From No Borders Media (Facebook page)
MONTREAL, October 7, 2018 — On the eve of a demonstration against racism in Montreal, a group of anonymous local anti-colonial, anti-racist, anti-capitalist activists have again successfully defaced the historical monument to Canada’s first Prime Minister, John A. Macdonald, located in downtown at Place du Canada.
According to Art Public Montreal: “Among the monuments erected to the memory of Macdonald, the one in Montréal is the most imposing and elaborate.” The monument, built in 1895, is again covered in red paint.
– A video of the vandalism on the statue is available here:
– www.facebook.com/NoBordersMediaNetwork/videos/400435100491036
– https://twitter.com/NoBordersMedia/status/1048916233163354113
(posted by No Borders Media for informational purposes only)
The individuals responsible for this action are not affiliated with today’s anti-racist demonstration (www.manifcontreleracisme.org) but have decided to target the John A. Macdonald statue as a clear symbol of colonialism, racism and white supremacy.
The action today is inspired in part by movements in the USA to target public symbols of white supremacy for removal, such as Confederate statues. It’s also motivated by decolonial protests, like the “Rhodes Must Fall” movement in South Africa. As well, we are directly inspired by protests by anti-colonial activists – both Indigenous and non-Indigenous – against John. A. Macdonald, particularly in Kingston, Ontario, Macdonald’s hometown. We also note efforts elsewhere in the Canadian state to rename the schools named after Macdonald, including a resolution by the Elementary Teachers’ Federation of Ontario who denounced Macdonald as the ‘architect of genocide against Indigenous people.’
John A. Macdonald was a white supremacist. He directly contributed to the genocide of Indigenous peoples with the creation of the brutal residential schools system, as well as other measures meant to destroy native cultures and traditions. He was racist and hostile towards non-white minority groups in Canada, openly promoting the preservation of a so-called “Aryan” Canada. He passed laws to exclude people of Chinese origin. He was responsible for the hanging of Métis martyr Louis Riel. Macdonald’s statue belongs in a museum, not as a monument taking up public space in Montreal.
Video and text of this action have been shared anonymously with some Montreal-area autonomous media sources.
We express our heartfelt support and solidarity with the protesters taking today’s streets in Montreal in opposition to racism.
Ni patrie, ni état, ni Québec, ni Canada!
— Some local anti-colonial anti-racists.