Showing posts with label pcr/rcp. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pcr/rcp. Show all posts

Saturday, March 09, 2013

PCR-RCP Responds to RCMP Raids and Repression



The following is a translation of a statement issued by the Parti Communiste Revolutionnaire / Revolutionary Communist Party in response to a series of police raids and searches carried out last week. The French original can be found here.


Denounce the RCMP Merry-Go-Round!
The RCP condemns the maneuvers and harassment of the federal police!

Wednesday, February 27, an alleged Revolutionary Communist Party sympathiser had his home searched for almost ten hours by police led by the RCMP and its dubious “Integrated National Security Team”.

The RCMP claimed this was concerning the commission of supposed acts of terrorism, specifically the 2010 attack on offices of the Canadian Armed Forces in Trois Rivieres, which was claimed by a group acting under the name “Initiative de résistance internationaliste.” (“Internationalist Resistance Inititative”)

At the same time, another raid was taking place at the offices of the Association étudiante du cégep Lionel-Groulx (Lionel Groulx College Student Association) in St-Therese north of Montreal, where the RCMP seized most of the material necessary for the association’s day-to-day activities.

The RCMP claims to have carried out similar raids in Saguenay and in the Saint-Hubert neighbourhood in Longueuil, but refuses to disclose the identity of the people in question.

One day beforehand, on February 26, a student from Sherbrooke who was also in touch with RCP supporters was intercepted by police at Ange-Gardien. At the time, he was on a bus with a group of students from his area on their way to Montreal to attend a demonstration; he was brought to the RCMP’s headquarters in Westmount where he was held for several hours. In this case, as in all the others, no charges were laid.

The RCMP is up to its old tricks once again. It seems clear that the RCMP periodically wants to remind the Quebecois people (which has a tendency to “royally” not give a crap about this reactionary police force) that they are there in order to be then be able to go fishing for information in areas that they have been interested in for years.

The investigators from the “integrated team” are shamelessly seeking media attention to let the activist scenes know how desperately clueless they are. Her royal majesty’s investigators have been looking for the big bad wolf for years, and they think they have spotted its den in all the activist scenes.

Of course, politics being politics, the RCMP takes advantage of its annual expeditions to put together its files, to map out the activist scenes and collect loads of computer material and documentation.
But what have they gotten out of this?


  • Big banners that have walked the 400 steps in our streets!
  • Beautiful red flags!
  • Documents that provide hundreds of reasons to fight against capitalism!
  • Documents that provide hundreds of examples of popular struggles here and abroad!
  • Documents that provide hundreds of examples of courageous and inspirational actions and demonstrations!

The Revolutionary Communist Party denounces these RCMP raids, along with any and all police activities currently being carried out against activists and their organizations, especially against revolutionary organizations struggling against the power of the big capitalists.

The PCR-RCP supports all activists who serve the people through their actions, their devotion and generosity, and their engagement on behalf of those oppressed by bourgeois society.

The PCR-RCP invites all activists to continue their good work in ongoing struggles, and to not let the police distract them from pursuing their objectives.



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).



Sunday, July 17, 2011

Political Arrests in Montréal



Statement from the Canadian Revolutionary Communist Party (not the same as the u.s. Avakian group):

Update (07/13/11): The four individuals who have been arrested and charged went in court last Wednesday. The Crown disclosed its evidence to the defendants. It also asked for a hardening of their release conditions. The hearing was then postponed to Monday, July 18.

Montréal, July 5th — On June 29th, 2011, the Anti-Gang unit of the Montréal Police Service’s Organized Crime Division arrested four political activists —including Patrice Legendre, a communist worker and supporter of the RCP. The police searched their homes and arrested them in connection with the most recent May First demonstration, organized by Montréal’s Anti-Capitalist Convergence (CLAC). Nearly 30 officers were involved in the operation, which occurred early in the day.

According to the investigator who headed the whole operation, nine officers were injured, some seriously, during an altercation at the May First demonstration. More on the demonstration is available in issue 3 of the communist newspaper Partisan. The four activists who were arrested were detained and then released on a promise to appear on July 13 at 9 a.m. at the courthouse in Montréal. They have been charged with a number of offenses, from “assault with a weapon” to “assaulting a police officer,” “obstruction of justice” and “possession of a weapon with intent to cause harm.”

