Showing posts with label montreal events. Show all posts
Showing posts with label montreal events. Show all posts

Monday, November 09, 2015

Anti-Prison TRIPLE LAUNCH: Certain Days, Lumpen, Escaping the Prism [Montreal]

triplelaunch

Friday November 27 @ 6pm
1500 de Maisonneuve O. #204

Facebook: http://ift.tt/1PxKxBs

Join us for an evening of conversation, poetry, and celebration against prisons, as we launch the 2016 Certain Days calendar, and two new books from Kersplebedeb Publishing by BPP/BLA political prisoner Jalil Muntaqim, and anti-prison revolutionary (and former political prisoner) Ed Mead, who will join us by skype.

This event is FREE; the Certain Days calendar and books from Kersplebedeb Publications will be sold.

Food will be served at 6pm

Traduction chuchotée disponible de l’anglais vers le français

Space is wheelchair accessible

Childcare available on site

For more information contact info@kersplebedeb.com or phone 514-848-7585

This event is organized by the Certain Days Calendar Collective, Kersplebedeb Publications, and QPIRG Concordia

AGAINST PRISONS, SUPPORT POLITICAL PRISONERS! AGAINST REPRESSION, SPREAD RESISTANCE!

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Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar 2016
Now in its 14th year of existence, the Certain Days: Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between outside organizers in Montreal and Toronto and three political prisoners being held in maximum-security prisons in New York State: David Gilbert, Robert Seth Hayes and Herman Bell.

Escaping the Prism … Fade to Black
Captured in 1971 and railroaded by a COINTELPRO-type FBI operation, Jalil Muntaqim is one of the longest held political prisoners in the world today. This collection of Jalil’s poetry and essays, written from behind the bars of Attica prison, combines the personal and the political, affording readers with a rare opportunity to get to know a man who has spent most of his life — over forty years –- behind bars for his involvement in the Black Liberation Movement of the 1960s and early 1970s. With an introduction by Walidah Imarisha, and a detailed historical essay by Ward Churchill.

Lumpen: The Autobiography of Ed Mead
First imprisoned at the age of thirteen for burning down a school building and stealing cigarettes, Mead would become a revolutionary and co-founder of the George Jackson Brigade, a Seattle-based urban guerrilla group. Reincarcerated following a bank robbery gone wrong, he subsequently organized on the inside in numerous prisons, including with queer prisoners in the legendary Men Against Sexism. Released in 1991, he continues to work against the prison system to this day.
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This event is organized by the Certain Days Calendar Collective, Kersplebedeb Publications, and QPIRG Concordia.

For more information contact info@kersplebedeb.com or phone 514-848-7585.

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A NOTE ON THE IMAGE ABOVE: was taken in the segregation unit (“Big Red”) at Washington State Prison at Walla Walla in the mid-70s, when Ed was there in the first phase of organizing in that prison. As he writes in Lumpen, “The small group who called ourselves the Walla Walla Brothers [which later became the core of Men Against Sexism] did everything we could to communicate a sense of struggle to other people on the tier. One day Danny took ketchup, and using it as paint wrote “We Will Win!” in big two-plus-foot letters on the burn-scarred back wall of the tier.” This was in the context of a victorious prisoner work strike — that lasted 47 days, the longest in Washington state history to this day — backed up by the George Jackson’s bombs on the outside. The photo originally appeared in the book Concrete Mama.



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1PxKxRG



Thursday, September 24, 2015

Montreal Against PEGIDA this Saturday / Montréal Contre PEGIDA ce samedi

mtl_antipegida

facebook: http://ift.tt/1iO6eRN

SATURDAY SEPTEMBER 26 AT 1PM
PLACE EMILIE GAMELIN

This Saturday, the fascist scum from PEGIDA are going to try for a second time to march in the streets of Montreal to promote their xenophobic and racist ideas. (http://ift.tt/1iO6ct3).

There is reason to believe that PEGIDA will join the Silent March Against Bill 59 which is happening Saturday at 2pm (http://ift.tt/1QAGYZl).

The RSM-Montreal invited everyone who is concerned by the rise of racism and Islamophobia to meet at 1pm at Place Emilie-Gamelin, the starting point of the Silent March. Let’s take this opportunity to show that there are many of us who oppose these ideas. We will block the path of PEGIDA and their allies if necessary.

¡No pasarán!

** Note that this is not a gathering in support of Bill 59 **

 

 

SAMEDI LE 26 SEPTEMBRE À 13H00
PLACE EMILIE GAMELIN

Samedi prochain, la racaille fasciste de PEGIDA tentera pour une deuxième fois de défiler dans les rues montréalaises pour faire la promotion de ses idées xénophobes et racistes (http://ift.tt/1iO6ct3).

Nous avons de bonnes raisons de croire que PEGIDA prendra part à la Marche du Silence contre le projet de loi 59 prévue samedi à 14H00 (http://ift.tt/1QAGYZl).

Le MER-Montréal invite celles et ceux qui sont préoccupéEs par la montée de l’islamophobie et du racisme à se rassembler dès 13h00 à la place Émilie-Gamelin, point de départ de la Marche du silence. Profitons de cette occasion pour rappeler que nous sommes nombreusEs et nombreux à nous opposer à ces idées. Nous barrerons la route à PEGIDA et à ses alliéEs si nécessaire.

¡No pasarán!

**Notez que ceci n’est pas un rassemblement en appui au controversé Projet de loi 59**



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1iO6ct7



Thursday, April 23, 2015

Gender and Capitalism in China Today, a Discussion in Montreal

7985659685_942d48656a_zOn May 7th, join us for a discussion of the role gender plays in workers’ exploitation and resistance in contemporary China, looking specifically at changes in the appearance of the oppression of female workers between the socialist period and the capitalist restoration, as well as issues facing migrant female workers under the triple oppression of Patriarchy, Capitalism, and the State.

