their arrested comrades, enraged by the violence they had suffered and motivated by the strength of their resistance, the students then engaged in a harassment of the police line laid out around the administration building. Although the forces of resistance failed to de-arrest the comrades, they forced the police to withdraw to their position.

As night fell and tension began to mount again, the students abandoned the campus and took to the surrounding streets. The forces of the student intifada learned the language of the riot, bank windows were smashed, police officers were fired upon with pyrotechnics and rocks rained on them, and every available object to form barricades was used to block access to police vehicles as the students took control of the streets for a few hours.

We must learn from this day and ensure that the movement never goes backwards. The intifada must realize its full potential.

A first lesson is to abandon the black bloc in this kind of demonstration. By dispersing into the crowd, experienced revolutionaries were able to blend in and pass on to the people there the practices of resistance to the police. Let’s adopt the movement’s uniform: the kefffiyeh bloc is in with the times.

A second lesson is to address the crowd clearly in demonstrations, ignoring peace police of all kinds. While self-proclaimed leaders, seemingly detached from student groups, were trying to disperse and pacify the crowd, our more experienced comrades and students were out in the field explaining to people how to resist and encouraging them to hold their ground against the cops. Less experienced militants expect those who know how to resist to guide them in action. We can’t continue to act as a force separate from the rest of the demonstration, we need to see in the faces present in the demonstration as many comrades. We must counter the leadership of opportunists, pacifists and other saboteurs.

The final lesson is to seize the opportunity to escalate when it presents itself. When the police make mistakes, when they brutalize and reveal their face, revolutionaries must be among those left to hold the lines and encourage young people to follow us. We also need to put the police on the defensive, attacking them and forcing them to defend specific targets, so as to have free rein in the streets.

Immigrant Detained and Abused at CISSS de Laval

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Jun 102024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Our friend Juba Mahiou, an immigrant to Canada, has been locked up for over six months at Centre Intégré de Santé et de Services Sociaux de Laval. After an argument where police were called, they detained him under the guise of ‘mental health treatment,’ and have been forcing him to take drugs that are destroying his mind and body.

Judge Louis Charette noted that Juba was at risk of hypoglycemia and Parkinsons from drugs he was forced to take, but just ordered the doctors to also give him Parkinsons drugs ‘if needed.’

There are no charges of wrongdoing that the court can even get to stick to Juba – but every time he goes through their processes, they simply say that he’s “just lying to get out of the hospital,” an unprovable and unbeatable charge, and they also call him psychotic for talking about xenophobia he has dealt with.

Doctor Ali Jaber is assaulting Juba with forced injections of Invega Sustenna and has the power to choose to stop and let him go at any point. Right now the only info we have for trying to contact Jaber is the general unit number. We welcome more info about Jaber anyone can find, at friendsofjuba at proton dot me.

Juba has so far gotten one disability rights group to take note of his situation and post about it – albeit in a very limited scope – at https://mindfreedom.org/front-page/jubamahiou.

Close the Office in Tel-Aviv

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Jun 082024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

The CAQ, complicit in a genocide!

The ongoing massacre in Palestine is a crime against humanity.

40,000 people have been brutally murdered and more than 2 million have been displaced.

Meanwhile, the CAQ and its minister Martine Biron will open an office for Quebec in Tel Aviv…!

Cooperating with an apartheid regime seems urgent for the Legault government, but not for a large part of the population.

The CAQ has blood on its hands! We therefore added some color to the doors of the Ministry of International Relations.

The peoples of Quebec need not sanction the collaboration of the state with this killing. No Quebec office in Israel!

Palestine will be free!

Do not look for us, we are no one, we are everywhere. Agitate, sabotage, disrupt.

Queers, Are You Ready for the Backlash? Preparing for a Poilievre Government

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May 282024

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info

A zine version of this text is available.

I’ve always liked connecting with other queer people and talking politics, comparing notes on how we see society and what is affecting us. But lately, this has been feeling quite urgent. The countdown is on until we end up with a reactionary federal government — there will be a federal election no later than October 2025, and if current trends hold, there will be a Conservative landslide that brings Pierre Poilievre to power.

This is soon, but we can still do a lot in 17 months. It feels important to me that queers and their friends use this time wisely, to try to get organized and prepare for a backlash against our social gains of the last few years.

