IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE OCCUPATION IN THE BEVERLY SWAMP
10:30am
Wednesday, June 26
Roddick Gates (Sherbrooke and McGill College)
Since June 20, the site of the North Westover Pump Station—located in
the Beverly Swamp, near Hamilton, Ontario—has been occupied by a diverse
group of land defenders. This action has obstructed, and continues to
obstruct, pipeline transport company Enbridge from carrying out work
that is necessary to reverse the flow of oil along Line 9 a pipeline
that extends from Sarnia, Ontario, to the oil refineries in
Montréal-Est. In other words, the occupiers are engaged in direct action
to defend the sovereignty of indigenous nations and the drinking water
of millions of people; they are also putting themselves at serious risk
of repression by the colonial Canadian state.
In response to
the occupiers' call for solidarity actions, we are organizing a
demonstration in Montréal on Wednesday, June 26, to
distribute
information and inform people here about the situation in the Beverly
Swamp. We will gather at 10:30 am at McGill University's Roddick
Gates (located at the intersection of rue Sherbrooke and avenue McGill
College). Bring banners, flags, boomboxes, and whatever else! We will
have bilingual flyers to distribute to pedestrians, but feel free to write your own.
This demonstration, of course, will not stop the capitalist
exploitation and development of the Athabasca tar sands in Alberta. It's
pretty clear that the struggle to defend the land requires, among other
things, a willingness to employ direct action and a willingness to take
risks. It's also pretty clear that settlers, including those who think
of themselves as radicals, tend to demonstrate such willingness much
less frequently than indigenous people. This needs to change. Settlers
need to be willing to put their bodies on the line if they want to stand
in real Solidarity with Indigenous land defenders, instead of watching
them feel the brunt force of the state from a safe distance.
So let's meet each other, start talking to one another, get organized,
and start fighting from our own region, in solidarity with our
Indigenous hosts, just as our comrades are currently doing in the
Beverly Swamp.
For more information on the ongoing occupation, check out
http://swampline9.tumblr.com/.
For more info on line 9
check out
http://vimeo.com/56842880 &
http://noline9.wordpress.com/line-9-primer/
Les pipelines ne passeront pas! See you on Wednesday!
https://www.facebook.com/events/203805419773318/?ref=22