This presentation is by Mei Leung, a labor activist from Hong Kong who has also been active around workers’ struggles in Mainland China for the past nine years. The talk is being co-sponsored by Kersplebedeb Publishing and No One Is Illegal Montreal, and is a part of the Festival of Anarchy.

 

Where: QPIRG Concordia, 1500 de Maisonneuve O. suite 204 (Guy-Concordia metro)
When: Thursday May 7th, 7pm

Facebook event: http://ift.tt/1KapmB3

For more information, contact info@kersplebedeb.com



on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://ift.tt/1yYqMxw



Friday, September 06, 2013

Dancing With Imperialism: A Red Army Faction Book Launch and Discussion in Montreal

Where: QPIRG Concordia, 1500 de Maisonneuve O., suite 204

When: Thursday, September 12 at 6:30pm


ADMISSION IS FREE * WHEELCHAIR ACCESSIBLE


The long-awaited Volume 2 of the first-ever English-language study of the Red Army Faction—West Germany’s most well known urban guerillas—covering the period immediately following the organization’s near-total decimation in 1977. This work includes the details of the guerilla’s operations, and its communiqués and texts, from 1978 up until its 1984 offensive.


The Red Army Faction emerged from the student movement in West Germany in the 1960s. Adopting anti-imperialist politics inspired by struggles occurring in the Third World, and a clarity that came from growing up under a post-Nazi successor State, the RAF engaged in bombings, bank robberies, and assassinations for over twenty years. But what made these acts of violence relevant to the left, not only in West Germany but throughout Europe, were the political manifestos and theoretical essays that accompanied them , as the RAF attempted to chart a path to revolution in a stronghold of imperialism. Ultimately, they (like the rest of the left) were unsuccessful in this endeavour, yet the RAF’s decades of struggle provide a wealth of lessons for the movements to come.


Join the book’s publisher for a discussion about the experiences of the RAF and other West German guerillas such as the 2nd of June Movement and the Revolutionary Cells, from the 1970s until the 1990s, examining the primarily political character of urban guerilla organizations, the consequences of this fact in terms of strategy and survival, and why all of this matters today.


Dancing with Imperialism was published in 2013 by Kersplebedeb Publishing and PM Press. It is the second volume in the RAF Documentary Histories. Both it and volume 1 (Projectiles for the People) will be available at this event a special price.


For more information, email info@kersplebedeb.com


Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/620668884634603/






on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://kersplebedeb.com/posts/dancing-with-imperialism-a-red-army-faction-book-launch-and-discussion-in-montreal/



Monday, April 15, 2013

Montreal, May 27: J. Sakai on The Politics of Security

The Politics of Security

a presentation by J. Sakai


Monday, May 27th, 6:30 pm

@ QPIRG Concordia

1500 de Maisonneuve O., suite 204

(metro Guy-Concordia)


The recent f.b.i. and grand jury repression against anarchists in the Northwest USA, as well as the continued police repression of the Anti-Globalization resistance, has reawakened questions about movement security. There are many misunderstandings about what security is. From the belief that it is an area of cloak and dagger manuevers to the impression that security is about lists of rules that must be obeyed. This is an area where knowledge is traditionally not written up, but passed along by word of mouth. What this workshop is meant to do is to explore the underlying politics of security as an area of struggle. Discussing basic understandings that can be applied in different situations in non-authoritarian and diverse ways.


Wheelchair accessible

Whisper translation into French will be available


For more information: info@kersplebedeb.com






on the main Kersplebedeb website: http://kersplebedeb.com/posts/politics-of-security/



Tuesday, March 26, 2013

Anti-Prison Dinner and Presentation on the Pelican Bay Hunger Strike (Mtl, March 28)


Thursday March 28 @7pm

La Belle Epoque
1984 Wellington


An informal dinner and letter-writing evening with an anti-prison focus – a space to meet and discuss, as well as to share updates on the situations of different prisoners. This month features a short presentation on the 2011 Pelican Bay hunger strike and the solidarity organizing around it.

In 2011 thousands of prisoners in California carried out the largest mass hunger strike in u.s. prison history, with five basic demands: End Group Punishment & Administrative Abuse, Comply with the US Commission on Safety and Abuse in America’s Prisons 2006 Recommendations Regarding an End to Long-Term Solitary Confinement, Provide Adequate and Nutritious Food, Expand and Provide Constructive Programming and Privileges for Indefinite SHU Status Inmates, and most importantly to Abolish the Debriefing Policy, and Modify Active/Inactive Gang Status Criteria.

Despite hollow promises from the prisoncrats, two years later hardly anything has changed, and there is talk of another hunger strike this summer, to be supplemented by a work stoppage. This would represent a significant escalation in the struggle, and so it is more important than ever to renew our commitment to supporting the California prisoners in struggle.

Join us for a brief discussion of the 2011 hunger strikes, support activities that were carried out in Montreal, and what life is like in isolation in Pelican Bay-SHU, the flagship torture unit in California’s gulag archipelago.



Mtl: Captive Genders Discussion and Letter-Writing


Friday, March 29
3:30pm
1800 Létourneux


Join the Prisoner Correspondence Project for a reading from Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex and conversation with two California-based queer anti-prison activists. What are some of the uses and limits of a queer framework in anti-prison organizing? What does it mean for queers to "act local" as prisons become increasingly removed from urban centres? What are the resources and strategies that can be shared in our cross-border contexts?

Eric Stanley is visiting faculty in Critical Studies at the San Francisco Art Institute and coeditor of the anthology Captive Genders: Trans Embodiment and the Prison Industrial Complex (AK Press, 2011)

Toshio Meronek is a freelance writer focusing on social justice, disability, prisons, and LGBT/queer issues. From 2010 to 2012, Toshio was editor of The Abolitionist, the newspaper of the anti-prison industrial complex organization Critical Resistance.

