Comments Off on Assassination as an Anarchist Tactic
Dec132024
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
This is a raw, underdeveloped reflection on why political assassinations of CEOs, politicians, slumlords, etc., should happen more often. The assassination of UnitedHealthCare Executive CEO, Brian Thompson left me spiralling in a myriad of unexpected ways, mostly around these two questions: why doesn’t this happen more often? And perhaps, why do anarchists seemingly no longer do this?
Assassinations are primarily political. They are a radical act resulting from either a political analysis of power, or a threat to the order of it. Police, state, and corporations commit assassinations but they use their justice systems to legitimate them.
I find myself so hesitant to discuss with some of my most trusted, beloved comrades. It feels so taboo. What has liberal democratic propaganda done to anarchism that makes the topic of assassination so uncomfortable to talk about it as a rationale and reasonable act? Even if we hate to admit it, non-violence has a more pervasive creep than many of us are willing to admit.
In some circles, I hear a lot of people talk about the necessity of violence, but I’m not sure if it’s anything more than a romanticized notion of it. The experience of committing violence against one’s adversary is many things, though it often comes with a rush of adrenaline, sometimes a fleeting sense of euphoria, but it can also come with nausea, shock, and the intuitive feeling that with every act of violence a piece of one’s self is forever changed.
And at the same time, what the fuck world? We’ve been shown that the legal system is a joke. We know laws are made for the most powerful. We know that politicians don’t care about systemic change, but rather, they are more invested in the maintenance of capital and state order albeit with different takes depending on the political party. We know demonstrations alone don’t work, we know breaking windows or setting an executive’s car on fire isn’t enough to deter or intimidate, so what is one left with to do? What is left to be done so that when one says, “no, this will not happen any longer,” and acts accordingly, it happens no longer?
Those who have power and shape the socio-political terrain of this world will not step aside peacefully. We are fucking delusional if we think that another petition, demo, vigil, frontline is going to change anything. While friends and comrades caught RICO charges from the Stop Cop City struggle, Donald Trump caught the same charges and became President, again!
The state uses the police to back multibillion dollar projects. We cannot win when we try to stand against them as equal opponents, even in asymmetrical attacks the outcomes are grim. But if the heads of corporations, etc were killed, one by one, think of the way their networks would implode into chaos because of the fear and knowledge that they are no longer untouchable? They can be found. I’m not saying that assassinations are the only thing left to do. I’m just wondering aloud into the anarchist universe as to why this tactic is used more by the state, the police, etc., and less by individuals who understand/ experience the harm and greed of certain individuals who just need to die.
Millions of people applauded the recent assassination of UHC CEO Thompson, they also applauded the most recent assassination attempt of Trump. We are on a precipice. I want those reading this text to seriously examine their relationship to violence. Ask yourself and trusted friends, “how far are you/ am I willing to go?” Would you know the conditions necessary for that relationship to change or intensify? Or, do you provide endless justifications as to why a tactic of accelerated violence won’t make a difference. Be honest. Sometimes we say such things because we are just afraid of the consequences of getting caught or failing. When we are honest about our fears we can make plans to move beyond them. What things would you need in place to feel like you could increase your capacity to act violently? And to that end, to commit an assassination?
Assassinations are an anarchist tactic. The following is a list of known anarchist assassins – definitely incomplete – who decided that this was a viable tactic throughout history. Wikipedia has pages on each of them:
Michele Angiolillo Milan Arsov Joëlle Aubron Germaine Berton Georgi Bogdanov Dmitrii Bogrov Marko Boshnakov Gaetano Bresci Arthur Caron Sante Geronimo Caserio Georges Cipriani Alfredo Luís da Costa Leon Czolgosz Buenaventura Durruti Vladimir Gaćinović Herman Helcher Émile Henry (anarchist) Liu Shifu Gino Lucetti Luigi Lucheni Paulí Pallàs Manuel Pardiñas Giovanni Passannante Yordan Popyordanov Antonio Ramón Ravachol Gennaro Rubino Santiago Salvador Alexandros Schinas Sholem Schwarzbard Oleksandr Semenyuta Jean-Baptiste Sipido Sergey Stepnyak-Kravchinsky Moishe Tokar Kurt Gustav Wilckens Wong Sau Ying Vera Zasulich Bogdan Žerajić
The Messe des Morts (MdM) is a Montréal music festival that, according to the “About” section of the festival’s Facebook page, sets out to “satisfy those who like their metal dark and hateful!” The event is primarily organized by Martin Marcotte under the auspices of his label Sepulchral Productions. It is mainly devoted to black metal and its local scene, Québec Black Metal, a largely underground but highly developed music scene that is particularly fond of shocking themes, including Satanism and gore, reflecting a taste for non-conformity and an urge to provoke and transgress.
