Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information
Montréal Contre-information

A Key La Meute Militant Founds a Neo-Nazi Organization… Then Changes His Mind a Few Hours Later

 Comments Off on A Key La Meute Militant Founds a Neo-Nazi Organization… Then Changes His Mind a Few Hours Later
Nov 202018
 

From Montreal Antifasciste

“Welcome to the official Blood & Honour page—the Québec division of the nationalist identitairian secular movement for a National Socialist autocracy.”

We were shocked to read this introduction to a new Facebook page that appeared on Saturday, November 3 in the early afternoon, announcing the formation of a “Québec Division” of the openly neo-Nazi “Blood & Honour”:


What is Blood & Honour?

Blood & Honour, an international neo-Nazi organization founded in the UK in 1987, takes its name from the Hitler Youth slogan Blut und Ehre, and from a song of that title by the white power band Skrewdriver. Initially rooted in the Rock Against Communism scene, Blood & Honour sections have sprung across the planet over the years. Blood and Honour remains a largely bonehead organization fully committed to neo-Nazi principles and regularly involved in violent actions.

Sometime around 2010, local sections were formed in western Canada. Their members were involved in numerous acts of aggression against people of colour and antifascists, including a particularly horrifying incident where a Filipino man sleeping on a couch outdoors in Vancouver was set on fire. Criminal proceedings and a split within the organization, followed by an antifascist hacking of the Blood & Honour website in 2012, made it possible to publish the names and addresses of members. These setbacks resulted in the group became increasingly low-key and effectively inactive for a number of years. Local sections do, however, continue to exist in British Columbia and Alberta.

The surprising formation and brief existence of a “Québec Division” of Blood & Honour is the first effort we are aware of to establish an official presence in Québec, where the Rock Against Communism scene is dominated by the Légitime Violence boneheads, the leading light of Raf Stomper/Raphaël Lévesque’s Atalante.

Who could be behind this “québec division” of Blood & Honour?

The item published on the new Facebook page was a sort of manifesto of the organization’s values. It was signed by one Michael Roch and linked to the website of the organization in the United Kingdom. The  Blood& Honour Worldwide mentions a Canadian section, but says nothing about a Québec “Division.”

The mysterious “Québec Division” Facebook page redirected us to blog that was “under construction,” administered by a certain Michael Roch’s gmail account:

A quick search led us to the only Facebook account of a Michael Roch in the “nationalist” sphere, a certain Sgn Michael (Roch). The handful of public photos that this individual posted led us to believe that he was in the military.

Only a few minutes after of the Blood & Honour—Division Québec page was initially posted, Agloolik Wolf’s Facebook account was the first among those we follow in the nationalist milieu to share it and encourage his friends to “like” it:

Who is Agloolik Wolf?

Agloolik Wolf is an active member of La Meute, photographed here sporting his La Meute sweatshirt in happier days.

Until recently Agloolik was part of La Garde, La Meute’s “elite” security unit. He is pictured below between Mario Roy (Storm Alliance and La Meute) and Steeve L’Artiss Charland (La Meute Council).

Agoolik Wolf is a very disturbing individual, who is nothing like the standard profile of a Nazi. He claims to be part of the Innu nation and has argued for an alliance of the Québécois de souche and First Nations since his earliest days in La Meute. Up to this point, we thought of him as part of the “moderate” tendency within la Meute.

Agloolik (an Inuit word) is the standard bearer for this alliance between the Québécois and First Nations in opposition to so-called illegal immigration:

This seems to be part of a public relations operation masterminded by Sylvain “Maikan” (which means “wolf” in Innu) Brouillette following his assumption of the leadership of La Meute.

This attempted alliance clearly went nowhere, given the disappointment Agloolik expressed the day after a number of First Nations members demonstrated . . . against La Meute alongside antifascists.

The recent setback for the identitarian group at the border of Kanesatake, immortalized in a video shared more than eight hundred times, couldn’t have been good for morale.

Nonetheless, Agloolik, who regularly posts live video on Facebook, has a significant following and a certain influence within La Meute. Up to this point, he has provided La Meute with a youthful “antiracist” façade, however, it only takes a bit of research to dispose of the gentleman’s somewhat innocent image.

Agloolik Wolf is really just a run-of-the-mill La Meute member—an Islamophobe and a racist.

 

Like most La Meute members, his Islamophobia is seamlessly melded with the most absurd of conspiracy theories. Here, in a discussion about “survivalism” with Monsieur Cochon Bacon, there in an exchange with Mélanie Gagné, whose racist Facebook posts were recently flagged by Xavier Camus. He clearly states that he created his Facebook page specifically to talk freely about the “dangers posed by Islam.”

He is also openly anti-feminist and transphobic, as well as sharing the crude anticommunism common among identitarian nationalists.

A quick glance at his “likes” gives us an idea of who he is. From the racist Fédération des Québécois de souche to the fascist Atalante, by way of the anti-Semitic and transphobic DMS, and a variety of other suspect interests, we arrive at sadly banal picture of a far-right, racist reactionary in Québec in 2018.