Kersplebedeb Leftwingbooks will be present with copies of Captive Genders and other books for sale.



Revolution at Point Zero: Montreal Book Launch and Discussion with Silvia Federici (April 4th)



[please post and forward widely] [svp diffusez largement] [français ci-dessous]
[facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/123882664466638/]

Revolution at Point Zero: A Book Launch and Discussion with Silvia Federici

Thursday April 4 at 6:30pm
1610 Ste-Catherine West (Faubourg Building), Room B-060
(métro Guy-Concordia)

- This event is free.
- For free on-site childcare, please call 24 hours in advance: 514-848-7585.
- Wheelchair accessible.
- Il y aura une service de traduction chuchotée vers le français.

Join us for a discussion with feminist and anti-capitalist activist Silvia Federici, a veteran of the Wages for Housework campaign and author of Caliban and the Witch: Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation.

Federici will discuss her most recent book Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle (PM Press 2012), a collection of texts written between 1975 and 2010. In this talk she will specifically address social reproduction in an era of  globalized capitalism providing a feminist and autonomous Marxist analysis of the ongoing recolonization and decimation of much of the planet. As outlined in Revolution at Point Zero, this process fosters a permanent crisis of reproduction and survival. As women continue to bear the brunt of this onslaught, Federici puts forth a vision of the commons as a site of resistance.

Copies of Caliban and the Witch and Revolution at Point Zero will be on sale along with other feminist and anti-capitalist literature.

This event is co-sponsored by QPIRG Concordia, QPIRG McGill and Kersplebedeb Publishing.

(Note that Silvia will also be giving a workshop on "Reproductive Work and the Construction of the Commons in an Era of Primitive Accumulation" at the Anti-Capitalist Teach In on April 7th. For more information, visit: http://www.qpirgconcordia.org/?p=4319)

info: 514-848-7585 – info@qpirgconcordia.org
www.qpirgconcordia.org - www.qpirgmcgill.org - www.kersplebedeb.com - www.pmpress.org


++++++++++
++++++++++


La Révolution au Point Zéro:
Discussion et lancement du livre de Silvia Federici

Jeudi le 4 avril à 18h30
1610 Ste-Catherine Ouest (Bâtiment Faubourg), local B-060
(métro Guy-Concordia)

- Cet événement est gratuit.
- Pour le service de garde, veuillez téléphoner le numéro suivant (24 heures en avance s.v.p.): 514-848-7585.
- Accessible aux personnes en fauteuil roulant.
- Il y aura la traduction chuchotée vers le français.

Venez rencontrer Silvia Federici, militante féministe et anticapitaliste de longue date, membre du mouvement «salaire contre travail ménager» et auteure du livre Caliban and the Witch : Women, the Body and Primitive Accumulation («Caliban et la sorcière: Femmes, corps et accumulation primitive»), dont la traduction française sera publiée sous peu.

Federici discutera de son dernier livre, Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle (PM Press 2012), un recueil de textes écrits entre 1975 et 2010. Plus précisément, elle apportera une analyse marxiste féministe et autonome pour adresser la question de la reproduction sociale dans un contexte de capitalisme devenu global, de la recolonisation et de la décimation de la presque totalité de la planète. Comme le souligne Revolution at Point Zero, ce processus crée une crise permanente de reproduction et de survie. Alors que les femmes se retrouvent aux premières lignes de  cet assaut, Federici nous offre une vision du bien commun en tant que site de résistance.

Des copies de Caliban and the Witch et de Revolution at Point Zero seront disponibles aux côtés d'une sélection de publications féministes et anticapitalistes.

Cet événement est une collaboration entre GRIP-Q Concordia, GRIP-Q McGill et la maison d'édition Kersplebedeb.

(À noter que Silvia offrira un atelier sur "Le travail de reproduction et la construction de biens communs à l'ère de l'accumulation primitive" au teach-in anticapitaliste qui aura lieu le 7 avril. Pour plus d'info: http://www.qpirgconcordia.org/?p=4319&lang=fr)

info: 514-848-7585 – info@qpirgconcordia.org
www.qpirgconcordia.org - www.qpirgmcgill.org - www.kersplebedeb.com - www.pmpress.org




Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Mtl Film Screening: Freeing Silvia Baraldini



This Friday at La Belle Epoque in Montreal, join us for a conversation about political prisoners, and a screening of the film Freeing Silvia Baraldini.


Friday, March 1st at 7pm
La Belle Époque
1984 rue Wellington, Montreal, Quebec

This film documents the life of former U.S. political prisoner Silvia Baraldini. Silvia moved to the U.S. as a child, coming of age at the height of the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1970's when hundreds of politically minded people folded back into the comforts of American society, Silvia deepened her commitment to revolutionary anti-imperialist struggle, becoming a national leader of the May 19th Communist Organization. In 1982 she was arrested by the FBI and sentenced to 43 years in prison for her involvement in various acts of resistance, including the liberation of former Black Panther Assata Shakur from prison. She was additionally charged with criminal contempt of court and given another three years for refusing to answer questions to a Grand Jury investigating the Puerto Rican Independence Movement.


Following her arrest, Silvia was one of six women incarcerated at the experimental "High Security Unit" at Lexington prison in Kentucky, a unit established to see if intense isolation and sensory deprivation torture could be used to force political prisoners to renounce their beliefs. While in Lexington, Silvia became ill with uterine cancer; it was only after the unit was closed as a result of protests and legal challenges that she was provided with medical care, eventually undergoing two surgeries and radiation therapy.

In 1999, Silvia was transferred to Italy to serve the remainder of her sentence; she was released on September 26, 2006. Despite the torturous conditions she had been subjected to, she never repudiated her beliefs and never provided the state with any information.

Freeing Silvia Baraldini presents Silvia’s side of the story. This film screening will be in English.