What we will be discussing below, however, goes far beyond mere provocation.
The 2016 edition of the MdM made headlines following the announcement of the participation of the Polish band Graveland, a black metal band associated with the National Socialist Black Metal (NSBM) subgenre. The term “national socialist” refers to the German political party better known by its common abbreviation: the Nazi Party.
National Socialist Black Metal, as its name suggests, wallows in Nazi apologetics and explores dark themes that include the racial superiority of “white” Europeans and the glorification of the Holocaust (sometimes directly and explicitly, but often obliquely or implicitly), frequently accompanied by references to paganism, Norse and Germanic gods, Scandinavian mythology.
Following an outcry over Graveland’s inclusion in the MdM program and an intense campaign by anti-fascists in the weeks leading up to the event, culminating in a demonstration outside the Plaza Theatre on the evening and the intervention of riot squad, the band was prevented from playing and was forced to vacate the stage. In the end, the evening was cancelled.
After that, the festival, still organized under the Sepulchral Productions banner, became more discreet (although the 2017 edition was also problematic). . . until this year.
Sepulchral Productions seems to be making an unfortunate return to its roots this year: at least three bands belonging to the NSBM subgenre (or in some way adjacent to it) have been announced in the 2024 lineup (November 28-30).
Here’s an overview of this year’s bands and their NSBM links.
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Marduk :
This Swedish band is particularly fond of macabre World War II themes. Although the band denies any connection to NSBM or in any way glorifying Nazism, with its members describing themselves as nothing more than history buffs, oddly, they systematically explore “historical” themes from the point of view of the Third Reich, the Wehrmacht (the German army), and the SS (elite Nazi units, responsible in particular for the extermination of Jews). The show they intend to present on the third evening of MdM 2024 is entitled Panzer Division Marduk, the title of their 1999 album and a direct reference to the armored divisions of the German military during the World War II.
Marduk’s most recent album, Viktoria (2018), is a return to the themes explored on their previous records, revisiting various episodes from the World War II. . . always from the Nazi point of view. The song “Werwolf” refers to the clandestine resistance plan of the same name that the Nazis hatched in 1944 to address their potential defeat. “Equestrian Bloodlust” is in reference to the 8th SS Florian Geyer cavalry division. “Narva” evokes the battle of Narva and the Narva battle detachment known as “the European SS.” “Viktoria” refers to the Nazi military marching song “Sieg Heil Viktoria.” And on it goes.
Finally, a cursory search of the band’s online merchandise reveals, among other things, t-shirts adorned with the emblematic SS Totenkopf (skull and crossbones) and the Third Reich’s imperial eagle emblem, alongside the warrior imagery associated with the band’s records, including Panzer Division Marduk.
A sample of Marduk’s Nazi t-shirts, to give you an idea of the iconography you can expect to see at Théâtre Paradoxe on November 29 and 30….
Nazism and the glorification of German military during the World War II, SS units in particular, are clearly not incidental elements in Marduk’s work but consistent central and recurring themes.
The group has, in fact, had its share of controversies in recent years (see links below). In 2017, two of its members were identified as having purchased material from the Nordic Resistance Movement, Scandinavia’s largest neo-Nazi movement. As a result, a Marduk show was cancelled in Oakland, thanks to pressure from Anti-Fascist Action Bay Area. Last year, the band’s bassist was filmed giving a Nazi salute at a show, after which the band was forced to sack him.
