Sabotage – a viable solution. Fuck off Junex!
A solidarity action from Cégep du Vieux Montreal.
On September 5, 1999, eighteen years ago, Jean-Pierre Lizotte died as a result of injuries sustained from the blows of a Montreal police officer. I’m re-sharing today an article that I wrote in 2008 (published, in a slightly different form, in the Montreal Gazette) about the “Poet of Bordeaux Prison”. RIP Jean-Pierre Lizotte!
The Gazette’s opinion pages recently provided space to the lawyer for Montreal police officer Giovanni Stante who was charged in the death of Jean-PierreLizotte in 1999. The lawyer takes offense to a Gazette report, subsequent to the police killing of Freddy Villaneuva in Montreal-Nord in August this year. He feels that the report gives the “false impression that Lizotte was a victim of police brutality.”
Stante’s lawyer reiterates that Officer Stante was acquitted by a jury in 2002, and cleared by the Police Ethics Tribunal for inappropriate use of force just this past August 2008. Those are cold, hard facts.
However, there is one eyewitness to the events on the early morning of September 5, 1999 outside the Shed Café on St-Laurent Boulevard who will never get to tell his side, and that’s Jean-Pierre Lizotte himself. Lizotte died subsequent to the substantial injuries he suffered.
Yet, while vigilantly defending Officer Stante almost a decade after the incident in question, Stante’s lawyer goes on to cite Jean-Pierre Lizotte’s extensive criminal record. Dead men tell no tales, as the saying goes.
Fortunately, in the case of Jean-Pierre Lizotte, despite two decades in-and-out of prison, this particular dead man had a lot to say, and he said it, poignantly and insightfully. He deserves his voice too, in these pages, as much as Officer Stante has his voice through his lawyer’s skillful advocacy.
Thanks to a remarkable radio program called Souverains anonymes, which encouraged the creative side of prisoners at Bordeaux, we still have a record of many of Jean-Pierre Lizotte’s words.
After learning of his death, the producers of Souverains Anonymes recalled something Lizotte wrote to Abla Farhoud — a Quebec playwright, writer and actress, originally from Lebanon — who had participated in one show at the Bordeaux prison. Lizotte was responding to the words of the main character of Farhoud’s novel, Le bonheur a la queue glissante, who observed, “My country is that place where my children are happy”.
As an immigrant rights activist, deeply immersed in migrant justice struggles, and indelibly touched by my mother’s own immigrant experience, Lizotte’s response to Farhoud is moving, as he seeks common ground while reflecting on his own life; it’s worth citing in full:
“Hello Abla, my name is JP Lizotte. For the 21 years that I’ve been returning inside, prison has become my country. When I leave it, I become an immigrant! I experience all that an immigrant might experience when they miss their country of origin. When I’m inside, I want to leave. And when I’m outside, I miss the inside. Sometimes I say to myself, “If I had a grandmother or a grandfather, things would have been different for me.” But how can you have a grandmother when you’ve hardly had either a mother or father. The memories that I have make me cry, so I won’t tell them to you. But, a grandmother, like the one in your novel, is not given to everyone. So, I say to everyone who has a grandmother or grandfather, take advantage of it. Thanks.”
There are clear underlying and understandable reasons why Lizotte was in-and-out of prison for more than two decades, beyond the list of criminal offenses that Officer Stante’s lawyer provides, without any context.
His fellow prisoners dubbed Lizotte the “Poet of Bordeaux”, and he wrote prolifically. His poems were in a rhyming and often humorous style that address deeply personal themes: his difficult childhood, his lack of a caring mother, his father’s alcoholism, depression, his HIV-positive status, his drug problems, along with subjects like music, prison and revolt. He even wrote an unpublished memoir about his itinerant life called, Voler par amour, pleurer en silence.
Jean-Pierre Lizotte came from a harsh-lived reality, right from his childhood, as he shared in his poems and writings with simple honesty.
On the late night of September 5, 1999, on a trendy and expensive part of St-Laurent Boulevard, Jean-Pierre Lizotte’s reality came up against the contrasting reality of restaurant patrons, bouncers, and police officers. Lizotte was allegedly causing some sort of disturbance, and he had to be restrained in a full-nelson hold and punched at least two times by Officer Stante’s own testimony (some witnesses claim that Lizotte was punched “repeatedly” and excessively). According to eyewitnesses, there was a pool of blood left at the scene. One eyewitness refers to Lizotte being thrown into a police van “like a sack of potatoes”.
Officer Stante was duly acquitted by a jury in 2002; so were the officers in the infamous Rodney King beating, or more recently the New York City officers who shot and killed the unarmed Sean Bell on the day of his wedding. Police officers are routinely acquitted – if ever charged — within a criminal justice system that appropriately demands proof “beyond a reasonable doubt” before conviction.
Officer Stante might stand acquitted, but it’s still completely valid, and necessary, to question the actions of the Montreal police, despite the police procedures that apparently allow for the punching of an unarmed man held by another officer for the purposes of restraining a suspect. One simple fact that readers should consider: the police did not reveal Jean-Pierre Lizotte’s death in 1999 to the public until 53 days later.