Friday, August 03, 2012

Celebrating the Life and Work of Marilyn Buck



Two years ago today, Marilyn Buck died of cancer in New York City; after decades behind bars, she had been released from prison barely a few weeks earlier.

As comrade Judy Greenspan wrote at the time:

Marilyn died today not in the hospital but at Soffiyah Elijah’s house, her close friend and attorney with her friends around her. The federal bureau of prisons and the U.S. Criminal injustice system killed Marilyn by denying her adequate medical care, careful diagnoses, and timely treatment for her cancer. They allowed the uterine cancer to spread until it was inoperable. And they made her serve every single day of her sentence that they could for her 'heinous crimes' of actively supporting the Black Liberation struggle, aiding in the escape of comrade Assata Shakur, participating in military political actions against U.S. Wars at home and abroad and remaining defiant and opposed to the U.S. Imperialist racist system every day that she was inside the belly of the beast. Marilyn Buck, Presente!

Marilyn was an anti-imperialist, a feminist, an artist and a revolutionary, who spent almost half of her life in prison as a result of her participation in revolutionary armed movements in the united states.

Amongst other things, Marilyn was suspected of helping to break Assata Shakur out of prison, and was convicted of participating in and planning attacks on the United States Capitol building, the National War College at Fort McNair, the Washington Navy Yard Computer Center, the Washington Navy Yard Officers Club, the Staten Island Federal Building, the Israeli Aircraft Industries Building, the South African consulate, and the offices of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association.

Here in Montreal, as part of the Week Against Prisons, some of us have organized a celebration of Marilyn's life and work, this Wednesday, August 8, at Casa del Popolo (4873 Boulevard Saint-Laurent), from 6pm to 8pm. We will be launching Inside/Out, a recently published collection of Marilyn's poems, with readings by local Montreal activists, and brief talks about Marilyn, about political prisoners, women in prison, and resistance worldwide.

The event is free of charge; the readings and presentations will be in English.

We hope that you can join us this Wednesday; we would also appreciate it if you could forward this email to let other people know about this event!


To learn more about Marilyn, see http://www.kersplebedeb.com/mystuff/profiles/buck.html

This event is a part of Montreal`s Week Against Prisons, August 7-12; for more information, see http://contrelesprisons.blogspot.ca/

If you can't make it, but would still like to get a copy of Inside/Out, the book is available from leftwingbooks.net at https://secure.leftwingbooks.net/index.php?l=product_detail&p=1076 



Thursday, June 21, 2012

Armed Confrontation in West Germany in the 1970s and 1980s




La Belle Epoque
(1984 Wellington, metro Charlevoix)
Saturday, June 30, 1PM

traduction anglais-français disponible

After the surge of protest that was the sixties, all around the world radicals were drawn to new forms of action and experiments in an attempt to cope with the movement’s ebb.

In West Germany, the armed struggle was one important pole in this post-sixties revolt. Although only ever involving relatively small numbers of people, the armed groups constituted a reference point for tens of thousands of supporters, and repeatedly challenged State power, at times cracking through the State's hegemony. The 2nd of June Movement was based in West Berlin, and initially sought to act based on contradictions within their own society. The Red Army Faction targeted killer cops, U.S. military bases, and members of the judicial apparatus. The Revolutionary Cells emerged out of the RAF support scene in Frankfurt, and would develop a truncated existence, with an international wing working closely with the Palestinian movement, and a domestic wing that sought to lend armed weight to various social movements. Emerging from the Revolutionary Cells, Rote Zora was a feminist guerilla, whose targets included opponents of abortion reform, sex traffickers, companies involved in the exploitation of women in the Third World, and genetic researchers.

Together, the armed groups successfully challenged the idea that the State holds a monopoly on violence, and constituted an example of State power being successfully challenged. By the same token, errors committed by the armed groups would take a heavy toll, and miscalculations repeatedly dealt heavy setbacks to the entire radical left. The guerilla's legacy is a mixed one.

Join us for a discussion about the armed experience in West Germany, and its ongoing reverberations today.



Tuesday, June 19, 2012

“The Partisan” Political Event – Friday June 22 & Saturday June 23 in Montreal



This Friday and Saturday in Montreal (reposted from The Red Flag):

For the past year, the Partisan has consistently defended the interests of the working class. Across the board, both nationally and internationally, Partisan condemns the dominant ideology and takes a solid stand in favor of socialism and revolution. It supports acts of resistance from the proletariat and oppressed peoples and popularizes revolutionary actions that attack the very heart of the exploitative capitalist system.

The Partisan Political Event is therefore intended to celebrate the first anniversary of this bilingual newspaper, published every two weeks by the Political Information Bureau (PIB) of the Revolutionary Communist Party and distributed free of charge, both in Québec and English Canada. In the months and years to come, we plan to expand and multiply the number of correspondents, supporters and contributors to this newspaper, in order to make it a truly pan-Canadian newspaper. From June to September, the PIB is carrying out a major fundraising campaign to help broaden its distribution and increase its circulation. The Partisan Political Event will officially launch this campaign in which all activists who want to fight against capitalism and for a new society are invited to join. For two days, we will discuss the current major challenges, not like the bourgeois media does, but by encouraging discussion, debate, sharing experiences and a fighting spirit. Welcome to all!

Location: CEDA, 2515, rue Delisle, Lionel-Groulx metro station, Montréal.
Voluntary Contribution: $5 each day.
Additional contributions are welcome!


PROGRAMME (updated on June 17, 2012)
(Most of the presentations will be in French – Whisper translation will be provided)


FRIDAY, JUNE 22, 7-9:30pm – OPENING PANEL
Defending the right to rebellion and the right to make revolution!
This spring, for the first time in years —since perhaps even the 1970s!— the student struggle in Québec has shone a spotlight on social struggles, collective resistance, the right to rebel, and the power of the street, as well as on repression by government forces. Reactionary violence on the one side (police, court orders, special legislation), popular resistance and even violence on the other side, as people have defended themselves and refused the dictates of the ruling class. Today more than ever, we must learn how to organize resistance, not only to face state repression, but also to wage the more long-term struggle to really transform the current system.