This Finnish band has clear links with the NSBM scene. Horna’s former singer is the founder and main member of NSBM band Satanic Warmaster. Horna’s key member and guitarist has long managed a label that has signed other NSBM bands, as well as having himself been a member of a band whose lyrics advocate white supremacy. As for Horna’s current singer, he was keyboardist for the French band Peste Noire, one of Europe’s leading NSBM bands, whose song “La bataille de Sarcelles” [The Battle of Sarcelles], for example, serves up apologetics for a street brawl with Arabs in France (“les ennemis de nos terres”) [enemies of our country] with “battes de baseball et d’autres bâtons de guerre” [baseball bats and other battle clubs] making reference to “fanions à croix celtique” [Celtic cross pennants], a far-right identarian symbol (2021), while the song “Turbofascisme” rationalizes the “fascism” of the “race des Seigneurs” [master race] and the “race blanche” [white race] of “Vieille Europe” [ancient Europe] (2018).
A Quebec band whose stature is partly due to their past collaborations with NSBM groups. In 2004, they produced a split disc with the previously mentioned Finnish group Satanic Warmaster, which includes the song “Six Million Tears,” referring to the six millions Jews killed by the Nazis during the Holocaust.
In an interview given in 2004, the members of Akitsa said they had no problem with the NSBM scene:
“[c’est] vrai que l’on doit mettre fin à l’immigration telle qu’elle est maintenant. La plupart de nos pays occidentaux sont envahis par des étrangers avec d’autres cultures que les nôtres. Ils détruisent la culture européenne. C’est la même chose pour les valeurs américaines (ce qui comprend les idées sionistes et les lois en matière de droits de la personne). La philosophie nationale-socialiste a des bons points concernant ces problèmes.” [It’s true that we have to put an end to immigration as it is now. Most Western countries are being invaded by foreigners with cultures different from ours. They are destroying European culture. The same goes for American values (including Zionist ideas and human rights laws). National Socialist philosophy had some good things to say about these problems.]
The slogan integrated into the band’s logo immediately above reads “Me ne frego,” a fascist slogan that is also the title of a split disc released in 2013.
Akitsa’s singer Pierre-Marc Tremblay, alias “Outre-Tombe” [Beyond the Grave], founded the still active label Tour de garde [guard tower] in 2001 and soon began to distribute music by Québec neo-Nazi artists (Arnstadt and Mors Summa). It’s worth noting that the Tour de garde logo clearly evokes SS military crests. Another coincidence, no doubt.
Additionally, Finnish bands Chamber of Unlight and Warmoon Lord, also on the Messe des Morts 2024 bill, are produced by the NSBM label Werewolf Records. Graveland’s former keyboardist now plays with Warmoon Lord.
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All of this clearly paints an extremely problematic picture.
Black metal fans themselves are not mistaken! Here are some of the reactions found on the festival’s and Sepulchral Productions’ pages after the announcement of Marduk and Horna’s appearance:
[Hell yeah. Don’t let antifa cancel this time.]
[Nice!!!! Will you have security in case “antifas” show up!]We strongly feel that these artists cannot be allowed to perform in Montréal. We also refuse to accept the festival’s organizers, first and foremost Martin Marcotte, hiding behind the idea of artistic license. They must be forced to take responsibility for what they are doing: inviting artists who promote and modernize hateful ideologies, year after year, artists who come to our multicultural city to glorify Nazism and fascism. We believe it’s absolutely vital to preserve Montréal’s welcoming, diverse, and inclusive character and, therefore, to make it clear that music with this sort of hateful content has no place in our concert halls.
So who is hosting this particular festival?
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Le Théâtre Paradoxe
Since the 2017 edition of the MdM, the Théâtre Paradoxe, a social economy enterprise in a refurbished church, has been hosting the festival. In an interview with the magazine Sors-tu? in 2022, Martin Marcotte expressed pride in this unusual partnership between blasphemous Black Metal fans and a former Christian place of worship.
“J’ai parlé avec la directrice, on a discuté des controverses, de la médiatisation, je lui ai donné ma version des faits, et elle était OK pour donner une chance à l’évènement.”
