How-To Guides on Montreal Counter-information

Signal Problems

Wed, 01 Jul 2026 11:02:00 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

The following are lesser-known problems with Signal that anarchists and other targets of state repression should know about. These issues are known to the Signal developers.

Potentially sensitive information is permanently saved in account databases.

Despite being hidden, the following information is permanently saved.

All visible phone numbers: Most Signal users still have the phone numbers of all other chat members from before March 2024, when they could first change their phone number visibility to “no one.”

Heavy Machinery Sabotage (May 2026)

Tue, 09 Jun 2026 10:47:00 +0000

From BC Counter Info

We are writing this zine as anarchists living in so-called Canada seeking to spread attack against extractive projects of the state and capitalism. We come from an insurrectionary, eco-anarchist, anti-extractivist, and anti-colonial background, and draw inspiration from the methods and tactics employed by eco-saboteurs in the ecological movement in North America through the 1990s and early 2000s. Building off of various monkeywrenching techniques from this era, this zine will focus on updating information around tactics and techniques of sabotage against heavy machinery.

A Practical Security Handbook: No Trace Project edition

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 12:32:00 +0000

From No Trace Project

PDF: read | letter booklet part 1 , part 2 | tabloid booklet • TXT

Note from the No Trace Project:

A Practical Security Handbook for Activists and Campaigns was originally published in the United Kingdom in 2004. While part of this handbook is now outdated, we believe some of it is still very relevant.

This document is a partial re-edition of the original handbook. We have freely adapted its contents, leaving out sections that we deemed outdated or irrelevant to this re-edition, improving wording, and changing a few details, while trying to stay as close as possible to the spirit of the original text. We have also added footnotes to point the reader to up-to-date information on DNA, CCTV, and other topics.

How to defend yourself during a police interrogation

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

PDF

Preface to the English version

In summer 2022, 2000 copies of this book were printed in French and 2000 in German . The french version is now sold out, and the Publisher « Éditions du Commun » had now reissued the book.

The book was written with the intention of serving as a tool of self-defense against the manipulative interrogation strategies employed by the police. As stated in the introduction, “ It addresses readers in various countries in which legislation may differ“. And indeed, we soon received feedback that the content conveyed by the book is equally applicable to countries such as Turkey, Morocco, Serbia, Italy, Denmark, and many more. And soon a number of supportive people were offering to translate the book into other languages. This is what happened with the English version, and we’d like to take this opportunity to warmly thank our translator and proofreader for their fine work.

How to Unload a Coal Train: A Simple Guide for Guerilla Coal Train Operators

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 12:46:00 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

Here is a zine detailing how anti-extractivists can disrupt coal rail infrastructure utilising the tactic of unloading coal trains. Each page has been uploaded as an image.

PDF (Read)

DNA you say? Burn everything to burn longer: a guide to leaving no traces

Mon, 01 Apr 2024 13:17:00 +0000

From No Trace Project

[READ] [WEB] [PRINT]

Note from the No Trace Project:

We hope that this translation will help English-speaking anarchists to better understand and protect themselves against the dangers of DNA.

We added many footnotes, either to add information or to explain our disagreements with the original text, especially in the section " A protocol for two ". Our footnotes are preceded by “ N.T.P. note”, whereas the original footnotes are not.

To Settlers, by Settlers: A Callout for Rail Disruptions in Solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en

Tue, 14 Jan 2020 15:37:25 +0000

Anonymous submission to North Shore Counter-Info It’s important to know that settlers have written this. We don’t have the lived experience of any Indigenous person, including the Wet’suwet’en. We do write from a place of heart and affinity within this struggle – personal, political, and/or relational. In that we feel responsibility to act against the systems and corporations that harm the people and land within it. We acknowledge our settler responsibility and complicity in this, and look for opportunities and strategies that align politically as a way to enact solidarity. This does not mean we speak for them, or should be closed to critiques.

How to Form an Affinity Group

Thu, 02 Jan 2020 18:21:28 +0000

From CrimethInc.

The Essential Building Block of Anarchist Organization

Turbulent times are upon us. Already, blockades , demonstrations , riots , and clashes are occuring regularly. It’s past time to be organizing for the upheavals that are on the way.