Contrary to the image he wants to project, he is unquestionably a far-right racist. Agloolik Wolf protested in the extreme when, on the evening before the La Meute’s July 1, 2018 demonstration in Montréal, a representative of the City’s public security service described La Meute as more or less Nazi.

 

By founding a Québec Division of Blood & Honour, Agloolik Wolf, alias Sgn Michael (Roch), a member La Meute’s La Garde security unit, proves that he is not that all that allergic to the neo-Nazi label.

How did we connect these two accounts to a single individual?

Quite a bit of evidence and a number of crossovers allowed us to quickly connect the two accounts to a single person and to firmly establish that this person, La Meute member Agloolik Wolf, was behind the Québec “Division” of the Nazi terrorist organization Blood & Honour.

A number of clues led us to this conclusion:

A traditionalist Innu comrade from Pessamit confirmed that the first name of the person hiding behind the pseudonym Agloolik Wolf is “Michael,” that he had been in the military, and that he had been adopted by a Québécois family.

The word “autocracy” used on the Blood & Honour—Division Québec page doesn’t appear anywhere on the official Blood & Honour website. However, it appears to be a preferred buzzword for Agloolik Wolf, who released a Facebook live video on the theme in July.

We knew that both accounts belonged to someone in the military, given the photos published and Akloolik’s statements.


The tank squad:


A charming young man:


Keeping good company:

Drifting ever rightward:

 

Among the tip-offs, Agloolik made the mistake of sharing the same photo on his two accounts:

This made it easy for to quickly ascertain that Agloolik Wolf and Michael Roch/Sgn Michael were the same person. But it doesn’t end there: these two Facebook accounts were also connected to a third that was closed some months ago: Éric Mickael Séguin.

The name Éric Mickael Séguin is also connected to the Twitter account @RicoZegow, which is currently inactive but still existent:

Everything points to Séguin being Agloolik’s actual family name; that’s the name that appears on his uniform in this photo, where he is flanked by the cop Picard (sporting the Thin Blue Line badge used by the racist Blue Lives Matter countermovement).

It seems that he is no longer in the military. In this photo, taken in June, he appears to be wearing either a nurse or orderly’s uniform:


It is difficult to determine whether his real first name is Éric or Michael, but we still have enough evidence to connect the three accounts and present a portrait of this individual: a former member of the military, perhaps an officer, an active La Meutemember, a member of the La Meute security team at demonstrations and private meetings, a member of La Garde until he resigned three weeks ago (at the time, he released a mystical-political explaining that his struggle “lies elsewhere”), influential within La Meute, and, as an Innu, a standard bearerfor Brouillette’s “politics of inclusion.”

While many of his close associates “liked” the new Blood & Honour page, there were others who questioned a La Meute member playing such a role in an openly Nazi organization.

At approximately 5:00 p.m., less than four hoursafter posting the Blood & Honour page, he closed his two Facebook pages (Agloolik Wolf andSgn Michael), the Blood & Honour—Division Québec Facebook page, and the associated blog. Unfortunately for him, we were able to grab a certain number of screenshots.

It’s possible that the La Meute Council thought that it was a less than stellar idea for one of its officers, and therefore a key member, to be promoting an openly Nazi organization that defends genocide of alleged inferior “races” for the advance of the “white race.”

What was the impact of this new page?

Among the various “likes,” we find an unsurprising collection of neo-Nazis, including Phil SoWhat (Philippe Gendron, of the Soldiers of Odina fascist groupuscule currently in total disarray), as well as, and perhaps more disturbingly, people of a certain age with profiles that appear banal and far removed from Nazism, including members of groups like La Meute (Rhoda Bourque, Christine Boily) and Storm Alliance (Patricia Celtic Gagnon) and simple“patriots.”

Patricia Celtic Gagnon, Veronique Bedard-Lafrance, Phil SoWhat and Rhoda Bourque like Blood & Honour

Danielle Ménard, Christine Léveillé, Hélène Paulin, Sue Sue, Boily Christine and Omer Doucet like Blood & Honour

Chantaline Lariviere, Veronique Bedard-Lafrance, Sue Sue, Yolande Ruest, Stephane Bergeron, Jonas Cheni et Joanne Verdun like the founding principles of Blood & Honour

Yolande Ruest, Stephane Bergeron, Jonas Chenil, Joanne Verdun, Andrée Lyn Filion et Jacqueline Bernier like the founding principles of Blood & Honour

This is precisely the problem with a group like La Meute, of whichAgloolik Wolf, alias Michael Roch, alias Éric MickaelSéguin, is a member: the capacity to act as an incubator and recruiting site for far more radical groups like Blood & Honour.

We already noted and denounced this phenomenon a year ago, on November 25, 2017, when Atalante and the Soldiers of Odin unfurled a nationalist banner on the ramparts in Québec City, to an enthusiastic reception from those within in the ranks of La Meuteand the Storm Alliancedemonstrating at the National Assembly that day.

The problem with these “identitarian nationalist populists” is that they facilitate contact between hundreds of members ofthe “soft” far right and far more radical organizations.

