Saturday, March 31, 2007

APC and Downtown Eastside Resident's Association Office Raided by Police



The following from Vancouver:
The police raided the former office of the Anti-Poverty Committee Thursday night, under the pretext of looking for the Olympic flag that was stolen by the Native Warrior Society nearly a month ago.

The office, located in a DERA building, has not been used by the APC for more than a year. The police arrived at 11:15pm with a search warrant, and left empty-handed about an hour later.

The APC believes that this search was a political maneuver - an attempt by the Vancouver Police Department to drive a wedge between APC and DERA. This strategy has been used in previous efforts by the VPD and the City to neutralize our support and isolate our organization. DERA has made it clear publicly that they have no intention of falling for the cops' bluff and selling us out.

Further, we believe that this search was an act of desperation. The police and colonial powers will do everything in their power to render invisible the Native Warrior Society and minimize all forms of indigenous struggle. The fact is that the Native Warrior Society was able to strike a significant blow by stealing the enemy''s flag. This was not a symbolic gesture but a revolutionary act and one that has got the colonial cops running scared.

We refuse to be intimidated by the cops. We will continue to stand and fight while the cops and the powers they protect scramble like fools. We laugh in their faces and say bring it on! We ally ourselves with the warriors and we say Fuck the Racist Police! Fuck 2010! No Olympics On Stolen Land!

--

The Anti-Poverty Committee is an organization of poor and working people, who fight for poor people, their rights and an end to poverty by any means necessary. For more information on the Anti-Poverty Committee's on-going campaigns, visit http://apc.resist.ca/home. Contact us by e-mailing apc@resist.ca or phoning 604-682-3276.

If you are able to donate financially to our legal defense or other campaigns, deposits can be made directly into our account at any branch of Vancity (account is listed under 'Anti-Poverty Committee). Cheques or money orders made out to the APC can be mailed to P.O. Box 1, 12 East Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC V6A 1N1.

UNITED WE WILL WIN!



Friday, March 30, 2007

[Montreal] Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement




-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement
MONTREAL - MONDAY APRIL 2nd 7:30pm ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Monday April 2nd, 7:30pm
1395 Rene Levesque West,
Room VA-114 VA Building,
Concordia University

Wheelchair accessible. Traduction vers le français disponible. Childcare provided with 24hr advance notice. Metro/bus tickets available if needed.

For more info, contact: info@certaindays.org or 514-848-2424 ext. 7431.

Eight former Black Panthers were arrested January 23rd in California, New York and Florida on charges related to the 1971 killing of a San Francisco police officer.

Similar charges were thrown out after it was revealed that police used torture to extract confessions when some of these same men were arrested in New Orleans in 1973.

A short documentary, Legacy of Torture: The War Against the Black Liberation Movement, as well as a film featuring former Black Panther political prisoner Herman Bell, will be screened, followed by presentations and discussion.

Donations will be accepted for legal defense funds.

Presented by Certain Days (QPIRG-Concordia), Kersplebedeb, 2110 Centre, Montreal ABCF, and COBP.



Wednesday, March 28, 2007

Quote of the Day: Gore Vidal




I believe there's something very salutary in, say, beating up a gay-bashing policeman. Preferably one fights through the courts, through the laws, through education, but if at a neighborhood level violence is necessary, I'm all for violence. It's the only thing Americans understand.
- Gore Vidal
(Gay Community News May 22 - June 4, 1992)



Monday, March 26, 2007

[Montreal] Thursday March 29th Speak-Out on Racial Profiling & Police Brutality



Racial Profiling and Police Brutality: Standing up and Speaking Out

THURSDAY, March 29th
6:00pm to 9:00pm
3480 McTavish St. (Shatner Building)
Room 302

A Keynote Panel with:

Participants:

  • Khadija Bennis, twin sister of Anas Bennis and spokesperson for the Justice for Anas Coalition
  • Jade, speaking on racial profiling of Natives in Montreal
  • Rodney Patricio, chairperson for UKPC and Kaabataang Montreal - a Filipino youth organisation based in Cote-des-Neiges

Hosted by author and journalist, Fimo R. Mitchell
Presentation by Collective Opposed to Police Brutality

Sponsored by QPIRG McGill, CKUT, SSMU's Equity Commissioner and the Black Students' Network.



