Occupy Montréal - a brief report
Anonyme | 20.10.2011 08:35 | Occupy Everywhere
One such way was the Décolonisons Montréal contingent (Decolonize Montréal or Descolonicemos Montreal, in English and Spanish), which consistently pushed the line that a strictly pacifistic protests is foolish and that the police are not the friends of the occupiers. They also pushed an anti-capitalist analysis early in the day, which might've helped to influence the character of the march later, and they helped to distribute some of the CrimethInc. texts, as well as promoting a demo against Canadian imperialism and the G20 summit in France on November 3 and a march organized by the family of people killed by police on October 22, both of which are cool.
There was an unpermitted march of about a thousand people, or at least more than five hundred, through downtown Montréal today. Unpermitted marches aren't particularly special in this city, but the direction was. We walked west along rue Sainte-Catherine, against traffic, from Square Phillips to Concordia, which is pretty crazy. After that, we turned around and walked the other way to Place des Arts, cut through the Chinese Quarter to Old Montréal, hung out in front of the Bank of Montréal's headquarters, and walked back to the Square. There were no moments like Rome, but there could have been, and while there were lots of pacifists, there were also lots of people who were militant and joined in militant chants.
- "Pour un monde sans patrons, ni flics, ni prisons." For a world without bosses, cops, or prisons.
- "La police [sont] en service de riches et de fascistes!" The police [are] in service of the rich and the fascists. It didn't catch on too much, unfortunately.
- "A - ANTI - ANTICAPITALISTE." Very similar to the Spanish phrase, except it's like an "euh" sound at the end instead of an "ah" sound. Hugely popular, actually.
- "Le Capital nous fait la guerre. Guerre au Capital!" Roughly: Capital wages war on us. Therefore, WAR ON CAPITAL! It was also hugely popular. In Montréal, the crowd is pretty okay with the idea that capitalism sucks, even if we are having difficulty pushing an anti-police analysis. Perhaps that will change when the attacks begin. It is worth noting that none of the people we sometimes see at the anti-police demos were present, as far as we could see. Maybe they knew that their time was gonna be wasted.
The general assembly was useless. Two committees were formed, one which is planning "individual actions" and one which is planning "collective actions". We weren't there and so we can't speak to it very much.
It is worth noting three other things. First, large numbers of people STUCK IN TRAFFIC due to our blatantly illegal march honked their horns and gave the marchers the thumb's up, so that's cool. Second, when we walked past the fire hall in Palais des congrès, they blared their sirens and made a lot of noise, and that was kind of nice. Third, as of writing, the statue of Queen Victoria is wearing a Guy Fawkes mask, wearing a giant sign for the Zeitgest Movement as a necklace ("Aller à l'Avant - ZEITGEIST - Moving Forward"), and wielding the Patriot's Flag, which is a symbol for Québécois sovereignty dating to the pre-Confederation rebellion in the Canadas. So it's better than it was before, but the problem is that the statue still exists.
May all your occupations become decolonizations, synonymous with insurrections.
LOVE & SOLIDARITY
a Montréal anarchist or two
Anonyme
Homepage:
http://quebec.indymedia.org/en/node/44660