SATURDAY, JUNE 23
9:30 to 11am: WORKSHOPS

Workshop No. 1: Communist propaganda in 2012

At a time where social networks are spreading and talk of “democratization of information” is common, what about the tradition of Communist propaganda? What are the differences between Communist and bourgeois propaganda? Between Communist propaganda and a mere disclosure of facts?

Workshop No. 2: Alain Badiou, or how to be Maoist without waging revolution?

Professor Alain Badiou is attracting many progressive and revolutionary people with his “semi-Maoist” discourse and his sharp criticism of the society in which we live. But where does his thinking lead in a context where we must build struggle?

11:15am to 12:30pm: WORKSHOP

Workshop No. 3: Elections and bourgeois democracy: the grand illusion

While the watchdogs of the bourgeoisie are asking protesters to respect “law and democracy,” both the left and the right are trying to convince us that the solution can be found in elections... Is this really true?

1:30 to 3:00pm: WORKSHOP

Workshop No. 4: From student strike to social crisis: what the struggle learns us

Student activists past and present share and compare the achievements and lessons of student struggles... from yesterday to today.

3:30pm: EXPERIENCES OF REVOLUTIONARY ACTION (1)

Guests:
–> Bertrand Sassoye, former member of the “Cellules Communistes Combattantes” (Belgium)
–> Spokesperson from the Maoist Communist Party, France (to be confirmed)

7:00pm: BEER & SOLIDARITY

A time for participants to relax and share (location to be confirmed on site).



Saturday, June 16, 2012

Montreal: Anti-Capitalist Contingents in Saturday Night Demos in June


ANTI-CAPITALIST CONTINGENTS IN SATURDAY NIGHT DEMOS IN JUNE
Saturday 16, 23 & 30
As well as in the CLASSE "National" demo on June 22

This is a call to form anti-capitalist contingents in nightly demos on Saturday June 16th, 23rd, and 30th.

Meet: 20:30 pm, Place Émilie-Gamelin (metro Berri-UQAM)
Look for anti-capitalist flags and banners. The contingent will gather near the front of the march.

We're also calling for the formation of a united anti-capitalist contingent within CLASSE's so-called "national" demonstration in Montreal, on June 22nd.

Meet: 2:00 pm, Place du Canada (corner of  Peel & René-Lévesque - look for anti-capitalist flags and banners.)

- A call from CLAC and allies.


-------------------------



CONTINGENTS ANTICAPITALISTES DANS LES MANIFS DU SAMEDI SOIR EN JUIN
Les samedis 16, 23 et 30 juin, ainsi que le 22 juin dans le cadre de la manif de la CLASSE

Ceci est un appel à la formation de contingents anticapitalistes dans les manifestations nocturnes des samedi 16, 23 et 30 juin.

R.-V. : 20 h 30, Place Émilie-Gamelin (métro Berri-UQAM)
Cherchez les drapeaux et bannières anticapitalistes. Le contingent se regroupera vers l'avant du cortège.

Nous appelons également toutEs les anticapitalistes à former un contingent dans le cadre de la manifestation "nationale" organisée à Montréal par la CLASSE, le vendredi 22 juin.

R.-V. : 14 h, Place du Canada (rue Peel et René-Lévesque - cherchez les drapeaux et bannières anticapitalistes.)

- Un appel de la CLAC et alliéEs



Friday, May 25, 2012

May 28 in Montreal: Fire and Flames Book Launch


"Earlier, many of us saw themselves as anarchists, Spontis, or communists, while some had vague, individual ideas about a liberated life. Then we all became Autonome."


Monday, May 28 at 7PM
La Belle Epoque
1984 Wellington


Black blocs, squats, riots and urban guerillas - but also base groups in the factories, "free spaces", antinuclear occupations, and alternative lifestylism - all of these formed the context, the terrain, and the world of Germany's Autonomous movement during its high point in the 1980s. Today best known for the militant street fighting tactics they exemplified, the Autonomen opposed the capitalist State while purposefully not putting forward any kind of blueprint for what would replace it, an ethos summed up in the slogan, "No power to no one!"

The challenges faced by the Autonomen - repression from the police, integration from the reformist left - and the way in which they were met, provide a look forward to what may face our own movements in the time to come. As the current capitalist crisis leads to new surges in protest, with radical elements try to break out of the reformist structures and defeatist traditions meant to hold us back, Germany in the 1980s doesn't seem so far away.

Fire and Flames was the first comprehensive study of the German autonomous movement ever published. Released in 1990, it reached its fifth edition by 1997, with the legendary German Konkret journal concluding that "the movement had produced its own classic." This is the first english translation ever published.

The author, writing under the pseudonym of Geronimo, has been an Autonomous activist since the movement burst onto the scene in the early 80s. His book is not an academic study, but a movement history produced by a participant in the events, for all of us engaged in building resistance to capitalism, and fighting for a liberatory future.

This book launch will include a brief overview of the Fire and Flames as well as several readings from the book, and a brief presentation about how the German movement responded to repression similar to what is happening today in Montreal. This will hopefully be followed by a discussion of how this relates to current struggles occurring here today. A short film will also be shown.

Whisper translation between english and french will be provided.
Refreshments will be served.