But, what if there was a video of what happened outside the Shed Café in 1999 instead of the imperfect and contradictory memories of eyewitnesses at 2:30 in the morning? What if Jean-Pierre Lizotte was present in the courtroom, in a wheelchair and paralyzed, in front of the jury’s own eyes?
At Stante’s trial, and again in your pages, Officer Stante’s lawyer puts a dead man who can’t defend himself on trial. Lizotte transparently acknowledged who he was. What’s cheap is to still deny Jean-Pierre Lizotte – the homeless “criminal” — his full humanity and dignity, because he possessed it in such abundance.
– Jaggi Singh (September 2008), member of Justice for Victims of Police Killings and Solidarity Across Borders (Cité sans frontières / Solidarity City / Ciudad Solidaria (Montréal))
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Disclaimer: This video is intended purely for informational purposes only, and does in no way encourage or condone any illegal activity.
Languages: français | українська
We think that it’s important for confrontational tactical knowledge to be widespread for the coming storms of revolt. Confrontational tactics can make us safer, because the police become afraid. We need to be careful when playing with fire, but with care, molotovs can greatly increase our power in the streets.
Empty 500ml beer bottles
Gloves
Gasoline
Motor oil
Funnel
Gauze or strips of t-shirt
Duct tape
Never touch any of your materials without gloves, to avoid transferring fingerprints.
First, fill the beer bottle half-way with a mixture of 2/3 gasoline and 1/3 motor oil. Adding motor oil makes the fire burn longer and bigger. Leaving empty space in the bottle makes it fill with gas-fumes, which will make the molotov more explosive.
For the fuse (shirt or gauze), tie a knot that will fit in the entrance to the bottle, 1 inch from the top. The fuse should reach the gasoline. If you turn the bottle upside down, the knot should hold. Use duct-tape to make the opening more air-tight, because gasoline evaporates.
For larger molotovs, you can use a wine bottle that has a cap you can twist back on. Perrier works too.
Beer-bottle molotovs can be transported in the packaging. Seal them in a garbage bag to diminish the smell of gasoline, and to keep them clean of fingerprints.
It’s safest to not wait more than 30 seconds to throw after the molotov is lit.
Stay safe! Stay fierce!
Hi everyone – I’m back in Montreal after two days and one night in the Quebec City police jail. Thank you to everyone for their solidarity and support, particularly folks who attended court (both inside and outside) and for the various people — Arij, Emilie, Enrico, Rich — who provided legal support in different ways. Thanks for everyone in Quebec City who mobilized to attend court (including an old anti-Summit of the Americas 2001 comrade who testified on my behalf) and to folks in Montreal who were organizing behind-the-scenes (including the folks at Montreal Antifasciste who wrote this useful communique.
While I represented myself in court, I was definitely supported in other ways that allowed me to concentrate on the task at hand which was getting released with minor conditions. Thanks to everyone who sent a message of support as well; those messages are very meaningful to me.
This whole episode is farcical, amusing, and troubling, but also a distraction from the real issue of collectively confronting and opposing the rise of the racist, anti-immigrant, far-right in Quebec and elsewhere.
The criminal charge of impersonating Hall of Fame Quebec Nordiques left-winger Michel Goulet is particularly preposterous. The charge isn’t that I allegedly refused to identify, but that the cops (and Crown) seriously think I was pretending to be the great goal-scoring Goulet. When I was younger, I did pretend to be Goulet, with my pre-signed Titan hockey stick, but never thought it would result in a serious criminal charge.
Other aspects of this case — being arrested and cuffed inside a restaurant in Montreal and driven to Quebec City on an arrest warrant, held overnight, paraded for the media in handcuffs, Crown objecting to bail — add to the farce. This includes the Crown declaring me a menace to Quebec City, trying to keep me detained until trial, and insisting on conditions of release which would have banned me from Quebec City and forced me to provide fingerprints.
[I have previously won a case where it’s established that fingerprints cannot be obliged from any defendant for summary charges, including all cases at Montreal or Quebec City Municipal Courts, and this precedent can now be applied more widely. For more details about fingerprints, consult here or here.]
In a regular scenario, the cops would have simply mailed a “promise to appear” on the relatively minor charges, and I would have simply showed up for a court date, with minimal to no fuss. Instead, in the aftermath of the Mayor of Quebec City declaring me a “cretin” and saying he “hates” me, and far-right racist protesters mobilizing to get me arrested, the Quebec City cops, a Municipal Court Judge (who signed the warrant) as well as Crown prosecutors were all complicit in creating a legal show with no relation to the relatively minor and non-serious charges I am facing. (For background, here’s my reply last week to the Mayor of Quebec City).
The main evidence used against me at the bail hearing was the following LCN/TVA interview I did on August 21, the day after the Quebec City protests. For the cops and Crown, this video is supposed to show I’m a dangerous person.