[I spoke with the director, we discussed the controversies, the media coverage, I gave her my side of the story, and she was okay with giving the event a chance.]
Three weeks ago, we contacted the Théâtre Paradoxe administration, requesting that, in light of the 2024 programming, they do the sensible thing and to sever their business relationship with MdM. At the time the management told us that they were concerned about the situation and were taking it seriously.
After a few e-mail exchanges, the theatre’s administration invited us to a meeting to discuss the matter with the various parties involved. However, from an antifascist point of view that would be completely pointless. There are situations where a clear-cut decision has to be made, and this is one of them. There can be no dialogue between apologists for Nazism and its enemies; that debate was definitively concluded eighty years ago.
In any case, we’ve already heard every element of Martin Marcotte and Sepulchral Productions’ line of defense ad nauseum. There would be the “freedom of expression” issue. We’d hear how these artists publicly deny being neo-Nazis and “don’t really” belong to the NSBM subgenre (although some have questionable backgrounds). Problematic lyrics would be construed as a matter of “second importance” and artistic license. Equally problematic imagery would be presented as an integral part of the subculture. The “real fascists” are those who seek to silence these artists. And so on, and so forth.
All these arguments are nonsense, little more than gaslighting, and are ultimately nothing more than smoke and mirrors.
Since 2017, despite muted hostility, the anti-fascist community had not acted against the Messe des Morts. This year, however, Sepulchral Productions is headlining bands that are widely recognized to be extremely problematic. In our opinion, this crosses a red line, and it’s clear that Martin Marcotte is testing the limits with Théâtre Paradoxe’s administration to see how far he can push this dubious material within the very walls of this socially-minded enterprise.
We understand, of course, that the Théâtre Paradoxe does not endorse the repugnant ideas promoted by National Socialist Black Metal and its apologists. However, the organization does have the power to act decisively by severing its business relationship with Sepulchral Productions, which would send a clear signal and have the Messe des Morts cancelled, or at least confront Marcotte with the consequences of what he is responsible for and force him to come up with a Plan B.
In short, now is not the time for dialogue, but for reasonable positions, consistent action, and consequences.
We invite our sympathizers to contact the Théâtre Paradoxe administration to (politely, but firmly) express their concerns.
A demo for Palestine attacked Concordia University Sunday evening. Many windows of luxury stores on Sainte-Catherine street were also broken. The police were kept at a distance with the help of molotov cocktails.
In 1851, Victor Hugo wrote what would become the well-known slogan: “Police everywhere, justice nowhere”. We have to admit that he was right, and that his words are still relevant today. The function of the police is not and has never been to serve and protect; nor is that of the prison to help the offenders to repair the harm (when there is harm!) and to reintegrate society. The police and prison apparatus are part of the repressive machine of the state, which has the primary function of maintaining the established order and allowing capital to profit, and only secondarily of preventing violence and abuse. No wonder it is so inefficient.
As every year for more than a quarter of a century, the journal “Police State” is a platform used to denounce how the current social order is relying on such state violence to maintain itself. We therefore call for your contribution in the form of texts, drawings, comics, photos, poems or any other ideas for the newspaper of this 27th edition of the IDAPB.
This year’s thematic will be : “In the streets or in jails, police brutality prevails”. You can also send us your already published texts, or existing links.
Contributions to the journal should be no more than 2 pages long and can be written in French, English or Spanish. Authors who wish to have their texts translated must let us know in a reasonable time frame so that we can find translators. We also invite you to attach images to accompany your text, if you wish. The images will not be counted in the two pages.
The final deadline for the content of the paper journal is February 8, 2023.
Please submit your text and other contributions to: cobp@riseup.net
On October 9th 2021, as part of the Week of Action in solidarity with the Gidimt’en, some folks in Montreal shutdown trains and took the streets for a demo. This action forshadows that if Canada and the RCMP continue their aggression, they will likely be met once again with coordinated, nation-wide actions to #ShutDownCanada.
