#1
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So I took part in a pretty decent manifestation in Montreal today. Heard estimates of 75k people involved.
The demo today was organized against austerity. Quebec was once one of the more backward provinces in Canada, with the church having a major role in the society, with a decent amount of women becoming nuns and roles in education, up till the 60s where the death of an old politician, and the sudden death of his successor, led to the Quiet Revolution, where both education and health were taken away from the church and taken over by the state, electricity and hydro were nationalized, as well as the unionization of the civil service. Basically all the things in the 60s that made the economy so strong and promoted canada as it's own country as opposed to a british colony. Of course, all these things hurt big businesses, many of whom fled to Toronto.

Among the IWW contingent. Shadowed by the riot squad practically the whole time.
Of course, the current economic climate has been seized upon as an opportunity for neoliberalism to claw back all of these changes, but unlike most of Canada, the people are willing to back up their opposition with more than just words. Since I moved here in August, the police, firemen, transit operators have all been on "strike", which means all of their vehicles are covering in political stickers, against the government fucking with their pensions and limiting wage negotiation with passing laws. The police also wear all sorts of camo pants.

Right sign mentions may 1st, which is calling for a general strike.
I'm still new here, so perhaps it always feels like this, but it feels like it'll be a big one. All of the government employees are against the government, the students are flexing their muscles after the maple spring (I recently got the joke: Printemps erable is pretty similar to Printemps arabe). Quebec seems very European to me compared to my little experience in Toronto during Occupy, with large numbers of the population both interested and knowledgeable of politics. Even meeting randoms at parties that can discuss politics is fun, and I haven't met any even very many liberal people in their 20s.

Riot Contingent. Looks like maybe 60. Shields have a handhold and a strap on the forearm.
There have been both day and night demonstrations pretty much all week, as 60,000 students have been on strike, with it going up to 100,000 for today. There have been mass arrests, confrontations. A student got hit point blank with a tear gas round a couple nights ago, with a camera filming from 5 feet away, so she's suing and might even have a chance.

As for the demo today, it went for a couple hours. It started in Square Victoria, ended up at Berri-UQAM. A large group attemped to keep going east, but the cops divided us several times, which eventually led it to petering out.

At least I learned a bit about getting pepper sprayed, as a cloud of it forced some of us on to side streets.

Your intrepid correspondent.
The movement seems to be resilient though, and is ramping up towards may 1st, with anti-capitalist demonstrations planned. Personally, I feel an illness coming on that might interfere with me being able to work that day. This is just a stream of consciousness post, so any questions I might be able to answer better, and of course anyone else can chime in with their experiences.
Courage friends, tis not too late to build a better world!
#2
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wouldn't a large demo like that be the perfect time to rob a bank
#3
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#4
political car tune
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every time i go to a protest both the police and other protesters ask me to leave, saying "no one is interested in buying your paper"
#5
Dont Mess With Sucess
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dipshit420 posted:

every time i go to a protest both the police and other protesters ask me to leave, saying "no one is interested in buying your paper"

most people use the toilet before heading out to the demonstration in the morning

#6
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No Discipline, but I maintain a childlike sense of wonder in all things. I tried not to get many faces in there, is there something I've done wrong? I know this particular protest wasn't especially exciting, but it's an ongoing situation.
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#9
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Well, the revolution begins with you. A defeatist attitude serves only counterrevolution, after all. I've got a lot of respect for you Discipline, a women in a site of mostly men, and the right beliefs and the willingness to match action to words. Perhaps it's mostly because I'm coming from English Canada, with the typical attitudes influenced by both American and English culture, to a new one that has promoted rebellions and revolutions (Quiet even still) as a way of fighting back against oppression and towards equality, so the rhetoric and even militancy of people really encourages me.
Really though, if committed people like you and me believe it'll never happen, how are we ever going to motivate the masses? History is full of long shots. I do believe that waiting around for it is the wrong thing. I forgot to mention that last fall, as part of the anti-austerity movement, firemen stormed city hall, harassed them and distributed leaflets, while police stood by and even high-fived them. If such an action had a revolutionary ideal, it could have ended differently. For some reason concessions seem alien to the current government, so potentially anything can happen.
Don't let the revolutionary fire in you die out, discipline. Stoke it with outrage at new transgressions, fuel it with hope in our eventual victory and steely determination to see it through...
#10
Marxsplainer
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discipline posted:

Like I can't imagine feeling anything but helpless anymore



That's Depression

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#13
political car tune
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discipline posted:

I just hope to procreate and spawn new protesters at this point lol


f4RNb3tt0LM

#14
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whose streets our streets scans way better. but i respect your grind.
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#17
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the only thing i want in this life is a fucking job
#18
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gl w/ your protest thing though
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#20
mt.real
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french people get mad about things. and quebecois aren't french french but they carry the torch of getting super mad all the time. also super uniformly white, xenophobic, and strangely conservative in ways that don't line up exactly with anglosphere conservatives so you can trick yourself into thinking they aren't.