Sunday, March 25, 2007

The Freedom to Wear What You Want



Men should not be telling women how to dress.

In fact, let me extend that: people should not be telling other people how to dress.



Saturday, March 24, 2007

Muslim Women: Our New Favourite Scapegoat

Racist and sexist fucking shit.

As i mentioned yesterday, i don't have time for this crap. Which of course doesn't stop it from oozing out of the anus of the capitalist patriarchy. Political diarrhea one might say.

I'm just going to post the following article from today's Montreal Gazette. As i predicted a few weeks ago, racist anxieties (specifically regarding Muslim women) have been exploited by all three contenders in the upcoming Quebec provincial election.

Sad to say.

VEILED THREATS
Quebec’s chief electoral officer has changed the law, obliging everyone who votes to show their face. It’s an extraordinary measure to ensure “crazies” won’t disrupt polling to protest against Muslim women voting in full veil.
ANDY RIGATHE GAZETTE
Worried about the safety of election workers and the prospect of Monday’s vote turning into a “masquerade,” Quebec’s chief electoral officer took the extraordinary step of unilaterally changing the election law yesterday to force everyone who votes to show their face.

And a Muslim group said the entire controversy – which relates to Muslim women who wear full-face veils known as niqabs – has been fabricated by news media outlets that are “fuelling hate” toward Muslims and leaving some members of the community fearing for their safety.

On Thursday, reacting to a newspaper article about voting by niqab-wearing women, chief electoral officer Marcel Blanchet said they would not be required to remove their veils to confirm their identify.

Yesterday, after intense media coverage and threatening phone calls and emails to election workers, Blanchet reversed his stand. Some people on radio call-in shows were also urging Quebecers to turn up at polls in Halloween costumes.

“What’s at stake here is the integrity and serenity of the electoral process,” Blanchet said at a news conference. “It would be extremely damaging if incidents disrupt voting Monday. And it would be even more damaging if there is so much anxiety among some electors that they don’t show up to vote.”

To ensure his own protection, Blanchet said he now travels with two bodyguards.

He said he found it “troubling” that threats caused him to change the electoral law.

“I personally would have preferred not to have to do it, but my priority is to ensure that everything will run normally and that a few or many crazies won’t show up to cause trouble Monday,” Blanchet said.

The episode has some Muslims fearing for their lives, said Salam Elmenyawi, head of the Muslim Council of Quebec.

“If the chief electoral officer needs two bodyguards, imagine the woman in a niqab, how many guards she’s going to need to guard her – at a polling station or even on a street today,” he told The Gazette. “Their lives are under threat right now.”

Elmenyawi said election officials never consulted Muslim leaders about the issue.

Had they, they would have been told niqab-wearing women will show their face for identification purposes, preferably to other women. He estimates 10 to 15 women wearing niqabs might have shown up to vote. Given the controversy, he’s not sure any will vote now.

Elmenyawi said some news media – particularly the Journal de Montréal and its sister TV networks, TVA and LCN, all owned by Quebecor – are fuelling hatred toward Muslims.

The Journal wrote about the issue Thursday, the first news media outlet to do so.

Yesterday, it ran photos of Youppi and people wearing paper bags and Darth Vader or skeleton masks on its front page under the headline: “Masked voting is legal.”

Earlier in the week, the newspaper ran extensive coverage of sugar shacks that welcome Muslims. One eliminated ham from its pea soup. Another allowed Muslim customers to pray on a dance floor.

The LCN all-news channel has been giving extensive coverage to the Journal’s articles.

Mathieu Turbide, assistant managing editor at the Journal de Montréal, said he was surprised by the Muslims’ criticism and noted the “reasonable accommodation” issue is part of the news agenda.

“To suggest we are promoting hate is very extremist and does not correspond with reality,” he said in a phone interview. “We simply decided to look at the Elections Act and ask what would happen if a voter did not want to uncover her face.