Copies of Fire and Flames will be available at the discounted price of $16 (normal price is $20)



Wednesday, May 23, 2012

From The Memory Vault: Autonomous Theses 1981


From Fire and Flames: A History of the German Autonomist movement, recently published by PM Press:
In 1981, some autonomous activists who attended a meeting in Padua, Italy, formulated eight theses that tried to capture the most common characteristics of the diverse crowd of activists that had begun to call themselves "Autonome." The theses were never formalized, and different revised and updated versions have appeared - for example, in radikal no. 97 extra (August 1981) and in the 1995 reader Der Stand der Bewegung - but to this day the straightforward convictions and sentiments listed in the original paper remain at the core of autonomous identity, even if every single one of them has been passionately discussed and, at times, decidedly rejected by parts of the movement.

1. We fight for ourselves and others fight for themselves. However, connecting our struggles makes us all stronger. We do not engage in "representative struggles." Our activities are based on our own affectedness, "politics of the first person." We do not fight for ideology, or for the proletariat, or for "the people." We fight for a self-determined life in all aspects of our existence, knowing that we can only be free if all are free.

2. We do not engage in dialogue with those in power! We only formulate demands. Those in power can heed them or not.

3. We have not found one another at the workplace. Engaging in wage labor is an exception for us. We have found one another through punk, the "scene," and the subculture we move in.

4. We all embrace a "vague anarchism" but we are not anarchists in a traditional sense. Some of us see communism/Marxism as an ideology of order and domination - an ideology that supports the state while we reject it. Others believe in an "original" communist idea that has been distorted. All of us, however, have great problems with the term "communism" due to the experiences with the K-groups [West Germany's Maoist parties, analagous to the North American New Communist Movement], East Germany, etc.

5. No power to no one! This also means "no power to the workers," "no power to the people," and "no counterpower." No power to no one!

6. Our ideas are very different from those of the alternative movement, but we use the alternative movement’s infrastructure. We are aware that capitalism is using the alternative scene to create a new cycle of capital and labor, both by providing employment for unemployed youth and as a testing field for solving economic problems and pacifying social tensions.

7. We are uncertain whether we want a revolt or a revolution. Some want a "permanent revolution," but others say that this wouldn’t be any different from a "permanent revolt." Those who mistrust the term "revolution" think it suggests freedom to be realized at a certain point in time, while they don’t believe that this is possible. According to them, freedom is the short moment between throwing a rock and the rock hitting its target. However, we all agree that, in the first place, we want to dismantle and to destroy - to formulate affirmative ideals is not our priority.

8. We have no organization per se. Our forms of organization are all more or less spontaneous. There are squatters’ councils, telephone chains, autonomous assemblies, and many, many small groups. Short-term groups form to carry out an action or to attend a protests. Long-term groups form to work on continuous projects like radikal, Radio Utopia, or very illegal actions. There aren’t any more solid structures than that, no parties and the like, and there is no hierarchy either.
There will be a Montreal book launch of Fire and Flames, with a discussion about the book and the relevance of the German experience to what is going on today, next Monday, May 28, at 7pm at La Belle Epoque (1984 Wellington). Here is the facebook event page.



Friday, April 13, 2012

April 19 in Montreal: Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners


Thursday April 19, 2012
6:30pm at Concordia University
Hall Building, Room H-110
1455 de Maisonneuve West
Metro Guy-Concordia
Montreal, Quebec


Since 1967, it is estimated that approximately 650,000 Palestinians have been detained by Israel as part of its repression of the popular resistance. As of March 2012, there were 4,637 Palestinians behind bars in Israeli jails, among them 5 women and 183 children. In addition, there are currently 320 Palestinians being held under six month administrative detention orders, without charge or trial, which can be and usually are renewed.

While imprisoned, Palestinian political prisoners from the West Bank face a military justice system that is often characterized by trumped up charges, low standards of evidence, a lack of due process, an acceptance of torture, as well as sentencing that is disparate and far harsher than that encountered in the Israeli civil justice system. As such, the vast majority experience some form of mistreatment during their detention, including torture, coercive interrogation, isolation, food and sleep deprivation, along with the frequent denial of family and legal visits.

If Palestinian political prisoners have experienced considerable oppression in the occupation’s jails, they have also remained active participants in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and self-determination. In recent months, Khader Adnan and Hana Shalabi have captured the attention of many worldwide, staging lengthy hunger strikes to courageously confront Israel’s military justice system and protesting administrative detention practices.

On February 11, 2012, Khader Adnan issued a call, requesting that solidarity groups make April 17th - Palestinian Prisoner’s Day - an international day of action. With this in mind, during the week of April 17th, prisoner support groups and Palestine solidarity networks around the world will be gathering to demand justice and freedom for political prisoners. Please join us for a panel discussion and screening to highlight prisoner struggles, affirm our support and stand in solidarity with Palestinian political prisoners.

Featuring:

  • Issam Al-Yamani
    A founding member of the Palestinian Left, Issam Al-Yamani is a Palestinian activist, writer and political commentor. Currently, he is also the Executive Director of Toronto’s Palestine House, which was defunded by Minister Jason Kenney in February 2012.
  • Serin Atiani
    A Palestinian researcher and activist, Serin Atiani has advocated for Palestinian human, civil and political rights for over a decade.
  • The event will also feature a screening of a video produced by Addameer, featuring an interview with Suha Barghouti, wife of Ahmed Qatamesh. A prominent Palestinian writer, academic and activist, Qatamesh is currently under an administrative detention order and has been held without charge since his arrest on the night of April 21, 2011.


Organized by Tadamon! Montreal and SPHR Concordia

For more information:
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Organisation
Tadamon! Montreal
Solidarity For Human Rights (SPHR)-Concordia



Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Unlock the Box at the Maison Norman Bethune, July 1

This Friday July 1 in Montreal the comrades from the Maison Norman Bethune (the PCR/RCP's bookstore) will be hosting a film screening of Unlock the Box, a documentary about isolation torture and control units in the united states.

The film is in english, though there will be whisper translation into French, followed by a discussion of events being organized in Montreal to support the California prisoners' hunger strike.