Over the past week-and-half, we’ve seen the Mayor of Quebec City, Crown prosecutors, various mainstream media, as well as the cops, repeat the racist and false talking points of the far-right concerning me and my role in protests (“Singh gang”, “leader of violent protesters”, etc). They are the mainstream, suit-and-tie, expression of racist skinheads, like this guy (watch from 1:35).
Overall, the actions of the legal authorities in Quebec City, the cops and the Mayor are troubling and dangerous, and simply re-iterates the important of grassroots, autonomous organizing against racism and fascism.
All in all, I was able to get a lot of sleep (the only thing to do while in detention, and I’m able to sleep anywhere), remind myself of the support that is out there, and re-commit to organizing together with so many of you against the racist, anti-immigrant far-right, in Montreal, in Quebec City and everywhere. Let’s continue to organize!
Open the Borders! Refugees Welcome!
— Jaggi Singh
#JeSuisMichelGoulet #NousSommesMichelGoulet
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Several groups are currently fighting against the exploitation of hydrocarbons in Gaspesie in order to prevent Junex, Petrolia, Squatex and others industries from sacking the peninsula.
The moment is opportune to put an end to their bullshit because our balance of power is growing and because the petroleum industry is not yet entrenched in people’s mentalities.
With this in mind, we are calling for the organization of actions through September 4-10 in support of the blockade of the Junex oil wells, the river camp in Gaspe and in solidarity with the municipality of Ristigouche Sud- Est. On September 5, Ristigouche’s lawsuit will be launched by Gastem for $ 1.5 million for a regulation to protect the drinking water sources of its 168 citizens.
Any means are appropriate to put an end to their activities. We’re calling on your imagination to demonstrate your support. Here are some suggestions to inspire you:
Banners, conferences, calls for donations, family events, occupations, blockades, sabotage, party, flyering, graffiti, music, poetry, street performance, sculpture, demonstrations, damage with molasses, youtube video, seed bomb, eating organic or taking out your recycling bin, hunger strike, put balloon gum in the gas gun, fireworks, eating dessert before the main course, cans of tomatoes that trail behind your car, asking for subsidies to the government to dig anything and everything, buy claims, create an oil company (as a diversion for the stock exchange), flash mob, etc. etc. etc.
Here is a non-exhaustive list of different bodies or targeted actors belonging to the large family of the oil lobby in Quebec.
– Petrolia, Junex, Gastem and Squatex Offices
– Raymond Savoie, President of Gastem
– Martin Bélanger, President of Pétrolia
– Jean-Yves Lavoie, President of Junex
– Pierre Arcand, Minister for Natural Disasters
– David Heurtel, Minister of the Environment
– Bernard Lemaire, investor in Junex and founder of Cascades
This call is part of an anti-colonial, anti-oppressive and anti-capitalist struggle to create bonds of solidarity between different groups or individuals throughout the territory.
We will win!
Montréal /Québec City, August 25, 2017 — Anti-racists and anti-fascists from across Québec successfully disrupted a demonstration planned by the xenophobic, anti-immigrant and rabidly Islamophobic group La Meute, in Québec City, on August 20th. For more than 5 hours, the racists were holed up in an underground parking garage, as hundreds of anti-racists laid siege to the building where they had gathered, a massive government facility located directly behind the National Assembly of Québec. After clashes with police and several physical altercations between antifas and alleged La Meute sympathizers (including one siegheiling bonehead), police cleared the way for La Meute members to come out of their hole and march silently around the parliament buildings for a couple of minutes, still shaking and reeling from their prolonged confinement, significantly reduced in numbers and under heavy police escort.
For over a decade now, the social and political climate in Québec has been increasingly poisoned by xenophobic narratives peddled by conservative ideologues, sensationalist mainstream media and “trash” talk radio, right-wing columnists and populist politicians. Ten years ago, this toxic discourse led to a national crisis around so-called “reasonable religious accommodations”, and later to a crassly Islamophobic proposed “Charter of Values” by the nationalist Parti Québécois (PQ) in 2013. The PQ was born in the late sixties as a coalition of left-wing and right-wing nationalists with the shared objective of achieving the political independence of Québec. It organized and lost two referendums on the matter in 1980 and 1995 (that last failure was famously attributed by then Prime Minister Jacques Parizeau to “money and the ethnic vote”), and has gradually re-branded itself as a run-of-the-mill neoliberal party. Over the years, the left wing got increasingly marginalized, and in the last 10 years the party moved dangerously into identity-based politics in a desperate attempt to remain relevant to a xenophobic backward-thinking electoral base.
Not satisfied with the PQ’s drift to the right, a fringe of far-right individuals has coalesced over the last few years into several small groups putting forward anti-immigration and anti-Islam rhetoric as some sort of ambiguous and ill-defined political program, increasingly echoing historical fascism both in form and content.
A turning point for this milieu came in January, when gunman Alexandre Bissonnette entered the Islamic Cultural Centre of Quebec City and opened fire, killing six people and seriously injuring nineteen more. Perversely, this massacre caused the far right to assert itself more than it ever had before, going on an offensive that continues to this day. These groups include a Québec branch of the neo-Nazi inspired Soldiers of Odin, the openly neo-fascist group Fédération des Québécois de souche, the more recently formed Storm Alliance (SA) and the much larger and populist La Meute (meaning Wolf Pack in French).