We can draw a number of conclusions:

  • A member of the Canadian army quietly climbed up the ranks of La Meute, becoming part of LaGarde, a high-level post in the organization’s security and discipline apparatus;
  • this person actively and publicly participated in La Meute’s security service, effectively a private militia, and he did so openly with his face uncovered for many months while still in the military, with absolutely no reaction from the Canadian Armed Forces, which boasts about its zero-tolerance policy;
  • this same La Meute officer attempted to found a Québec Division of the neo-Nazi organization Blood & Honour, receiving more than one hundred “likes” in the few hours it existed, many of them from La Meute members.

What we’ve uncovered raises more questions than it provides answers, and some of these questions are unsettling. Using different pseudonyms, this person presented himself as a “non-racist” La Meute member, only to go on to create a neo-Nazi website, all the while being a member of the Canadian Armed Forces and presenting himself as Indigenous. What the hell? Are we simply dealing with a confused person? Is this an intelligence operation gone wrong? These are questions to keep in mind while watching to see where this whole strange story of Agloolik/Roch/Séguin goes.

Our tawdry little tale is in the end of little immediate political consequence. There doesn’t seem like there will be a Blood&Honour—Division Québec. Nonetheless, it does allow us to question the true nature of La Meute. After all, the organization has been trying to clean up its image and regain a foothold for several months now. What this story does provide is the ultimate evidence of the need to continue to fight against La Meute, which has been a racist and Islamophobic organization from the get-go, one founded by soldiers and organized like a paramilitary militia.

EPILOGUE

As we publish this text, ten days after the events in question, the Facebook accounts of Agloolik Wolf and Michael Sgn (without the“Roch”) have reappeared. While Agloolik Wolf appears to have resumed his normal activities (regular posts about things to do with La Meute and the far right), Michael Sgn provides the key that allows us to determine that this central La Meute member and the founder of Blood&Honour—Division Québec are the same person: with his new profile photo, Michael “Roch” Séguin leaves us with no doubt that he and Agloolik Wolf are one and the same.

Radical History: The Computer Riot

 Comments Off on Radical History: The Computer Riot
Nov 182018
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

This series is an attempt to acknowledge and reflect on the history of militant resistance throughout the territories of so-called Canada. While the events we’ll be exploring do not necessarily involve anarchists, we think they’re important – as cultural markers or reference points from which we can be exposed to ideas or tactics. As the old saying goes, we learn from the past to prepare in the present and defend the future.
The following text is on the Computer Riot, which took place in 1969 at Sir George Williams University (present day Concordia University). In an attempt to provide context for the story, we start with a (very) short history of anti-black racism in eastern Canada.

Throughout the first half of the 19th century, tens of thousands of black slaves escaped from American plantations and headed north in search of liberation. Many crossed into Canada, where slavery had been formally abolished in 1834. They settled throughout the eastern provinces – in Ontario, Quebec, and Nova Scotia – forming small, tight-knit communities in urban centres.

These newly landed black migrants were generally met with racist attitudes from white society. Although segregation was never enshrined into Canadian law, they were denied jobs, housing, and access to government services. As the state dreamed its public education system into existence, black children found themselves crammed into segregated and inferior schools. Whites-only establishments were common throughout, with hotels, restaurants, and hospitals refusing service to black patrons.

In response, black communities began to form their own social organizations. In Montreal, numerous community centres were founded to combat social exclusion: the Women’s Coloured Club in 1902, the Union United Congregational Church in 1907, and the Negro Community Centre in 1927. They provided free schooling and healthcare, and distributed food and other resources.

Around the same time, racist groups sought to gain a foothold in the Canadian political sphere by establishing themselves in a number of cities. Montreal saw its own chapter of the Ku Klux Klan, although its power failed to materialize in any significant way. The Klan was briefly popular in Saskachetwan, with a membership of 25,000 that helped James Anderson defeat the Liberal party in the 1929 provincial election.

The black population in Montreal would not see significant growth until federal restrictions on immigration were lifted in the early 1960’s. Between 1961 and 1968, the black population grew from 7,000 to 50,000. This period of influx saw a proliferation of anti-racist, anti-colonial ideas from the US, Africa, and the Caribbean. Black intellectuals drew from the analyses on race and imperialism formulated by members of the Black Power movement and the various movements for independence throughout Africa. They organized conferences throughout the city, echoing the principles of black revolutionary thought: autonomy, self-sufficiency, and defence.

Many young black migrants enrolled at Sir George Williams University (SGW), which offered night classes and a relaxed admissions policy. The university’s heterogeneous population stood in juxtaposition to McGill’s largely white, upper-class student body. Despite its reputation as one of the more inclusive and progressive universities in the country, racism from students and administration was not uncommon at SGW.

In May 1968, six Black Caribbean students submitted a formal complaint against biology professor Perry Anderson. They accused Anderson of discriminating against black students in his class, giving them lower grades for doing the same quality of work as their white counterparts. But after months of inaction, the students became dissatisfied with how their complaint was being handled. They decided to make the issue public, and began organizing sit-ins and distributing leaflets about their situation. In turn, the university established a hearing committee that would vote on the best way to resolve the conflict.