During the May First demonstration in the streets of Montréal, at which nearly 1,500 people were in attendance, the police provoked an altercation by trying to arrest, for reasons unknown, a militant who was widely known as the photographer for Partisan newspaper. As one would expect, dozens of protesters responded by confronting the police, telling them to release the activist they were trying to arrest. Obviously unprepared, the police chose to retreat.

The operation on June 29th was clearly carried out with very little basis. The content of the interrogation to which the arrested activists were subjected as well as the presence of an investigator from the “Integrated National Security Enforcement Team” suggests that there were other motives behind the operation.

First, we can assume the arrests were motivated by revenge, as the police will always want to “get back” at those who cause them to suffer a defeat —as was the case at the May First demonstration, where demonstrators stopped them from arbitrarily and inexcusably arresting one of the activists involved. The cops had egg on their faces and somebody needed to pay for it. Without any evidence to go on, the police decided to go after a few well-known activists, some of whom express their views openly. The demonstration was used as a pretext to criminalize their political involvement and, what’s more, the communist views they defend. Recall that in recent weeks, the RCP began publishing a bilingual, biweekly newspaper, Partisan, and has been distributing it in major cities in Ontario and Québec, and has also started organizing workers in the Revolutionary Workers Movement (Mouvement Ouvrier Révolutionnaire, MRO). Its struggle against capitalism and exploitation is taking new forms and is moving forward, and the police, we can assume, are not fond of that.

Investigators also said they had started monitoring Maison Norman Bethune —a bookstore run by the Information Bureau of the RCP— the day after the May First demonstration. Many activists frequent the bookstore, attending events and getting involved in the cause of revolution. It seems as though the police wanted to “go on a fishing expedition” to find somebody guilty of something so they could draw attention away from their own petty and provocative behavior at the May First Demonstration.

Further, information collected by the RCP Information Bureau suggests the police who carried out these arrests tried to implicate the RCP, and Patrice Legendre in particular, in three previous incidents, including one that happened a year ago in Trois-Rivières, where an explosive device shattered the doors of a recruitment office for the Canadian Forces. A group calling itself “Résistance Internationaliste” claimed responsibility for this act and since it happened the police have not solved the case.

Curiously, the day after the arrests in Montréal, the Integrated National Security Enforcement Team installed a command post for three days in Trois-Rivières across from the recruiting office in order, they said, “to collect new information and validate some leads described as ‘very serious’.” The police then presented pictures of the four arrested activists to the people of Trois-Rivières, hoping somebody could implicate them in one way or another.

The operation on June 29th was no accident. It comes at a time when the bourgeois state in Canada is on the offensive in criminalizing political struggle and the activists who are involved in it. We need only look at the G20 summit in June 2010 in Toronto, where over a thousand people were illegally arrested, to verify this. In recent years, dozens of activists, among them some from the RCP, have been harassed at home and work by the infamous “Integrated National Security Enforcement Team.”

The Revolutionary Communist Party harshly condemns this cowardly operation, which was politically motivated. It is doomed to failure and will backfire on those who planned it. The RCP is actively campaigning to denounce the arrests and obtain full and unconditional release of those arrested. We thank the many individuals and groups who have already expressed their outrage and solidarity following the June 29th arrests.

Denounce political intimidation! Defend our right to fight against the bourgeoisie and its state! Solidarity is our weapon!

The RCP Information Bureau



Saturday, March 28, 2009

The Maison Norman Bethune: A New Maoist Bookstore in Montreal



The following announcement from the Revolutionary Communist Party (the on based in Quebec, not to be confused with the Avakian-led group in the united states!), regarding the opening of their new bookstore in Montreal. The original French is available in pdf here.

The Opening of the Maison Normal Bethune

The Political Information Bureau is anno the opening of the Maison Norman Bethune - unique in Canada, aiming to be both an information center and an organizing space to support the struggle for socialism and world revolution.

This project is especially important in the current situation, where capitalism is going through one of its worst crises and where more and more people are expressing renewed interest in struggling for a system based on the interests of the majority and workers' power.