The Maison Norman Bethune's announcement is reposted here in French, and below that you can see a clip from the film:

Dans le cadre des Rendez-vous de la Maison Norman Bethune:
Grève de la faim à la Pelican Bay State Prison: À bas l’isolement carcéral!

Le 1er juillet prochain, en Californie, entre 50 et 100 prisonniers de la Security Housing Unit (SHU), Corridor D, à la Pelican Bay State Prison, vont entamer une grève de la faim indéfinie. Ils protesteront ainsi contre les conditions de détention inhumaines qu’on leur impose, notamment le recours systématique à l’isolement carcéral. Pour l’occasion, nous présenterons un documentaire, Unlock the Box (Reel Soldiers Production, version originale anglaise avec traduction chuchotée), qui expose justement la lutte contre l’isolement carcéral. Nous annoncerons également les actions de solidarité avec la grève de la faim qui auront lieu dans la région de Montréal.

Le vendredi 1er juillet à 19h00
1918, rue Frontenac
Montréal (métro Frontenac)

Entrée libre • Info: 514 563-1487




Thursday, May 19, 2011

This Weekend: Montreal Anarchist Bookfair!


The bestest and biggest radical bookfair in North America, and i'm lucky enough that it happens in my town. Come and say hi and check out the books at this year's bookfair!


MAY 21-22, 10am-5pm
at the CEDA,
2515 rue Delisle
(a short walk from Lionel-Groulx metro)
FREE. Welcome to all! Bring your kids!

For anarchists and people curious about anarchism.

Main Hall, Kid Zone, Introductions to Anarchism, Workshops and Presentations, Autonomous Media and Technology Room, Anarchist Film Room, Kids Zone, Anarchist Cabaret, Festival of Anarchy and more.

Participants from all over Quebec and North America, booksellers and vendors, workshops, films, discussions, kids activities, art exhibits and more!

NOTE: During this year’s Bookfair, tabling will take place over TWO DAYS: May 21-22 between 10am-5pm.

The Montreal Anarchist Bookfair — and month-long Festival of Anarchy — bring together anarchist ideas and practice, through words, images, music, theatre and day-to-day struggles for justice, dignity and collective liberation.

The Bookfair is for people who don’t necessarily consider themselves anarchists, but are curious about anarchism, as well as a space for anarchists to meet, network and share in a spirit of respect and solidarity. All are welcome.

The Bookfair is organized in a spirit of openness towards the different traditions, visions, and practices of anarchism. Together we share a commitment to promoting anarchism through the values of mutual aid, grassroots democracy, direct action, autonomy and solidarity, while opposing oppression in all its forms.

The Bookfair and Festival of Anarchy provide an important gathering and reference point for anti-authoritarian ideas and practice in North America.

What Happens at the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair? Read more here: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/about/what-happens-at-the-bookfair

Accessibility Statement: http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/accessibility


WORKSHOP SCHEDULE

Introductions to Anarchism – SATURDAY, MAY 21

* 1pm: Anarchism without Anarchists / Anarchism with Anarchists: The Practice and Relevance of Anarchism (Jaggi Singh)
* 1pm: Discovering Anarchism Through Music (Philippe Morin)

Introductions to Anarchism – SUNDAY, MAY 22

* 1pm: Wage Labour and Alienation: An Anarchist Critique of Work (Camille Robert)
* 1pm: Embracing Brazen Laziness: Introduction to Anarchism (Adrienne Hurley)

Workshops & Presentations – SATURDAY, MAY 22

* 11am: The importance of struggle at the workplace (Industrial Workers of the World)
* 11am: Transforming Harm: Supporting Survivors and Confronting Sexual Assault in Our Communities (SACOMSS & Philly Stands Up)
* 11am: Oppose and Propose! Lessons from Movement for a New Society (Andrew Cornell)
* 12pm: Anarchist Writers Bloc Workshop (Anarchist Writers Bloc-Montreal)
* 1pm: Anarchist responses to “austerity” measures (l’Union communiste libertaire and others)
* 1pm: Social struggles in Indigenous communities of South America (Mapuche Support Committee and Nicolas Van Caloen)
* 3pm: An Introduction to Animal Liberation & Anarchism: How Animal Liberation Attacks the Roots of the Capitalist System (Love & Rage Liberation Collective)
* 3pm: Orwell, the Anarchist-Tory (Eric Martin)
* 3pm: Support and Self-Defence in the Face of State Repression: The example of the G20 in Toronto & Montreal (La Convergence des luttes anticapitalistes, CLAC)
* 3pm: Contemporary Anarchist Perspectives: Introduction to Contemporary Anarchisms (Christian)

Workshops & Presentations – SUNDAY, MAY 22

* 11am: Anti-authoritarian perspectives on the ongoing revolutions from the gulf to the ocean: Egypt, Tunisia, Yemen, Bahrain,Libya, Iran, Iraq, Palestine (Tadamon! Montreal)
* 11am: Lessons in Solidarity: The Oscar Grant rebellions and the movement against police terror in Oakland, CA. (Oakland 100 Support Committee)
* 11am: Physical Proximity, Neighbourhood Life and Anarchist Struggles: The Experience of la Pointe Libertaire (La Pointe Libertaire)
* 12pm: Towards an International Anarchist Gathering in St. Imier (Switzerland) in 2012 (La coopérative Espace noir)
* 1pm: Philosophy is child’s play! (Louise Caroline Bergeron, Mubeenah Mughal & Marike Reid-Gaudet)
* 1pm: Round-table: 10 years after the Summit of the Americas: What impact on anarchists? (Hélène Nazon, Maxime Fortin, Sarita Ahooja and others)
* 1pm: The Struggle for Reproductive Autonomy: From underground abortion collectives to the fight to decriminalize sex work (Emily Davidson & Kaley Kennedy) – Women & trans only
* 3pm: Anarchism, Colonialism, and Aboriginal Dispossession in the Canadian West (Paul Burrows)
* 3pm: Fifty Years of Struggle Against Police Brutality in Montreal, Fifteen March 15 Demonstrations, New Strategies Against the Oppressive State? (Collectif Opposé à la Brutalité Policière, COBP)
* 3pm: Todos Somos Japon and Planetary Anarchism (Go Hirasawa, Adrienne Hurley & Sabu Kohso)
* 3pm: Parole Sans Parole (the termite collective)
* 3pm: Decolonizing our Solidarity (Projet Accompagnement Solidarité Colombie, PASC) [More...]