Multiple hearings and assemblies were held throughout January 1969. Professors and other faculty members defended Anderson, while students of colour shared their own experiences of discrimination on campus. Many speakers echoed the words of the Black Panther Party, which had been gaining prominence south of the border. They called for students to be wary of the administration and take matters into their own hands.

On January 29, 200 students walked out of a hearing in protest. They saw the process as a way for the administration to push for Anderson’s innocence and wring their hands of any wrongdoing. After almost 10 months since the original complaint had been lodged, they saw the problem not simply as the prejudices of a particular professor, but the systemic racism found throughout many aspects of the university.

Students set up an occupation of the school’s computer lab on the 9th floor of the Henry F. Hall Building. Nine days later, the occupation spread to the faculty lounge on the 7th floor. On February 10th, the students proposed an end to the protest if the university established another hearing committee and disregarded the classes that had been missed by participants in the occupation. The university also promised to not file charges or pursue police involvement.

With less than a hundred people remaining in the building, riot police began to amass on nearby streets. The university had seemingly gone back on their promise. In response, the students barricaded the stairwells and shut off the elevator system. With cops racing up the stairs, the students chose to use what little leverage they had left, threatening to destroy the millions of dollars of computer equipment if they were not let out safely.

Despite their efforts, the eviction was underway. Students began smashing equipment and throwing thousands of computer cards out of the windows. As police assembled on the 9th floor, a fire broke out on the floor directly underneath. Meanwhile, a white mob that had materialized outside chanted “Let the niggers burn!” Students now attempted to escape by disassembling the barricades, but found that the room’s fire extinguisher and axe were missing. They had been confiscated by cops the day prior.

The protest ended with 97 arrests and approximately $2 million in damages. Anderson, who had been suspended during the crisis, was reinstated on February 12. On June 30, the hearing committee reported “there was nothing in the evidence to substantiate a general charge of racism” and found him not guilty.

This story is a bit different than the “official version.” A quick Google search will turn up dozens of articles about the Computer Riot, almost all of which retell the narrative given by the university. According to them, police were only called to evict the occupation once students had begun barricading the stairwells. This is a classic tactic used to legitimize heavy-handed policing of direct action, claiming that certain control tactics were necessary to pacify a “rowdy” crowd.

Secondly, it’s often claimed that protesters started the fire that caused considerable damage to the building, while the students themselves attest that it was the work of the police. This has most recently been touched upon in the documentary film Ninth Floor.

A Small Nuisance for the Gardas

 Comments Off on A Small Nuisance for the Gardas
Nov 122018
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Here’s a simple way to complicate the lives of Gardas and other security guards.

During their night rounds, security guards are equipped with a scanner to ensure they complete a number of tasks. They have to scan barcodes, QR codes and magnetic chips to prove to their superiors that they’ve done their rounds.

You’ll find these codes on exit doors, in bathrooms, some classrooms, at the ends of hallways and other places.

These images come from UQAM, but there are certainly some in your institutions, schools or not!

You can do your own rounds, to complicate theirs!

Flyer: When the Police Attack

 Comments Off on Flyer: When the Police Attack  Tagged with:
Nov 012018
 

Anonymous Submission to MTL Counter-info

The police are in our way. They are in the way of the demo continuing: to the next block, the bank windows downtown, the police station and government offices. They are also blocking our way towards something else: towards a world without bosses, cops, and prisons, as the good old slogan says. But before being in our way, they are first and above all… the police, an institution based on colonization, racism, and the state’s monopoly on violence. We will have no other choice but to confront them as an adversary in each of our struggles.

While demonstrations are not the only moments when we face the cops, they represent an unavoidable context. In demos, the police put everything at their disposal to spread fear among the opponents of power, to control our actions, to injure us and arrest us. In short, they deploy their forces with the goal of dissuading us from pursuing the struggle and changing anything in a real way.

We need to give ourselves the collective ability to defend ourselves. For us, a few Montreal anarchists, we think it’s a matter of spreading knowledge and practices of confrontation and care, while making an effort for groups and individuals who participate differently in the demonstration to work together. Basing ourselves on some recent demos in Montreal, let’s sketch out how different tactics can be used in a coherent way against the cops. There’s space for everyone!

  • Fireworks!
  • Reinforced Banner Crew: A reinforced banner serves multiple functions: it carries a message, it provides concealment (for a place to change clothes, e.g.), and it protects at least the arms of the people carrying it, thanks to pieces of wood and plastic added to its backing. Those carrying the banner are in a vulnerable position, as they often find themselves on the front line. Therefore it’s important to wear helmets and mouthguards. In addition, for their protection each banner holder is paired with another, more mobile person right behind them, who can hold a flag which can be used as a stick.
  • Mask distribution: Wearing a mask not only protects your anonymity – the more people wear masks, the more effective it is as a tactic. Police have a much harder time proving who threw a stone in a masked crowd. Even if you don’t plan on breaking the law yourself, wearing a mask is a great way of being in solidarity with those who do!
  • Graff Crew
  • Medics
  • Projectile gatherers: There are many ways of supporting confrontation with police indirectly! Whether gathering piles of bricks near a confrontation, or encouraging the crowd to stay together and close to the action when things get chaotic.
  • Anti-media team: No matter a journalist’s intention, cameras should be pushed out of rowdy demos – photographs will be used as evidence to put people in cages.
  • Back team: If a demo moves too fast, it can leave behind people who can’t move as quickly. A team at the back of the demo can communicate with people at the front, to find a speed that allows everyone to stay together as long as desired. In addition, cops don’t only enter the demo from the front and sides: a back team could improve the safety of the entire demo.
  • Functional Barricade: Impede the movement of police, while giving us cover to fight behind!