Located in the heart of Montreal's Centre-Sud neighbourhood, the Maison Norman Bethune will make a variety of documents available to those interested: the classic works of Marx, Lenin and Mao, works on revolutionary history, publications from contemporary revolutionary organizations such as the Parti Communiste Revolutionnaire, books and texts about current events and socialism, and in all languages... In short, the Maison Norman Bethune aims to distribute all that can serve the revolution.

The Maison Norman Bethune also intends to be a space open to workers and revolutionary and anticapitalist militants who hunger for knowledge and wish to organize themselves to not simply stir up new hope for communism and revolution, but a concrete and immediate project to make them a reality. It is also the place to contact the Political Information Bureau and to learn about the positions and activities of the Revolutionary Communist Party.

For the moment, the Maison Norman Bethune is open Wednesday to Saturday (see below). Over the coming weeks, the team which runs it will work to expand and improve the collection of books and publications available. Regular activities (speakers, video nights, etc.) will also be organized, and a schedule will soon be announced.

The opening of the Maison Norman Bethune itself represents an important victory in the struggle against the propaganda of the bourgeoisie and the unitary vision that its acolytes have been trying to brainwash us with for so long now. It is up to us and us alone, workers and militants who wish to bring forward the liberatory voice of communism and to develop revolutionary action which will put an end to the capitalist system whose time is up, to make this a lively space and a tool in the service of the struggle of the proletariat and the oppressed masses in this country.

The Political Information Bureau calls on all revolutionary, progressive, and anti-imperialist militants to support the Maison Normal Bethune. You have books to give us? You know someone, a militant or former militant, who still has some "hidden treasures"? You want to contribute financially to this project or to offer a bit of time to help out? Let us know, and a militant from the Political Information Bureau will contact you right away to follow up on your proposal.

And most importantly, come and drop by the Maison Norman Bethune, and spread the word!

The Political Information Bureau


*************************************************
Maison NORMAN BETHUNE
Bookstore - Political Information Bureau
1918, rue Frontenac
Montréal (Qc) H2K 2Z1
(across the street from Frontenac metro)
514 563-1487

Opening Hours:
Wednesday: 12:30 - 6pm
Thursday: 12:30 9pm
Friday: 12:30 - 9pm
Saturday: 10:00am - 5pm
*************************************************



Tuesday, December 18, 2007

[Le Drapeau Rouge] At Last the PQ Shows Its True Colours!



The below article in Le Drapeau Rouge; i felt it was well worth translating and sharing with you all.

At least in its newspaper, the Revolutionary Communist Party (the canadian one, not the Avakian outfit in the u.s.) is providing welcome leadership in opposing the rise of racism in Quebec, without ambiguity or compromise. While on the ground in Montreal most of the anti-racist organizing against the "reasonable accommodation" bullshit has come from groups like No One Is Illegal, the RCP benefits from greater organic ties to the Québécois revolutionary tradition, witness the forthright analysis of Pauline Marois' agenda in the Parti Québécois which follows:

Pauline Marois Demands a Makeover

At Last the PQ Shows Its True Colours!

With her proposed Québécois Identity Bill, the new Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois has shown that there is no limit to how low she will stoop to get back in power – even hunting for support on the ADQ’s terrain and leaping into racist and xenophobic manure. After several days of debate in which she did her best to defend her infamous Bill, the Lady of Île Bizard[1] once again tried to justify herself during the November 4 PQ commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the death of its former leader René Lévesque.

Sharing the stage with a follower of the Church of Scientology (the popular singer France D’Amour), Pauline Marois first denounced her Liberal and ADQist adversaries “who are using a populist and demagogic approach but have no concrete proposals” as to how to affirm Québécois identity. “Well I do!” she added proudly. It is true that on top of joining the others in adopting a populist and demagogic approach, the new deputy from Charlevoix had done them one better, shamelessly proposing that certain civil rights be withdrawn from immigrants who, having already obtained Canadian citizenship, fail to show an “appropriate knowledge” of the French language.