[Special collaboration between Montréal Antifasciste et Québec Antifasciste]
Since 2018, Montréal Antifasciste has been documenting the activities of the neo-fascist group Atalante, a group that for the most part operates in Québec City. Since its Facebook page has been closed in August of 2021, it has lost much of its visibility and now seems to be in decline, regrouped around its core militants. Nonetheless, its members and sympathizers remain present and active in our communities, and the possibility that they could recruit new people pushes us to call for vigilance and to continue to keep the pressure on them. That is why we still think it is necessary to continue to expose Atalante members, particularly those who we know have been involved in acts of violence.
This article will focus on Yannick “Sailor” Vézina, one of the founding members of Atalante Québec who is still active to this day and whose involvement has not previously been examined in any depth.
Yannick Vézina took part in Atalante’s latest action n Québec City, during the weekend of 25-26 September, 2021. Photo extracted form Atalante Québec’s Telegram channel.
Yannick Vézina and the Québec Stomper Crew
Yannick Vézina has been part of the scene around the Québec Stomper Crew (the street gang that gave rise to Atalante Québec) for quite a while. Antoine Mailhot-Bruneau, a schoolmate from the Institut Maritime de Rimouski in the early 2010s introduced him to the Stompers entourage. Montréal Antifasciste has already exposed Antoine as the ideological leader of Atalante and the author of Saisir la Foudre [Ride the Lightening], the group’s manifesto. We know that after he met Mailhot-Bruneau, Vézina rapidly radicalized and joined in numerous escapades to win a place in the crew. Specifically, we know that he became a member in good standing following an attack on an anti-fascist militant.
Yannick Vézina (right) with Antoine Mailhot-Bruneau, leader of Atalante Québec.
Légitime Violence and the entourage of US-based band Offensive Weapon.
Vézina seems to have a pronounced penchant for violence, in any case. A few years ago, he saw a young man tearing down Atalante posters in broad daylight and chased him down, baseball bat in hand. He also openly uses hashtags like #quebecfascistcrew on his personal Instagram account. All of which gives you a good idea of what this guy is about…
Vézina and Atalante
As well as being a part of the Québec Stomper Crew, Yannick Vézina is also a key active member of Atalante. Among other things, he joined the “pilgrimage” to Italy and has been present at Atalante actions from the get-go, including having participated in the invasion of the Vice Québec office in 2018 to intimidate it’s employees.
It’s easy to recognize the wristwatch and the tattoo on the forearm.
He can also be seen in numerous photos of the sandwich distribution exercises and the banner collages. Furthermore, the revelations of the mole Quentin Pallavicini suggest that Vézina is Atalante’s treasurer.
Yannick Vézina (front row, right) with Atalante Québec’s core members.
Atalante Québec’s members, in January 2019, on the rooftop of CasaPound’s HQ, in Rome.
With other members of Atalante Québec, in Rome, January 2019. We recognize Sébastien Magnificat, CasaPound’s international affairs minister.
Yannick Vézina speaks to Atalante Québec’s militants, on May 1st, 2016.
Left, Yannick Vézina proudly holds Atalante Québec’s flag, during a torch-lit march organized soon after the organization’s creation, in 2016.
Yannick Vézina has been part of countless actions since the creation of Atalante, including this flyering blitz in Québec, in 2019.
Yannick « Sailor » Vézina
Yannick Vézina chose the nickname “Sailor” and seems very attached to his marine profession. Oddly enough, the Atalante logo seems to draw upon an illustration from an Institut Maritime du Québec study manual that to some degree resembles the fascist “flash and circle” symbol adopted a decade earlier by the Blocco Studentesco, the student wing of CasaPound, the Italian neo-fascist organization that was the inspiration behind the formation of Atalante.
Atalante Québec’s logo…
…was clearly plagiarized from this training manual used at the Institut Maritime du Québec.
The “flash and circle” motif, used by several fascist organizations, is the logo of the Blocco Studentesco, the youth wing of Italian neo-fascist organization CasaPound.
Yannick Vézina is currently employed by the shipping company Desgagnés and sails regularly on the Zélada, a ship that resupplies communities in Northern Québec and Northern Canada.