Founded by ex-military men, La Meute is extremely regimented and authoritarian, its leadership council dictating everything from the top down, including dress code, a strict prohibition against members speaking to the press, and even choosing what its officials are allowed to “like” on Facebook. Ex-members have come forward expressing concerns with the extremely centralized internal politics, despite a seemingly decentralized structure, which is strikingly reminiscent of classic fascist militias. La Meute’s leadership and (in)security service have even adopted black shirts as a uniform over the last few months. They have publicly stated that they are offering their service as a security apparatus to any right-wing event, anywhere in Québec, that might be targeted by anti-racist militants. Following suit, their “Guard” has indeed served as a goon squad for such local Islamophobic luminaries as Djemila Benhabib and Mathieu Bock-Côté, a pathetic conference of assorted reactionaries organized by local far right nationalist outfit Mouvement républicain du Québec, as well as a nation-wide tour by alt-right-inspired vlogger and La Meute cheerleader André “Stu Pitt” Pitre.
Despite their insistence that the group is not racist or anti-immigration, thousands of racist comments have been posted by members on their public and “secret” Facebook group pages, and recently, one of their top lieutenants was spotted in Charlottesville hugging disgraced White Nationalist Chris Cantwell. (This member, Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald, pictured below, was supposedly relieved from his duties with the organization, which did not stop Robert Proulx (Proule on Facebook), self-described “head of security” at La Meute’s Sunday fail, from subsequently “liking” his posting of the neo-Nazi 14 words on Facebook. Despite La Meute’s claims that this unabashed White Supremacist has been “suspended”, as of August 24, Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald is still listed as a Montréal-Clan 06 member. Update: We have obtained pictures of Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald actually participating in the La Meute protest in Québec City. It appears that this 14 words-loving piece of shit is still an active member, despite La Meute’s claims to the contrary.)
Recently dismissed La Meute Lieutenant Shawn Beauvais-MacDonald professes his adherence to the infamous neo-Nazi 14 words.
On March 4th of this year, hundreds of La Meute members marched in several cities alongside other far right and openly racist forces, as part of a nation-wide day of actions against Bill M-103 (a private member’s motion condemning Islamophobia). In Montreal they marched under heavy police protection, despite a strong anti-fascist mobilization. This initial public show of force marked the first time in decades that an organized far-right group was able to take to the streets in this city, well-known for its militant left.
A bit more context: Québec City has been home for years to an active neo-Nazi scene, gathered around a crew of boneheads who are part of the Rock Against Communism (RAC) movement and have created a fascist militia called Atalante. Its leader announced last week that an “identititarian” fight club would be starting in Québec City, called “La Phalange”, and Atalante carried out an August 19 banner drop intended to intimidate refugees being housed at Montreal’s Olympic Stadium. It turns out the fight club has been effectively operating since June.
Despite its repeated claims that the group is not opposed to immigration or refugee claimants, that was the whole basis for La Meute’s mobilization in QC on August 20th.
Because of a loophole in the law regulating refugee claims in Canada, the so-called Safe Third Country Agreement between the US and Canada, there has been a sharp increase in refugee claimants coming through the border irregularly in the last couple of months. Thousands of mostly Haitian claimants have fled the toxic climate in the US, out of fear of being deported by the Trump Administration. The Québec and Canadian governments have reacted to this upsurge by finding accommodations for the refugee claimants, including hosting them inside the Olympic Stadium and setting up a refugee camp near the small border town of Lacolle.
Far-right groups, including La Meute, have swarmed on this issue like flies on a pile of dung. A rally at the US-Canada border by Storm Alliance on July 1st and a proposed anti-immigration demonstration at the Olympic Stadium on August 6th were both derailed by anti-fascist and migrant justice organizers, but the leaders of Storm Alliance have promised to do more actions at the border in the coming weeks, and La Meute called for a “mass demonstration” in Québec City on August 20th. Bizarrely, for a group whose base is strongly Québec nationalist, this demonstration would march behind a Canadian flag and was dressed up as a show of support for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). Their twisted reasoning is that the refugee claimants are “illegal” and that the police should enforce the law. This, of course, makes absolutely no sense, since the irregular refugee claimants actually hand themselves over to the RCMP as soon as they cross the border, in order to be processed by the Canada Border Services Agency and get their refugee claim going. Their crossings are in no way illegal or even clandestine.
So, the whole premise of the August 20th demonstration was clearly a sham to disguise La Meute’s xenophobic program and blatant racism.
Upon hearing of La Meute’s plan to rally and march in the capital, anti-racist and anti-fascist organizers in Québec City, Montréal and other regions scrambled to organize a counter-protest within a couple of weeks.
Québec City organizers called for a mass peaceful protest along non-violent lines, whereas the newly created network Montréal Antifasciste and allies mobilized anti-fascist forces with an implicit respect for a diversity of tactics. Three busses were chartered to bring people in from Montréal, and several more made the 2-hour drive independently in the morning. In all, Montréal mobilized between 150 and 200 people to Québec City.