It is obvious that this initiative from the PQ’s leader is simply politics, as she is sure to have known that her Bill had no chance of being adopted, and even if it was passed it would have likely been struck down by the courts. Ever since the last elections, the Parti Quebecois has been worried that the conservative section of its traditional supporters might leave it permanently for the ADQ. So, under the influence of political strategist Jean-Francois Lisée (the king of all gimmicks, who has himself just written a pamphlet in defense of cultural nationalism[2]), Pauline Marois decided to outflank Mario Dumont on his right and do her part in feeding the climate of fear and xenophobia which has polluted public debate in Quebec for over a year now, all in the hopes of leading her troops back into the fold.

In the end, it doesn’t matter if her Bill becomes a dead letter: public opinion will remember that Marois wants to put “the others” in their place (the others being all those who are not like us) and oblige them to conform to the dominant bourgeois ideology in Quebec. The PQ is betting that this rhetoric will pay off in terms of votes. And what does it matter if the verbal attacks, mainly against the Arab and Muslim communities, end up also leading to physical attacks: this would just be “collateral damage” in this PQist march back to power.

When she delivered her first speech to the National Assembly on October 16, Pauline Marois devoted most of it to defending cultural nationalism and stigmatizing the “foreigners,” going so far as to beseech Québécois, “don’t give up your place to others.” She joined the chorus insisting that everyone must submit to the famous “common values” imposed by the Québécois ruling class, which boil down to speaking French, complete secularism and that famous “equality between men and women,” which apparently constitutes one of the most important elements of Quebec society. Need we remind Pauline Marois that Quebec was the last Canadian province to grant women the right to vote in 1940? That it was only in 1980 (quite a bit less than a century ago!) that women in Quebec won the right to sign a mortgage? That not so long ago the dominant model was still the woman in the home, submissive to her husband, whose main role was to bear children and perpetuate the “French Canadian race” (remember Lionel Groulx?).

The PQ leader – and all those others who are condemning, in the name of gender equality, the fact that Muslim women “dare” to wear the Islamic headscarf – would do better to worry about the fact that the song of the year which was crowned at the last ADISQ[3] gala (a demagogic hymn entitled Dégéneration, from the reactionary group Mes Aïeux[4]) sings the praises of “the good old times when our grand mothers had fourteen children,” and when, of course, we did not have that awful right to an abortion… we think that things like that are much more worrisome than the purely hypothetical possibility that one day a woman wearing a niqab might ask to vote without showing her face.

The silence emanating from the “PQ left” regarding this racism and xenophobia is deplorable, but not at all surprising. The leaders of SPQ libre[5], Marc Laviolette and Pierre Dubuc (or as we have called them, the Laurel and Hardy of left nationalism), narrowly avoided the new leader’s cutting block, as Marois apparently wanted to dismantle their “political club.” Marois finally agreed to leave them their toy, but not before she grilled them and seems to have received the promise that they would stay in their place and not criticize her in any way. In any case, these two representatives of the alleged “left” of the PQ are 100% in agreement with the turn towards identity being carried out by Marois, as they were already attacking the “civic nationalism” promoted by her predecessor, Andre Boisclair.

The only criticism from within the ranks of the PQ has come from the Groupe d’action politique des Québecois et Québecoises issus de l’immigration, which is the body responsible for questions of immigration within the party. In an open letter published on October 18 in the newspaper le Devoir, the group’s spokesperson Kerlande Mibel protested against the emergence of a “populist cultural nationalism” within the PQ, “which demands that everyone share the same values and way of life.” “If tomorrow everyone must share the same values as white francophone Catholics, that isn’t progress,” notes Mibel, adding that every Quebecker should have “the same rights and responsibilities” – a position which is clearly not in step with the rest of the PQ!

One is forced to admit that Pauline Marois is at least consistent: her right turn on questions of identity is perfectly in step with her social and economic positions. Remember that when she was crowned in June, Pauline Number One came with certain conditions, “take it or leave it”: amongst these was the “rejuvenation” of the PQ’s social-democratic rhetoric, in the style of Tony Blair’s British Labour Party.

Under her leadership the PQ will adopt the line of the “lucides”[6] (which is not at all surprising when you note that the “lucides” included many well known PQists). From now on the emphasis will be on “creating wealth before we redistribute it.” Amongst other things, Pauline Marois has come out in favour of the university tuition hikes proposed by the Charest government. Loyal members of the Lady’s Praetorian Guard that they are, over the past few weeks the young PQists within the student movement carefully maneuvered to sabotage the campaign for a general student strike which had been initiated by the Association pour une solidarite syndicale étudiante (ASSÉ), and which as we know ended in failure.