Workshops and presentations will take place on BOTH Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22, from 11am-5pm. Workshops will take place either in French or English or are bilingual. There is whisper translation available into French or English for every workshop.

This year there will be four introductory style workshops for people who are new to, or curious about, anarchism and anarchist ideas and practice. The other workshops (20 in total) go in greater depth into various currents of anarchism and issues facing anarchists. There is also a space for the Anarchist Writer’s Bloc and an info-session about the Rencontres internationales de l’anarchisme in St Imier (Switzerland).

Workshops take place either at the main Bookfair space – the CEDA at 2515 rue Delisle – or at the Georges-Vanier Cultural Center located across from the CEDA.

For more detailed descriptions of the various workshops, see http://www.anarchistbookfair.ca/workshops-2011



Monday, May 09, 2011

May 11: "Beyond the Walls": A new publication about political prisoners in Colombia

it's the Festival of Anarchy in Montreal, a month of radical events around the Montreal Anarchist Bookfair... i'll be highlighting some of these on this blog, the first of which is actually in just 2 days, as the PASC - a local group doing solidarity with Colombian political prisoners - launched a new publication. Definitely worth checking out...

"Beyond the Walls": A new publication about political prisoners in Colombia


May 11, 6pm
Bar Populaire
6584 boul. St-Laurent
(Montreal)


PASC is launching a new brochure, using the situation of political prisoners as a lens for tackling the problem of crimes perpetrated by the state in Colombia. Political prisoners are those imprisoned because their political views and/or actions run contrary to those of the state. In Colombia however, one ought also to include in this category those who have been imprisoned, quite apart from their personal politics, for the simple reason that their mere existence impedes the plans of the ruling elite. It is in precisely this situation that a great many rural Colombians find themselves, living in armed conflict zones where the lands they occupy have been targeted for mega development projects.

The brochure is accompanied by a DVD containing audio and video recordings from political prisoners themselves as well as from their allies at the Political Prisoners Solidarity Committee of Colombia (with french subtitles).

Contact us for copies of the brochure and DVD or come to the launch!
Montréal launch as part of the Anarchist Festival on May 11, 2011

6pm at Bar Populaire 6584 boul. St-Laurent, Montréal

Opening Panel: Certain Days*, Recon**, PASC Several groups from around Québec working with prisoners here and abroad will join us for a panel discussion.

* Certain Days : Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar: is a collective composed of political prisoners and their allies. Contemporary resistance movements against war, globalization and colonialism are rooted in a long struggle for justice that has included the mass protests of the 1960s and 1970s. Many of the political prisoners and prisoners of war who have participated in this calendar were organizers during this period: members of the Black Panther Party or American Indian Movement, Puerto Ricans fighting for their lands, white anti-racist allies working in solidarity with oppressed groups. Some prisoners have been incarcerated since that time period, in some cases MORE THAN 35 YEARS. These prisoners are not relics of a bygone era; they remain politically active and despite the difficulties associated with organizing while imprisoned, they continue to struggle for justice behind bars and in the streets.

** Re-Con is a prisoner-initiated Q-pirg Concordia working group created in 1999 by lifers, long-term prisoners and volunteers at the Federal Training Centre penitentiary in Laval, Quebec. Re-Con aims at establishing positive links with various communities and attempts to diminish the effects of long term incarceration. An additional goal of Re-Con is to counter the negative perceptions that are often held toward those incarcerated.



Saturday, January 08, 2011

Jan. 19: Political Prisoners and Prison Solidarity Work in North America, History and Current Context


Certain Days & Kersplebedeb Publishing invite you to:

Political Prisoners & Prison Solidarity Work in North America:
History & Current Context

When: Wednesday, January 19, 6:30pm
Where: QPIRG Concordia 1500 de Maisonneuve West, metro Guy-Concordia*

Free. Venue is wheelchair accessible. Traduction chuchotée vers le français.

Depending on your definition, there are dozens or hundreds or thousands of political prisoners and prisoners of war held by the United States government. This talk will focus on political prisoners and prisoners of war who came out of the revolutionary movements from the 1960s to today, including the national liberation movements, the armed struggle, white anti-imperialists and, more recently, the Green Scare defendants. Topics will include the relationship of the prisoners to our own struggles today, the varying definitions of "who is a political prisoner", and a look back at some of the support work that was being done in the 80s and 90s, especially in Canada. Certain specific cases will also be discussed, for instance Assata Shakur, Leonard Peltier, Marilyn Buck and Kevin ‘Rashid’ Johnson, as well as the recent strike by prisoners in Georgia.

The talk will be given by Karl of Kersplebedeb Publishing, followed by discussion.


Kersplebedeb Publishing has published several books and pamphlets by and about political prisoners, and has just published "Defying The Tomb," a book by Kevin "Rashid" Johnson of the New Afrikan Black Panther Party-Prison Chapter. info: www.kersplebedeb.com

The Certain Days Freedom for Political Prisoners Calendar is a joint fundraising and educational project between organizers in Montreal and Toronto, and three New York state Political Prisoners: Herman Bell, David Gilbert and Robert Seth Hayes, and is a working group of QPIRG Concordia. info: www.certaindays.org

INFO:
514-848-7583
info@certaindays.org


Click on the link to download a poster or fliers for this event.