But getting organized doesn’t mean joining a pre-existing institution and taking orders. It shouldn’t mean forfeiting your agency and intelligence to become a cog in a machine. From an anarchist perspective, organizational structure should maximize both freedom and voluntary coordination at every level of scale, from the smallest group up to society as a whole.

Flyer: When the Police Attack

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 12:27:19 +0000

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.

How to make molotovs!

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 20:47:57 +0000

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.

How to: fill fire extinguishers with paint

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 17:28:48 +0000

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.

Fire extinguishers filled with paint have been useful to anarchists in Montreal fighting gentrification, surveillance, and most recently, colonial advertising.

1. Steal the extinguisher

Find a water-pressurized fire extinguisher. They are metallic silver and come in two sizes.

Both sizes have removable tops, which are often attached with a nut.

A recipe for nocturnal direct actions!

Wed, 17 May 2017 05:30:16 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

[ For reading ] [ For printing, 11”x17” ]

“Direct action, simply put, means cutting out the middleman: solving problems yourself rather than petitioning the authorities or relying on external institutions. Any action that sidesteps regulations and representation to accomplish goals directly is direct action—it includes everything from blockading airports to helping refugees escape to safety and organizing programs to liberate your community from reliance on capitalism .”

How To: Wheatpaste

Thu, 16 Feb 2017 18:52:48 +0000

Wheatpasting is a simple, dirt-cheap way of spreading ideas, news, analyses, and creative expression outside of (and against) the pacified modes made available by the institutions that control and mangle our lives. Let’s reclaim, together, the means of expression from the media, Facebook, Twitter, smartphones, and everything else that reduces us to mere observers of life. Poetry is in the streets! WHAT YOU NEED •1 cup of flour •2 cups of water •Stove or hotplate •A pot or pan •A large paintbrush •A bucket or container •Flyers that you want to put up •Latex gloves (if you don’t wanna walk around with drippy hands)

Solidarity with #NODAPL: How to block trains

Tue, 13 Dec 2016 16:45:19 +0000

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.

Trains are one of the main ways that oil is transported across Turtle Island. Physical blockades of the tracks have been used effectively many times to hamper ecocidal projects of “resource extraction”.

We can also block the rails in a sneaky way: by tricking the signalling system into thinking there is a train on the tracks. This trick will force train traffic to come to a halt until the signal blockage is cleared. It can be done in under a minute, and repeated many times to have a significant impact on train circulation. It can take hours to find and remove this blockage, stopping all train traffic in the meantime.

Oil Pipelines are easy to shutdown

Sun, 23 Oct 2016 19:24:20 +0000

From SubMedia.tv

In less than a year seven oil pipelines in the US and Canada have been shutdown by climate activists, costing oil companies millions. Here’s how they did it.

CORRECTION: In our haste to produce a video homage to Jean Leger, we mis-identified the three people in Sarnia as women, when two identify as queer and one as non-gender binary. We apologize for this oversight and will do our best to research the gender identities of people in our videos.

Quick Tip: How to Mask Up

Sun, 25 Sep 2016 18:30:35 +0000

From subMedia.tv

Let’s face it, we live in a time where surveillance devices are all around us, be it police with video cameras, CCTV or citizens with mobile phones. So when we decide to take to the streets to oppose the state and their police, it’s wise to hid our identity.

For more tips on security culture check out these links:

How to safely submit communiques to MTL Counter-info

Mon, 08 Aug 2016 04:50:12 +0000

We thought it would be useful to summarize a basic technique to anonymously submit communiques, using the Tails operating system.

Tails is a computer operating system designed with security in mind, which can boot off a USB or CD, from any computer. After shutting down Tails and ejecting the USB or CD, the computer can start again with its usual operating system. Tails is designed to leave no trace on the computer by not interacting with the hard-disk, and only using the RAM for memory (which is automatically erased when Tails shuts down). In addition, it forces every internet connection to go through the Tor network [1. TOR is a network of proxies run by volunteers with the explicit purpose of maintaining anonymity online. With TOR, your connection goes through three proxies. You connect to TOR and each of the three proxies (nodes) you access encrypts your data. No individual node can know both what you are connected to and who you are. The third node decrypts the data and accesses the website, sending the information back through the proxies in encrypted form.], so is much safer than using just a Tor browser on your normal operating system.