“We learned there was a gap in the law, most political leaders confirmed it, and the chief returning officer has just changed the regulations.”

At TVA, which is LCN’s parent network, vice-president (news) Serge Fortin said its coverage was “irreproachable.”

“We followed the Journal story on Thursday and covered the news conference today.

“We have nothing to change. Somebody has an agenda somewhere,” he observed.

But Elmenyawi remains concerned. “This kind of ‘reasonable-accommodation police’ going around manufacturing crises within Quebec society is doing us all harm,” he said.

“The Muslim community is at the receiving end of hate, anger, disgust and indignation – and it’s damaging the social fabric of Quebec society.”

The coverage in Quebecor news outlets – and in some competing ones trying to keep up – is “feeding hysteria, and rash thinking that (Quebec) culture is under attack and in danger from Muslims or Jews who are coming, or whoever it is they’re targeting that day.”

Elmenyawi urged political leaders to calm things by asking those with concerns about “reasonable accommodation” to take them in a “rational, objective way” to the commission Premier Jean Charest created to study the issue. “I’m asking leaders to stand up and say, ‘Enough is enough,’ ” he said.

In Cap aux Meules last night, Charest expressed his satisfaction with the veil ruling. “We agree with the director-general of elections’ decision to use the powers that he has in the law, exceptional powers, to make sure when people vote they are correctly identified,” he said.

He said he doesn’t see the issue as a clash of religious rights with Quebec’s voting system. “I don’t see any collision, really. The issue is quite simple. We just want to identify the right person.”

Action démocratique leader Mario Dumont said he is pleased with the decision. “I had confidence in the director-general of elections,” he told reporters at a campaign stop in St. Eustache.

“Today, he came out with an interpretation of the law that to my mind is what those who enacted the law intended.”

On Thursday, the chief electoral officer had said a fully veiled person would be given the same treatment as a person whose face is covered by a bandage. To vote, she had to declare her identity, sign a sworn statement and either produce documents that confirm her identity or be accompanied by someone who confirms her identity.

If a voter has lost his or her medicare card or has no driver’s licence – both of which have photos – that person can identify themselves under oath before a three-person identification verification panel at every group of polling stations. Under the change announced yesterday, anyone who shows up at that panel must now show their face.

The electoral law allows the chief electoral officer to unilaterally change rules under “exceptional or emergency” circumstances, Blanchet said.

This change applies only to the current election, he said.

Whether someone’s face is visible during voting does not pose a problem in Ontario, British Columbia or Alberta, officials from those three provinces said yesterday. In all three, the only requirement is to be on the list of electors. For those who must register to vote on site, all that is required is proof of identity and address; there is no requirement to present photo ID.

A check of the Elections Canada website reveals there is no requirement for photo ID either to be added to the voters list or to register to vote on site.

ariga@thegazette.canwest.com



Friday, March 23, 2007

Someone Else's War (not a review!)




A quick recommendation: check out Lee Wang's film Someone Else's War.

i was lucky enough to be at the world premiere of this film at the San Francisco International Asian-American Film Festival a few days ago, and think it is a film that should be checked out by everyone in the anti-war and also especially anti-capitalist movements.

Unfortunately i do not have time to write a review, or even an adequate synopsis, at this point. Our trip to SF was a bit of a disaster in terms of the anarchist bookfair i was counting on to pay some bills, and has left me in hyperventilation mode regarding work. So i'm gonna try and be disciplined and not blog until i get some of the most pressing crap out of the way.

Nevertheless, to explain why i am recommending this film: it's not revolutionary, and it's not even anti-imperialist, but it is an informative expose of the U.S. army's dependence on migrant Third World labour to maintain its military infrastructure within Iraq.

I learned, for instance, that 80% of Halliburton employees are not American. This overwhelmingly Asian proletarian workforce earns less than $400 a month (compare to $75,000+ a year for American Halliburton employees), live in segregated camps surrounded by concertina wire and patrolled by private security guards, rely on table scraps from the US Army cafeteria to survive, and are sometimes not even paid the wages they had been promised.

