Tag: Kingston

Keep your Rent, Help Each Other: Roundup of rent refusal and mutual aid organizing

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Across Ontario, many tenants across the region will withhold rent from their landlord. Even though we are constantly told we are all in this together, the social impact of the virus will be hugely uneven and intensify existing inequalities. Whether tenants still have the means to pay this month or not, this movement shows solidarity with those who can’t and recognizes that few people can last long without the income they’re counting on.

Alongside this, people across the region have organized to help out their neighbours autonomously.. We are highlighting mutual aid projects that try to go beyond a social media page to build lasting independent strength in their neighbourhoods. Read More …

Kingston: Report from CN Rail Occupation

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On Thursday February 27th, Kingston locals – settler, immigrant, and Indigenous alike – gathered on the CN mainline in Kingston at the Gardiners Road overpass to continue to pressure the Canadian state in solidarity with the Wet’suwet’en hereditary chiefs.

The rail bridge was taken at 8 am and CN was immediately notified. Flags were flown, banners were hung, a fire was lit for warmth and, as the word got out, supporters began to arrive!

Indigenous drummers kept our hearts light and our spirits high as we held our space with a sense of community, sharing warm food and drinks, laughter and dance. Read More …

Family Day Field Trip Shuts Down Thousand Islands Border Crossing

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On Monday February 17th ~60 determined people occupied the Thousands Islands Bridge at the Canada/US border near Kingston for about 3 hours. We are a mix of indigenous and non-indigenous people responding to the call from Wet’suwet’en land defenders to rise up following violent RCMP raids to force a pipeline through their unceded territory. Our energy is particularly high thanks to the strength and resolve of the Mohawks at Tyendinaga who have forced the closure of Canada’s busiest rail corridor for 13 days now, creating a crisis for the federal government and an “emergency for the Canadian economy.” We were also excited to hear about the Rainbow Bridge occupation in Niagara Falls on Sunday. Read More …

Kingston: Report from #ShutDownCanada Action

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In response to the ongoing raid on Wet’suwet’en territory, more than 100 people gathered yesterday in a downtown park. After a couple of speeches the crowd piled onto two packed schoolbuses and a few extra cars and headed to the train tracks. The original plan was to shut down the rails, but Mohawks at Tyendinaga have held the line closed since Thursday despite being served an injunction from CN Rail. As the action got nearer, we decided to proceed whether or not the lines were still closed, to show our solidarity with everyone shutting down critical infrastructure across Canada. Read More …

#ShutDownCanada: Wet’suwet’en Solidarity Actions Continue Into Weekend

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Following RCMP raids on Wet’suwet’en Territory this week, indigenous people, land defenders and accomplices have been taking up the call to Shut Down Canada with ongoing actions across the country targeting urban centres, highways, ports and railways. Here is an update on some actions across southern Ontario thus far and some notes on what’s to come. Something incomplete or missing? Send us a reportback! Read More …

From Embers: New Content in January 2020

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From Embers is a regular anarchist podcast produced in Kingston, Ontario. We produce a few episodes each 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.

After a break in December, we hit the ground running in 2020 and published four episodes in January. Read More …

Kingston: “Hands Off Wet’suwet’en” Demo Report

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Thank you to the 50 people who gathered Saturday in SOLIDARITY with the Wet’suwet’en land defenders, on the traditional territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe.

The gathering was opened with songs and a speech. Then, despite the snow storm, the march took to the streets and traveled from Kingston City Hall to Queen’s University where Jawad Masud, TC Energy VP of Corporate Communications was speaking at the Oil and Gas Panel at the Queen’s Global Energy Conference.

Upon arrival at the conference, the January 5 eviction notice to Coastal GasLink (CGL) from Wet’suwet’en Hereditary Chiefs was presented to the TC Energy VP. (TC Energy is a major stakeholder in CGL.) Read More …

Kingston: Slow Down For Wet’suwet’en

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On Friday, January 17th a group of approximately 15 people took control of a busy commuter street on both sides of a ground-level rail crossing for the CN main line in Kingston, Ontario. We used banners and our bodies to stop traffic and flyered the waiting cars with information about the ongoing struggle on Wet’suwet’en territory.

I chose to participate in this action because I believe we should build a collective social force that threatens critical infrastructure whenever land defenders are attacked. #ShutDownCanada should be a threat and a promise, not simply a hashtag. I think we are at our strongest when we do this in public and invite others to join us in building a Turtle-Island-wide rapid response network that has the back of Indigenous land and water protectors. Last January’s actions inspired a lot of us to continue fighting along these lines, whether or not they had much impact on the actions of pipeline builders and police. Read More …

Kingston: Luxury Spa Development Sabotaged

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Recently, we quietly entered the site of a luxury spa development just north of Kingston and sabotaged several heavy machines by adding bleach to the oil tanks (thanks to Mythbusters for the tactical advice). We waited a little while for the machines to run and cycle the bleach, and now they have disappeared. We hope that the engines are permanently disabled. Read More …

Drop the Charges! Free Cedar! Day of Action Report Back

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On Friday, June 28th, We called for a Day of Autonomous Action to drop all the charges against pride defenders and to free Cedar immediately. This Day of Action comes on the heels of repeated harassment of queers by the police, city Councillors, mayor Fred Eisenberger and the far-right since the fall out of the Hamilton Pride festival.

June 28th was also the 50th anniversary of The Stonewall riot in NYC which catalyzed the modern Queer and Trans Liberation movements and what we’ve come to know as Pride. Getting back to our roots, this Day of Action wasn’t a music festival, there was no banks invited, no personalities, no celebrities, no boards, no cops, no CEO’s. Our Day of Action was one of people coming together and rejecting piecemeal offerings of tolerance and demanding liberation. This is our Stonewall. This is our Bathhouse Riot.

There was over 47 actions around the world responded to our call, with graffiti, postering, stickers, marches, rallies, demonstrations, phone zaps, messages of solidarity and fundraisers. It has brought us to tears time and again seeing the love people have to give, and encourages our call to drop the charges and free Cedar. Read More …