Yannick Vézina is employed aboard the Zélada, which is part of Groupe Desgagné’s float.
It will be interesting to see how this company reacts to the fact that it is employing a charter member of a neo-fascist organization, a member who has been involved in a number of violent attacks motivated by a detestable ideology, particularly as we have good reason to believe that he carries Atalante stickers to put up during his stopovers in Rimouski.
We encourage you to contact the company and ask them about this:
For some time now, it appears that things have been going pretty well in Vézina’s personal life. He recently bought a house in Charlesbourg/Lac-Beauport, a Québec city suburb, with his partner, whom he recently proposed to. It seems like a good time to remind him that violent acts and the hateful ideas he adheres to have their consequences.
We must highlight the extra note of romanticism that the bowl of kibbles confers to the scene.
Conclusion
Given that the Atalante neo-fascists have lost both their Facebook page and their website, it might seem reasonable to consider them no longer a serious threat. We think that would be a mistake, and that we should redouble the pressure on these militant fascists so that they finally wrap their head around the fact that their detestable ideas are not welcome in Québec.
Whether on land or on sea, we will continue to track these neo-fascists everywhere they go for as long as necessary.
If you have information you’d like to share with us about Yannick Vézina or Atalante and its sympathizers, don’t hesitate to write to us at alerta-mtl@riseup.net or qcantifasciste@riseup.net.
In different parts of the colonized territories, there’s been tearing down, demolishing or destruction of statues of slavers, rapists, colonizers and genociders. Why let go of these symbols? What do they represent? And what values keeps them standing?
This episode features an interview with Skyler Williams of 1492 Land Back Lane, a land reclamation on the edge of the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve near Caledonia, Ontario. This week marks the one year anniversary of the camp which was reclaimed last July in response to plans to develop a subdivision on Six Nations Territory. Skyler speaks about a year spent at the camp, the recent announcement that the McKenzie Meadows subdivision has been cancelled by the developer because of Six Nations resistance, and what’s next for folks at Land Back Lane.
Music in this show is all from artists who have performed at Land Back Lane: Six Nations singer-songwriters Derek Miller and Logan Staats, as well as Ottawa-based “powwow-step” group The Halluci Nation, formerly known as A Tribe Called Red.
Warning: the following article contains extreme racist and transphobic content.
Almost exactly one year ago, Montreal Antifasciste released an article on the Front canadien-francais, a reactionary nationalist group. In that article, we included a quicklist of about 10 meme pages from the FCF’s entourage that gravitated around hardcore reactionary themes – anti-immigrant, anti-feminist and LGBTQ2+, with accents of white nationalism and a strong ultra-Catholic leaning. With names like “Mèmes evangéliste Duplessiste” and ”Mèmes clérico-nationalistes du Canada français”, such pages provide a convenient way for far-right sympathizers to spread a wide range of reactionary and often racist notions like that of the notorious “great replacement” conspiracy theory (and a whole host of other dehumanizing ideas) to their followers and beyond.
Started in January 2020, the Quebec.wingism page on Instagram (originally called Rightwingism.quebec) is similar in politics and aesthetics to many of the meme pages mentioned above. Although memes are, by definition, meant to be spread, there is also a tendency for whole meme pages to multiply and be copied in style and politics as well. This is particularly the case for Quebec.wingism, which is modeled after other “wingism” pages – twoarticles have already been written about the beginnings of the wingism pages, reporting that the first Wingism page was started in Canada by a University of Calgary student.
The format is the following: in general there are multiple administrators identified by the first letter of their name, and although the pages purport to provide a platform for a variety of ideas, the range is generally firmly in the far-right spectrum: from eco-nationalism to fascism, often with some neo-nazi imagery thrown in for good measure. Many of the pages seem to coalesce around an obsession with the “great replacement” conspiracy theory, fascism, and a hatred of people of colour, LGBTQ2+ people (most especially trans and gender nonconforming people), and feminists, amongst others. It seems the format was easily scalable, as people from different countries all over the world slightly tweaked the politics and format (memes with fashwave filters and alt-right iconography) to their specific white nationalist context. As such, these pages contribute to the dissemination and development of an international far-right online cultural milieu.
