This has been a big month for Hamilton. To contextualize Cedar’s arrest, we can start with the Anarchist Bookfair in early March, our first bookfair here in 7 years. The event was a smashing success, and brought together people from all over the continent to explore possibilities for radical change, to envision a world without enforced hierarchies and domination, to simply meet each other and learn from each other. The weekend was particularly marked by a small riot through one of Hamilton’s most affluent neighborhoods and down one of its most noxious commercial streets. The “Locke Street Riot” was a collective expression of rage, not only against the rapid gentrification of Hamilton, but against capitalism and the violent world of alienation it fosters. It led to a lot of productive conversations about the inevitability of discomfort in fighting for new worlds, and the importance of clarifying and articulating our politics . The riot also kicked up some toxic Hamilton sediment, including a mass spillage of sentimental tears for small businesses, shrieks of “terrorism” from city councillors, and anti-anarchist fervor from local alt-right trolls who saw this as an opportunity to step into the limelight. ...

The thirteenth annual Montreal International Anarchist Theatre Festival (MIATF) – the world’s biggest and only anarchist theatre festival – will present 20 artists (seven troupes) from the USA, France and Montreal for two nights of provocative, socially engaged, freedom-loving theatre, Tues May 22nd and Wed May 23rd, at La Sala Rossa, 4848 boul St-Laurent, 7:30pm. Tickets $13 each night, or $20 for a two-night special, available at the door or online . No reserved seats. ...

After the federal court refused to stop Lucy’s deportation on Thursday evening and in the face of continued silence from the Minister of Immigration Ahmed Hussen, one last effort was made to stop the deportation. Around 50 people arrived at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre shortly after 3am on Friday morning. Armed with banners, balloons, flowers, music, and love, they chained the gates and barred the exits, hoping to prevent Lucy’s deportation until Lucy’s immigration application was decided.

Band of buffoons, did you really think we would allow your little clique to hold its event, while you’re trying to destroy everything we have built? Driven by the force of the intergalactic call for solidarity with the ZAD, we decided to intervene during a 5 à 7 of En Marche (yes, they come bother us all the way in Montreal) to remind the Macronists that the nauseating odor of the shit they spread will always come back to their nostrils. ...

[Crimethinc recently published an excellent historical overview of the struggle on the ZAD , including a critical look at events of the past few months that should be the subject of discussions within our struggles.] In response to the call made by the zadists to mobilize where we are against the ongoing expulsions. See you on Friday, April 13th at 7 pm, Mont-Royal metro station. ...

At 6am on March 20th, CBSA entered the home of Lucy Francineth Granados, a member of the Non Status Women’s Collective and ATTAP (Temporary Workers Association), and violently arrested her, injuring her arm. Since her arrest she has been detained at the Laval Immigration Detention Centre pending deportation. CONTEXT After being threatened by the maras (criminal gangs), Lucy traveled alone through Mexico on the infamous La Bestia train to the US and later to Canada, her husband having been killed some years previously in an accident. Her refugee application was refused but she remained in Canada undocumented. She has lived in Montreal for 9 years and is active in community organizations such as the Non Status Women’s Collective and the Temporary Agency Workers Union (ATTAP). Lucy is the sole financial support for her three children. They live in Guatemala with their grandmother and depend entirely on the remittances sent by their mother for all their basic needs (food, shelter, school fees, etc.). If Lucy were deported, her children would immediately lose their sole source of financial support. Last summer she filed a humanitarian application for permanent residence in an attempt to regularize her status. In January, a CBSA officer informed her lawyer that Lucy’s file would not be studied unless she turned herself in to face deportation. However, Canadian immigration law says that the Minister must study all humanitarian applications inside Canada; the CBSA officer illegally misrepresented the situation. Neither Immigration nor CBSA have responded to her lawyer’s demand that the situation be clarified. According to Immigration Canada information, her file is being evaluated, and a response could normally be expected any time if she is allowed to remain in Canada. Unless Minister of Public Safety Ralph Goodale intervenes to suspend the deportation, Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen expedites processing of her file, or the City of Montreal takes its responsibility seriously, Lucy could be deported before her file is determined. ...

Statement from The Tower, Hamilton’s anarchist social centre Early Friday morning, Hamilton police raided a home associated with some of those involved with organizing The Hamilton Anarchist Bookfair. The door was kicked in, a flash grenade was thrown into the house, and a full swat team entered. With their assault rifles drawn, the swat team proceeded to pull everyone out of bed some of whom were naked, and with one exception, put everyone in handcuffs. Three people were detained and one person arrested. Cedar, a member of The Tower Collective and our cherished friend, was arrested, taken away, and currently remains in custody. ...

How can we integrate the emancipation of oppressed groups in the struggles of the popular movements and more particularly in the anarcho-syndicalist struggles / groups? ...

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As workers, unemployed, students and tenants, our best defense against those who exploit and abuse us is solidarity. That is why the Industrial Workers of the World (SITT-IWW Montreal) invites you to gather and fight together in Parc-Extension on May 1st. ...

On Sunday, March 25th, various far-right groups from South-Western Ontario organized what they called a “Patriot Walk” up Locke St. in Hamilton. This was ostensibly a show of support for small businesses on the street who had their facades shattered during a mini-riot a couple of weeks earlier . The far-right hoped to capitalize on bourgeois outrage in Hamilton to put forward their ultra-nationalist form of anti-leftism, but their internal disfunction and overall shittiness, along with antifascists in the area being on point, led them to failure at every step of the way. First, their internal discussions in preparation for the march were leaked on Anti-Racist Canada the week before their event was scheduled to take place. This included a bunch of typical crap about how tough they are, but also developed into a discussion of paying a visit to The Tower, Hamilton’s anarchist social space, that had already been attacked several times in the weeks following the riot on and around Locke. Their plan for Locke seemed to be to walk up the street en masse buying things at shops while not flying their more obviously fascist symbols, just sticking with the Canadian flag. For The Tower though, they seemed more intent on initiating a confrontation. ...

Antifascist comrades from several Montreal campuses joined together recently to express their solidarity with students in struggle, in Montpellier and elsewhere, who are facing the fascist scourge. Whether on our campuses or in the street, fascists are not welcome.