[PDF (en)]

[PDF (fr)]

Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival: Only one week left…

 Comments Off on Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival: Only one week left…
Nov 012018
 

From The Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival

The Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival (MIATF), the only festival in the world dedicated to anarchist theatre, is looking for plays, texts, monologues, dance-theatre, puppet shows, mime, in English and French, on the theme of anarchism or any subject pertaining to anarchism, i.e. against all forms of oppression including the State, capitalism, war, capitalism, patriarchy, etc. We will also consider pieces exploring ecological, social and economic justice, racism, feminism, poverty, class and gender oppression from an anarchist perspective. We welcome work from anarchist and non-anarchist writers.

The 2019 edition of the festival will take place on May 22-23. Are you interested in presenting your work during the festival? Send us the application form by November 7, 2018!

Anti-homophobic Action at Parc Maisonneuve

 Comments Off on Anti-homophobic Action at Parc Maisonneuve
Oct 292018
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

The evening of the 15th, we redecorated a few installations at Parc Maisonneuve. In 2013, this park had been the site of Operation Narcisse, a police operation during which plainclothes cops placed charges of “indecency” against men, after having seduced them. Some placards against “indencency” – which have, for the most part, been stolen or vandalised – were installed in the context of this operation with the purpose of intimidating us. Through our actions, we want to denounce the role that undercover cops play in the absurd and useless production of “crimes” implicating queer people. We also wish to denounce the recent installation of a camera at the entrance of the bathrooms in the basement of the Parc Mausonneuve chalet. Sooner or later, they will meet their sad fate.

Discover Westmount: An Up-and-Coming Hub of Anarchist Activity

 Comments Off on Discover Westmount: An Up-and-Coming Hub of Anarchist Activity
Oct 282018
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

When you hear the word “Westmount”, temporary autonomous zones, dumpster barricades, and flaming effigies of Trudeau aren’t exactly what pops to mind. People often think of this drab neighborhood looming over St. Henri as purgatory where the absurdly wealthy listlessly drift between a loveless marriage, resentful children, and a soul-crushing job… But not anymore!

Westmount is undergoing revitalization!

Anarchists are transforming it into a mixed-attack neighborhood that offers many opportunities for comrades of every tendency. In desolate Westmount, there’s an activity for anarchists of any stripe—regardless if your flag flies black, half-red, or purple glitterbomb.

Read Buzzfeed’s list of Five Cool Facts You Didn’t Know About Westmount (or, as we like to call it: Nouvelle-Exarchia)

1) Every other home is empty.

While most of those South of Maisonneuve can’t afford their rising rent–let alone buy a home—the tyrannical trillionaires of Westmount can own 2, 3, and sometimes 4 properties! They may be property owners, but not necessarily residents. Perfectly good houses are just sitting there, with empty bedrooms—and stocked fridges! It’s the cheapest Air BnB in the city-breakfast included! Think about it: Second home or…Squatted Social Centre?

2) Westmount pigs are literally the same as Montreal Pigs.

The Scumbag Protectors of the Very Moneyed (S.P.V.M) aren’t good enough for the affluent assholes of Westmount – these burdensome billionaires have –get this– brought in their very own smarmy army.

The only difference is that they aren’t in full-body armour—their soft, supple skin is vulnerable to the many elements (and projectiles). The way we see it: Two Birds; One Molotov.

3) It’s full of artisinale barricade material.

Have you ever been in a rowdy street party and the police just aren’t taking the many “hints” that their invitation wasn’t simply “lost in the mail”? You run to grab a newspaper box, only to realize it’s been bolted to the ground! You look around, but you are bereft of barricade material! This would never happen in Revolutionary Westmount!™ Here, the streets are peppered with grade-A barricade material, and all of it free for the taking. Newspaper Boxes, Dumpsters, and Patio Furniture—Oh my!

4) The walls are a primed canvas.

Did you know that these wealthy whiners haven’t yet heard of public art? It’s true! The many beautiful, blank walls in this tax-shelter territory present a desirable development opportunity. In this beige borough, you’ll never run into the problem of spending the night hanging out with your “squad”, getting ready to “throw up” an “ACAB” only to find another “tagger” has already “1312”-ed your “sick spot”. The walls are waiting for you to “Bank”-sy it up!

5) Last but not least: Banks, and lots of them!

‘Nuf said. (We already made a good bank joke in #4.)