While not touched upon in the film, i could not help but think of the many parallels between these workers' conditions and those of other trafficked individuals. This is indentured servitude, with a fee paid by the workers in order to be "placed" in a job overseas, putting them in a position where they are obliged to work a certain amount of time simply to pay off this initial debt. Some have signed up to work in other countries, only to be told - once they're already far away from home - that they must either accept a placement in Iraq or be heavily fined.

Not a review, not even a good synopsis. But i've got other work to do. If you can, check this film out!

(a list of upcoming screenings available here)



Thursday, March 15, 2007

[Montreal] Justice For Anas Coalition Holds Public Assembly March 21st



The justice For Anas coalition - struggling for justice and answers regarding the 2005 police killing of Mohamed Anas Bennis in Montreal - has organized a Public Assembly for next week, bringing together speakers who will share their knowledge and experiences with racist and violent police in this city.

If you can, be there! as this certainly seems to be an important event:

PUBLIC ASSEMBLY!
organized by the JUSTICE FOR ANAS COALITION

we demand access to all information regarding Mohamed Anas Bennis' death, a Public Inquiry into the events of December 1st 2005, and an end to police brutality and impunity.

Wednesday March 21st 2007, 6:30pm
6767 Côte-Des-Neiges
(metro CDN, bus #165 north)

Voluntary contribution
refreshments will be served

wheelchair accessible
whisper translation (English/French)
on-site childcare available - please call 24 hours in advance (514-342-2111)


  • Khadija Bennis, the sister of Anas Bennis who was killed by Montreal police officer Bernier of Station 25 on December 1st 2005, on the corner of Kent and Côte-Des-Neiges.
  • Huguette Milberg, from Mothers United Against Racism, a group of women struggling against the racial profiling of their children by the Montreal police.
  • Hind Charkaoui, the sister of Adil Charkaoui who was incarcerated for two years based on a Security Certificate, and who is still struggling against the system of Security Certificates and deportation to torture.
  • May Chiu, one of the commissioners from the People’s Commission on Immigration Security Measures.
  • a member of Kabataang, a Philippino youth organization.
  • a documentary film about the case of Anas Bennis

A Killing and a Cover-Up:
The Case of Mohamed Anas Bennis


On December 1st 2005, on the corner of Kent and Côte-des-Neiges, Montreal police officer Bernier from Station 25 shot and killed Mohamed Anas Bennis, a 25-year old Canadian of Moroccan heritage, while in the presence of three other police officers from the same Station.

More than one year later, the events of that morning remain shrouded in mystery. Both the police and the Quebec government have refused to hand over evidence and information related to Anas’ death. “We feel like we are being lied to, that they are hiding things from us,” says Khadija Bennis, Anas’ twin sister and a member of the Justice For Anas Coalition.

This veil of secrecy, the government’s callous disregard for Anas’s mourning family and their quest for justice, the incredible police impunity... all this should be familiar by now. Just think: the Security Certificates; the secret trials; the deportations to torture; the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) harassment of refugees and immigrants; the long list of racialized people, both citizens and non-citizens alike, who have been brutalized and even killed by the police without the Canadian State so much as batting an eye, the five hundred Indigenous women who have disappeared without any real investigation ever being carried out... the list just goes on and on.

In a context of criminalization and marginalization of racialized communities across Canada, in a climate of ongoing systematic attacks against the oppressed, and in an era when the rhetoric of a “war on terror” serves as an excuse to give more and more power to the police and other repressive institutions, this Public Assembly is a forum to discuss the impact of racial profiling and police brutality and to explore the different ways that we can resist against police abuse.

WE DEMAND
  • the immediate release of all reports, evidence and information concerning the death of Anas Bennis to the Bennis family and to the public;
  • a full, public and independent inquiry into the death of Anas Bennis;
  • an end to police brutality and impunity.


Justice For Anas Coalition
tel: 514-342-2111
email: justicepouranas@gmail.com


The flier for this event is available for download

* bilingual version, 2 pages (you can do a two-sided photocopy, cut it down the middle and then have both French and English fliers) - 6.2 M in uncompressed pdf format or in a zipfile 1.6 M
* French version - 3.2 M in uncompressed pdf format or in a zipfile 802 K
* English version - 3 M in uncompressed pdf format or in a zipfile 726 K

One can also download all three pdfs in one zipfile.