La Meute had warned that they would announce their gathering point on their “secret” Facebook page only 24 hours before the rally. Rumours had circulated that they would try to march from City Hall to the National Assembly, so the counter-protest was set to start from Place D’Youville, a public square located roughly mid-way between these two points.
However, La Meute’s actual gathering spot had been leaked beforehand: they were to meet in the underground parking garage of a government building located directly behind the National Assembly, and would march out of there in formation as a glorious phalanx.
That, as it turned out, was not going to happen.
La Meute’s leadership and rank-and-file confined to an underground parking garage, Québec City, August 20th, 2017.
This choice of meeting place was obviously a hare-brained idea, one that Montréal anti-fascists would quickly turn to their strategic advantage. Rather than disembark at Place D’Youville, they prepared for a quick deployment right at the spot where La Meute had planned to gather. At 12:30PM exactly, the three busloads of anti-fascist and anti-racist activists disembarked and stormed the (only) garage door of the large building, taking everybody by surprise, including the Québec City police, who scrambled to half-assedly deploy a line of riot cops to stop the advancing militants. Too little, too late, as the terrain was already occupied and the garage door completely blocked by anti-fascists.
The large counter-protest was not set to leave Place D’Youville before 1PM, however, so blocking off all access and entry points to that giant building posed a major challenge, especially considering that very minimal scouting had been conducted prior to the busses’ arrival. Two scenarios were possible at that time: 1) hold on to that strong position and wait for reinforcements from the larger group of counter-protesters in order to re-deploy some of the militants to the other side of the building to prevent the La Meute members from even gathering inside, or 2) re-deploy immediately, thereby cutting the group of about 150 people in half and making both groups significantly more vulnerable to police tactics. It was chosen to wait for reinforcements, which turned out to be a tactical mistake.
Several calls were made for the QC crew to dispatch people to back up the blockade, and to go directly to the other side of the building. Unfortunately, the QC comrades either did not comprehend the urgency of the situation, or felt that it would not be safe to do that. Moreover, they waited a full hour to leave Place D’Youville (which was about 7 minutes away on foot), and rather than come directly to support the blockade or deploy strategically around the building, stuck to their original plan and marched to the National Assembly, which by that point did not make much sense, as La Meute was effectively confined inside the parking garage. The two dozen or so protesters who did respond to our direct call for backup did not form a large enough bloc to grow our ranks significantly.
This proved to be a major strategic error, because between 12:30 and 1PM, La Meute members were able to trickle in through the other main entrance, only meters from where the anti-fascists were holding it down, on the other side of the riot cops’ line, and gather inside. That is how they managed to build up a crowd of 200-300.
Nonetheless, during that period of hesitation, the initiative was taken to hand out black t-shirts to the crowd, asking if people wanted to don a mask and showing how to put them on, for those who came a bit unprepared but recognize the importance of maintaining their anonymity – all 50 masks were taken within minutes.
When a large splinter from the larger counter-protest finally made its way to the location of the blockade, the black bloc led a contingent of about 250 people around the building to try and block the other main entrance, both to prevent more La Meute members from entering, and to prevent their protest from getting out, thereby completing the siege. Roughly half of the counter-protesters remained behind to block the garage exit for the duration.
However, as soon as the splinter contingent arrived near the entrance on the other side, a physical altercation occurred between anti-fascists and La Meute sympathizers, prompting the riot cops to use tear gas and batons against the antifas. This quickly degenerated, as some in the bloc had come prepared to defend the crowd from the pigs with fireworks, smoke flares and other projectiles.
Following this deployment failure and set back, militants scrambled to find a plan B, and during this period, scuffles broke out between bloc members and some journalists, who were being their usual dickheads. The cameraman from Global TV had his camera totalled. (This was not without consequence, as the media coverage of the counter-protest would turn out to be even more horrible than usual. The mainstream media’s complicity with police and the state’s repressive apparatus should not be understated. There are countless instances where the media have readily released footage to the police as evidence to charge anti-fascists. This is why many of us feel it is totally warranted to chase them away and damage their tools when they refuse to get out of our faces.)
It was then decided to walk to nearby Grande Allée, a major tourist strip lined with bars and restaurants, to try and circle around to the building where La Meute was holed up and make another attempt at blocking the entry point. A dumpster was grabbed from an alley and brought to the front. By that point, the larger contingent was still following the black bloc. Some chairs were then grabbed from terraces in a rushed attempt to build a barricade at the corner of a side street, along with the contents of the dumpster. Projectiles were also hurled in the direction of a few soft-target traffic cops who were some distance away. This, in our opinion, was a tactical mistake, because there was nothing to be gained from it at that particular time. In retrospect, the dumpster should have been kept longer and not used at that location, where it didn’t serve an immediate purpose, as the traffic cops did not pose an immediate threat. Also, the net result of this show of militant chaos was that it scared off the larger contingent of counter-protesters, who stopped in their tracks, not knowing what to make of it all. This set back the black bloc, as well, because it was no longer able to mobilize the critical mass that had been following it earlier. At that point, we lost the opportunity to circle back to the target location. Anecdotally, a journalist from the daily newspaper Le Soleil was shoved face first into the pavement after he thought it would be a heroic and smart move to pull down the mask of a comrade. He learned very quickly that that was, in fact, a terrible idea.