anyway, gl with ensuring something about pensions or whatever
#21
Poronto
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quebec is steadily getting filling up with browns who are being thoroughly francophoned though. source: thousands of applications to a montreal summer day school whose database i've been working on with surnames like quoc and latouf and afante whose explanatory letters are all written in french slightly less broken than mine
#22
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I'll defer to your knowledge, since like I said I'm still new here. But Montreal is pretty big. I'm starting to think that our current state of politics (in the western world) is like a car crash. Plenty of people will slow down and give it some attention, more will drive by ignoring it, and only a few will actually stop the car and make sure the person is okay. Bystander effect, where people assume that someone else will do something, so they don't have to. But basically it's the idea that if our society is being ran by say 10% of the population, or hell 20% factoring in their lackeys, why do we need 50% or more popular support before we start trying to change things? I know I sound kind of blanquist, but can't we assume that 40% of the population doesn't know enough, or doesn't care enough to get involved in politics?
I'm not at all advocating divorcing ourselves from the masses, but has there ever been a revolution that had mass support before concrete actions started to be taken by individuals or small groups?
#23
Occupied Aztlan
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Red_Canadian posted:

I'll defer to your knowledge, since like I said I'm still new here. But Montreal is pretty big. I'm starting to think that our current state of politics (in the western world) is like a car crash. Plenty of people will slow down and give it some attention, more will drive by ignoring it, and only a few will actually stop the car and make sure the person is okay. Bystander effect, where people assume that someone else will do something, so they don't have to. But basically it's the idea that if our society is being ran by say 10% of the population, or hell 20% factoring in their lackeys, why do we need 50% or more popular support before we start trying to change things? I know I sound kind of blanquist, but can't we assume that 40% of the population doesn't know enough, or doesn't care enough to get involved in politics?
I'm not at all advocating divorcing ourselves from the masses, but has there ever been a revolution that had mass support before concrete actions started to be taken by individuals or small groups?



no. fuck kautsky, rah rah luxemburg etc

#24
chickeon
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not speaking to the validity of your simile but people slowing down to give car crashes attention causes untold numbers of further car crashes on the 401 at least also blanquism is fine we're leninists remember
#25
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Could be construed as the people who only care about car accidents when they're driving by (during elections) who by their lack of knowledge make things worse (by voting against their interests). It's a metaphoresis!
#26
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Who can I vote for or donate to in order to piss you off? I don't vote, but I'll make an exception.
#27
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swirlsofhistory posted:

Who can I vote for or donate to in order to piss you off? I don't vote, but I'll make an exception.


#28
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i heard that guy caught fail aids by eating chimps
#29
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You could vote for the liberals? They're probably going to win, the ruling class realizes that they have to give concessions every once in awhile, and legal weed is perfect for that. I'll prob vote NDP federally, and QS provincially. Voting's not going to really get us any good changes, but at least you can get an estimate of the relative size of each political current's die-hard supporters.
#30
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#31
Kurdt
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don't blame me, i voted robocop
#32
Mike Nelson here.
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i think of voting in deadken's "mayor of canada" way. like it won't change the system but like maybe the sidewalks will be better maintained or whatever. plus in canada there is more public financing of parties via tax credits, whereas i don't understand why americans would ever donate to the democrats. well, i do know, and it's because middle class americans have so much money they aren't sure what to spend it on.
#33
political car tune
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democrats don't insist that prison rape is a "necessary evil" when i'm incarcerated
#34
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democrats winning elections mostly just means the people who like republicans feel sad and mad. but that's not nothing
#35
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so irish rascists did a pathetic job of rabble rousing last month, eg getting 12 people (6 of whom were undercover cops) to do a pediga thing at a mosque vs 100 counter protestors

the irish branch of a polish fascist group is coming over to do a speaking tour, and show us how its done i guess; we'll see how it goes tomorrow
#36
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discipline posted:

lol if you vote in klanada or amerikkka

#37
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So there's another rally today, I'll probably attend. It's back in the news after a midnight raid on UQAM. The protesters barricades the entrances, leading the police to smash through a window to gain access. Most of the protesters escaped through a back door, smashing up cops cars on the way. Only a few arrests.
http://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/police-intervene-in-late-night-uqam-occupation
An english language news site talking about it, looks like it got kind a bit hectic.
#38
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Trip update: The protest didn't go so well. Cops shut it down with 20 minutes, kept breaking it up. I got stopped and had my information taken down, for walking in the street with a mask. I'm unsure if I got formally charged, no citation or anything was issued, just a warning that if he saw me in the streets again today that I would be detained indefinitely until he was sure I was no longer at risk of repeating my actions. So I guess I'll be monitoring the mail to see if I receive anything, and now I'm probably in some sort of database. It's all good.
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