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 …
In a desperate attempt to influence the recent Quebec elections, La Meute has been popping up in the last few weeks with small, decentralized actions. Though the mainstream media has been giving them far too much attention for their size, the extreme-right group’s actions haven’t gained much popular support, in stark contradiction to their leader Sylvain ”Maikan” Brouillette’s slogan: “40,000 members, 40,000 votes”.
It’s within this context that, on the 15th of September, Steeve “L’artiss” Charland (Maikan’s potential rival) led a “mobile protest” which was, in reality, simply a bunch of cars driving around with La Meute flags or stickers. The meet-up for the dozen or so La Meute members was Oka, right next to the Mohawk community of Kanesatake. Upon their arrival, members of the Kanesatake community mobilized to kick them out, subjecting them to boos and insults as they left, and in so doing, refusing to allow their community to be used in the way the extreme-right group have been attempting to use them during the past few months. Read More …
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 …
We share this interview by It’s Going Down with Gord Hill about The Antifa Comic Book in anticipation of upcoming launch events this month in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal. Read More …
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 …
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 …
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. This month, we’ve produced four original episodes. They are: August 7th: Is Read More …
Unfortunately, the word “terrorism” has been getting thrown around a lot in Ontario these past few months. […] Terrorism is a strategy that’s been used by almost all political tendencies at different times. As a strategy, it’s not desperate or insane, the way the specific attacks often appear; terrorism has specific goals and groups using it aren’t shy about articulating them. The goal of this text is to look at terrorism as a strategy, as a choice that rational people might make to achieve their goals. This gives us a stronger basis for rejecting it and also gets us beyond the shocked and decontextualized reactions we understandably have to scenes of violence, like the two attacks in Toronto. Read More …
85 years ago this week, in the midst of another long hot summer, a series of anti-Semitic and xenophobic provocations in the City of Toronto escalated into a full blown riot at Christie Pits. As the Nazis rose to power in Germany, a series of “Swastika Clubs” were organized out of a canoe club in Toronto and patrolled the Beaches neighbourhood with the intention of harassing so-called foreigners and to “clean up the beaches.” Tensions mounted and several confrontations were narrowly avoided.
About a week later, during a baseball game at Christie Pits, members of the “Pit Gang” unfurled a huge white banner bearing a black swastika. Jewish and Italian youth rushed the banner and tore it to shreds, and the skirmish quickly escalated into a massive riot involving hundreds of fighters and lasting several hours. Amazingly, no one was killed. The riot became a part of the mythology of the city, especially for the Toronto’s Jewish community. Read More …
During 2017, Punch Up Collective spent several months developing curriculum for a four-hour workshop we call “Getting It Together: Organizing Collectives for the Real World.” In early 2018, we facilitated this workshop for the first time and also wrote “Getting It Together: Ideas for Organizing Collectives,” a companion article which Briarpatch Magazine published.
We were primarily motivated by what we see as the demands of this political moment. As Toronto-based organizer Syed Hussan writes, “If there is a hope in hell of us transforming our society, and building the kinds of worlds we want to live in, we need masses of people organized, disciplined and militant. It may seem that media moments are where change happens, but that is fleetinDuring 2017, Punch Up Collective spent several months developing curriculum for a four-hour workshop we call “Getting It Together: Organizing Collectives for the Real World.” In early 2018, we facilitated this workshop for the first time and also wrote “Getting It Together: Ideas for Organizing Collectives,” a companion article which Briarpatch Magazine published.
We were primarily motivated by what we see as the demands of this political moment. As Toronto-based organizer Syed Hussan writes, “If there is a hope in hell of us transforming our society, and building the kinds of worlds we want to live in, we need masses of people organized, disciplined and militant. It may seem that media moments are where change happens, but that is fleeting. Large scale movements rise up and dissipate. Organizations, collectives, affinity groups are needed to build up to them and beyond them.” We wholeheartedly agree.g. Large scale movements rise up and dissipate. Organizations, collectives, affinity groups are needed to build up to them and beyond them.” We wholeheartedly agree. Read More …