The fact that the PQ is a reactionary bourgeois party is nothing new to Quebec workers, who have been subjected to its policies for 17 of the past 30 years. That the party is finally getting rid of its “progressive” window-dressing may have some noteworthy consequences. The PQ seems to be trying to compete with the ADQ to claim the political space traditionally held by the bleus[7] (i.e. the conservative right) in Quebec. As to the army of “followers” and civil servants which the party has generated within the civil society organizations, the question is how far are they willing to go down this path? There is a question which it is still too early to answer.

As workers, perhaps we should take advantage of this “political recomposition” within the Quebecois bourgeoisie to get rid of this scum once and for all; without a doubt, that would be the best result we could hope for.

Serge Gélinas, Le Drapeau Rouge Nov.-Déc 2007 translated by Kersplebedeb

all footnotes by the translator



[1] Marois, who was elected to represent the riding of Charlevoix, actually resides in a three million dollar mansion on a 41 acre estate in the suburb of Île Bizard.

[2] i have translated the term “nationalisme identitaire” (literally, “nationalism having to do with identity”) as “cultural nationalism.” Whereas the terms may not be a perfect fit, it strikes me as a more accurate translation than “ethnic nationalism.”

[3] Association québécoise de l'industrie du disque, du spectacle et de la vidéo : the Quebec Association of the Recording, Festival and Video Industry.

[4] My Ancestors.

[5] A social democratic ginger group within the PQ.

[6] In 2005 the debate about which way forward for Quebec became characterized by two public manifestos, “For a Lucid Quebec” representing the economic right-wing and “For a Quebec in Solidarity” representing the social democratic position.

[7] Traditional party colours in Quebec have the liberals being the reds (!) and the conservatives being the blues.



Tuesday, September 25, 2007



This weekend's protest against the August 11th police attack on a communist demonstration in St-Jerome:


-------------------------------
A call from the RCP-Laurentides
-------------------------------

DEMONSTRATION AGAINST POLITICAL REPRESSION
IN SAINT-JÉRÔME
Saturday, September 29 at 1:00 p.m.
Gathering at Parc Curé-Labelle (corner Parent et Curé-Labelle)

On August 11, on the occasion of a demo organized by the Revolutionary Communist Party (RCP) in Saint-Jérôme (30 kilometers north of Montréal), nine people have been arrested alledgedly because the organizers didn’t requested the police a “permission” to demonstrate.

On that day, some 50 people answered the call from the RCP-Laurentides and gathered to comdemn the work and living conditions of the workers under capitalism and call them to organize in order to change this situation. They were chanting slogans and circulating leaflets while marching in the streets when the cops arrived and arrested nine demonstrators without any warrant.

As it happened during the powerful student strike in 2005, the Saint-Jérôme police have showed their brutality, as they continue to crush any social or political movement they don’t like.

The police are not neutral; they defend the existing order -- the one from the rich and the bourgeois. This is why they are trying to crush all those who oppose the system and suggest an alternative world. But in Canada, in a society that claims to be champion of the democratic rights, we must fight to defend our right to be dissident and to fight the existing order. The August 11 arrests are a direct attack to our democratic rights, and this is why we have to oppose them boldly.

On September 29, we will again take to the streets in Saint-Jérôme. Come support us and say: No to political repression! We have the right to demonstrate where and when we want, without any interference from the police!

For a summary of the August 11 events (in French):
http://www.pcr-rcp.ca/fr/texte?id=67a.

To reach the RCP-Laurentides:
mailto:laurentides@pcr-rcp.ca.

*******************************************************
Transport available from Montréal:
- Meeting at 11:30 a.m. at the North entrance of the Crémazie metro station (near the FTQ building).
- Reserve your place by e-mail (mailto:info@pcr-rcp.ca) or by phone (514 409-2444).
*******************************************************



The August 11th Police Attack in St-Jerome



On August 11th, one week before the protests against the SPP summit in Montebello, the police attacked a communist demonstration in the town of St-Jerome (population 25,000), about an hour north of Montreal.