But what makes Poilievre so special? He’s been in government a long time — isn’t he just a regular politician?

Poilievre has said a couple of things that would make for a departure from typical governance in Canada, but I want to focus on two: using the notwithstanding clause to bypass charter protections and rolling back transgender inclusion policies.

The notwithstanding clause (also known as Section 33) is particular to the Canadian political system and basically acts to limit the Charter framework of individual rights (and the courts that enfore it) when a government sees this as going against the public good. It can be used to make laws immune to court challenge for five years, which guarantees there will be an election before it expires, but it can just be applied again. The idea is that governments should be more powerful than the courts, so by invoking the notwithstanding clause, a government can pass laws that they know would be successfully challenged in court based on Charter rights.

Although historically very rare, the context for using the notwithstanding clause has been built up by conservative provincial governments over the past few years. The Coalition Avenir Québec party has used it to go after anglophones and religious minorities, the Ontario Progressive Conservatives used it to force striking workers back to work and limit electoral donations by unions, and the government of Saskatchewan used it to attack trans kids. All this since 2021. Poilievre has promised to use it to bring back criminal sentencing that was struck down as cruel and unusual, but there is no reason to think he will stop there.

The use in Saskatchewan is interesting, since Saskatchewan isn’t the only province that has passed so-called “parental rights” legislation. Alberta and New Brunswick are also bringing in laws restricting the ability of young people to transition, but Saskatchewan’s was the first to be delayed by the courts. So Scott Moe reconvened the legislature in order to break out the notwithstanding clause.

This brings us to what Pierre Poilievre thinks about trans people. He loudly supports the provincial legislation restricting transitions for young people, including access to puberty blockers and even using chosen names. And, as we’ve seen in the US, governments that start out restricting trans youth tend to move on to trans adults. So naturally, Poilievre also opposes the rights of transgender adults. Just this past February, he said he believes washrooms and changerooms should be restricted based on sex at birth, although he added it’s not clear that would be in federal jurisdiction.

Whether or not it has the ability to regulate the washrooms in the public library, a reactionary federal government won’t restrain the provinces or municipalities, leaving an open path for other levels of government to go after trans rights. As a trans person, I’m aware that in two years time, it might be illegal for me to use the washroom in public spaces.

A reactionary federal government probably won’t come right out and take gender identity and expression out as a protected ground in the Human Rights Act and the Criminal Code (at least not immediately). Instead, it will allow those rights to atrophy, to get picked apart by reactionary laws passed at all levels of government that are shielded by the notwithstanding clause when necessary. We will end up with a patchwork of restrictions on our ability to live openly and authentically rather than a blanket ban.

What stands in the way of this happening?

Politicians will try to have you believe that electoralism is the only way, that the NDP or the Liberals are the only ones who can stop the Conservatives. But the fact that we are even talking about rights being rolled back shows how fragile legislative victories are. Laws come and go. They are (unfortunately) an indispensable part of political and social equality, but they are not the most important piece.

The most important piece is self-organizing. We need to get organized as queers around issues that affect us — not to lobby politicians, but to build a context in which queer liberation cannot be legislated away.

We need to continue changing the culture and building equality and inclusion in practice (and I realize these fall short of liberation). This can happen on a social level by creating more spaces where people can be out and proud. It can happen on the institutional level — remember that many spaces (social services, workplaces, schools) were trans inclusive long before the law required them to be. We can continue that work, going block by block, regardless of which way the political wind blows.

We also need to organize for collective self-defence. Fortunately, we are used to having to defend ourselves. This might occasionally mean physical defence, like at Pride in Hamilton in 2019 or the drag defence actions that happened across the country. It’s worth repeating that without the ability to be violent, the choice to be peaceful is meaningless.

But just as important is social and spiritual defence. Social defence might look like identifying reactionaries in order to undermine and isolate them. This could be local politicians, business owners, or bureaucrats just as much as far-right jerks. Spiritual defence means taking care of yourself while also looking out for those most targeted and helping them to live with strength and dignity. Because the reaction isn’t going to come for everyone at the same time, even if it will sooner or later get around to all queers if left unchecked.