After a substantial and frankly annoying period of uncertainty, the bloc turned toward the Plaines d’Abraham, which was an odd choice, in hindsight a result of the militants’ lack of familiarity with the city. After circling back to Grande Allée, comrades spotted a group of protesters in the distance carrying Québec and Mouvement de libération nationale du Québec (MLNQ) flags. (MLNQ is a far right nationalist organization passed its heyday, and its flag is adapted from the historic Québec “Patriots’ flag”.) Comrades started chasing this small group away toward Old Québec. In some videos circulated by alternative media, we can see that one member of this group, a man in his fifties, was attacked by anti-fascists after he swung a pole in their direction. This, in our opinion, was an over-the-top aggression on a man who we have no reason to believe was an actual fascist or Nazi. This man was immediately treated by black bloc medics.
Following this incident, the contingent regrouped with some difficulty and circled back around the parliament building to join up again with the other half of the counter-protest that had remained at the garage door to maintain the blockade. That group had held strong by enthusiastically chanting, dancing, chasing away right-wingers and trolling any of La Meute’s leaders or (in)security dudes who dared to poke their heads out of the hole.
A short while later, Montréal anti-racist activist Jaggi Singh, who had been entertaining the crowd with a small megaphone and portable sound system for several hours, was violently arrested by riot cops after he refused to disperse. He was detained and released across town 30 minutes later, without charges.
After that, as the crowd had somewhat thinned out, the police declared the counter-protest illegal and finally made a power play to clear out the garage entry. They pushed everyone onto René-Lévesque Street, pepper spraying numerous people in the process, after which point the counter protest just sort of petered out, as the critical mass of Montrealers had to go back to catch their chartered busses. One crucial piece of information was later revealed: It turned out that Québec police had been harassing one of the bus drivers for hours, pestering him with questions about the protesters and their plans. It is more than likely that the driver told the police that the busses were scheduled to leave the city around 5:30PM, and that that information was relayed to La Meute’s leadership, who then chose to wait out the chaos rather than give up and disband. It must be said that throughout all of this, the police collaborated with La Meute like true BFFs.
Around 6 o’clock, as the busses to Montréal were leaving the city, La Meute finally came out of their hole. From the videos and photos available, its members were visibly shaken by the ordeal they had just experienced, they were exhausted from waiting so long in a hot garage, their numbers were possibly only a fraction of what they would have been if left unopposed, and their leaders were obviously extremely upset. They marched for about a half hour, in silence, flanked by police the whole way, looking gloomy and miserable.
As has been pointed out elsewhere, the only way La Meute could claim this epic fiasco as a victory was if the media handed them the victory. And of course that’s what the media did, with great fervour. La Meute’s leaders are spinning the whole affair as a clash between law and order on their side, and chaos on our side. And the media is eagerly swallowing this narrative whole and making it the official story.
Let’s be clear: despite a few over-the-top violent incidents and some tactical mistakes on our part, that clash was a major failure for La Meute and generally a success for the anti-fascists.
Liberals and the media seem to be irremediably stuck in the circular logic of a so-called PR battle. Newsflash: anti-fascists are not fighting the far-right and the fascists to win PR points. It’s not a fucking popularity contest, folks. We are doing it because there can be no platform for hate speech. Period. It’s not always going to be pretty, mistakes will be made, and lessons will be learned and applied. But we can guarantee one thing: the fight against fascism is never going to be a strictly non-violent one. That is simply delusional, and the sooner people realize that, the sooner we can move on to building a mass anti-fascist movement. Besides, if one actually believes the argument that a few isolated violent incidents delegitimizes the entire anti-racist cause, a line repeated ad nauseam by liberal analysts and media parrots, one clearly has not fully grasped the importance of that cause.
Groups like La Meute might pretend they are not violent, but they adhere to varying degrees to a White Supremacist point of view, which is inherently violent. A huge number of their members flirt with openly fascist groups and express violent racist sentiments online, ALL THE FUCKING TIME. Their leaders promote xenophobic, and specifically Islamophobic, rhetoric, which is a supremely violent thing to do in a city where not even seven months ago, a right wing fanatic murdered six practicing Muslims who were doing nothing more than praying in the privacy of a mosque.
That is why we cannot let them grow and take any space in our communities. By all means necessary. Does that mean that every single action that was carried on our side was good? No, of course not. We ALWAYS need to be self-critical and acknowledge our own shit, too.
(For more on the delusional and counter-productive nature of dogmatic non-violence, read the seminal How Nonviolence Protects the State, by Peter Gelderloos.)
¡No pasarán!
— Some Montréal anti-fascists
Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info
Download for print here
During the anti-fascist mobilization against the racist far-right in Quebec city on Sunday, a Global News camera was destroyed by black bloc participants [1. Unfamiliar with the black bloc tactic? See ‘What is a black bloc?‘]. Afterwards, an anti-racist in the crowd was overheard asking his friend “I understand attacking the fascists, and even the police who protect them, but journalists?”