The Quebec.wingism Instagram page and a map drawn by Quebec.wingism of all the rightwingism pages in North America (March 2020)
Although Instagram has occasionally purged certain rightwingism pages, many accounts simply rename themselves ever-so-slightly and reopen (it is not uncommon to see “v2” or “v3” next to a name, signifying the second or third rebirth of the page since being banned).
Quebec.wingism is a meme page cast in that mould – fashwave filters on historical reactionary figures and fascists, Islamophobia, white nationalism, overt racism, anti-feminism and hatred of transgender people, mixed with bog-standard Quebec nationalism. Wingism pages specialize in taking tired and repugnant reactionary ideas and spicing them up with “cool” filters or “funny” cartoon characters, all with the plausible deniability of a good dose of confusionism and “irony”. If it sounds like this is building on the cultural accomplishments of the alt-right movement from the USA, we most definitely agree. Wingism pages use the same tired Pepe memes and “based” Photoshop effects that reek of 2015-2019-style online American racism.
On Sunday April 11th, in response to Legault’s re-instatement of the 8pm curfew, people took to the streets in Montreal to enjoy the spring weather and express joyous rage at this shit world that continues to steal our lives away from us. Without any stated political intenton, a callout was made on social media to gather in the Old Port to party and defy the curfew. A number of anarchists joined what turned out to be a mixed crowd of people, mostly younger, whose main commonality was anger that their few freedoms were being further curtailed by the government. The atmosphere prior to 8pm was excited and raucous, with ‘fuck Legault’ being the most frequent and loud chant. Motorcycles revved their engines, people danced, drank, and laughed with their friends to celebrate spring in defiance of this bullshit world.
The first SPVM cruiser to drive by was met with boos and middle fingers, the second with eggs, bottles and rocks. Revolt was in the air, and we were delighted to be in the midst of such a rowdy display, especially after such a long, bleak winter. As the curfew approached, we noticed riot cops gathering to the East on Rue de la Commune and Rue St. Paul. There were only a few cruisers West on de la Commune. At that time they kept their distance, monitoring the demonstration.
Around the same time, ‘reporters’ arrived from ‘Rebel Media’, a far-right, Toronto-based news outlet. Rebel Media is famous for employing reporters with ties to Stormfront, a prolific neo-nazi website, and working with other racist, transphobic, alt-right personalities, as well as peddling anti-immigrant, COVID-denying conspiracy theories. Despite Rebel Media’s desperate attention-seeking behaviour, they are pretty obscure failures, even as youtube provocateurs (note: as of April 14 they were suspended from YouTube). It was clear that the vast majority of attendees did not know who they were, so unfortunately many young people excitedly and positively interacted with them.
The vultures from Rebel Media produced a laughable and pathetic report that blamed ‘antifa’ for the property destruction and looting that happened that night, rather than showing how a real cross section of Montrealers respond with legitimate rage and a desire to be heard in a world that marginalizes their voices.
We felt we lacked the numbers to deal with Rebel Media, and it seemed likely if we did attack, the crowd may have taken their side, because no one knows who Rebel Media is, let alone that they were being used to create far-right propoaganda. It was a frustrating situation.
At the same time, fires were being lit by small groups within the demo, but were extinguished by what appeared to be a small but organized group of white men wearing tactical gear and patches associated with far-right types attatched to their jackets, one of who had a go-pro camera on his head. They were seen at times having a group discussion before moving in and around the demonstration to monitor the crowd. Despite some unrelated fights and confusion here and there, the vibe was still extremely positive, people partied and chanted, and celebrated being in the streets together.
Later, larger groups began starting even bigger fires in the square, and this time the LARP-ing paci-flics didn’t intervene. There was some resistance as riot cops began tear-gassing and trying to disperse the crowd, but most people began running and scattering away as the cops entered the square. West of St. Laurant was seemingly free of cops, and multiple groups of people autonomously began setting fires, looting and destroying shops and other property as they left. Even though we wish it lasted longer, in that short time it was heartening to see people work together to take a little bit of their lives back by looting from the bougie shops in the Old Port, as well as generally fucking shit up. A city bus being used to transport riot cops was also liberated and covered in graffiti while others partied in and around it, celebrating a small victory if even for a brief minute.