The police attack, IMO, was motivated by two factors.

On the one hand St-Jerome is a small town with none of the activist scene you'll find in a big city like Montreal, and the cops are obviously quite happy to keep it that way. Indeed, it's not unusual in such towns to find that neo-nazis and fascists are considered more acceptable than communists or anarchists. While there are real possibilities for political action in places like St-Jerome, this is funneled quite effectively into xenophobic and conservative politics, often with a nationalist tinge. As in most towns, those people who are interested in radical ideas do what they can to move to the city, which further maintains an unhealthy political situation. All of this suits the cops just fine, and keeping things this way is one reason why they would want to show a heavy hand to any radical organizers who might try to set up shop in the area.

The second possible reason for the police attack has to do with timing, as a way to try to demobilize one of the more militant groups in the lead up to the Montebello protests. The RCP in Canada is a separate organization from the u.s. RCP, and promotes militant confrontation with the police. Back in 2001 when the Summit of the Americas was held in Quebec City, police documents were found in which it was revealed that the RCP in particular was considered a possible source of militant resistance. In this context, and also keeping in mind that Ottawa organizers with People's Global Action were arrested or bogus charges just before Montebello, it is possible that the August 11th police action was intended to discourage militant action the next week outside the SPP summit.

i was remiss in blogging about this at the time, but i'm doing so now as there is a demo planned this weekend (see next posting) in St-Jerome to protest this police repression. So read on... the following comes from the RCP website:


Here is a reminder of what happened on August 11th, based on reports in Le Drapeau Rouge-express and the local press:

The demonstration had been called by the RCP-Laurentides several weeks earlier, with the goal of promoting socialism and encouraging workers in St-Jerome to organize themselves for revolution. As planned, at 1pm roughly fifty demonstrators had gathered at Curé-Labelle Square. At which point members of the St-Jerome police force came to warn them that “they would respect their right to demonstrate on condition that they stay in the park or on the sidewalk”: which was to say that they had already made up their minds not to tolerate a demonstration in the streets of St-Jerome.

After a short speech by a comrade from the RCP who pointed out that this was the first time there was a communist demonstration in St-Jerome, and who denounced the harsh living and work conditions for workers in the region, the demonstrators enthusiastically took to the streets. Most of the demonstrators had red flags and chanted slogans against exploitation, for communism and for revolution. People on the street came up to the demo to find out more what it was all about; several seemed interested, and eagerly took the pamphlets and newspapers that were being distributed.

The demonstrators first stopped at the skate park, where another comrade briefly spoke about the conditions for young people in the region, who are faced with a high rate of unemployment, miserable wages and also a lot of repression : as in so many places, the police here target and harass those young people who they consider “marginal”.

The demonstration once again started moving. It was at the point of its second stop, in front of the Muller Forges, that a ton of cops (11 cars) suddenly rush onto the scene; there were cops from St-Jerome, of course, but also from other neighbouring towns like Sainte-Sophie, Saint-Hyppolite, Mirabel and Rivière du- Nord, as well as an agent from the Quebec Provincial Police’s intelligence unit. The cops jumped out of their cars and rushed the demonstrators, making a point of going after those who were holding the banners and loud speakers. Without giving any warning they started arresting people, yelling that everyone was going to be charged with “obstruction” (while in fact they were the ones who had come and obstructed a perfectly legal demonstration).

When a demonstrator – who was standing two meters away – simply asked a cop why they were doing this, the cop replied by dousing them with pepper spray. Another cop, who was doing as he was told but seemed completely confused, was also asked why people were being arrested; he answered that “You didn’t do anything but you did not ask for a permit, so I think that’s a case of obstruction”!

As the first people were arrested the majority of the demonstrators managed to flee through the surrounding streets and parks. In the end nine people were brought to the police station and given court dates to face charges of “obstructing a police officer”.

According to the police “logic”, the demonstrators broke the law by marching in the streets once they had been told not to. It seems that disobeying an order, even an order which is contrary to constitutional law, constitutes “obstruction” to police! It seems certain that such ridiculous charges will not hold up in court.