The rallies about these issues have started — we all come as isolated individuals to feel strong together for an hour. But we need to stop going home alone. It is time for us to talk to our friends and set a meeting to talk about the situation, about our strengths and desires, what we can bring to the table. Once we’ve gotten talking, we can reach out to friends of friends and extend the conversation. Let’s form crews of 3-5 people and practice going demos together. Let’s get on the same page about our analysis and about what kinds of actions we are excited to take.

We still have some time to get ready before the attacks intensify, but the coming months will pass quickly. We can’t trust politicians, but I have nothing but faith in our collective strength. We will weather the coming storm as we always have and might even come out stronger for it.

Download this text as a printable zine.

Solidarity Means Attack – Fuck France, Free Kanaky

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May 192024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

This week, an anti-colonial uprising broke out in Kanaky, an archipelago in the South Pacific. Kanaky was named “New Caledonia” by British colonizer James Cook and has been occupied by France under that name since the 19th century. The Kanaks are black indigenous peoples of the islands whose cultures face genocide from white French “immigrants” who drive them from their lands and impose capitalism. For more general information:

https://www.infolibertaire.net/?s=Kanaky

France is a member of NATO, an ally of Israel, the capital of anti-immigration racism in Europe, a nuclear-armed state, etc. By attacking France, we support not only Kanaky’s struggle for freedom but also that of many other peoples, including other French colonies in the South Pacific. and Caribbean.

If you live near a city, you probably live near a French political, cultural or diplomatic institution or a company that does business with them. You probably like under a government which maintains links with France. Targets are everywhere!

Solidarity means attack, the lessons we learned in the fight against genocide in Palestine, Sudan and Congo can be applied at the same time to those pushing for the French-led genocide of the Kanaks.

Black Power Worldwide! Death to France!

Northvolt: the poison-tree will fall

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May 152024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Let the axe
Strike at the root, the poison-tree will fall

On Sunday, May 5th, five incendiary devices were placed at the Northvolt construction site in Quebec. This action was taken to damage machinery and reduce the project’s ability to continue. Unfortunately, these devices failed to ignite. If there is one takeaway to share, when choosing materials consider how weather (high humidity or rain) might decrease the chances of a device igniting. The longer the timer, the longer the device will be exposed to environmental factors thereby decreasing the window of success.

Why choosing to attack and damage property? While Northvolt, a transnational corporation, sells themselves as the leader of the green transition, they are in fact its headstone. The electric vehicles the company plans to provide with their batteries are a false solution to the environmental destruction caused by industrial society; rather this expension of the automotive industry is only allowing the devastating impact of car infrastructure to continue. With this project, Canada’s insatiable appetite for natural resources will only grow. Lithium mining, which is essential in the process of producing Northvolt’s “green” Lithium Ion batteries, is poisoning human communities and entire ecosystems across the land. Lithium is already being extracted from unceded Indigenous territories here in “Quebec”, with many new mines planning to start operating in the next few years. With this kind of mega project, lakes, forests and wetlands will disappear under new roads and pit mines. First Nations will loose access to their traditional territories and with that loss, the ability to practice and sustain their ancestral ways of living and relating to the land. They will be surveilled and harassed by workers and security. The animals of these territories will die or will have to migrate elsewhere as their homes are destroyed.

Has anyone else noticed how quiet the land around Northvolt has become since they chopped down the trees and destroyed the wetlands? It’s eerily silent.

Capitalism and the State are in league, dumping public funds into private corporations that will only worsen the ecological crisis across the globe. This is why we must act, and more often than not, we must act beyond the laws imposed on these lands by governments. The Quebec government has already dropped regulations put in place to protect the environment and looked the other way while Northvolt violates numerous laws and codes. This is because Legault’s government (like any colonial gorvernment), is politically invested in making this project happen. However, the future remains to be written. We still have choices to make. We still can act! We must not be guided by crooked laws, but by the love and care we and others have for the collective health of all beings, the land, the water and the desire for a better world through struggle against colonial structures. Armed with our convictions, let us go into the night and choose to take the necessary risks to fight for a livable future.

Tire Fire for Palestine

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May 022024

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In the night of the 29th of April anarchists started a tire fire on the train tracks in St-Henri. The action was done to disrupt train traffic momentarily in solidarity with Palestine and the anti-capitalist 1st of May. We hope this action inspires others to disrupt the economy and the flow of capital across the world.

From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!

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