Jokes aside, on the beautiful fall evening, we slashed the tires of two cars parked in the driveway of 3140 rue Jean-Girard, in Westmount. This is the address of Brandon Shiller. Brandon Shiller is a prominent slumlord who buys up properties in low-income areas with the sole purpose of evicting tenants and hiking up the rent. His daddy’s real-estate firm is Shiller Lavy, which is also heavily-involved in gentrifying many neighborhoods in Montreal.

We encourage anyone else concerned with the rising rents and attacks on the poor to let these scumbags, who hide in the wealthiest neighbourhood in Montreal, know how you feel.

Homophobic Cops of Quebec

 Comments Off on Homophobic Cops of Quebec
Oct 262018
 

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

The following is a list of cops who have, near or far, participated in the development of police operations with the purpose of harassing queer men cruising in public spaces in the so-called province of Quebec. This list is not exhaustive.

Sébastien CHARRON constable│PDQ 15 │SPVM │ Opération Sentier

Geneviève PÉPIN constable│PDQ 15 │SPVM │ Opération Sentier

Jean-Ernest CÉLESTIN chief │PDQ 15 │SPVM │ Opération Sentier

Stéphane BROSSEAU constable│SPVM │ Opération Sentier

Stéphane BÉLANGER commander│PDQ 38 │SPVM│ Operation Nirvana

Suzie PAQUETTE community officer│ PDQ 38│ SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Christine DOUCET community officer│SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Josée BELLEMARE community officer │SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Nathalie LEGROS community officer │SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Caroline BERNIER community officer│SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Jean-Guy TRUDEL sergeant │PDQ 38 │SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Mélanie POTVIN constable│PDQ 38 │ SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Giovanni CIARLO agent provocateur│ SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Sylvain JOYAL agent provocateur│SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Martin BRIÈRE agent provocateur│SPVM │ Opération Nirvana

Josée MIREAULT community officer │ PDQ 44 │SPVM │ Opération Narcisse

Alexandre CLÉMENT mat. 11721 │agent provocateur│SPAL

Pierre QUINTAL spokesperson │SPAL

Gaétan DUROCHER spokesperson │SPAL

Jacques CÔTÉ former captain│SPAL

Réjan PLEAU prevention programs manager│ SPVQ

François BOUCHARD public relations officer │SPVQ

Sandra DION constable│SPVQ │ Opération Rendez-Vous

Catherine VIEL communications officer│SPVQ │ Opération Buisson

Marie-Ève PAINCHAUD constable │SPVQ

Nancy ROUSSEL constable│SPVQ

Christine LEBRASSEUR spokesperson │SPVQ

André MAGNY station director │ Shawinigan │ SQ

The following is a list of politicians and community actors who have, near or far, participated in the development of police operations with the purpose of harassing queer men cruising in public spaces in the so-called province of Quebec. This list is not exhaustive.

Isabelle BOISVERT coordinator│ table en sécurité urbaine du Plateau-Mont-Royal │Centre des Femmes │ Opération Nirvana

Vivianne LAVOIE general director │ table en sécurité urbaine du Plateau-Mont-Royal │Centre des Femmes │ Opération Nirvana

Marc PETTERSEN municipal councilor │Ville de Sauguenay

Robert MILOT mayor │Ville de Sainte-Adèle

Huguette ROY municipal councilor│Saint-Paul-Émard │membre de la table de sécurité urbaine du Sud-Ouest │ Opération Sentier

Michel ANGERS mayor │Ville de Shawinigan

Attack on the Canadian embassy in Athens

 Comments Off on Attack on the Canadian embassy in Athens
Oct 242018
 

From Liveleak.com

The Canadian state through its embassy in Athens constantly support the mining corporation Eldorado Gold, responsible for mass destruction of the natural habitat at Chalkidiki region and other places in north Greece. The mining activities destroy aging forests and pollute the earth and water.

The mining industry, and in particular mining operations around the world, are one of the most profitable and at the same time shadow industries. Mining companies are by nature two levels on the scale of exploitation by joint ventures, because in addition to gaining surplus value from the workers, public wealth is harvested from the subsoil of the sites that are active to sell it as theirs, leaving behind dead land. There are many examples of mining companies that left behind huge environmental disasters, dissolved local societies and irreparable damage to human health. For example, the chemical contamination in the Baia Mare mine in Romania by AURUL or the enormous environmental disaster caused by MARCOPPER in the Philippines. In this context, an extraction could not be an exception in Greece. It is no coincidence that economically weak and corrupt countries are a good ground for such investments as they are more vulnerable to the elasticisation of their environmental legislation and the need for work makes workers easy prey to identify themselves with the interests of companies and to turn into their defenders by forgetting their class position.