We’d like to offer an explanation for why this happened, and why it will continue to be a necessity in demonstrations where people will be breaking the law.
Sometimes, it is necessary to go against what the mainstream considers “acceptable”, to break the law in order to do the ethical thing. Those who mask up to fight the racist far-right have decided, at great personal risk, that they will use any means necessary to shut down fascist organizing. Many of us believe that the entire system needs to be abolished, that the laws are oppressive, or that those who make the laws are responsible for a serious and urgent problem; whether that’s the destruction of our planet, the hundreds of thousands of home foreclosures, murders carried out by police with impunity, etc.
Every photograph that is taken of people wearing masks or doing illegal actions becomes evidence that can be used for repression. Police routinely use footage from demonstrations found on social and independent media to criminally charge people and put them in cages. To make demonstrations safer for those who are already putting themselves at great risk, we need to make our demonstrations camera-free zones (at least in the sections of the demonstration with masked participants).
First off, discourage people from filming or taking pictures during a protest, and explain how it is harmful. Often, people take pictures without thinking, and later get themselves or their friends in trouble. Other people who are filming are corporate journalists or “good citizens” who later hand over the information to the cops.
Trusted movement media is an exception to the ‘camera-free zone’, as they have built trust with participants in the black bloc by consistently blurring masked faces, and not filming any criminalized actions.
Corporate media, on the other hand, exist to propagate and reaffirm a capitalist worldview, and regularly hand over their footage to police without even waiting for a court order. On Sunday in Quebec City, a CTV journalist was told not to film people with masks, to which he replied that he had every right to (which, according to the State’s laws, he indeed does). When he was given a final warning that if he continued his camera would be smashed, he walked over to the police to point us out, and later ripped off the mask of a comrade (which he paid for with a sore face the next day).
The corporate media has always furthered the interests of the class that provides its funding. Anyone who has ever been subjected to their coverage knows it’s biased. The strategy of positive mass media attention is extremely short-sighted – these institutions will never be our allies, as long as we want to challenge power structures in a meaningful way. Any message we try to communicate through corporate media will always be reframed in order to keep liberalism intact.
Those who decide that we need to fight back are already up against fascist thugs and the weaponized police who protect them – we don’t need yet another enemy putting our safety at risk. Although corporate media can be told not to film people in masks, they’ll often continue to sneakily film from a distance, because they have no respect for our struggles. Last Sunday, several antifascists came equipped with water-guns full of black paint to spray in the faces of fascists. Using similar tactics to blind the lenses of corporate media cameras, or even plain-old spray paint, will come in handy in the future.
Demonstrations need to be participatory. If everyone has a camera in their hands, they become another alienated spectator. People go out into the streets to change the world precisely because they’re sick of watching it on TV, and watching how the powerful are constantly changing it for the worse. Street demonstrations need to be spaces of participation, creation, and destruction, not stages for the media and traps for police surveillance.
The Quebec police have announced that they will be making future arrests based on video surveillance. Although we don’t want to bolster paranoia, because maybe this is an empty threat, it serves as an opportunity to remember some helpful pointers for wearing masks.
Why wear a mask? It allows us to take action without fear of immediate identification. The more people are masked, the harder it is for the authorities to isolate or identify a part of the crowd. You can wear a mask to protect your identity, or simply to protest against constant surveillance. Developing a practice of masking at demonstrations opens up space for participation in actions for people who would otherwise be risking legal status, immigration status, or employment. It is best to go with friends who can watch your back, to be aware of where the police are, and to be mindful of your surroundings so you can pick the best moment to mask up and unmask.
Don’t be casual about taking off your mask or partially opening up your disguise. Decide wisely when to go into anonymous mode and when (and where) to come out of it. Don’t go halfway. If the cops can find a picture of you with the exact same clothes and shoes, with a mask and without, all your careful disguising will be wasted.
Even if we get away, the police may use photos or video to charge us later. It’s best to cover your hair, face, arms, tattoos, and hands. Make sure that there are no identifying features on your clothes, shoes, or backpack. It’s a good idea to change several pieces of your outer clothing or even your shoes (for instance, bring a light jumper, track pants, or a rain poncho you can throw away). Don’t forget to cover, disguise, or ditch whatever backpack or bag you may bring. Shoes can be covered with black socks. Cloth gloves are best because they don’t transfer fingerprints, unlike plastic gloves. If we bring any materials with us, let’s wipe them down beforehand with rubbing alcohol to remove fingerprints. And most importantly, be sure that when you are masking or unmasking, you are not being filmed!
To read more about safety in a confrontational protest, see the How-to page at MTL Counter-information.
Be in solidarity:
Caught in the Web of Deception: Anarchists and the Media
“Cops, Pigs, Journalists”: To Inform, To Obey
The Reasons for a Hostility – About the Mass Media
Régis Labeaume, the right-wing Mayor of Quebec City, has made inflammatory comments today against anti-racist protesters, and against me personally. The substance of his comments have been reported here.
