Gentrification

INVITATION TO THE WINTER GAMES OF URBAN REVOLT December 20, 2019 - March 15, 2020 Challenge your friends, your neighbors, and other crews. Sabotage social control, de-gentrify our neighborhoods! Three fields of play await the athletes. no 1 Camover Returns Destroy surveillance cameras dummy camera = 2 points functional camera = 6 points smart doorbell with camera (Amazon Ring / Google Nest) = 6 points no 2 Nobody Pays each metro turnstile disabled = 3 points all the turnstiles of a station = bonus +4 each fare distribution machine disabled = 6 points all the distribution machines of a station = bonus +2 no 3 A Long Winter for Condo Promoters glue the locks of a condo sales office (all doors) = 6 points redecorate exterior (paint bombs, graffiti, or extinguisher) = 4 points redecorate interior (with an extinguisher) = 10 points Bonus claim one’s action with a meme = 2 points burn a christmas tree displayed in public = 4 points disable a cop car during a snow storm = 10 points *This is not an encouragement to brag about one’s actions or otherwise endanger one’s security or that of friends. ...

In the early morning of Monday June 10th, the Montreal police shot a man. A neighbour was having a crisis. Instead of doing anything helpful, they harassed him for hours. They had guns pointed at his head. They finally shot him in the leg through hs own apartment door early monday morning. On Sunday June 17th anarchists in the St-Henri neighbourhood of Montreal put up posters reminding our neighbours to think twice before calling the cops. ...

Last night and the one before, different crews bombarded the colonial-themed advertising billboards for the new condo project OSHA with paint. The OSHA Condo project is simple: the destruction of Hochelaga. How? With the arrival of more than 200 condo units (selling for between $200 000 for a 2 and a half and more than $500 000 for a 4 and a half). Meaning 300 to 500 more yuppies in our neighborhood, and in a particularly sensitive location home to many of those tossed aside in recent decades by different real estate developments. The arrival of opulence, where misery reigns. Raising the number of cops and patrols, of expensive eco-ethico-responsible-biodegradable stores, of chic restaurants daring to name themselves “Les AffamÉes” (“the starving”) in one of the largest food deserts in Montreal. A social cleansing in every respect. ...

When you hear the word “Westmount”, temporary autonomous zones, dumpster barricades, and flaming effigies of Trudeau aren’t exactly what pops to mind. People often think of this drab neighborhood looming over St. Henri as purgatory where the absurdly wealthy listlessly drift between a loveless marriage, resentful children, and a soul-crushing job… But not anymore! Westmount is undergoing revitalization! Anarchists are transforming it into a mixed-attack neighborhood that offers many opportunities for comrades of every tendency. In desolate Westmount, there’s an activity for anarchists of any stripe—regardless if your flag flies black, half-red, or purple glitterbomb. ...

A flier claiming to be from the Sud-Ouest borough is being refuted by city officials as a fake, and a fear-mongering tactic by opponents of gentrification. The flier was left on some high-end cars – including an Audi and an Acura - urging owners to move out of St. Henri or face the possibility of their cars being set on fire. The fliers were mostly recovered from Lea Roback St., where several cars were torched in summer 2017. ...

Over 60 people gathered in front of Parc metro station yesterday afternoon to protest property speculation and gentrification. The action aimed to bring together members of Parc-Ex Against Gentrification, POPIR, Comité B.A.I.L.S, the Parc Extension Action Committee, the Comité Logement de Rosemont, and the Comité Logement du Plateau Mont-Royal to maintain pressure on property developers and send a clear message that condo and luxury apartment developments are not welcome in our neighborhoods. ...

Before giving updates on the Locke St defendants, it’s worth taking a moment to put things in their context and to remember that these seven people are accused of participating in a struggle against gentrification in the city. This struggle has taken countless different forms over the years, from mass meetings, to stickers and posters, to broad-based organizing, to counter-demonstrations and pressure campaigns. The reason so many people have chosen to dedicate their energy to this issue for so long is that it’s one of vital importance — people are losing their homes at an ever–increasing rate as housing is treated more as a commodity or investment than as a basic need that everyone deserves to have met. ...

I rarely read fiction. I regret that truth and so every few months, when I get given a book of dystopian sci-fi or imaginative history, I stumble through it halfheartedly. I know that fiction has a lot to offer in terms of expanding our realm of possibility, of inspiring creation of new worlds. Someone near and dear to me once advocated for changing my reading habits by explaining that non-fiction changes what we know but fiction changes how we think. And yet, I find myself falling back into the practical guides for non-monogamy, the exposés of political corruption, the treatises on decolonial feminism. I’m driven by the internal desire to dismantle systems of dominance and hierarchy. If I can learn enough about them, maybe I’ll be better equipped to aid in their destruction. Theory to practice to theory to practice. ...

On March 13, we went to the Villeray-St-Michel-Parc-Extension borough council meeting in order to prevent the elected officials of the borough from granting Ron Basal a permit to continue the development of his luxury apartment project in Plaza Hutchison. After the council refused to consider the appeal of residents in Villeray who opposed the Taxi Diamond condo project, we decided to disrupt the meeting, so that Ron Basal would not receive his permit. We were brutally forced out of the room by the police, and two people were arrested and charged. The borough council then approved the permit for the Plaza Hutchison construction, in an empty room, with Basal sitting in the front row. ...

Every day — whether it’s the landlords charging ever more rent for ever shittier apartments, the boss pushing you to work harder, the business association lobbying for more cops, or just the Audi that cuts you off in rush hour — the rich make our lives worse. Every day we have to deal with their attacks on us, but every once in a while we can find a way to strike back. ...

These thugs are no better than the anarchists. Don’t they know the financial burden that their vandalism will have on the Tower’s landlord? Don’t they understand that boarded up windows will bring down property values in the neighbourhood around the Tower?? Engaging in this kind of violence just creates lawlessness, and legitimizes the destruction of private property. ...