In the 2000s, Bobolas and the PASOK government took part in one of the biggest scandals of recent years, that of the mines of Halkidiki. In 2003, the Greek state buys Cassandra mines from Canadian TVX and on the same day it transfers them without the planned open tender to Hellenic Gold SA for 11 million euros. Ellinikos Xrysos was founded 3 days before the acquisition of TVX and with a share capital of 60,000 euros (the smallest possible for AE), with the main shareholders also the Canadian European Goldfields and the Hellenic interests of Bobola. This dark contract transferred a mountain of ores worth 22 billion euros, mines, industrial buildings, offices, factories, mechanical equipment, homes, mining of ores and exemption from any responsibility for the protection of the environment. Interesting in the case is that a few years after the transfer, the commission found that this agreement was granted unlawful State aid of EUR 15,400,000 in favor of Hellenic Gold and forced it to repay this amount plus interest to the state. The even more interesting thing is that the then Minister, G. Papaconstantinou, denied this amount and, together with Bhopal, appealed to the European Court against the decision. In 2011, with the licensing of mining, a third Canadian company, Eldorado gold, absorbs European goldfields and acquires 95% of Greek gold. Unlawful state aid of € 15,400,000 was granted to Hellenic Gold and forced it to repay this amount plus interest to the state. The even more interesting thing is that the then Minister, G. Papaconstantinou, denied this amount and, together with Bhopal, appealed to the European Court against the decision.

It is worth mentioning that while in other countries states are taxing mining companies very high and in some cases sometimes demanding a proportion of the mined metals, Greek Gold is taxed on net profits, even from the production stage of pure metals, which the company from the beginning was not meant to do because the proposed method cannot be applied. As expected, the company declares a minus fund and is therefore not taxed. It is also known how the profits of the company through labyrinthine routes end up in companies in the Netherlands and enjoy Barbey island taxes.

Mining in Chalkidiki is a huge project, at the level of investment, spatial and social size and profit for the company. At the same time, it is one of the biggest scandals in recent years, and it has not taken on the proportions it has, such as Vatopedi, SIEMENS or the armaments, although it has nothing to envy, neither in sums nor in the interplay of politicians, contractors, international business giants.

We were particularly pleased with MEGA’s Hollywood reports, which incidentally belonged to Bhopal, for hours to play the protest of 300 metal miners while in Thessaloniki 10,000 people demonstrated against mining. But apart from interweaving, bots and contracts, the epitome of exploitation and looting is the destruction of the environment. Only about 500,000 dusts per hour will be emitted from the rock drilling and explosion areas. This powder contains arsenic, asbestos, lead and other heavy metals and moves from area to area at great speeds through the air, polluting the atmosphere, water, and plants.

Gold is only a stock market value, with no usability, with only 10% of the mined product being used in technology. Its extraction could be avoided, since recycling of already mined gold could cover global needs for many years without even altering the properties of the metal. With the predatory agreement of selling the mines to Hellenic gold, it was public mineral wealth, without any kind of benefit to society, while the state reiterated its consistent practice of exempting companies from established damages and unlawful acts. We have been monitoring the state, over the last 15 years, in co-operation with the Supreme Courts, to facilitate the company with photographic laws and licensing, and to keep a viewer on the continuing illegality. We have watched the company lose any credibility to comply with its approved studies and obligations, especially since it has been released in advance for the environmental damage it will cause. All this, coupled with the inability of control mechanisms, makes the last of the natives aware of the upcoming huge catastrophe that will change the map of the entire region.

The “tradition” of the people in the mining has “delivered tradition” and the movement against it. For the last 40 years, since the Bodossakis era, a multiform movement has called for mobilization and conflict, has endured persecution and imprisonment and has reached academic writing and scientific studies against media propaganda. The radicalization of these societies shows that when capital pillages nature and hence our own lives it will find them in front of it “from the bottom”. Capital is plundering workers, nature and animals. The state is always there to lay back, money and brush. The duty of our class is to send them to the crutch.

Many of the mining companies operating worldwide are based in Canada and three of them are involved in gold mining in Halkidiki. Canadian embassies around the world systematically defend the Canadian mines to blackmail governments to accept mining threatening to disrupt relations between countries. The examples are many. From Chiapas to Mexico and Guatemala, where the embassies supported companies that had their activist killings in their resume, to Honduras, where the Canadian embassy forcibly pressed the government to pass a bill favorable to miners despite the opposite public opinion.

State and capital will always be mutually supportive and will always find us opposite.

Anarchist collectivity of Rubikon

Bryan Trottier: the racist, misogynist leader of the English-Canada branch of La Meute

 Comments Off on Bryan Trottier: the racist, misogynist leader of the English-Canada branch of La Meute
Oct 192018
 

From Montréal-Antifasciste

In a desperate attempt to influence the recent Quebec elections, La Meute has been popping up in the last few weeks with small, decentralized actions. Though the mainstream media has been giving them far too much attention for their size, the extreme-right group’s actions haven’t gained much popular support, in stark contradiction to their leader Sylvain ”Maikan” Brouillette’s slogan: “40,000 members, 40,000 votes”.

It’s within this context that, on the 15th of September, Steeve “L’artiss” Charland (Maikan’s potential rival) led a “mobile protest” which was, in reality, simply a bunch of cars driving around with La Meute flags or stickers. The meet-up for the dozen or so La Meute members was Oka, right next to the Mohawk community of Kanesatake. Upon their arrival, members of the Kanesatake community mobilized to kick them out, subjecting them to boos and insults as they left, and in so doing, refusing to allow their community to be used in the way the extreme-right group have been attempting to use them during the past few months.