Politically Targetted Repression
In an article published in the August 24th edition of Saint-Sauveur’s weekly Accès newspaper, sergeant Robin Pouliot of the St-Jerome police confirmed the purely political nature of the police action. The reporter who spoke to him reported that “the banners which read ‘It is right to rebel!’ seemed to shock the police.” She quotes him as saying “When people distribute hateful pamphlets and break the law, they should expect a response…” Sergeant Pouliot doesn’t actually say what “law” the demonstrators broke: the “St Jerome police law” perhaps? or maybe his own private law?

These statements, as well as the presence of an officer from the QPP’s intelligence unit (who subsequently explained that she was there “to monitor the party”), shows that this was a case of deliberate and targeted political repression: the police admits having acted in order to prevent the expression of a communist point of view, which it considers “hateful”.

At the August 16th court appearance, the Crown Prosecutor assigned to the case tried to get additional release conditions imposed on the nine arrested demonstrators – whom she described as “dangerous criminals” – including forbidding them from returning to St-Jerome and most importantly, forbidding them from participating in the Montebello demonstrations against the SPP summit, which was taking place the next week. This request was denied by the court for technical reasons because the accused were not present, seeing as their presence was not required at that point of the legal proceedings. All of which makes the political nature of the August 11th police action even more clear.

A Political Battle Which Concerns Everyone

The RCP has already been active for some time in St-Jerome. Activists in the area are working to mobilize the workers and proletarian youth in the struggle against capitalism. This obviously doesn’t suit the local bourgeois, or the cops who defend them.

In 2005, during the student strike, the communists were there when the police targeted the student activists with repression. On the picket lines at the cegeps [kind of like colleges - translator], some cops acted like real pigs, punching students in the face with their bare fists.

It is clear that the police action of August 11th was no accident, whether it was motivated by a simple desire for “revenge” from the local police, or by a decision taken higher up to criminalize revolutionary communists (or some combination thereof). Regardless of what motivated it, this action should not be allowed to go unanswered.\

It goes without saying that the accused and their lawyers are preparing for a political battle in the trials which the State has imposed on them. The prosecution and the police are going to be made to publicly explain why they are still trying to apply the “padlock law” of Maurice Duplessis, which used to forbid “all communist propaganda in the province of Quebec” and which the Canadian Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in… 1957!

But this battle does not only concern the accused, or the RCP, or the people who demonstrated on August 11th, and it has to do with a lot more than the courts : this case is of concern to all those who support the right to demonstrate, to resist and to rebel and to express dissident and revolutionary political ideas.

So let’s all go back to St-Jerome on September 29th!

Here is a reminder of what happened on August 11th, based on reports in Le Drapeau Rouge-express and the local press:

The demonstration had been called by the RCP-Laurentides several weeks earlier, with the goal of promoting socialism and encouraging workers in St-Jerome to organize themselves for revolution. As planned, at 1pm roughly fifty demonstrators had gathered at Curé-Labelle Square. At which point members of the St-Jerome police force came to warn them that “they would respect their right to demonstrate on condition that they stay in the park or on the sidewalk”: which was to say that they had already made up their minds not to tolerate a demonstration in the streets of St-Jerome.

After a short speech by a comrade from the RCP who pointed out that this was the first time there was a communist demonstration in St-Jerome, and who denounced the harsh living and work conditions for workers in the region, the demonstrators enthusiastically took to the streets. Most of the demonstrators had red flags and chanted slogans against exploitation, for communism and for revolution. People on the street came up to the demo to find out more what it was all about; several seemed interested, and eagerly took the pamphlets and newspapers that were being distributed.

The demonstrators first stopped at the skate park, where another comrade briefly spoke about the conditions for young people in the region, who are faced with a high rate of unemployment, miserable wages and also a lot of repression : as in so many places, the police here target and harass those young people who they consider “marginal”.

The demonstration once again started moving. It was at the point of its second stop, in front of the Muller Forges, that a ton of cops (11 cars) suddenly rush onto the scene; there were cops from St-Jerome, of course, but also from other neighbouring towns like Sainte-Sophie, Saint-Hyppolite, Mirabel and Rivière du- Nord, as well as an agent from the Quebec Provincial Police’s intelligence unit. The cops jumped out of their cars and rushed the demonstrators, making a point of going after those who were holding the banners and loud speakers. Without giving any warning they started arresting people, yelling that everyone was going to be charged with “obstruction” (while in fact they were the ones who had come and obstructed a perfectly legal demonstration).