In a media comment, Mayor Plante called the revellers ‘stupid’, and cried about the damage done to small businesses, asserting ‘we must remain united and stick together’. This is just the usual shitty liberal narrative: suddenly ‘we are all in this together’, all equal as ‘citizens’ when it’s time to maintian social order. They gloss over the very real divisions within society, held together through oppressive structures by which the wealthy, predominantely white property owning classes exploit working class, poor and predominantly POC folks.
At the same time, leftist identity politicians on social media condemn the riots, claiming they are responsible for causing further harm to those already most at risk. Others fall for the narrative of elusive ‘outside agitators’, white anarchists, who infiltrate peaceful crowds to cause violence. While we acknowledge the very real dangers that marginalized people in particular face from COVID19, we’d point it it was mostly people of color who showed up, and acted on their own initiative during this riot.
It is not revolt and militant solidarity in the streets that causes harm, but the institutions and laws which govern capitalist civilization. These are what keep us chained to shitty jobs where we are the most at risk of catching COVID19,that harass and murder us, and protect an economic system based on the theft of indigenous lands. We accuse these IDPOL clout-chasers of taking power away from the marginalized people who showed up and threw down. We accuse them of doing the work of the police and the politicians by trying to pacify, alienate and delegitimize the rioter’s rage.
Demonstrations continue to be called on the nights following April 11th. So far, the second and third demos were quite a bit smaller than the first, and were heavily repressed by the police. Nevertheless, with no real end in sight to the curfew, we think it is imperative to keep up the struggle. In this sense we are ‘all in this together’- we have militant solidarity with the youth (and others) whose futures are also increasingly bleak.
There are a number of tactical considerations we would like to consider in light of the events on the 11th. While the paci-flics were able to intervene when smaller groups were starting smaller fires, when bigger fires were being lit they were not able to. And as soon as the crowd was dispersed, they were not ready to deal with looting or vandalism. Clearly they are relatively weak, and small in number. While there weren’t enough of us to feel confident in confronting them at the time, we believe if anarchists and anti-authoritarians showed up in larger numbers, acting together, its possible we could shut them down and even force them out of the crowd if they attempted to pacify folks. Our numbers will lend us a greater legitimacy to others present, and likely allow us to have critical conversations with them about who these people are and why we defend certain actions.
In regards to the police, they didn’t engage with the crowd until large fires were lit. We feel it may be possible to strike at the police first, before they intervene, but it didn’t seem viable at this time. Rage is growing against the police, and it is possible that at later times we may be able to take action first, but this would also require us having sufficient numbers, and reading the vibe of the crowd. In any case, in order to allow us to hold the streets in these situations, we must also be able to defend against dispersal techniques. Specifically this means dealing with tear gas, which has been effective at quickly breaking up crowds. Coming prepared with projectiles, or having the means to break up paving stones etc in order to provide them for those present would be advantageous as well. We also need to have the numbers to be able to act as a distinct group, to deal with tear gas, and to calmly resist the riot cops. We believe that this would build confidence within the crowd, facilitate a more combative engagement with riot cops, and show that we don’t need to simply retreat.
We must continue to counter liberal narratives intent on pacifying revolt, taking us off the streets, and giving our power back to the politicians and self-appointed experts. We can do this during demos when pacifists try to speak and act out against violence against police and property, and after the fact by responding to IDPOL types and media reports with our own analysis. As anarchists and anti-authoritarians, we must be present for these defiant events. This is where we build complicity and affinity with rebels outside our circles, and when possible, have critical conversations with those present about tactics and targets. Equally, we need to be able to push out far-right grifters and reactionaries who are there to exploit our revolt.
This summer is gonna be hot, let’s throw gas on the fire and burn this fucking prison world down!
Solidarity with the rioters and revellers! Fuck the curfew!