«Hey! Get out! Hey, you’re not passing by the reserve either.  Get the fuck out of here!  Get the fuck out.  And they’re not going up this way.»
– A Kanesatake resident speaking to La Meute on September 15, 2018

A video of these events has already been viewed over 50,000 times and shared hundreds of times on Facebook. Some La Meute members used the comments section of the video to spew their racist, colonial hate. A user named “Barb N Bryan Wolfe” took the prize for disgusting comments against indigenous people (image 1). These comments included: “Kanesatake needs to be quarantined,” “This is why we had to fuck you idiots up in ’90,” (referring to the Oka standoff), and calling the Mohawk community “racist Peieces (sic) of shit.”

Who exactly is “Barb N Bryan Wolfe”?

It turns out that this Facebook account is owned by Barbara Edwards (also known as Barbara Wolfe) (image 2), known for organizing an islamophobic protest in Toronto in March 2017.  Bryan Trottier is, in fact, her boyfriend. He has been using the Barb N Bryan Wolfe account to regurgitate his islamophobic hatred and to organize racist events in Ontario. Bryan Trottier is the “Commandant” of the CDN Wolfpack (image 3), the English-Canada branch of La Meute in  Ontario, which currently operates independently from La Meute in Quebec. It also turns out  that Bryan not only uses his girlfriend’s account but also fake accounts under the names of Joshephine Murphy and Zora Xeno.

(Screen capture from February 10, 2018, taken from Anti-Racist Canada)

This is far from the first example of Bryan Trottier’s disgraceful behaviour.

Bryan Trottier

 

Bryan Trottier and Barbara Edwards

Bryan Trottier

Barbara Edwards

False accusations used to spread antifeminism and misogyny

Last June, we published an article on the false accusation of sexual assault orchestrated by a right-wing troll who was using the name “ZoraXeno”. This false accusation, shared by alt-right videoblogger DMS amongst others, was rapidly debunked and denounced.  Like we said then, despicable attempts to employ anonymous accusations of sexual violence won’t keep us from believing victims and survivors in general.

In July, another fake account named “Joshephine Murphy” came out with another false accusation against a member of the pro-union and anti-fascist music group Union Thugs.

Once again, it was denounced as a completely fabricated story, while reiterating support for survivors and feminist struggles against sexual violence and sexism. (image 4-5-6)

Music group Union Thugs denounces the false accusations and the misuse of feminist struggles to undermine anti-fascist work, while expressing support for the battle against the culture of silence.

 

Music label DCHC, which was organizing a show in Ontario with Union Thugs, corrects misinformation while reiterating their support for survivors who anonymously denounce sexual violence.

 

Montreal feminist collective Les Gamines, known to have published numerous anonymous accounts of sexual abuse which identified the abusers, denounces the false accusations brought by Joshephine Murphy (the fake Bryan Trottier account).

Bryan, Joshephine, Zora… même combat

In the most recent false accusation against Union Thugs, the Joshephine Murphy account didn’t even bother to pretend to be a left-wing organizer anymore, as we can see in image 7 with the “anti-communist” logo which refers to the Pinochet-era assassinations. In any case, after the harassment of multiple left-wing Facebook pages, the Joshephine account has finally owned up to being “Bryan.” (Image 8)

He doesn’t hesitate to proclaim himself a La Meute leader in some of his comments (Image 9). Here we can also see that Murphy  is part of the Canadian Wolfpack secret Facebook group (Image 10) :

 

(Screen capture from July 2018, taken from Anti-Racist Canada)

 

Note that Bryan Trottier used both accounts simultaneously to intimidate a radical group from Ontario in the summer of 2018:

Unmasked!

Long story short, Bryan Trottier, aka Joshephine Murphy, aka ZoraXeno, aka Barb N Bryan Wolfe, isn’t some random individual (or group of individuals) but is actually the head of the extreme-right CDN Wolfpack group. Up until this past September 15th, theWolfpack was Quebec group La Meute’s sister organization, organizing islamophobic protests together. Despite their recent split, the head of Quebec’s La Meute group (Sylvain ”Maikan” Brouillette) reminded everyone on the La Meute public Facebook group that “La Meute and CDN Wolfpack will continue to work together closely.”   (September 15, 2018).  At the time this article is being written, the CDN Wolfpack sign-up page was still hosted on Quebec’s La Meute website (image 13).

Both deeply islamophobic and racist groups say they want to protect “western values” (and white western women) against Islam. They frequently employ the concepts of equality between women and men to sanitize their hateful anti-Muslim ideology.

The multiple denunciations of sexual assault within the leadership of La Meute, their hatred of the headscarf (and consequently Muslim women), and their numerous attempts to put forward false accusations of sexual assault in an attempt to discredit feminist struggles against rape culture prove over and over their misogyny and antifeminism.

In conclusion, we reaffirm that the biggest danger to our values – feminist, antiracist, antifascist, and in staunch opposition to colonialism – are the Bryan Trottiers of the world, and racist organizations like La Meute, rather than new immigrants with their languages, cultures and religions.