[San Fancisco] 12th Annual Bay Area Anarchist Bookfair



The 12th ANNUAL BAY AREA ANARCHIST BOOKFAIR
is now a two-day event!

SATURDAY, March 17, 10-6pm
SUNDAY, March 18, 11-5pm

County Fair Building in Golden Gate Park,
Ninth Avenue and Lincoln Way,
SAN FRANCISCO, CA.






Wednesday, March 14, 2007

Mohawk Warrior Society Distances Itself From Highway 177 Blockade



The following form the Mohawk Warrior Society at Kahnawake in regards to the armed blockade on Highway 117:

Mohawk Nation at Kahnawake
March 11, 2006

It has come to the attention of the Mohawk Warrior Society at Kahnawake that a group of people have barricaded Highway 117, north of Ottawa. This group is being led by Guillaume Carle, chief of the recently formed Confederation of Aboriginal People of Canada.

Concerns have been forwarded to our society that this group is claiming to have the support of the “Warrior Society”. The Mohawk Warrior Society at Kahnawake would like to clarify that it has not leant support to Guillaume Carle or the Confederation of Aboriginal People of Canada, nor do we support the blockade of Highway 117 at this time. We must stress that none our warriors are present at their blockade.

For further information, please contact the Mohawk Nation Office (Kahnawake Branch) at 450.632.7639.

In peace,
Teyowisonte

Acting Secretary
Rotisken’rakéhte - Mohawk Warrior Society
Kahnawake Branch of the Mohawk Nation
Six Nation Iroquois Confederacy



Jane Doe on Rape

Balcony Rapist to be released
Why men rape and why women's resources are cut need attention, argues '80s victim
Toronto Star, Feb 23, 2007
Betsy Powell
Crime Reporter


Jane Doe has mixed feelings about the release from prison of the man who raped her more than 20 years ago, saying that focusing on one "isolated" case gives everyone "permission to forget about the larger problem."

"A woman is raped every 17 minutes in this country and the crimes are committed by men that we know and are tied to ... husbands, men we work with ... and we pay absolutely no attention to that," said the woman, dubbed Jane Doe, who was sexually assaulted in 1986 by a man known as the "balcony rapist."



Judge Aims To "Discourage" Jaggi Singh's Activism

A Montreal Municipal Court judge released protester Jaggi Singh on $1,000 bail yesterday, saying the hefty bond could discourage his activism.

Singh had been in detention since Thursday, when he was arrested at an evening march to mark International Women’s Day.

Police contend Singh violated a bail condition not to attend any illegal or unpeaceful demonstrations. He’s also required to leave any protest that turns violent.

Several witnesses testified yesterday Thursday’s march was peaceful.

Singh, 35, was freed on $2,000 bail in November after he was arrested at Montreal General Hospital, where Prime Minister Stephen Harper was holding a news conference. Singh was charged with violating bail conditions, obstruction and assault.


The above from the March 14th 2007 Montreal Gazette.



Tuesday, March 13, 2007

[Quebec] Armed Blockade by Indigenous Protesters on Highway 117




Blockade on key highway is partly lifted
CANADIAN PRESS
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY KAZI STASTNA OF THE GAZETTE

GRAND REMOUS – Part of a crucial Quebec highway was reopened last night following a day-long blockade by armed aboriginals protesting against forest management by the province.



RCMP Dirty Tricks



Comrades should be reading the following article, not because we have any sympathy with drug lords - reactionary scum often in bed with the cops - but because what the RCMP did to them they will most certainly be willing to do to us...

The victims of this police investigation had not been found guilty of anything, but had their homes broken into, money stolen, and were set up to go on a murderous vendetta against each other as a result.

You know if they're pulling this shit here, they're gonna be doing worst against the oppressed and against any revolutionary or insurgent movement they can fuck with. COINTELPRO Canadian style...