CAMOVER MONTRÉAL

Sat, 28 May 2016 15:19:14 +0000

Anonymous submission to MTL Counter-info

In CamOver, you play a group of humans confronted with an invasion of cameras in a gentrified neighborhood. The struggle against the cameras is important, but your own survival is essential! To win you must form teams with friends in your neighborhoods and destroy as many cameras as possible. The game takes place throughout the summer. At the end, the neighborhood with the most points wins the game.

Staying safer in the streets

Fri, 08 Apr 2016 17:26:20 +0000

For the next time… Staying safer in the streets

Why wear a mask? It allows us to take action without fear of immediate identification. It’s not enough to cover half our face. Even if we get away, the police may use photos or video to charge us later. It’s best to cover our hair, face, arms, tattoos, and hands. Cloth gloves are best because they don’t transfer print, unlike plastic gloves. Make sure there are no identifying features on your clothes, shoes, or backpack; it’s nice to have a change of clothing. If we bring any materials with us, let’s wipe them down with rubbing alcohol to remove fingerprints. Bragging and storytelling are natural, but they’re easy to use against us. Don’t post anything on Facebook that we wouldn’t show a cop. The same goes for Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr. Remember that police will read our texts and call-log if they arrest us. If you are arrested, invoke your right to remain absolutely silent; name, address, birthdate and no more.

How to make wheatpaste

Tue, 24 Feb 2015 21:53:39 +0000

Wheatpaste is the glue for postering in the streets. It is mostly composed of flour and water, and will keep your posters up for as long as a year.

Recipe to make 2 litres of wheatpaste:

9 cups of water
3 cups of white flour
glue or matte modge podge (optional)*

Start to heat the water at a medium temperature, stirring in the flour in small amounts with a whisk to avoid clumping. You should be adding flour and heating the water for about ten minutes, whisking throughout. Before it gets to a boil, take it off the heat and check the consistency; you are looking for something like watery glue, keeping in mind that the paste will significantly thicken as it cools. You may have to stir in more water if it is too thick, which would cause it to be opaque.

Paint bombs: light bulbs filled with paint

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:34:07 +0000

From Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back

First, put on your cloth gloves. This will keep your fingertips (and the paint bombs) clean. You should work on a soft surface (like a fold towel) to protect your bulb.

1. First, use needle-nose pliers to cut off the metal fitting. You can either cut two vertical slits in the fitting and wiggle it off, or simply cut around the entire thing.

2. Next, remove the glass tube and filament from inside the bulb. If they haven’t already broken in the process of cutting off the fitting, try gently poking them from the bottom with a screwdriver.

Street Demonstration Tips

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:30:54 +0000

From Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back

While people can participate in demos with their crew, sometimes it makes sense for crews to act together in a contingent or a bloc. The form chosen should fit the context. Here is a collection of tips for acting within demos - some are applicable more broadly, others are more specific to a bloc.

The way a demo moves can determine its outcome. While there are situations where moving quickly can be strategic, running blindly in a panic is the worst thing people can do. The police often attempt to disperse rowdy demos, and being able to hold our ground, not panic, and fight back is crucial.

The Formation of Crews: A Tactic in Expanding Our Strength and Autonomy

Thu, 19 Jul 2012 17:28:01 +0000

From Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back

Instead of hoping for a bureaucratic organization to do something for us, we can take our lives into our own hands by self-organizing. The formation of a crew is a step in this direction. A crew is a collection of close friends that trusts one another enough to organize together. This means having shared intentions, ideas, and practices, having each other’s backs, and never talking to police. In other words, this means sharing affinity. Some people refer to crews as affinity groups. While who is in your crew can be somewhat flexible depending on what you’re trying to do, it does imply having people with whom to consistently participate in social struggles and develop a more long-term term strategy. It often involves sharing your day-to-day life and knowing people well. This means knowing what is shared, but even more importantly, knowing where real political differences exist.

Blockade, Occupy, Strike Back

Sun, 01 Jul 2012 20:01:08 +0000

Read version

Print 8.5 x 11″ | PDF (formatted by Sprout Distro)

Contents:

The Formation of Crews: A Tactic in Expanding Our Strength and Autonomy
Occupation: a do-it-yourself guide
Universities as Spaces of Subversion
Security Awareness
Street Demonstration Tips
Why Wear a Mask?
Paint Bombs
Further Reading