When a demonstrator – who was standing two meters away – simply asked a cop why they were doing this, the cop replied by dousing them with pepper spray. Another cop, who was doing as he was told but seemed completely confused, was also asked why people were being arrested; he answered that “You didn’t do anything but you did not ask for a permit, so I think that’s a case of obstruction”!

As the first people were arrested the majority of the demonstrators managed to flee through the surrounding streets and parks. In the end nine people were brought to the police station and given court dates to face charges of “obstructing a police officer”.

According to the police “logic”, the demonstrators broke the law by marching in the streets once they had been told not to. It seems that disobeying an order, even an order which is contrary to constitutional law, constitutes “obstruction” to police! It seems certain that such ridiculous charges will not hold up in court.

Politically Targetted Repression
In an article published in the August 24th edition of Saint-Sauveur’s weekly Accès newspaper, sergeant Robin Pouliot of the St-Jerome police confirmed the purely political nature of the police action. The reporter who spoke to him reported that “the banners which read ‘It is right to rebel!’ seemed to shock the police.” She quotes him as saying “When people distribute hateful pamphlets and break the law, they should expect a response…” Sergeant Pouliot doesn’t actually say what “law” the demonstrators broke: the “St Jerome police law” perhaps? or maybe his own private law?

These statements, as well as the presence of an officer from the QPP’s intelligence unit (who subsequently explained that she was there “to monitor the party”), shows that this was a case of deliberate and targeted political repression: the police admits having acted in order to prevent the expression of a communist point of view, which it considers “hateful”.

At the August 16th court appearance, the Crown Prosecutor assigned to the case tried to get additional release conditions imposed on the nine arrested demonstrators – whom she described as “dangerous criminals” – including forbidding them from returning to St-Jerome and most importantly, forbidding them from participating in the Montebello demonstrations against the SPP summit, which was taking place the next week. This request was denied by the court for technical reasons because the accused were not present, seeing as their presence was not required at that point of the legal proceedings. All of which makes the political nature of the August 11th police action even more clear.

A Political Battle Which Concerns Everyone

The RCP has already been active for some time in St-Jerome. Activists in the area are working to mobilize the workers and proletarian youth in the struggle against capitalism. This obviously doesn’t suit the local bourgeois, or the cops who defend them.

In 2005, during the student strike, the communists were there when the police targeted the student activists with repression. On the picket lines at the cegeps [kind of like colleges - translator], some cops acted like real pigs, punching students in the face with their bare fists.

It is clear that the police action of August 11th was no accident, whether it was motivated by a simple desire for “revenge” from the local police, or by a decision taken higher up to criminalize revolutionary communists (or some combination thereof). Regardless of what motivated it, this action should not be allowed to go unanswered.\

It goes without saying that the accused and their lawyers are preparing for a political battle in the trials which the State has imposed on them. The prosecution and the police are going to be made to publicly explain why they are still trying to apply the “padlock law” of Maurice Duplessis, which used to forbid “all communist propaganda in the province of Quebec” and which the Canadian Supreme Court ruled unconstitutional in… 1957!

But this battle does not only concern the accused, or the RCP, or the people who demonstrated on August 11th, and it has to do with a lot more than the courts : this case is of concern to all those who support the right to demonstrate, to resist and to rebel and to express dissident and revolutionary political ideas.

So let’s all go back to St-Jerome on September 29th!

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

The Communist Party of Quebec and the North East Federation of Anarchist Communists Denounce the Police Action

The Laurentian section of the Communist Party of Quebec, some of whose members were at the August 11th demonstration, made a point of denouncing this “flagrant example of police repression, which reminds us of what we experiences at our worst moments under the rule of Maurice Duplessis.” : “It is clear that the police will not accept being challenged or called into question… We denounce the police abuse which took place on August 11th.”

Comrades from NEFAC also expressed their support : « We in NEFAC have our differences with the Maoists (sic!) but we are not so sectarian as to remain silent in such an obvious case of police repression… We ourselves have often found ourselves faced with this type of police repression, and so as NEFAC activists we are expressing our solidarity with the activists of the RCP.”