Montreal Women Opposed to Police Brutality: A Woman's Place is NOT at home!



*ENOUGH!! A Woman's Place is NOT at home! *
Call to action: International Day Against Police Brutality, March 15 (details below)

On Thursday, March 8th -- International Women's Day -- Montreal police brutally attacked and injured three women who came to the aid of Jaggi Singh when the police arrested him at the annual Women's Day celebration in Montreal.
As the state spins it, Jaggi Singh is to blame for everything! We see it very differently. The arrest of Jaggi Singh and the brutalization of the three women are inextricably linked. Jaggi Singh was there to celebrate International Women's Day with his sisters and got arrested.

As women we are very familiar with being blamed for our own victimization -- the woman who was raped "asked for it", what was she doing out there anyway? Why was she dressed like that? Milia Abrar, who was murdered in Montreal in 1998, had challenged traditions: she asked for it. The missing women, mostly Indigenous sisters, along the 'Highway of Tears' asked for it. The women at École Polytechnique asked for it. The woman whose partner killed her asked for it. The women who were brutalized by the police on 8th March asked for it!

In Montreal on March 8th, 2007, we were criminalized and brutalized for demanding equality. But we served notice long ago. ENOUGH!

What happened in Montreal on March 8th, 2007 must be condemned. As women we must join other Montrealers marking the International Day Against Police Brutality. Be there in numbers.

The days when women were to be seen and not heard and when a woman's place was in the home have gone forever. We will not be silenced, we will not be intimidated by police brutality and we will stand beside Jaggi Singh and all those who walk together with us in our on-going struggle for gender equality!
--Montreal Women Opposed to Police Brutality



DEMONSTRATION:
International Day Against Police Brutality
5PM, Thursday March 15th, 2007
SNOWDON metro
Bring banners, noise-makers



Monday, March 12, 2007

Racist Violence From Toronto Cops: Beaten for Being Muslim and Wanting to Use the Elevator!!!


In a photo provided by Afzal Badin, he displays some of the injuries inflicted by Toronto police officers


This is a story of racism and police abuse, horrible in its own right. While what happened to Afzal Badin and his family shouldn't happen to anyone, all indications are that it is happening to more and more people, and not all of them are surviving the ordeal. Just think of another your Muslim - Mohamed Anas Bennis - whose run-in with Montreal police in December 2005 left him dead, in circumstances which one can easily imagine were similar to those described below (cops on an unrelated investigation bump into a visibly Muslim young man and decide, for reasons one can only imagine, to take him down).



Quebec highway blocked by aboriginal group seeking a say in forest sector

Canadian Press
Monday, March 12, 2007
[original article here]


GRAND-REMOUS, Que. (CP) - An aboriginal group blocked off a Quebec highway on Monday to protest logging activity.

Quebec provincial police said about 50 people set up the blockade around 5:30 a.m. on Highway 117, north of Ottawa. The protesters say the Quebec government reneged on a verbal agreement that ended earlier protests. Spokesman Guillaume Carle said the province has not allowed local off-reserve aboriginals to log in the region, as agreed.



Sunday, March 11, 2007

[Montreal] March 15th: International Day Against Police Brutality



This March 15th come out and march against police brutality!

The following from COBP - particularly relevant in the context of ongoing police abuse and impunity, from the December 2005 killing of Mohamed Anas Bennis to last Thursday's police assault against the International Women's Day demonstration in downtown Montreal...



A Brief Summary of the Official Crimes of the Montreal Police in 2006



The following text from COBP was translated by yours truly - the French original is available on the CMAQ site.



Saturday, March 10, 2007

US Government Affirms Risk to 9-Year-old Kevin Yourdkhani’s Family if deported to Iran From Texas Jail

Just received this from verbena-19:

Family’s Canadian Supporters Urge Immigration Minister to Immediately grant Temporary Residence Permit to End 5-Week Jail Ordeal

TORONTO, MARCH 9, 2007 — The Canadian lawyer for 9-Year-old Kevin Yourdkhani — a Canadian citizen currently detained over a month in a Texas immigration jail along with his Iranian-born parents — revealed today that the U.S. Government agrees with the assessment of Amnesty International that the family faces a credible risk of persecution or torture if deported to Iran.



