Autonomously and with Conviction: A Métis Refusal of State-Led Reconciliation

Transcription of a talk given on October 12, 2018 at the 13th annual Decolonizing Thanksgiving Dinner in Guelph, Ontario on traditional Neutral/Chonnonton, Anishinabec, and Haudenosaunee territory. This text is also available as an imposed printable brochure so you can share it and discuss.

I’d just like to preface this by saying that some of the things I’m going to say tonight are going to be challenging, maybe even upsetting, for some people. If it is, I apologize. But I was also offered tobacco to speak tonight and so I have to speak my truth.

I was asked to come and speak to you tonight about reconciliation.
I think it is important for me to begin this talk by telling you that I have no interest in reconciliation (at this time) and that I think the concept is a state-led smoke screen used to advance a more sophisticated policy of assimilation. I want to talk a little bit about reconciliation, decolonization, the difference between the two, and the role of the state in all of this. Read More …

Good Night White Pride: Outing Neo Nazis in Hamilton

Here in Hamilton, anti-fascists have been debating the merit of going after Paul Fromm – a well-known white supremacist with ties to the KKK and Stormfront – as a mayoral candidate.

On one hand, you have a proudly racist shithead running for mayor.

On the other hand, Fromm has been invisible as a candidate thus far. Attacking him directly would give him a media platform to spew his vile minimally-covert racist bullshit, potentially win over more ignorant supporters, and continue flagging other neo-Nazis of his presence. It’s also pretty hard to call out an obvious racist without insinuating that white supremacy doesn’t exist within the other mayoral and ward candidates: we didn’t want our disavowal of Fromm to look like throwing support behind – or belief in – any other candidate, the election, or even Canadian democracy at large.

So we did the next best thing; we went after those just as ignorant and racist as Fromm himself – those who nominated him. Read More …

London: Anti-Fascist Mobilization Opposes Pegida, Soldiers of Odin, and Wolves of Odin

On Saturday, October 13, 2018, a rally of several Pegida members along with a dozen or so SOO and a few Wolves of Odin and other neo-fascist supporters was confronted by a much larger counter-mobilization of antifascists. With cops present the fascists held their ground outside the City Hall building. Read More …

Kingston: Really Really Free Market in Skeleton Park

On September 30th, 2018, members of AKA Autonomous Social Centre in Kingston hosted another Really, Really Free Market (RRFM) in our neighbourhood. Over the course of 3 hours, approximately 150 to 200 folks came by to share and take free things! For those who are not aware of RRFMs, they are events where folks give and take things with no money exchanged. They emerged as public events in direct opposition to so-called free trade negotiations. Read More …

Hamilton: CLV Issues Mass Eviction Notices to Threaten Organized Tenants

As the Stoney Creek Towers rent strike enters its sixth month, CLV is starting to lose it!

Over the past several weeks, CLV has escalated tensions with the residents of the Stoney Creek Towers, in a vain effort to isolate and intimidate tenant organizers. They have installed over 100 new surveillance cameras, and have hired private security to patrol each of the four buildings 24/7. These rent-a-cops have harassed tenants, in some cases demanding they show ID to prove that they live in their building. They have also instituted a blatantly illegal ‘NO LOITERING’ policy covering the buildings’ common areas in a transparent attempt to criminalize tenants for holding their weekly lobby meetings, which have been taking place for months without incident. Read More …

From Embers: New Content in September 2018

From Embers is a regular anarchist podcast produced in Kingston, Ontario. We produce a few episodes a month about actions and projects going on in so-called Canada that inspire us, or about topics that we think will be relevant to anarchists living north of the border. We are a proud member of the Channel Zero Anarchist Podcast Network. Read More …

Parkdale Tenants Visit Landlord Marina Grmusa

From Parkdale Organize Today our neighbours at 1336 King, along with members of Parkdale Organize, visited the Mississauga home of their landlord, Marina Grmusa. Grmusa is evicting our neighbours Melissa, Cesar, and Marco. We made it clear that our neighbours are here to stay. In August, Grmusa tried to strong-arm Melissa and Cesar into signing forms which would end their tenancies. Grmusa used this tactic on tenants who are ill, Read More …

Regarding Lindsay Shepherd

Next week, a speaking event is scheduled at Queen’s University featuring alt-right-connected and self-styled ‘free speech warrior’ Lindsay Shepherd. Posters have appeared in Kingston calling for a counter-demonstration. It feels like a familiar story is unfolding, one in which we play our parts in a script already written by the strategists of the campus right. Wanting to contribute to an ongoing discussion about how to engage with these kinds of events, I reached out to an anarchist comrade in Kitchener-Waterloo who is familiar with Shepherd’s strategy and has experience with various efforts to counter her events. What follows is a reflection without an obvious solution, but my hope is that it will encourage creativity, strategic thinking and effective practice. We did this interview over email; it has been edited for clarity and length. Read More …

Getting Caught: Call for stories about the times you didn’t get away

It happens. When you’re pushing limits, trying to find new ways to fight back, sooner or later you might get caught. And it’s not the end of the world.

The first time my house got searched, it was 3am. I was all in black with a dufflebag over my shoulder full of crowbars, bolt cutters and gloves, and I was on my out the door. But through the front window, I saw flashing lights and then the shadows of cops walking dogs back and forth on our lawn. They had the street closed off Read More …