For those that don’t understand French, Mayor Labeaume talked about a “Singh gang”, referred to antifa protesters repeatedly as “cretins”, stated that the protesters that destroy property are “always from Montreal”, and told the protesters to “go somewhere else than Quebec City” and that “Quebec City is not for you”. Lots more too.
This is my public on-the-record reply:
Mayor Labeaume, like Donald Trump, is claiming equivalency between anti-racists — and the varied tactics and strategies we use — and the racist far-right. His false equivalency, like Donald Trump’s after Charlottesville, is absurd. With his comments today, Mayor Labeaume is essentially pandering to racists in Quebec City, repeating a disgusting tactic he has used since he’s been a public figure.
More generally, Mayor Labeaume is replicating the rhetoric of the racist far-right by essentially telling people to “go back to where you came from”. This is the main talking point of far-right anti-immigrant groups, including the racists of La Meute, the Storm Alliance, and Soldiers of Odin, all of whom have a strong presence in Mayor Labeaume’s Quebec City.
Specifically, in singling me out, Mayor Labeaume is in effect encouraging the internet trolls and anonymous far-right activists who on a daily basis make racist comments, including threats, against me personally. His personalization of me is dangerous and inflammatory. Moreover, it’s incorrect. I wasn’t leading any group or groups. I was an active participant in the anti-racist mobilization on Sunday, and my role was quite public and open, and witnessed widely by fellow protesters and the media. According to one report: “Avant de se faire arrêter violemment, le militant Jaggi Singh ne faisait que danser et scander des slogans, ou partageait quelques informations aux contre-manifestant-e-s.” [tr: Before being arrested violently, the activist Jaggi Singh was dancing and shouting slogans, or sharing information with the counter-demonstrators.]
Labeaume, like Trump, has the mentality of a bigot, but with a huge media platform. In talking about “la gang à Singh” Labeaume sounds like those far-right conspiracy theorists who blame everything on George Soros. The far-right in Quebec has taken up the theme that I’m personally responsible for anti-fascist organizing, and Labeaume repeats their false talking point. Labeaume remarks reminds me of this racist skinhead, but with a suit and tie (go to 1:35).
The Mayor of Quebec City is power-tripping if he thinks he can decide whether I, or anyone else, is welcome to his city. There is no border between Montreal and Quebec City (and if there was, I wouldn’t respect it anyways). I will definitely continue to visit Quebec City, on my own terms, and I look forward to participating in more demonstrations there, and visiting friends and comrades.
Moreover, I feel compelled to add that I have strong connections to Quebec City. I spent a summer in Quebec City a long time ago, working at the Complexe Scientifique on Rue Einstein, trying to improve my French. I was privileged to hear a speech by the late, great, unionist Michel Chartrand in Quebec City, which helped to improve my French in other unpublishable profane ways. I spent a full year engaged in social justice popular education work, spending a significant amount of time in Quebec City in advance of the mass protests against the Summit of the Americas in 2001. I might be a Toronto-born, Montreal-living, anarchist activist, but the Mayor of Quebec will not dictate to me (or anyone else) when and how I can visit Quebec City.
Instead of lashing out at anti-racist protesters, perhaps Labeaume should look inwards at his own complicity for the current xenophobic environment in Quebec City, for which he bears much responsibility. In the past generation a toxic mix of inflammatory talk radio, pandering politicians like Labeaume, and cynicism has made Quebec City into a base for the racist far-right, where anti-immigrant groups feel like they can organize openly with impunity. By insulting anti-racist protesters, Labeaume is providing a smokescreen for his own inaction and apathy in the face of racism, xenophobia and Islamophobia, which has had murderous consequences in Quebec City.
Importantly, it’s clear that neither the Mayor nor the police of Quebec City are capable of dealing with the far-right racist threat in their City, and in significant ways they are complicit in the rise of the far-right. Instead, anti-fascist activists, from Quebec City, Montreal and beyond, will rely on the model of grassroots organizing involving popular education, supporting migrants and other communities under attack and, yes, engaging in direct action to confront far-right racists and fascists when necessary.
Fortunately, Quebec City is much more than inflammatory talk radio, Mayor Labeaume, and racist, right-wing groups. There is a beautiful community in Quebec City, that I have known well in the past. My experiences in Quebec City, with the exception of far-right racists and the police, have been positive. I have learned so much from other organizers in the Quebec City community, and commend their resilience and organizing. Labeaume’s recent comments, which are really about pandering to part of his racist base, will simply increase the resolve of anti-racists and anti-fascists to effectively mobilize, despite the current Mayor.
To repeat some slogans on Quebec City’s streets on Sunday: “Everyone detests racists! Welcome refugees, immigrants, Muslims, Haitians, and everyone!” (The slogans sound better in French!)
— Jaggi Singh, anti-fascist anarchist activist
Send information on the membership of Horizon Quebec Actuel to mtlantifa@riseup.net
Send information on people in these photos to mtlantifa@riseup.net. Once the information is verified, we will add it to the description of the relevant images.