Friday, March 09, 2007

Police brutality mars Women's Day Celebration in Montreal




This just in regarding yesterday's police attack on Montreal's IWD march:

Montreal 9 March 2007

Police brutality mars Women's Day Celebration in Montreal
Police Assault women at International Women's Day March


Yesterday, as Montrealers, along with many around the world celebrated International Women's Day - the event was marred by police brutality in which three young women were assaulted, injured and traumatized. Among the issues that were brought up during the speeches at Montreal's women's day march was that in Iran women were prevented from celebrating international women's day. And women in Pakistan were also attacked yesterday in a women's day event. Yesterday's events make ensure Montreal shares this distinction!

Marchers celebrating International Women's Day had walked from Place Emilie Gamelin (Berri Square) to Phillips Square, along Ste-Catherine Street. After speeches they made their way back to Berri Square. The police made an announcement asking people to walk on the sidewalk. Jaggi Singh, who had been one of many male supporters among the 200 strong celebrating international women's day moved onto the sidewalk. The others continued marching in the street. Police officers began to rush towards Singh, still walking on the sidewalk. They grabbed him and threw him against a nearby police car.

Other marchers gathered around the car out of concern for the violent way in which police were intervening. Police began hitting and pushing people indiscriminately. Several people were knocked to the ground with batons and night sticks. Emma Strople, a 17 year old marcher, was hit in the chest with the end of a night stick and thrown to the ground, by an officer later identified as Doyon. Her ribs were bruised, she was winded, trembling from shock and her knee was cut open enough that the blood seeped through her jeans. Two other women were also injured - one woman's lips and mouth were swollen and bleeding, from being punched in the face by a police officer; another left with cuts on her knee and stomach. The police showed a total disregard for the injuries mounting around them. They placed Jaggi Singh in the police car and began to leave. The marchers that remained left by Berri Metro.

The 8th March Committee of Women of Diverse Origins, one of the key groups involved in the march strongly denounces last night's police brutality yesterday and the arrest of Singh. Are we to go back to the time when women in Canada were not considered 'persons'? When women were to be seen and not heard? In Quebec today on the eve of an election we have seen how violence against women is still something that is trivialized, including by those that seek to represent us in the democratic system. Yesterday's police attack on women and their allies proves that even those who are supposed to be the guardians of the law and ensure gender equality, see women as people to be controlled with the threat and the use of violence. Women, as we struggle for equality are facing a backlash. How can we feel safe when the police themselves exhibit the violence that is endemic to patriarchy?

More than ever the police brutality of yesterday demonstrates that we have a long way to go; that women's struggles for equality that have always linked to improving the lives of our families and communities, ensuring democratic processes of equality and participation of ALL in the political process are constantly BLOCKADED by the state and its representatives. How can women seek assistance against the violence in their lives when those entrusted with their safekeeping are perpetrators of brutality and violence?

Last night's police violence is shameful and fearful. We demand that the City of Montreal and the government of Quebec immediately investigate the assaults and arrest of yesterday and that women, our allies and supporters feel safe and free to work in support of equality and justice.

Info: Dolores Chew 514-885-5976 dolchew@hotmail.com



Native Warrior Society Confiscates Olympic Flag: Things Are Heating Up



The following communiqué has been issued by the Native Warrior Society:

March 7th, 2007
Coast Salish Territory [Vancouver, Canada]

In the early morning hours of Tuesday, March 6th, 2007, we removed the Olympic Flag from its flag-pole at Vancouver City Hall. We pried open the access panel on the pole with a crowbar, using a bolt-cutter, cut the metal cable/halyard inside, cause the flag to fall to the ground.

We claim this action in honor of Harriet Nahanee, our elder-warrior, who was given a death sentence by the BC courters for her courageous stand in defending Mother Earth.

We stand in solidarity with those fighting against th destruction caused by the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.

No Olympics on Stolen Land!

Native Warrior Society

Thanks to the excellent Liberated Yet? blog for posting the above.

Harriet Nahanee, for those who don't know, was a Pacheedaht grandmother, Elder, and an Indigenous Warrior who had married into the Skwxwu7mesh (Squamish) Nation - one of the only Indigenous protesters protecting the Eagle Ridge Bluff site on Coast Salish Territory where people stayed to protect the site that was slated to be destroyed to expand the Sea to Sky Highway for the 2010 Olympics. For asserting her Indigenous rights as an Indian under the Canadian Constitution and for refusing to apologize for her blockade action, on January 24th, 2007, despite her frail health, Harriet was sentenced to fourteen days in the Surrey Pretrial Centre, a men's prison and a notorious hell-hole for women: she developed pneumonia while inside and was dead within a couple of weeks of her release.

The 2010 olympics are shaping up to be a flash-point for working class and anti-colonial struggle on the West Coast. Already the Native Youth Movement, Vancouver's Anti-Poverty Committee and others have begun mobilizing, as wherever an event like the Olympics lands, it has the effect of boosting the dynamics of exclusion and oppression (also known as "economic development").

On the other side of the ethical divide, settler-racist groups such as the Guardian Angels have vowed to "stand by the police" against the anti-olympics opposition.

Interesting days ahead....

For those of you who actually live in the Vancouver area, you may want to check out this event next Monday:

Shutdown Countdown 2010!

Monday, March 12, 2007
5:15 PM at Vancouver City Hall
(West 12th Avenue & Cambie Street)

This is an official VANOC 'flag lighting' event which we intend to disrupt or shutdown.

Bring noise-makers.

Honour the spirit of Harriet Nahanee!

No Olympics on Stolen Native Land!!!



Thursday, March 08, 2007

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Christian Klar Videos on Youtube


RAF veteran Christian Klar


For those of you who understand German, you may want to check out these video interviews with Christian Klar on Youtube:
Klar is one of the last remaining Red Army Faction political prisoners being held by the German State (the others being Eva Haule, Birgit Hogefeld and Brigitte Mohnhaupt, who is soon to be released).

Klar has been in the news recently as there has been talk of his being pardoned, just as his with fellow RAF member Mohhaupt was recently paroled. Bourgeois commentators have been shitting themselves in anger, as - from what i know - this veteran of the revolutionary struggle has maintained his politics, and remains an outspoken opponent of capitalism (see for instance this article from Deutsche Welle), even though he has expressed the very humane emotion of regret about the suffering of the RAF's targets.

The Red Army Faction was one of the most audacious and advanced of the metropolitan armed struggle organizations, carrying out numerous attacks in the 1970s, 80s and 90s. A complete collection of Red Army Faction documents, translated into english, are available online here.



Monday, March 05, 2007

[Montreal] Discussion and screening with First Nations filmmakers Alanis Obomsawin and Tracey Deer

Just pasingon this press release i thought might interest some of you:

Les Rencontres internationales du documentaire de Montréal (RIDM)
present Docu-Mondays

Native women, committed filmmakers

Discussion and screening with First Nations filmmakers Alanis Obomsawin and Tracey Deer

Monday, March 12th 2007, 8pm at INIS
301 de Maisonneuve blvd. east, Montreal (Berri-UQAM metro)
Suggested contribution : $7, students $4, (2$ for INIS students)

Moderator : Claire Buffet

Docu-Mondays are back with a promising evening on Native identity. For internationally renowned pioneer Alanis Obomsawin, who has been filming in First Nations communities for 40 years, as well as for Tracey Deer, a young Mohawk filmmaker, documentrary has proven to be a tool to observe, question and denounce. Their committed films offer an inside view of Native heritage and of the conflicts that frequently colour their communities’ relationships with their dominating neighbors.

Docu-Mondays offer a platform for discussion on the role of documentary film and social commitment. Docu-Mondays, an initiative of filmmaker Magnus Isacsson, are presented by the RIDM, in partnership with INIS and the NFB.


For more information : Sophie Godin, RIDM, sgodin@ridm.qc.ca, phone : (514) 499-3676